OK, we were at the Irish Boat shop waiting for the delivery of our new prop shaft. Oh my sweet jesus! Sue says, "There's the FED EX truck!. Be still my pounding heart! Then the nice man (the !) comes out and says, "Mr. Welty (Hey, like I'm still a teacher!) I have good news and bad news."
gulp...
"prop shaft has in fact been delivered . . . but not the collar that it goes into!"
ARGGGGGGGGG!!!!!
One more day my johnny, one more day. Oh filet me a boat shop worker, one more day!
(sung to the tune of one more day my johnny...EVERYBODY NOW!)
Maybe some pics tomorrow of Dave the mechanic actually installing our new prop shaft. Or just me driving a rusty rod through Dave's head!
Stay tuned!
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Just another day on the hard!
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Sue: Where’s the other bag?
Scott: What do you mean?
Sue: The other bag with my clothes and calendar in it.
Scott: There was only the other garbage bag.
Sue: No, I threw the garbage away.
Scott: The garbage bag with the alternator belt in it; I threw it away. It was the garbage bag.
Sue: No, I threw the garbage bag away when you were in the bathroom. The ‘other bag’ had my clothes and calendar in it.
Stop the car.
Turn around.
Back to the Irish Boat Shop.
To the dumpster.
Sure enough, the white plastic bag (okay, usually used as a garbage bag) with my clothes and calendar in it is in the dumpster.
Garbage picker.
Another day in Charlevoix waiting for repairs.
Sue: Where’s the other bag?
Scott: What do you mean?
Sue: The other bag with my clothes and calendar in it.
Scott: There was only the other garbage bag.
Sue: No, I threw the garbage away.
Scott: The garbage bag with the alternator belt in it; I threw it away. It was the garbage bag.
Sue: No, I threw the garbage bag away when you were in the bathroom. The ‘other bag’ had my clothes and calendar in it.
Stop the car.
Turn around.
Back to the Irish Boat Shop.
To the dumpster.
Sure enough, the white plastic bag (okay, usually used as a garbage bag) with my clothes and calendar in it is in the dumpster.
Garbage picker.
Another day in Charlevoix waiting for repairs.
Time Crawls
Our days in Petoskey are getting longer and longer. We accomplish a few things but mostly we wait anxiously for our repairs to be completed. We've changed the oil and replaced the belt. Improved our bug screen and bought new zincs and some other odds and ends that we needed. Hopefully repairs are done on Tuesday and we can get away at first light on Wednesday. We've altered our plans to NOT go through the North Channel and thereby save over 100 miles. This coupled with several 60+ mile days and we should only be 2-3 days behind our original schedule by the time we reach Port Huron. Our planned anchorages are Mackinack Island, Presque Isle, Harrisburg, Harbor Beach, and then Port Huron. Check your charts! Each of these is a 60 - 70 mile jump and if weather is ok and crew willing we can skip one of these towns and put in one of our 24+ hour runs.
Pics below show the condo we are staying in. Thanks to my old college roommate, Little Scott and his wife Joan for their generosity.
Pics below show the condo we are staying in. Thanks to my old college roommate, Little Scott and his wife Joan for their generosity.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Comments
Hello to all. We are still in Charlevoix/Petoskey area for a few more days. Hope to get back in the water Tuesday and sail out Wednesday. We really appreciate comments you leave! If you'd rather actually correspond however, let's use our e-mail. That would be
weltysail@gmail.com SCOTT
sbudde@gmail.com SUE
I do receive your comments as notes in my e-mail but cannot reply from there.
As to the bent shaft that Brian referred to, I believe it has always been bent. I think that when I bought it it was bent but the cutless bearing was tight and not much vibration. As that bearing wore vibrations began to increase and this is now a self destroying process. Also, the fact that thet engine was seriously out of alignment probably meant that they never aligned it in the water. Boats take on a different shape when they are in the water compared to what they are on the hard. So this was a pretty well disguised problem that took a while to really show itself. All will be well soon!
weltysail@gmail.com SCOTT
sbudde@gmail.com SUE
I do receive your comments as notes in my e-mail but cannot reply from there.
