We were in pretty good shape by noon of Thursday the 16th, but there was a strong northerly blowing with a significant accompanying sea.  Since northeast was the direction we were headed, it would have been a tough beat to windward, so we decided to delay our departure awhile.

     By 1500, the wind had decreased quite a bit, so we decided to leave.  We had pretty good wind for about an hour or so, and then it died.  We struggled on through the night, making it to about Rawley Point by midnight.  Then, the wind picked up nicely to 10 knots or so out of the northwest, and we made good progress sailing close-hauled up the west shore of Lake Michigan.

     I had the midnight to 0400 watch, while Donna slept.  She was sleeping well enough that I let her sleep a bit longer, waiting for the sun to come up as I hoped it would make things a bit warmer for her.  Incidentally, it was interesting to watch dawn approach.  It actually starts getting light in the northeast at about 0200.  In fact, there was a little light in the north all night long, which I suspect is due to our latitude and the fact that we were less than a week from the summer solstice.

     At about 0500, the wind picked up out of the north and very quickly built to about 20-25 knots.  Just as quickly, Donna was up and we put two reefs in the mainsail, furled the jib, and put the staysail up.  A very lumpy sea quickly built.  The forecast was for the same to continue all day.  At the time we were eight miles east of Kewaunee, Wisconsin.  We decided that, rather than beat ourselves up trying to go into those seas, we would go into Kewaunee to get some rest.  We arrived there at about 0800, docked at the Inner Harbor Marina, and went to sleep until 1400.  We then got up, did boat chores, showered, and went into town.  We had dinner at The Cork, a favorite restaurant of ours.  Good meals, well prepared, and excellent service.

     We had a good night of sleep and then arose early, prepped the boat, and left the dock and basin with the engine off and under mainsail alone in light winds.  As we left the Kewaunee harbor entry we set the jib and staysail.  Once we passed through the Kewaunee sport-fishing fleet, which has been catching lots of salmon by the way, we rigged our Monitor wind vane steering system.  We have been using this combination all day, making 3-5 knots.  At this time we are within sight of the Frankfort, Michigan area shore.  The wind is supposed to go east and then southeast tonight, so we should be able to tack and then head up the Manitou Passage as night passes.  This is a pretty ideal situation.

Sunset off Two Rivers, Wisconsin in Light Air

Early Morning, Kewaunee, Wisconsin

Ocean Explorer News - June 23 2005, 1730 CDST - Wingfield Basin, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario

     Donna and I are currently sitting out a blow in a small natural harbor on the Bruce Peninsula known as Wingfield Basin.  So, with a little time on our hands, I thought I would bring you up to date.

     It had been one of our goals to sail non-stop from Manitowoc to Tobermory, Ontario at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula.  Well, that didn't work out, having stopped in Kewaunee, barely a stone's throw from Manitowoc.  But, we did make it non-stop from Kewaunee.  As you know, we left Kewaunee on the morning of Saturday, June 18. We arrived in Tobermory in the late afternoon of Tuesday, June 21.  Our other goal was to make this trip without starting the engine except to get in and out of harbors.  We did pretty well on that one until 24 hours prior to our arrival in Tobermory at which time the wind died and stayed dead with no reasonable hope of an early revival.  After drifting for several hours, we finally gave in to reason and motored from south of DeTour, Michigan to Tobermorey.  As usual, Donna was up to the challenge (or maybe has just given up on me) and went along with the whole thing.

     We developed a watch schedule that worked out very well.  Donna gets along on relatively little sleep and has trouble napping, so she slept from midnight to 5 AM.  I need more sleep and, as most of you know, have cultivated my ability to nap into an art form.  Thus, I usually slept from 8 PM to midnight, and then caught naps during the day.  We actually settled into this and arrived in Tobermory in reasonably good shape, though it did feel good to sleep through the entire night when the opportunity finally presented.

     A couple of years ago I lost control of myself and paid a lot of money for Tilley hats for Donna and me.  Two days ago, while in the middle of a thunderstorm on Lake Huron, I went on deck to remove the vane from our windvane steering system.  I was wearing my Tilley, but did not have the patented chinstrap in place.  Just as I removed the vane from the unit, a gust came along and blew my hat into the drink.  My first reaction was "Son of a buck!  There goes a lot of money down the drain!"  But then I remembered that the darned things float.  I called Donna up and we turned the boat around and managed to retrieve it.  Maybe they are worth the money after all.  If nothing else, it was a good man overboard drill.

     We spent yesterday morning in Tobermory doing laundry, grocery shopping, and just looking about.  We left Tobermory at about noon and sailed for Wingfield Basin in which we are presently located.  We spent the night here, and left at about noon today for Lion's Head.  It was blowing pretty hard and we had to travel almost dead into the wind and waves.  We decided to turn around, re-anchor back in Wingfield Basin, and wait for better weather.  Heck, we are out to enjoy ourselves, not beat ourselves up.  We are quite happy that we turned around as it is just howling out there right now.  It would have been an ugly trip to continue.  The scenery around here helps; 300-400 foot cliffs and lots of evergreens surround us.

     We have had one disturbing development.  When we have the engine running and put any significant load on it we get a definite, rapid, knocking noise.  It seems to come on when we accelerate from a stopped position or when we are going against a strong wind and sea.  We will have this looked into when the opportunity presents.

A Pretty Day in Tobermory

Waiting for Weather in Wingfield Basin