Yearly Archives: 2026

To be sure, a Great Lakes passage is short. You’ll only make a multi-day passage if you sail the lake in the long way. Ocean passages can be measured in weeks. As I write, the nearest land is 18 miles away or about three and half hours at our current speed. A look in any direction, as far as you can see, is water. I’m on watch. With 9 knots of wind from the north, we’re making 5.4 knots on the rhumb line (93º True) to the tip of the Leelanau peninsula. We left Pedersen Bay around 5:30am CDT. It’s about 35 miles or seven-ish hours until we get to Leelanau. We’ve come about 25 miles in the five hours since we weighed anchor. The wind was light at first, so we had the sails up, and the motor running at 1700rpm.  That…

We love seeing Eagles. I'm still amazed at the comeback Eagles have made following the DDT disaster. When growing up in the 60's and 70's I never experienced the delight of seeing an eagle soar, the dark body and the white flash of tail. It wasn't until I went on a mission trip to serve in Alaska at Echo Bay Bible Camp that I saw my first eagle. We always take it as a good omen when we are greeted by eagles. In fact, one just flew over our bow this morning in Detroit Harbor. They are enormous birds. Their wings have a unique swooping motion. Neither hurried, or awkward as some ducks. Just strong and purposeful. Onboard, we have a photograph of an eagle taken by Nathan Landick, hanging near our table. Nate take amazing photos of wildlife. He has a knack…

It's amazing to me how sounds are amplified across water. That private conversation you are having on your boat or on shore, or at the cottage, may not be as private as you think! Add a little alcohol and amp up the volume and the whole harbor can hear you. When we are sailing, we often hear the grinding of motors long before we see any boats. This is especially true for the freighters. We are aware of their low throbbing engines long before we can see any sign of a ship. Airplanes and helicopters are also amplified. We will hear them long before they appear on the horizon. The same is true for shorebirds and waterfowl. Just over the point, there is a large meeting ground full of pelican, gulls, and cormorants. Last night as dusk was settling in, we could hear…

We are anchored in Detroit Harbor on Washington Island. Washington Island is the northernmost point of the Door Peninsula and is accessed by a 30 minute ferry ride from Northport. Unless you are sailing in! We arrived yesterday afternoon from Sister Bay. It was a pleasant motor/sail under sunny skies and light wind "on the nose" which means it's not great for where we wanted to head - thus the motor sail. At one point yesterday, we both heard a metallic ping and couldn't figure out what had happened. We looked around and hadn't lost anything overboard. and didn't find anything amiss. After dropping anchor, we usually lower the dinghy for a better view out the back and Harold noticed a bolt in the dinghy - along with a washer and a nut. Apparently it worked it's way out of the davit support.…

We left Sturgeon Bay just after lunch and dropped anchor in Egg Harbor around 4pm. It was a relaxing sail that got a little zesty as we turned into the harbor but with Mr. Westerbeke's assistance (our iron sail) we had little problem getting settled in. We love our new "Big Mama" Anchor and thankfully there was very good holding in the bay. During our two night stay we had some pretty big winds associated with thunderstorms bear down on us. I'm glad we were in a "protected" harbor! During the day, there were a lot of folks enjoying the beach and some PWC - Jet Skis charging around the harbor but the evenings and nights were quiet and peaceful - just us and the pelicans. The full moon rose over the Door Peninsula the first evening and was a lovely melon color…

Thursday, June 18, 2026 So much of this spring flew by with preparing our ship, our home, our lives for four months away and aboard Reflection. As the preparations came to a close, we stepped off the dock and onto the deck to begin our summer. After planning for that moment for so long it felt surreal. Even before we got Reflection in 2023, we had talked about, researched, and refined the type of boat we would need to move on board for a summer and have sailing adventures on the Great Lakes. We talked about where we'd like to sail, places we'd like to visit. And then when found our Catalina 350, we set right to work getting it ready to sail away. This is our 4th season with Reflection and we feel we know her well. We know the sound of…