We laid over in Leland for the 4th. The town had a nice parade in the afternoon. Typical small town affair with old cars and the local band. The "Hairy" Cherry Queen made an appearance as well as the Leland Enjoyment Society. We would like to have joined if only we were able to stay longer...Darn. Had a good rest, did some organizing and turned the aft cabin back into a berth instead of a garage just in time for the arrival of our first official on board guests. Son Ben and Miss Amy joined us for the evening. They are on a whirlwind tour of Michigan highlights before heading back home to Jersey. They saw us off around 9am Tuesday. They are off to see family in Gaylord and Jo-burg while we are heading to Beaver Island for the next leg of the trip. After that we'll be sailing new territory never having gotten farther than Beaver Island in our old boat, Vacilando. She was an Albin Ballad 30 made in Sweden. Lovely and spry and extremely well built. We thank her for the many lessons learned aboard as she was quite forgiving of our inexperience while we learned to navigate our way through sailing. We hope She and her new crew, the Stevensons are happy with her purchase.
If you have never sailed or boated on the Great Lakes, one of the very unfortunate occurrences are the lake flies. If the winds are light, and they are today, thus the motor sailing, the flies descend upon you from seemingly nowhere. They love your ankles so we spend a good deal of the time with feet stretched out on the cockpit cushions manned with swatters. Not the worst way to spend a day I know, but they are quite the distraction. They not only take take full advantage of your lower extremities but also of their fallen comrades on whom they feast. I am very thankful I took the time to make a screen for the companion way opening, it at least impedes their progress into the lower portions for the boat. It is unclear to me how they survive so far off shore. We have even had them come aboard while crossing the lake to Milwaukee, a span of nearly 80 miles. As an added bonus today, the flies are using our vessel as their brothel, mating in mid air. We do take this as a challenge though and are getting pretty good at midair connections, ending pretty poorly for the entwined couple.
On a different note, we had an interesting phenomenon happen while on the Lake today. We could see our breath though the temps were comfortable enough to don swimwear. We surmise it is because the Lake water is still quite cold, the air unusally dry and we are giving off a humid gas... and no, we have not eaten beans recently...
The seas are pretty calm, barley 1-2 feet. Mostly swells coming to meet the port quarter aft. No freighters as yet. The Manitous and the Fox Islands are now behind us. Have a vague plan to stop at South Manitou on our way home the end of the month. We spent one long, windy, wet night at anchor there years ago and would like to give it another go with better ground equipment. Hopefully explore the Island too. 3:00pm
Update: 9:45 pm Some say that boating is 99 % boredom and 1 % sheer terror. Well, I would like to offer another calculation. Drop some of the boredom and add in a few percentage points for frustration! On approach to Beaver Island the winds picked up and we decided to sail the last hour. It was great! In short order we were easily doing 7 1/2 knots. Heeled at 20 degrees, more than I care for but it was exhilarating with the sun beating down, wind in our hair and the Beaver Ferry leaving the harbor. Rounded the point, past the green marker rolled the head sail, dropped the main and headed to the bay to anchor. It's about 5:30 pm.... Came into the wind which by now was easily 20 knots, dropped the anchor and of course it didn't hold in the grassy bottom. Jim went forward to engage the windlass and it wouldn't work. Several trips up and down from bow to anchor locker, tools employed and no resolution. Out with the manual winch handle and start crankin'. The sky had clouded over with the front moving through but at least no rain. With a bit of effort Jim raised the anchor hand over hand and we reset it with no problem. Nearly 2 hours had past since entering the little harbor. So tomorrow it's up with the anchor again by hand and off to the marina to investigate under better conditions. At least it's a good place get repairs done if needed. Many reliable boat mechanics here. All in all it could be worse. We actually made it past Muskegan without any mishaps. Background: in the last several years we never made it past Muskegan when heading north without incident... So, here we lie at anchor, winds have calmed and all is secure. Ducks pecking away at the hull. Our good friend Larry says, owning a boat gives you opportunities to fix it in exotic places. Beaver Island may not be too exotic but we aren't at work and it's not snowin'.... Sliante! ( Irish for cheers! )
Ben, Amy, Kathy and Jim at Leland Harbor
The approach to Beaver Island finally brought the NOAA predicted 20+ knots...
Great angle to see the heel
The Beaver Island Ferry leaving harbor as we enter
So glad that all is going so well.
ReplyDeleteFlies, yuck...
Was great to seen Ben and Amy.
Happy Sailing.
Pat