As to the bent shaft that Brian referred to, I believe it has always been bent. I think that when I bought it it was bent but the cutless bearing was tight and not much vibration. As that bearing wore vibrations began to increase and this is now a self destroying process. Also, the fact that thet engine was seriously out of alignment probably meant that they never aligned it in the water. Boats take on a different shape when they are in the water compared to what they are on the hard. So this was a pretty well disguised problem that took a while to really show itself. All will be well soon!
Thursday, June 23, 2005
A week in Charlevoix/Petoskey
As the picture below shows, we are stalled for a few days while a new shaft is being fabricated for Enee. This will make our long motors more pleasant and the annoying and damaging vibrations will go away. We'll use our time to finish up some projects that didn't get done before we left and enjoy staying in my old College roomates condo in Petoskey. THAT sure came in handy!
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
The long and the short shaft of it...
Good news and bad news from Charlevoix: Good news: The boat can be fixed, realigned, and so forth. The bad news is that the prop shaft is bent which is the ultimate cause of the vibrations in the first place. New shaft will take a week.
That's right a WEEK!
Now the challenge to the trip is to not have Scott's head explode during the coming week.
Stay tuned for more!
That's right a WEEK!
Now the challenge to the trip is to not have Scott's head explode during the coming week.
Stay tuned for more!
Monday, June 20, 2005
Leland to Charlevoix
Just a quick note...we had one of those GREAT sails today from Leland to Charlevoix. Light wind when we started (0600 of course!) then it picked up from the south so we could sail nearly a beam reach all the way to Charlevoix. 5-5.5 knots the whole way. What joy. We are currently anchored (although I haven't looked recently!) in Round Lake which is downtown Charlevoix. When in Charlevoix be sure to visit
Woolly Bugger
204 Bridge Street
Friendly people and internet access. Say hi to Noel!
Tomorrow...what's with the prop shaft. STAY TUNED!
Scott & Sue...over and OUT
Woolly Bugger
204 Bridge Street
Friendly people and internet access. Say hi to Noel!
Tomorrow...what's with the prop shaft. STAY TUNED!
Scott & Sue...over and OUT
Visit Us
Well, it's so much fun to have company. While in White Lake, Barry and Sherry came by to visit and take us out to dinner at Scales next door to the Crosswinds Marina. Great food and great company.
Yes we were still in the harbor when Jim Zellar and his daughter Mary stopped by to say hi. Jim, who lives in Holland, MI, has been following our adventures on the blog. What fun to have someone seek us out for a visit. Hope more bloggers do the same.
Yes we were still in the harbor when Jim Zellar and his daughter Mary stopped by to say hi. Jim, who lives in Holland, MI, has been following our adventures on the blog. What fun to have someone seek us out for a visit. Hope more bloggers do the same.
White Lake to Leland (posted from Charlevoix)
We finally escape White Lake and the nasty north winds.
On Friday afternoon 6/17 we left the marina at the far end of White Lake and anchored nearer the channel to Lake Michigan. (Anchorage 43 22.85 by 86 26) On the charts this is in Indian Bay. A very nice night only ruined by the Cubs. The satellite radio is turning out to be a curse only worsened by having to listen to the Yankee broadcasters! Hey, learn the English language for Newton’s sake!
At 0600 we left the pier head at White Lake. We need to make up for some lost days and a through the night passage taking us to Leland MI would be just the thing. This may just be the weather for it too. We have some worries about vibration from the prop shaft but when I play my iPod and wear my stocking cap over my ears it seems better.
