MUSKEGON September 19, 2008

This is one of my favorite pictures to date - The Sunset yesterday at White Lake!



We decided to get up early to cover many miles south. We awoke late at 8:30 and found the wind was from the south - where we were headed - and the waves we growing. When you measure a wave, start at the top and go down to the valley between the waves. Then divide that number by two . If you have a three foot wave, the bow goes up 6 feet and then down six feet. Most waves were not 3 feet but it felt like we were riding a bucking bronco. Also the distance covered does not cover the up and down only the forward! We decided to change plans. You can do that when you are retired!!

Shortly after 11 we arrived at Muskegon. We passed a couple sailboats going out, taking one look at us bouncing in and then turning around and going back into Lake Muskegon. Muskegon is a large, long lake. Tom booted up the GPS/Computer and found the state marina about halfway down the Lake on the south side. After we had tied up at the end of the "T" at the Hartshorn Marina, a staff member drove us to the the town at the end of the Lake. We did justice to the profits for West Marine and then walked to Super Walmart. We split the Shopping List. Tom took odds and ends and Debbie groceries. Very soon we called the Marina and were picked up. We voted this Marina the hospitality award. We asked to borrow bikes and they supplied trucks!

The channel markers guide us to the deeper parts of a lake or river. This one was unique in that the maker had poured cement on top of a group of rocks and then stuck a two-sided solar-run green sign on top. A fisherman felt he could catch his supper there. As we traversed Muskegon Lake, we negotiated around a Coast Guard cruiser, a carferry and many sailboats, motorboats and fishermen.

We created quite a bit of interest at the Marina and were asked questions and gave tours.

Before serving a "fresh" dinner, Tom and Debbie replaced the lines that lower and raise the motors. Capitan Tom did the technical work and the First Mate supplied the muscle. The two 9.9 4-stroke Yamaha motors are not light weight. We now have new lines but may need to replace the pulleys. Showers were justly earned!!

White Lake Sailboats September 18, 2008

We pulled out of Ludington Marina a safe distance behind a carferry. Another beautiful day! With two sails up, we clipped along at 7 knots. Our destination is White Lake, about 37 miles south. In the late morning, shortly after Brenda called from Colorado to see how we were doing, the wind began to drop and change from east to southeast to south. We had planned to use our spinnaker again but the wind change cancelled that idea. Eventually when we got down to 3 knots, Debbie started one motor and later Tom added the second one. We hoped to sail all of Lake Michigan as we know we will be motoring most of the time on the rivers.

As we drew close to the canal into White Lake, four sailboats greeted us. Two came close enough to be photographed.

As we entered the channel to White Lake, out sailed another catamaran. The Skipper popped his head up and said, "How many times do you think this happens?" He was right. We rarely see other sailboats moving this late in the summer. This is the first catamaran we have seen anywhere.

Although Tom was running out of bread, we decided not to sail to the end of White Lake to look for a grocery store in Whitehall. We can get bread tomorrow or he can eat crackers! We dropped anchor close to the White Lake Yacht Club, where Debbie remembers racing years ago in the Western Michigan Regatta. The Lake is about 3 miles long which would add 6 miles to our trip. As we dropped anchor, a Corsair (trimaran) sailed by. Sorry no picture. Debbie was tied up at the wheel.

Spagetti and Asparagus for dinner. Tom had two helpings! Said he did not want to have left overs. The chef immediately said that reason will not work a second time!

A full-tummied man and his luck lady enjoyed the sunset from the foredeck.

Running to Ludington September 17, 2008

We passed the Frankfort Lighthouse just after 9 a.m. and headed south to find warm tropical waters. The wind was light as we motored out into Lake Michigan. After a few hours we raised the main and jib and chugged along at 5 to 6 miles a hour. Many patches of sand dunes appeared along the shore line. The sky was robin's egg blue. The waves were almost nonexistent.

Since the wind was from the northwest and over our shoulders, we decided to raise the spinnaker. Up it went and immediately became an hour glass shape. Then it wrapped around the jib. The ropes on the cover wrapped around the bright yellow, purple and blue silk. It was a mess. We stowed all sails but the spinnaker. Many minutes later we had it untangled. This one piece of material is not going to win! We put it up again and this time it flew like a big balloon in front of our ship! The third try was magic - at last.

