{"id":564,"date":"2026-09-20T16:43:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/?p=564"},"modified":"2026-09-20T16:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:44:05","slug":"northport-to-leland-to-frankfort-to-ludington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/20\/northport-to-leland-to-frankfort-to-ludington\/","title":{"rendered":"Northport to Leland to Frankfort to Ludington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 increased. The predicted 1-2 foot waves were building to more like 3-4 feet and then occasionally really large and pushy. White caps surrounded us and fortunately, the wind and waves were mostly from a beneficial direction. We had hoped to get to South Manitou or even Frankfort but the weather had other plans. We decided to pull into Leland and take a slip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coming into Leland was exciting with big wind and wave action. The entrance is quite close to the beach and must be approached first from the west and then turn north just after the breakwater. It is quite shallow and narrow and either side are rocks and sand bars. Harold has nerves of steel and good charts and maneuvered us in to problem. We were glad to be off the big Lake and took a lovely walk around the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We discovered the Library, walked through fish town area, walked out to the public beach where Kite boarders were out there flying along the shore in the surf. We enjoyed strolling along the river on the new boardwalk and watching the water spill over the dam. The wind finally abated and the Lake laid down in the morning, so we left for Frankfort, arriving around 4ish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a lovely visit from our friends Charlie and Diana who were staying in the area, re-provisioned, and battened down the hatches for the upcoming… strong southerly winds. We know we set the anchor well about in the same place we waited out big winds before, and we left the anchor alarm on throughout the night as the wind picked up (30-35mph) with gusts. I got up to check things about every hour until 3am and then Harold took over checking at 4am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, at nearly 5am the anchor alarm went off and we jumped out of bed. Sure enough our anchor had dragged and we were dangerously close to the rocks and docks on the north shore of Betsie Lake. Talk about an adrenaline rush. Harold fired up the engine and we were keeping our place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I mention that at this time, the wind was really blowing and the rain was coming down in sheets and it was pitch black out! Of course, on calm days and nights nothing like this happens – thank goodness. Everything is more difficult to deal with in the dark and in the wet -especially if glasses are needed, and with the wind bearing down dead set on pushing us onto the rocks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am so thankful that I know how to lift and deploy the anchor. I put on my rain coat, life jacket, head lamp, shoes, got the headsets out and prepared to go do what needed to be done on deck. We decided to wait until there was enough light to see a little bit and to make sure we could find another good spot to anchor. So for an hour and a half, we waited keeping a sharp look out to keep off the anchor and the rocks. Harold did manage to drag the anchor back away from the docks giving us a little leeway. As soon as we could see across the water I set into action bringing up the anchor, the anchor buoy, disconnecting the bridle and finally lifting the anchor. We went out and further east just beyond the mooring ball field and dropped anchor. It set firmly and had plenty of room to swing. Even though the wind was starting to wind down, we set the anchor alarm and kept a sharp watch. I was soaked through and through – especially my shoes which felt like I had a small pond sloshing around inside. Harold made the best coffee ever, and as we gave thanks the nightmare was over, our heart rates came back to normal. Incidents like this leave their mark and we were both on edge throughout the day. We didn’t leave the boat.. Then the beautiful sunset awed us again and it was calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is always something to learn and those teaching moments often come at the most unexpected unpleasant times. I think we passed the test. No one was harmed, nothing broke, and we handled the situation well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three months have passed since we were in Ludington. We are in a slip waiting out rain and wind. This is probably the last stop before we get back to Muskegon. We are resting up. We spent Friday morning with friends hiking at Ludington State Park – the Lost Lake Trail and had a good lunch out at the House of Flavors. Now it’s raining lightly and will continue throughout the day with tomorrow promising heavier rain. We are planning to visit the Maritime Museum tomorrow, catch up on our blog and prepare to sail on Monday. It’s time to get back as fall is definitely in the air and the winds are becoming unpleasant. We both feel the urgency – not because of the calendar – but because of the changing seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our haul out date is October 1 so we have much to do to get Reflection ready for the winter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":583,"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions\/583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upon-reflection.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}