Muggy & WArm

Today was supposed to be a sailing day but instead we waited for pumpout & for a tech to fix the fuel vent line that I cut off so I could see if the line was plugged again. It is all done now and I am glad.

Barometric pressure is falling and some CB’s are sliding along the occluded front stretching through southern IL,IN,OH. Bad weather tonight for sure.

No one on board is much inspired today. Too hot & muggy. We leave for tomorrow for about 5 days to PL.

Slow blogging

I have been experiencing slow blog access lately. It appears to be the ISP. We will remain active on the situation so please be patient. That applies to myself also!

Tree Problems removed

Today at 0900 Levitz showed up to tackle the trees that needed to be cut down.  One hickory was leaning at a pretty good angle towards the house and the other large oak had the top twisted out of it last summer in a storm.  The hickory was about 1′ in diameter and 80′ tall and the oak was a 40′ trunk about 2′ in diameter.  In one hour they were finished and by agreement left the brush for us to clean up and this took me about an hour with my chainsaw.

What remains is splitting the wood for burning this winter.  The hickory was dead for a few years so it is dry and the oak smells like it is full of sap so it may not be ready this year.

We have lots more to split from the three ash trees that died over the past 3 years.  I just stacked it but never spit the wood as I did not have the energy to split it by hand and I do not have a splitter.  The neighbor said I could borrow his so I will start splitting this fall when the leaves are down and done.

The trees on my property are valuable assets because they are shade trees and have allowed us to forego airconditioning except on the hottest of days and even when we do it only takes an effective one ton unit to cool our relatively large house.

Social Security

I received my first SS check today.  Now I cannot wait until next month but I guess I’ll have to.  I guess this should have been a Tweet but it gets posted to Twitter as part of a WordPress gizmo.

Today we tried to catch up on everything ignored for the past 3 weeks.  A hickory tree is leaning ominously towards the N corner of the house and another Oak has the top twisted out.  I called a tree service and he said he would take them down for $500 if we take away the brush and clean up.  I said OK so he will do them tomorrow with his 70′ bucket truck.

We are going back to the boat tomorrow night so I can get to the Orthodontist for my Friday appointment.  We will not come back for a few days and want to attend the yacht club dinner Saturday.  Hopefully, I will feel OK after I get the tooth pulled.

Additional Cruise update

We had a great time and met many new people.  The days flew by and we wished we could stay in the cruising mode but reality intervened and we had to get back to Indiana to do necessary stuff.  In the process of returning we stopped by our summer post office and a lady hit our car.  This necessitated getting a quotation for repair so our trip back was delayed a few hours.  I write this from my nice desktop computer that has lots of bandwidth.

The crossing of Lake Michigan twice ranks as one of our greatest accomplishments of this boating season.  If the reader does not think this is significant just imagine being out of sight of land for 5 or more hours each way.  That is 5 hours of being exposed to whatever nature has to offer and you put your lives in the hands of the boat you are on.  I have new respect for those that cross the Atlantic of any other large body of water.

SAM is a much more confident sailor.  I know what it means to be on the deck of a sailboat in 25 knot winds trying to get the sail down.  We are both more relaxed at sea but continue to fear the unknown.  However, we are willing to tackle those fears and we expect to face them bravely.

Lake Michigan Cruise 2009

We had been planning the “big” cruise for sometime and we departed Saugatuck Harbor on 26 July bound for Ludington, MI – about 82 miles away.  This segment started in the nice sunshine with fair winds and we were under sail with SW winds going NNW.  Our flotilla – Moon Dance, Southern Cross and Inspiration – passed by Holland quite nicely but quickly encountered overcast skies, 22kt winds and confused 4- 6 waves.  As we were approaching Grand Haven after sailing in following seas for 4 hours the flotilla leader called it a day and we made for the harbor.  With the First Mate and the autopilot in the cockpit the Deck Monkey (me) struggled to tame the sails at the mast amid severly rolling and pitching deck.  My cardiovascular rate far exceeded the recommended rates by the time this was accomplished.  We finally secured transient slips at the Holiday Inn Grand Haven and spent the night.