For many hours and 43 miles we sailed south along the Shore passed Arcadia, Portage, Manistee and finally arrived at Ludington with only the bight purple, blue and yellow sail leading the way. About dinner time we put the spinnaker back in the bag and motored in to the harbor.

We decided to stay at the Ludington Municipal Marina so that Debbie's friend Mary Jo could easily find us. After a tour of Catrina, the trio hiked over to the House of Flavors and had a tasty pot pie, fajita salad and ceasar salad. We deserved some sweet after such a testing day so we both had dessert - ice cream! Hopefully, tomorrow will be a less exciting day!

Getting Ready to Sail September 16, 2008

Tom and Debbie arrived back at Crystal Lake about 10 pm Tuesday. Wednesday would be a very busy day if we really wanted to set sail south on Thursday!

Tom moved Catrina to the dock and organized the aft storage - the items used when sailing. Debbie closed the cottage and put Perri, the summer transportation, to bed in the garage. Everything that we had not eaten or moved to Indiana with the truck-camper-macgregor got transferred to Catrina. To our surprise it actually fit!

We ran into friends Kathy and Wally while getting our last mail Pick Up at Frankfort Post Office. The post-ladies had noticed our catamaran in the harbor and asked about our plans. We are really heading south. At Glen's we turned in our bottles for cash and recycling. Another sign we are headed out. Debbie threw together some Jambalaya and beans for dinner but we were almost too tired to eat it. We took a stroll to the bath house and found that the toilet area was segregated but the showers weren't. We both have very clean backs!

Off our bow is the Frankfort Library while astern is Elberta. A very strong wind is rocking the boat. We added more dock lines as the wind howled. By morning this disturbance should have passed. We are ready to leave tomorrow. Let's hope the weather cooperates.

Thanks Frankfort Library for this free internet access. We wish you all a good night as we are rocked to sleep on our new home on water!

September 10, 2008 and a While Thereafter

Wednesday is our day to go through everything on the boat and make sure it is ready to begin our trip south. Then we are going to take 5 or 6 days away from sailing so that we can move our other vehicles south to the Louisville Area. We call this Leap Frogging Toys. We also look forward to seeing some of our offspring along the way.

It is never too windy for a laugh! Be back soon.

Housekeeping September 9, 2008

Tom as up early and took Catrina off the hook (for land lovers, he pulled the anchor), and moved her to a dock slip in Frankfort Harbor. We have a small hard bottom dingy on divits at the stern which makes it very easy to anchor Catrina away from docks. We just pull the starter line on the motor and putt around the Harbor or to shore!

Today Tom completed lots of projects. He designed and built bow and stern mast holders to be used when we drop the mast to go under low bridges beginning at the Chicago Canal. Our mast is almost 50 feet high. Next he replaced the bow running light that shines red on one side and green on the other. Finally, he had Debbie hoist him up the mast to work on the Anchor Light. Now you might think something is a little "fishy" when you remember how small Debbie appears and how big Tom is. She had the help of an electric wench. Tom sat is a nylon type seat that was attached to a halyard (the line that raises the sail). At the foot of the mast the halyard was then run through two pulleys and around a self-tailing wench. When Tom was ready to ascend, Debbie put the electric wench into the self-tailing wench and pulled the trigger. Tom slowly went up which surprised both of us. When he got to the top, I am sure the view was beautiful and he was able to get the Anchor Light working by replacing the light bulb. When we are ready to take down the mast in Chicago, Tom gets to go up again and remove the radar and wind sensors. The real trick was for Tom to take the correct tools up with him so he could fix the problem. He had a purse like bag slung over his shoulder containing everything he might need.

I am sorry we don't have a picture of this. We were so busy we forgot the camera!

ALMOST HOME

Today, we left Charlevoix harbor through the draw bridge at 7:30 and were able to sail for about 2 hours at 7knots.  The wind slowly declined until we started motorsailing so we could make the 67 miles home to Frankfort late this evening.  We were able to motorsail with one engine and the wind we still had at about 6 kts.  There's just a gentle roll as we move along passing "Big Bear" a giant sand dune and state park (picture attached.)  

The other is of Deb working on her computer in the cabin.