What a great, though chilly (freezing), day of sailing. The wind was at about 340-350 degrees and between 10 – 15 knots. The waves were only about 1 foot. So we spent many hours tacking between around 300 degrees and back to 20 or 30 degrees working our way to first little sable point and then on to, you guessed it, Big Sable point. I was anxious to make Big Sable as from there the land slides off to the north east and this fine reach I was having at 20-30 degrees would take us right up the coast. Of course upon finally reaching Big Sable around 10 pm the wind turned to the north east and then died. Oh well…that’s sailing in a nutshell. You want it? YOU CAN’T HAVE IT!
We settled in for a long night of motoring and taking turns sleeping. Being our first time going through the night without additional crew we made a bed of sorts in the cockpit so help would be right there if needed. A chilly, beautiful, and uneventful night from there. The clouds left and a crystal clear sky showed off a billion stars and the Milky Way. We are about 5 miles off shore and the only boat around. Creepy and wonderful all at once. I see a couple of Lake Michigan ore boats paralleling our course about another 5 miles out and that’s about it. Some coffee, a cigar and just enjoy being in it. Around 0230 we decided to make for Frankfort rather than try to stretch our remaining fuel all the way to Leland.
We arrive at Frankfort at 0500 and drop anchor beside the seawall. Gas dock isn’t going to be open yet anyway and we could use naps and a big breakfast. Yea! Having accomplished those two tasks we chugged into the gas dock around 0800 and filled ‘er up! Now we can hope for some more wind and make our way the last 30 miles to Leland. Now, which point are we heading for?
We had a very slight south wind but not enough to even make 2.5 knots going wing and wing. So, back to the little engine. Now we’ve been on it for well over 24 hours with 1-2 hour naps. The engine noise and and flies were getting just a little tedious. This is old ground for us as well so we fell into the “are we there yet” mode. Finally made Leland at 4:30 and took a slip. That’s 34.5 hours with short stopover in Frankfort for fuel. Good to know we can make long runs when necessary and make up for lost time.
One reason that Leland was almost planned stop for us was the existence of a cyber café so we could catch up on e-mail and post this very blog. Denied! For some reason our “configuration” was wrong for their signal. Bonus…no cell phone signal in town either.
We both agree that there is no point worrying about the engine vibration. We had better get it looked at by someone with training. (I only read about how to do things and then give it a try!) We decide to head for Charlevoix where lives a very nice yard called Irish Boat Shop. We’re hoping they can take a look. Best case, they realign the engine with the boat in the water. Worse case, they have to haul us out and replace the cutless bearing and maybe the stern bearing and we lose a day. Worst case, the have to haul us out and wait a week for parts! We’ll see.
Below are some random pictures. Enjoy and comment often!
On Friday afternoon 6/17 we left the marina at the far end of White Lake and anchored nearer the channel to Lake Michigan. (Anchorage 43 22.85 by 86 26) On the charts this is in Indian Bay. A very nice night only ruined by the Cubs. The satellite radio is turning out to be a curse only worsened by having to listen to the Yankee broadcasters! Hey, learn the English language for Newton’s sake!
At 0600 we left the pier head at White Lake. We need to make up for some lost days and a through the night passage taking us to Leland MI would be just the thing. This may just be the weather for it too. We have some worries about vibration from the prop shaft but when I play my iPod and wear my stocking cap over my ears it seems better.
What a great, though chilly (freezing), day of sailing. The wind was at about 340-350 degrees and between 10 – 15 knots. The waves were only about 1 foot. So we spent many hours tacking between around 300 degrees and back to 20 or 30 degrees working our way to first little sable point and then on to, you guessed it, Big Sable point. I was anxious to make Big Sable as from there the land slides off to the north east and this fine reach I was having at 20-30 degrees would take us right up the coast. Of course upon finally reaching Big Sable around 10 pm the wind turned to the north east and then died. Oh well…that’s sailing in a nutshell. You want it? YOU CAN’T HAVE IT!
