Author: Marcia Beer

- or what I've learned after 450 miles sailed this summer and 7 weeks on board Reflection. Calm - Air is still, water like glass. 0-3kts Beautiful way to start a day. Out on deck, cup of coffee in hand marveling at the mirror like reflections. Slight Breeze - Start to feel air on your face. 4-8kts Enjoy the cool breeze from the cockpit watch the water come to life. Nice Breeze - Brim of hats start to move, ripples start on the water. 8-10kts Start to think this is going to be a great day to sail. Cruising Breeze - Sweet spot for sailing. Decide to take off on a passage. Secure hat on head, unfurl and adjust the sails all the way and sit back knowing the free, fun, fuel for your boat is doing all the work. 10-15kts Reefing Breeze…

July 17, 2026 The smoke rolled in to Northport on Tuesday morning. At that time, we thought it would be short lived, but now realize that it's going to hang around and continues to worsen. Now storms are moving in making our anchorage in Northport very lumpy. So, we surrendered and moved this morning to a slip at the Marina where we'll hunker down (enjoying the Leelanau Township Library) and run the AC at night to keep some of the smoke out of the cabin. We booked 6 nights as the situation is not improving anytime soon according to reports. This is the first time we are not sure about making it to the North Channel. We certainly do not want to be there with this thick smoke and with so many fires burning across Canada and Minnesota. It's not hard to imagine…

This morning the blue dragonflies came. They came by the dozens and landed on our dinghy, came through the back door and checked us out. There are the first we have encountered - are they after the midges covering our boat? They look like they are searching for something.Many of them seem to have found what they were looking for - a mate, others seem obsessed with an unwritten agenda Closer to shore I watched these two flitting around. Dragon flies

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…

We survived! It was big, it was scary, and it was necessary. I'm happy to report that Harold's heart surgery went "according to plan" and after a short stay in the hospital, he is home. I'm not gonna lie, this was hard. I listened to his heart and following the surgery, it sounds like lub dub, lub dub, lub dub rather than whoosh whoosh, whoosh whoosh, whoosh whoosh. We are looking forward to returning to Reflection. We'll be back on board when Harold can walk 30 minutes and be able to "hang on" and gets the Dr. permission. Initially we will need some extra hands on deck to help with sailing. Shoot us a message if you'd like to join us for a gentle sail on Lake Muskegon or Lake Michigan later this summer. Harold celebrating a week out of surgery with a…