On day two we made for Pentwater about 40 miles away and as I recall it was a reasonably pleasent sail for day 2.  We had slips at Snug Harbor – which is a pleasent private marina for $ 68/day.  The next morning we left at 0800 for the Lake Michigan crossing to Sturgeon Bay 82 miles away.  Fortunately the winds were fair and pushed us along at 7+ knots with engine running at idle.  I was afraid to shut the engine off as we were having trouble with the start battery.

On day three, we lead the flotilla all the way across but slowed down so they could catch up and we all entered the cut into Sturgeon Bay just after dark.  We had no accomodations so we dropped the anchor and it held first try for us (Inspiration).  Our shipmates were not so lucky and after a few hours trying to get a set they found moorings and attached to them.  First Mate and Myself took turns on watch all night because we were anchored very near the main channel.  We found out at first light that we were just at the edge of the green channel markers and that is why the traffic was so close to us.

Day four dawned and we crossed the river to CenterPointe Marina which had slips for us.  CenterPointe is a very nice upscale marina with floating piers and all the accommodations of a luxury hotel.  We enjoyed our two days here and First Mate was all over the town shopping, much later I joined her and we walked the Main Street.  We had a group meal during this time and it was much fun and comradry.

On day 6 we left CenterPointe bound for Fish Creek (pronounced locally as Fish Crick).  We arrived but there was no space at the Municipal Marina so we set the hook once again facing a 14 knot wind. Moon Dance was experiecing over temperature alarms and had to shutdown the engine and brought the boat in using the dingy.   After a bit we did find a spot on the wall at Alibi Marina so we weighed anchor and docked at Alibi where we spent day 6 & 7.  We had a lot of fun in this small quaint town when we attended a Fish Boil (White fish, potatoes, onions and spices boiled over an open fire).  SAM and I walked the town.  The rest of the group had bicycles so they ranged farther.  Moon Dance was repaired with a new impeller and removing all the seaweed collected in the strainer.

As day 8 dawned we had a choice to make – go to South Manitou Island via Deaths Door passage or go back to Sturgeon Bay.  The forcast was for rough water on the lake and we all did not relish a long passage across the lake with large seas and high winds.  The alternative was to motor back to Sturgeon Bay punching through 3 foot and more waves.  It was a rough day and the going was slow – 5 hours – but we made it back.  Later in the day the seas calmed and it was quite pleasent.

Day 9 was spent at the CenterPointe Marina and as day dawned on day 10 we started our passage across Lake Michigan bound for Ludington.  Our passage took 8 hours and we motored and used sails to best advantage to make Frankfort, MI.  We slipped at Jacobson Marina Resort and celebrated with an anniversery dinner at a bistro which was our most expensive meal of the trip ($100+).  SAM was happy with her meal gift.

Inspiration was the fist on the water of day 10 as we made for Luddington, MI.  We arrived at Harbor View Marina’s Wall in good time.  This was the cheapest slip fees of the journey at $58/day.  SAM & I ate onboard and retired early.  They next day saw our flotilla seperate as Inspiration remained behind so we could visit some old college buddies.  We met them on day 11 and had a great time reminiscing about TSC.  The two ladies got along very well too.  We might meet them in Saugatuck next week, schedules permitting.

Next day Inspiration was off to Pentwater or farther but we decided on Pentwater because of the wind and thought we would have better weather the next day.  Not. Nor the next – Not.  Nor the next.  On day 15 we headed out into stormy seas and headed for Saugatuck 66 miles away.  As the day progressed the waves were good at 1-2′ but the wind backed from SW to SSE and we had to motor from Grand Haven onward.  The day was very nice and lots of sun – we spent the day chasing flies with the swatter to counteract the boredom.  We made the harbor at Saugatuck at 2000 hrs local time and we all ready for bed by 2100hrs and were very tired.