We settled in for a long night of motoring and taking turns sleeping. Being our first time going through the night without additional crew we made a bed of sorts in the cockpit so help would be right there if needed. A chilly, beautiful, and uneventful night from there. The clouds left and a crystal clear sky showed off a billion stars and the Milky Way. We are about 5 miles off shore and the only boat around. Creepy and wonderful all at once. I see a couple of Lake Michigan ore boats paralleling our course about another 5 miles out and that’s about it. Some coffee, a cigar and just enjoy being in it. Around 0230 we decided to make for Frankfort rather than try to stretch our remaining fuel all the way to Leland.
We arrive at Frankfort at 0500 and drop anchor beside the seawall. Gas dock isn’t going to be open yet anyway and we could use naps and a big breakfast. Yea! Having accomplished those two tasks we chugged into the gas dock around 0800 and filled ‘er up! Now we can hope for some more wind and make our way the last 30 miles to Leland. Now, which point are we heading for?
We had a very slight south wind but not enough to even make 2.5 knots going wing and wing. So, back to the little engine. Now we’ve been on it for well over 24 hours with 1-2 hour naps. The engine noise and and flies were getting just a little tedious. This is old ground for us as well so we fell into the “are we there yet” mode. Finally made Leland at 4:30 and took a slip. That’s 34.5 hours with short stopover in Frankfort for fuel. Good to know we can make long runs when necessary and make up for lost time.
One reason that Leland was almost planned stop for us was the existence of a cyber café so we could catch up on e-mail and post this very blog. Denied! For some reason our “configuration” was wrong for their signal. Bonus…no cell phone signal in town either.
We both agree that there is no point worrying about the engine vibration. We had better get it looked at by someone with training. (I only read about how to do things and then give it a try!) We decide to head for Charlevoix where lives a very nice yard called Irish Boat Shop. We’re hoping they can take a look. Best case, they realign the engine with the boat in the water. Worse case, they have to haul us out and replace the cutless bearing and maybe the stern bearing and we lose a day. Worst case, the have to haul us out and wait a week for parts! We’ll see.
Below are some random pictures. Enjoy and comment often!
06-19-05
Scott and Sue made it to Leland, MI yesterday after traveling for 103 miles over a period of 34.5 hours. yowza! They are on the move again this morning heading to Charlevoix where it looks like they will have Enee pulled out to check out the vibrations of the engine. They should be there early this afternoon. So stay tuned and look out for more details from the sailors.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Leaving White Lake!
AND RETURNING! Yes, that's what we did today. We ventured out onto the big lake around noon and while it was pretty rolly it didn't seem too violent. We were able to motor sail almost due north into a NNW wind 10 - 20 knots. We went about ten miles trying to make Big Sable Point. The wind started piping up and the waves increased. We hiked out on a starboard tack and prepared to make another north run to clear the point. This time though with more wind and waves we could only steer 30 degrees. Well, that just makes a really long day to make it to one more town. We were hoping to clear the point and then fall off into Pentwater. It seems this north wind is never going to stop so we might as well charge into it and make whatever progress we can.
At this point Sue checked the packing gland (you know, she never used to do this before I repacked it.) for the prop shaft and it was spewing water in a rather alarming way. The engine had developed a nasty vibration and now it had rattled my packing loose. I tried tightening the packing nut but it would just start spraying again after a short time. We knew there was a lift back at White Hall and we were probably not going to make Big Sable point in the next 6 hours so we decided to turn down wind and head back to our slip in White Lake at the Crosswinds Marina.
It sure was a lovely sail back! Too bad it was in the wrong direction! Upon acquiring a slip I took the shaft coupling apart. It's a question of whether the engine-shaft alignment is off or the shaft itself is bent or running out of true for some reason. To me it looked like the two plates of the coupling were NOT parallel as they should be. So I raised the front end of the engine on its mounts until they were more parallel. I also put another piece of packing in the packing nut. This is fun when you are in the water because when you take the nut off to re-pack the LAKE COMES IN! Actually not all that fast but don't ask for Sue's opinion on this operation.
