Author: Harold Beer

This author has written 8 articles

We did make it home

Haulout for winter storage at Safe Harbor Great Lakes, Muskegon. Our first leg on our journey home was from Northport to Frankfort on September 9. That leg was over sixty nautical miles and took up all of the daytime hours. The second leg was from Frankfort to Ludington, also more than sixty NM. After two long days of sailing, we elected to stay put in Ludington for two nights. Finally, on Thursday, we set out for our home port of Muskegon and tied up in our slip at 6:30pm. That’s a pretty grueling end to an excellent cruise. Then came the haul-out on the 25th of September, ending the water part of sailing season. It was a beautifully warm day to take the boat out, and it certainly was nicer than waiting until the bitter end in October. It might seem a little…

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Weather Hold

Scenic lookout looking east across Grand Traverse Bay We’ve been patiently waiting for the weather to change. Waiting since last Wednesday. At one point, the open waters forecast (beyond five nautical miles for shore) for the part of northern Lake Michigan that we would travel had waves to 13 feet. We don’t mind being offshore a ways - there’s much less traffic. We’ve been watching the reports from the buoys and they have been reporting over six foot waves. That’s a hard no from this crew.We have enjoyed our walks in Northport, and the good wifi in the marina, and an easy walk to the grocery. But I’m looking at my meds, and the extras that I brought along just in case, and we’re cutting it tight. Tomorrow, Monday September 9 we go - in the predawn gloaming, we set out on a…

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Rose and Dave

We bought our first ‘big’ sailboat (27 feet) in 2000. It was named Arcturus when we bought it, and we kept the name. The year 2000 was a bit of a blur. We would drive about a hundred miles to the boat on Friday after an early dinner, get to the boat, go out and sail until about 10pm. Racing to get back before Demond’s grocery closed, in order to get 3 pints of ice cream. Most of the time we needed to get back to Lansing for Sunday morning church. On the center dock, there were four or five really active sailing couples. Bill and his wife were right next to us on Airwaves, Brian and Lynn on Re-Run, Al and Nancy on Desire, and Rose and Dave on Windswept. At the marina, Tower Harbor in Douglas, Michigan, was the Tower Harbour…

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August 31 – 0245

Marcia woke up to check on our anchor - we dragged anchor yesterday morning. Beaver Island is quite dark. She called out, "Stars, northern lights!" And so I went out dressed in a hoodie. Then went below to get the camera - the boat swings at anchor, but the northern lights were awesome.

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Cruisers

We’ve made a transition this week from sailors to cruisers. Something happens to you when the motion of the boat is barely noticed, but standing on land seems that you are moving. We met a couple at the dinghy dock, invited them over at cocktail time (anytime after 4:30pm), and you spend a bit of time talking about ground tackle (anchors, and such). Roger and Michelle are on the Great Loop. That’s a loop that goes down the Mississippi River, around Florida, north along the ICW (Inter-Coastal Waterway), west along the canals to Lake Ontario or Lake Erie, more canals if you are going through Canada, or through Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron, through the Straits, and into Lake Michigan to Chicago and then down the river again. Start anywhere, end anywhere, but if you cross your wake and complete the 6000 mile…

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In the Stillness

At dawn, I boiled water to make coffee. After that first cup, the frypan went on the stove with a bit of Irish butter. The Cinnamon Raisin bread from the Farmer’s Market warmed in the melted butter, not toasted, just hot enough to absorb the dairy loveliness. The rest of the french press coffee was filtered and split between our cups. A quarter of a green pepper chopped, two green onions chopped, and a couple of ounces of sharp cheddar grated. The vegetables were sautéed in a little more of the butter, then four eggs added. Freshly ground salt and pepper, and finally the cheese. It doesn’t get better than this. Marcia did the dishes. I downloaded another book from the library, and reflected on the start of the day. Later, we’ll raise anchor and stop at the nearby fuel dock to pump…

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Harold and Marcia

February 2023 - Bayport, MN - 0º FahrenheitWe drove 600 miles to have our first look at the 2007 Catalina 350 that we would name Reflection We're Harold and Marcia. Harold had his first brush with sailing on Barton Pond, near Ann Arbor, MI. He and two other mates would put in their one-person rubber rafts upstream on the Huron River. Floating down the river, they would come to wider part of the river (Barton Pond) and have to paddle the length of the pond without a current. Innovation struck with the adoption of the plastic dropcloth as spinnaker. Towards the end of high school, Harold would canoe on the Huron, most often at night. In college, Harold needed a P.E. credit and chose a sailing class. He was hooked. Marcia came along in 1981, and joined Harold on the late-night canoe trips.…

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