Author: Harold Beer

This author has written 16 articles

Monday, June 8

Sailed from Holland to Muskegon. First part, wind was perfect. Waves could be measured in inches. We went fast for almost an hour. And then we slowed as the wind dropped. The black flies found us, even three miles off shore. Smooth sail, only saw three boats in thirty miles from Holland, and two came out of the channel with us. Such a smooth sail, Marcia went down to the V-berth and had a nap. Timed it perfectly, arriving two miles behind the Lake Express - the cross-lake ferry from Milwaukee that makes the almost seventy mile crossing in two and a half hours. It’s a big catamaran, over 190’ feet (58.4 meters) long and nearly 60 feet wide (17.6 meters). The channel narrows to about 200 feet, so it’ll take up about half of the channel if you allow some safe distance.…

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Sunday June 7

Our time was up at Tower Marine, and we had to move on. Yesterday was the Pride Parade in Douglas, and a six hour celebration in Beery Field. Everything was done up in rainbow colors and more. Having lived in Holland for about a year after I retired from MSU, we know how the towns of Saugatuck and Douglas change when the tourists go home. But in high season, it is a wonder-filled accepting community of delightful people. (Let’s just say that the blue wave when the tourists are here fades to a reddish hue in the fall) Saturday was so much fun, we watched the parade at the very end of the route, snatching a bit of shade that we shared with a woman and her little white and grey Havanese. The celebration had about 70 vendors marketing their products and services,…

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Blessing of the Fleet

We had a grand reunion on Thursday at the Tower Harbour Yacht Club. That was part of the point to take a slip in Douglas at Tower Marine. We had to meet up with Rose and Dave, as we had the PFD rearm kits sent to their house. Rose and Dave invited Brian and Lynn along as it has been years since we’ve seen them. Al and Nancy from Desire are fixtures at THYC. Nan and John from Blaisen rounded out the group. Of course, as I write this, it would have been great to get a photo of our group. Sadly, we only have memories of round table with snacks and ten chairs in a circle as we shared stories of sailing in bad weather, sailboat races and parties at the yacht club. As it has been a decade since we were…

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Lovely Day

We had nice weather for our first day. Tiny waves, our wake was actually larger, and winds mostly from astern. Not super fast as the apparent wind is lessened by the forward motion. We resorted to the engine for about an hour. The full enclosure kept most of the black flies out of our personal space. But the flyswatter was broken from the workout. By the way, why is it called a fly swatter and not just a swatter? We don’t have a wasp swatter, as the flyswatter isn’t species exclusive. Ah, the things you think about when you are sailing. We left Muskegon at 9:40am, and didn’t see another boat until we neared Holland around 5:30pm. Somewhere near Grand Haven, we looked towards the east and saw this amazing outline of a heart in the sky.  Have you ever seen anything like…

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Eve of departure

Reflection went into the water almost two weeks ago. We launched with everything from the gunnels down polished, waxed, or painted. Every system gone through, but still a lot of work remaining.  The new dodger that Marcia made needed to be fitted, twist & turns and lift-the-dots marked, punched and set. The sails needed to be installed, tweaked and furled away. Go home taking one load off, pick up the last load. Friday’s list - 14 items checked off, four inflatable personal flotation devices (pfd’s) checked. Green, green, green. RED. Marcia’s wouldn’t have worked. (Did we check it last year? We can’t remember.) We need new ones shipped in. I can get some delivered tomorrow. Amazon Locker Whiskey here at the marina. And they won’t deliver it to the locker (because explosive?) . Rose and Dave are home, we get it shipped there…

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Getting our ship together

Thursday May 28: Four dock cart loads. Three backpacks of clothes - everything from 40ºF to 90ºF - flannel lined jeans and long underwear, to swimsuit and t-shirts. Provisioned with shelf stable and canned goods, to fresh vegetables and meat. We’ll have to hand carry everything when we restock. Half the boat lockers have been rearranged. I even made an interior plan, gave each locker and cubby a letter from A to N, made a spreadsheet for an inventory of everything that isn’t clothes or food. It all fit. Mostly. Sent the electric coffee pot and power washer home with Tim. There he goes, we’re on our own now.  No car in the parking lot for us. What’s left to do: Wash, polish and wax the cockpit. Keep stowing stuff into the aft lockers. Go aloft to check the rig. Check the shroud…

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Oh, those sailboats are so pretty! or What happens when the boat is out of the water.

October 15, 2025: Reflection is hauled out of the water. Mixed emotions. Sailing season ends, but time frees up for land activities. For Harold, that meant cardiac rehab. Testing out the heart repairs to be sure everything works correctly, don’t want a problem next season. But still, no more sailing. It’ll be seven long dark Michigan winter months until Reflection floats again.And there’s the repair and maintenance projects. And there’s the improvement projects.Making a spreadsheet to track what needs to be ordered and what vendor has it for the best price and who is the most reliable. We want to replace the dodger windows. Install a mainsheet clutch. Be able to charge the dinghy electric motor battery from our solar system. Fix the seepage from the holding tank and install a locking valve - no sewage into the clean lakes. The anchor windlass…

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The Heart of the Matter

Well, that was a different sailing season than we expected. It all started with getting some maintenance done on various boat systems. Every system had something that needed to be done. All in anticipation of the great sailing adventure of 2025, and while all of the work on the boat was completed, our plans quickly changed. When it became clear that I needed to have surgery, we quickly had to obtain a slip for the summer, as we had planned to launch and sail away without need for a ‘permanent’ slip for the season. Marcia did a great job of keeping you informed, and on my side, it just seemed like a long ‘No, wait, hold my beer’. First, the abdominal aortic aneurysm freaked me out. I had heard about them, and they’re not good news. Next came the flailing mitral valve, and…

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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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