Yearly Archives: 2026

We had a haul out scheduled for 9am, so we got up before 6:30, made coffee, had breakfast and made sure everything was ready for the trip to the fuel dock and into the TraveLift basin. The morning was wet. After a week of fine days, of course we would have rain. Not heavy, but you needed to be dressed for it. We got our pump out of the holding tank, fueled with 18 gallons of diesel to just about fill the fuel tank. I put some biocide into the fuel tank the day before.  Diesel can form a thing called diesel bug, an organism that grows in the diesel, especially when the diesel has some water in it. The biocide keeps the bug from forming and kills any bug in the diesel. Filling the tank reduces the air space in the tank…

We had a pleasant enough passage from Beaver Island to Northport. It was a nice day although the wind had blown itself out and we mostly motored/motor sailed to Northport. We waited out the strong southerly winds on anchor near the beach off the marina. We were the only sailboat anchored. This anchorage is pretty well protected from the west and was a good place to wait for the next weather window. We set out from Northport early - around 6:30 am as soon as we could see good enough to get the anchor up. We expected a moderate northerly wind and that's how it started out. We know that around the tip of the little finger the sea state can become quite confused and uncomfortable. This trip around was no exception. We were able to motor sail as the waves and winds…

We’ve written about the Loopers before. These are the people that are a part of the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association. That’s a 6000 mile loop that starts anywhere from Florida, up through New York City, and the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, various waterways into Lake Huron, the North Channel, Lake Michigan, the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Tenn-Tom rivers, Mobile Bay, the Gulf ICW and back to Florida. It’s primarily done with Trawlers and Cabin Cruisers, individually or in groups. They fly a burgee (small flag) that shows the great loop and the parts that they have completed. When we sail, we monitor the marine radio and are equipped with AIS (Automatic Identification System). We’ll hear radio calls that include their boat name, and it will also display on our chart plotter and our other charting programs. And if we are in…

In 1988, the Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw was being considered for decommissioning. It had served as the largest icebreaker on the Great Lakes for over forty years then. Reporter Stephen Ward, and me as recording engineer spent about a day and a half on board in the cold of January documenting the sounds and voices on board the Mackinaw. We got on board on a frigid day, were assigned our bunks, told to wear these insulated thermal floatation suits called Mustangs whenever we were on the weather decks, and also told where we could not go due to safety or security concerns. Beyond that, we had the run of the ship and could record anyone and anywhere we wanted. As VIP’s, we took our meals in the wardroom mess after getting our food cafeteria style with the crew. We were in officer country,…

After we left Mackinaw City and entered Lake Michigan waters we both feel the urgency to get back to Muskegon between wind/rain/storms. We have the luxury of picking our weather window for the most favorable, or at least, tolerable conditions. Safety is always a concern and not breaking anything is high on our priority list. We seek to enjoy the sail back not just endure it. We've tentatively arranged for haul out on October 1 and hope to be back in Muskegon by the 20's of September. The weather will decide. Harold's Birthday Chocolate Torte! Birthday Sail (Sept 8) Back in Lake MI

September 9, 2026 We left Mackinaw City early Sunday morning to get ahead of the screaming winds that started last night. We had a lovely sail from St. Ignace to Straits Marina in Mackinaw City. So clear, gentle wind but with only 6 miles to go we were in no hurry. We tied up and had lunch then headed over to visit the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Mackinaw that is now a museum. Harold will probably write about the visit and his time spent on the ice breaker back in the 80's. On our way to Mackinaw Mary and Linda joined us for dinner and stayed overnight to walk the bridge in the morning. We started our bridge walk around 8:30 am. The weather was picture perfect. High 60-low 70's, sunny, clear. The water was turquoise to azure blue and the Mighty Mac…

We have a trip to the Annapolis Sailboat Show planned for October and need to invest in a new mainsail and a new foresail. The ones we have are the originals - 19 years old! Even though I replaced the sacrificial cloth on the foresail a couple of years ago, all of the sailing this year has stretched it so badly we simply cannot trim it properly when we reef. It just flops and flaps at the roller furling unless we have a broad reach with the entire sail out. In all fairness, it suffered greatly in Green Bay during the 50 MPH wind/thunderstorm. So much wind and so much flogging! Our mainsail is of the same vintage and is showing it's age by fraying at the edges. It's better than the foresail, but we know it's also tired. So after nearly 20…

It's official, the spiders are multiplying and spinning their webs and are out of control. Big ones as big as a quarter with big behinds, long skinny ones, little ones no bigger than a freckle. They are everywhere outside the boat. They especially seem to like all of our navy canvas and the nooks and crannies from the zippers and pockets. Every morning, I swiffer or microfiber and everyday more seem to move in. I'm thinking it's a loosing battle! As if spiders and webs weren't enough, they poop - dark black staining poop. Thankfully, they are still under control inside with only a few interlopers. They are difficult to photograph. This is one of dozens at work last evening. Today there was another swarm of September (or May?) flies. They were attached to the screens, the boom, the mast, and dinghy. One…

St. Ignace, September 3, 2026 Finally we have some semi reliable internet connection so an update is in order. We traveled from Thessalon to DeTour where we stayed Aug 29-Sept 2. I thought it would be fun to stay to watch the freighters pass through - and the day we arrived we could see them clearly. After that, we could only hear the booooooooops of their fog horns going off. We couldn't see a thing there was so much fog. For three days we were socked in. We did take some nice walks, had a good whitefish sandwich at the Mainsail and went to the local fishery for some fresh white fish fillets. I can't think of whitefish without remembering Uncle Frank. Every summer he would take Gram, Phil and I up north to Paradise. He would take us to the fishery north…