Tomorrow is north winds 10-20. Surprise! I think we'll use the morning to check some other systems and maybe have a real marine mechanic come look at the work I've done (of course if he laughs at what he sees I'll say, "Oh THAT work was done by my friend Larry back in Chicago!)Friday evening the winds are supposed to finally back down. Maybe then we can make our long trek north. The good news is nothing ruins this trip. We expect nothing and are glad to get it! YARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG
Gracie peed in our bed. Nice day.
At this point Sue checked the packing gland (you know, she never used to do this before I repacked it.) for the prop shaft and it was spewing water in a rather alarming way. The engine had developed a nasty vibration and now it had rattled my packing loose. I tried tightening the packing nut but it would just start spraying again after a short time. We knew there was a lift back at White Hall and we were probably not going to make Big Sable point in the next 6 hours so we decided to turn down wind and head back to our slip in White Lake at the Crosswinds Marina.
It sure was a lovely sail back! Too bad it was in the wrong direction! Upon acquiring a slip I took the shaft coupling apart. It's a question of whether the engine-shaft alignment is off or the shaft itself is bent or running out of true for some reason. To me it looked like the two plates of the coupling were NOT parallel as they should be. So I raised the front end of the engine on its mounts until they were more parallel. I also put another piece of packing in the packing nut. This is fun when you are in the water because when you take the nut off to re-pack the LAKE COMES IN! Actually not all that fast but don't ask for Sue's opinion on this operation.
Tomorrow is north winds 10-20. Surprise! I think we'll use the morning to check some other systems and maybe have a real marine mechanic come look at the work I've done (of course if he laughs at what he sees I'll say, "Oh THAT work was done by my friend Larry back in Chicago!)Friday evening the winds are supposed to finally back down. Maybe then we can make our long trek north. The good news is nothing ruins this trip. We expect nothing and are glad to get it! YARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG
Gracie peed in our bed. Nice day.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Weathered into White Hall
Well, it now looks like I’ve retired and moved to White Hall Michigan! I guess with a couple of faux palm trees and some Jimmy Buffet music I could pretend I’ve retired to the islands. Hmm…that might be a tough sell come December.
The weather here has fallen into a pattern of N-NW winds 20-25 kts, waves 3-5 feet, small craft advisory for Wednesday and probably the same on Thursday. If you look at the chart you’ll see that from White Lake you need to sail NW to get around the points (Big Sable and Little Sable). As anxious as we are to be on the go there is really no point in sticking Enee’s prow into 5 foot waves while maybe maintaining a speed of 2-3 knots. Gracie agrees! This is also tough on the entire rig.
So, our overall goal is around 30 miles per day. Statistics being what they are we realize that averaging 30 a day doesn’t mean accomplishing 30 miles every single day. Right now the wind is expected to shift to the NE on Friday and pipe down to 10-15 knots. If that is true it would be perfect for making a long run. Assuming we want to get back to our average then on Friday we’d want to make a 120 mile run. That would be a 24 hour sail and would take us to Leland. So, that’s our current plan. We have a couple of days to read, write, work on boat projects, laundry and so forth. We are excited about trying a 24 hour sail for the two of us. We think leaving White Lake around noon would be good with each of us taking turns sleeping during the daytime so that both of us can be awake for the through the night hunk of the trip. Leland is an excellent goal. We like that little town and there is a food store for provisioning.
The weather here has fallen into a pattern of N-NW winds 20-25 kts, waves 3-5 feet, small craft advisory for Wednesday and probably the same on Thursday. If you look at the chart you’ll see that from White Lake you need to sail NW to get around the points (Big Sable and Little Sable). As anxious as we are to be on the go there is really no point in sticking Enee’s prow into 5 foot waves while maybe maintaining a speed of 2-3 knots. Gracie agrees! This is also tough on the entire rig.
So, our overall goal is around 30 miles per day. Statistics being what they are we realize that averaging 30 a day doesn’t mean accomplishing 30 miles every single day. Right now the wind is expected to shift to the NE on Friday and pipe down to 10-15 knots. If that is true it would be perfect for making a long run. Assuming we want to get back to our average then on Friday we’d want to make a 120 mile run. That would be a 24 hour sail and would take us to Leland. So, that’s our current plan. We have a couple of days to read, write, work on boat projects, laundry and so forth. We are excited about trying a 24 hour sail for the two of us. We think leaving White Lake around noon would be good with each of us taking turns sleeping during the daytime so that both of us can be awake for the through the night hunk of the trip. Leland is an excellent goal. We like that little town and there is a food store for provisioning.
Quest for the internet
We pulled into the Crosswinds Marina in White Lake. As we purchased some diesel and arranged for a slip, I asked the young lady there if there was a WiFi café anywhere nearby in Whitehall. She said she didn’t know of any. OK. So, we went exploring with the laptop backpack which Sue had apparently packed with an anchor attached to an anvil! We knew from a brochure we had been given that if we didn’t find any WiFi connection in town that the local Library had computers and internet access. I asked a girl at the ice cream place where the library was. She says, “Oh it’s easy. You can just follow the bike path down there and it ends right at the library.” Great. How far? She says about ¾ of a mile. So we’re off to find the computers at the library. It was a lovely path but at some point I had the feeling that we had already walked way more than ¾ of a mile. Now we were totally out in the country! How could there be a library out here. We decided that we must have missed it and turned around. Right then some people on bikes came up behind us. I asked them if it was true that there was a library at the end of this path and they said, yes, and it’s not that much further.
So, we pressed on. If we had walked a foot we had probably walked 3 miles!
It was significantly further…but there was no stopping us now even though gravity in this region is apparently stronger than what I am used to causing the bag to pull really hard on my shoulders. Then…yes! yes! through the trees…THE LIBRARY.
Remember the scene in “Vacation” with Chevy Chase when they finally get to Wally World and the pretend moose is saying, “We’re sorry, Wally World is closed”. OK. Right in front of the doors to the library was a sign reading:
Library Closed for staff training.
I am not making this up! Life without a car is so damn interesting I can hardly stand it!
There was nothing for it but to trudge back to town. We went a slightly different way looking for a café or something with WiFi but no luck. Our quest now was focused on finding a cheeseburger and a beer. We did that all the way back to our marina at a place next door called Scales. Good food.
On our way back to the boat we thought maybe the harbor master office would have a computer but there really is no office here. I then noticed an unusual looking antenna on the roof of this building that seemed to be aimed generally out toward the boats in the marina. Could it be…
Back at the boat I switched on the computer and, you guessed it, there is WiFi right in the harbor! Apparently the young lady I first encountered either didn’t know her own harbor was hot or thought I meant is there any place ELSE that has WiFi! Oh well, there was our work out for the day.
So, we pressed on. If we had walked a foot we had probably walked 3 miles!
It was significantly further…but there was no stopping us now even though gravity in this region is apparently stronger than what I am used to causing the bag to pull really hard on my shoulders. Then…yes! yes! through the trees…THE LIBRARY.
Remember the scene in “Vacation” with Chevy Chase when they finally get to Wally World and the pretend moose is saying, “We’re sorry, Wally World is closed”. OK. Right in front of the doors to the library was a sign reading:
Library Closed for staff training.
I am not making this up! Life without a car is so damn interesting I can hardly stand it!
There was nothing for it but to trudge back to town. We went a slightly different way looking for a café or something with WiFi but no luck. Our quest now was focused on finding a cheeseburger and a beer. We did that all the way back to our marina at a place next door called Scales. Good food.
On our way back to the boat we thought maybe the harbor master office would have a computer but there really is no office here. I then noticed an unusual looking antenna on the roof of this building that seemed to be aimed generally out toward the boats in the marina. Could it be…
Back at the boat I switched on the computer and, you guessed it, there is WiFi right in the harbor! Apparently the young lady I first encountered either didn’t know her own harbor was hot or thought I meant is there any place ELSE that has WiFi! Oh well, there was our work out for the day.
Weathered into White Hall…
Well, it now looks like I’ve retired and moved to White Hall Michigan! I guess with a couple of faux palm trees and some Jimmy Buffet music I could pretend I’ve retired to the islands. Hmm…that might be a tough sell come December.
The weather here has fallen into a pattern of N-NW winds 20-25 kts, waves 3-5 feet, small craft advisory for Wednesday and probably the same on Thursday. If you look at the chart you’ll see that from White Lake you need to sail NW to get around the points (Big Sable and Little Sable). As anxious as we are to be on the go there is really no point in sticking Enee’s prow into 5 foot waves while maybe maintaining a speed of 2-3 knots. Gracie agrees! This is also tough on the entire rig.
So, our overall goal is around 30 miles per day. Statistics being what they are we realize that averaging 30 a day doesn’t mean accomplishing 30 miles every single day. Right now the wind is expected to shift to the NE on Friday and pipe down to 10-15 knots. If that is true it would be perfect for making a long run. Assuming we want to get back to our average then on Friday we’d want to make a 120 mile run. That would be a 24 hour sail and would take us to Leland. So, that’s our current plan. We have a couple of days to read, write, work on boat projects, laundry and so forth. We are excited about trying a 24 hour sail for the two of us. We think leaving White Lake around noon would be good with each of us taking turns sleeping during the daytime so that both of us can be awake for the through the night hunk of the trip. Leland is an excellent goal. We like that little town and there is a food store for provisioning.
The weather here has fallen into a pattern of N-NW winds 20-25 kts, waves 3-5 feet, small craft advisory for Wednesday and probably the same on Thursday. If you look at the chart you’ll see that from White Lake you need to sail NW to get around the points (Big Sable and Little Sable). As anxious as we are to be on the go there is really no point in sticking Enee’s prow into 5 foot waves while maybe maintaining a speed of 2-3 knots. Gracie agrees! This is also tough on the entire rig.
So, our overall goal is around 30 miles per day. Statistics being what they are we realize that averaging 30 a day doesn’t mean accomplishing 30 miles every single day. Right now the wind is expected to shift to the NE on Friday and pipe down to 10-15 knots. If that is true it would be perfect for making a long run. Assuming we want to get back to our average then on Friday we’d want to make a 120 mile run. That would be a 24 hour sail and would take us to Leland. So, that’s our current plan. We have a couple of days to read, write, work on boat projects, laundry and so forth. We are excited about trying a 24 hour sail for the two of us. We think leaving White Lake around noon would be good with each of us taking turns sleeping during the daytime so that both of us can be awake for the through the night hunk of the trip. Leland is an excellent goal. We like that little town and there is a food store for provisioning.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Safe and Sound in White Lake
This first blog entry comes to you from White Hall Michigan. No, not the Virgin Islands just yet. Looks like we might be weathered in here for a day, maybe two as Hurricane whoever is spilling her (or his) nastiness upon the Great Lakes. Predictions for today are heavy south winds and storms and tomorrow is only worse with 25 -30 knots predicted from the North West which we all know means out of the due north! That’s ok. We’ve never been to White Hall and since this trip is pretty open ended a day or two anywhere is ok. We are pretty good heavy weather sailors as we’ve been caught out in some stink more than once but we don’t go looking for trouble!
This will give us a chance to take care of some unfinished business that cannot be accomplished so easily at sea. We have a hatch screen project to complete, this blog to update, some lockers need final (and continuous) organization. We left town without slide film and without extra propane for the grill so those omissions can be corrected.
So only two days but so far…
Enee is performing well. We sailed out of Burnham at 0530 on Sunday with a very pleasant south wind. This took us about half way across the lake when it began to poop out. We then motor-sailed toward South Haven. After listening to the weather we decided to curve north and change our destination to Lake Macatawa. We were essentially “across the lake” about 15 miles off shore. Might as well get some north while the getting is good.
We chugged into Lake Macatawa around 2300 and put the anchor down just north of the entry way in front of a little beach. We’ve anchored there before and it is just fine. (Anchorage is at 46 42.63 N by 86 11.8 W) That’s about 90 miles for a start. Not bad!
On Monday we slept in a little. Why not? We were (and are) still recovering from all the business of getting ready to go! We got going around 0900. The lake was choppy with (of course) a north wind. We tried to motor into it with the main up but the waves kept knocking our speed down to less than 4 knots. We tried pure sailing and tacking and although we were making nice 90 degree turns the speed we had did not warrant tacking back and forth all day. Finally with a little wind shift to the west and with full main and a little jib out we could keep pressure on the sails, the jib kept the nose down and relieved the hobby horsing and our speed went from 4 knots to 5.8! Some form of motor sailing was the rule for the rest of the day. While we could have pressed on further, we decided to get a look at White Lake. So around 1800 we pulled into White Lake. We wanted to anchor up in the north west corner called Indian Bay but the wind was south so we dropped the hook on the southern shore behind the rest of the sailboats from the yacht club. (Anchorage is at 43 22.02 by 86 24.29)
Many pictures below with their captions. Thanks to all who came to the party and especially thanks to all our dock friends who got stuck with our left over mess. Sorry Dave, only room for one case of Old Style! The knife is great! I already used it to cut a jammed reefing line. Who tied that granny knot? Looks like the lashings will have to continue until order is restored!
This will give us a chance to take care of some unfinished business that cannot be accomplished so easily at sea. We have a hatch screen project to complete, this blog to update, some lockers need final (and continuous) organization. We left town without slide film and without extra propane for the grill so those omissions can be corrected.
So only two days but so far…
Enee is performing well. We sailed out of Burnham at 0530 on Sunday with a very pleasant south wind. This took us about half way across the lake when it began to poop out. We then motor-sailed toward South Haven. After listening to the weather we decided to curve north and change our destination to Lake Macatawa. We were essentially “across the lake” about 15 miles off shore. Might as well get some north while the getting is good.
We chugged into Lake Macatawa around 2300 and put the anchor down just north of the entry way in front of a little beach. We’ve anchored there before and it is just fine. (Anchorage is at 46 42.63 N by 86 11.8 W) That’s about 90 miles for a start. Not bad!
On Monday we slept in a little. Why not? We were (and are) still recovering from all the business of getting ready to go! We got going around 0900. The lake was choppy with (of course) a north wind. We tried to motor into it with the main up but the waves kept knocking our speed down to less than 4 knots. We tried pure sailing and tacking and although we were making nice 90 degree turns the speed we had did not warrant tacking back and forth all day. Finally with a little wind shift to the west and with full main and a little jib out we could keep pressure on the sails, the jib kept the nose down and relieved the hobby horsing and our speed went from 4 knots to 5.8! Some form of motor sailing was the rule for the rest of the day. While we could have pressed on further, we decided to get a look at White Lake. So around 1800 we pulled into White Lake. We wanted to anchor up in the north west corner called Indian Bay but the wind was south so we dropped the hook on the southern shore behind the rest of the sailboats from the yacht club. (Anchorage is at 43 22.02 by 86 24.29)
Many pictures below with their captions. Thanks to all who came to the party and especially thanks to all our dock friends who got stuck with our left over mess. Sorry Dave, only room for one case of Old Style! The knife is great! I already used it to cut a jammed reefing line. Who tied that granny knot? Looks like the lashings will have to continue until order is restored!
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