Getting ready to cruise

We have been on the boat since last Thursday night after a quick trip home to get medicine refills.  Now we are preparing for a two week cruise and have to return home to get the heavy duty anchor and Sharon needs to bake some bread for a two week stay at sea.  We will return to PL tomorrow afternoon and I will get the anchor and come back either tomorrow night or in the morning early.  SAM will bring the other car so we have two here.  The proposed departure time will be 0800 Sunday morning.

I am experimenting with a integrated antenna from RealLabs out of California.  It works in this marina great.  The signal strength is banging the upper limits with a 92% link quality  This makes the internet here at the marina really usable.  The price is $169.00 and worth every penny.  I am picking up 13 stations from other areas of the city and this is amazing – about 1/2 mile away for the farthest reconizable station.  I can blog again before we shove off.

The sailing plan is to go up the Lake’s east coast to White Lake for a RON.  From there to Luddington the next day and then across the lake to Sturgeon Bay and into Door County.  This is in Sturgeon Bay and we will hop from marina to marina culmunating in re-crossing the lake to South Manitou Island east side for a few days in the undeveloped harbor of the state park.  From there we will hop down the coast again to our home marina.  Estimated trip time is two weeks.

Grandchildren

We picked up the three grandchildren last Sunday evening and took them to our home for the night.  The Monday we took them to the boat and had our first meal on board.  Well, not quite on board as we ate at the yacht club pavillion.  On the way up we stopped by the Kalamazoo Air Zoo and it was a lot of fun.  Everyone enjoyed the Space Ball and the Flight Simulator.

Tuesday morning we secured the ship and made our way to the open waters of Lake Michigan.  Seas were 1 – 3 ft and winds of 15 knots and beautiful sunshine.  It was a little cold and it did not take long for us to don our jackets.  Dave and Mitch went forward for a while and then headed below where they intermittantly poped their heads up and slept some.  Jake was in the cockpit reading.  The waves were just rough enough to cause the First Mate to become a little queasy so we went in at about 1500 hrs local time.  All in all itwas a great sailing day and I hope we generated some interest in  sailing.

Today we went to lookout sand dune and it was a windless just right temperature day.  We could see about 50 miles out into the lake and there were a few sailboats just sitting there on the flat seas with no wind.  The boys ran down the steps to the lake while we of little energy sat at the top of the hill.

We have take several photos and video of the various events and we are now back in PL where they are kayaking right now or maybe fishing.  Tomorrow we go down teh Pigeon Crick from Long Lake to Golden Lake takeout.

A day in Indiana

Arrived in NE IN last night and spent a full day doing “things”.  All these mundane tasks take time and a little time here and a little more there adds up to a Too Short day.  Here are some of the mundane things:

• Take two boat alternators to shope to be checked for Good or DOA – one good & one bad.
• Check models and prices of Weed Eaters – bought  Husqvarna @ $213 including tax.
• Use new weed whacker a little bit.
• Take car to have rear tire leak diagnosed.
• Go to True Value hardware to pick up #8 x 5/8″ & 1/2″ – return wrong screws and pick the 5/8 ” and BO the 1/2″.
• Do evening youth security patrol at church
• Pick up branches at church at noon
• Take short nap
• Make lots of calls on cell to friends & social security office.  Called guy to say I did not want his KZ650 bike.

That is all I can remember but there was more.  Tonight at church nephew Brandon shows up on a 750 Suzuki that looked like a GSRX & I spot him just as he was burning a patch on the rain covered asphalt driveway – bike wont last too long at this rate and it has 28K miles already.

Reading on the boat

Reading is one of our enjoyments on the boat. We have been going through novels at an alarming rate. I prefer the intrigue or sci-fi books. My latest readings areas follows:

• THE BRETHREN by John Grisham
• ACT OF TREASON by Vince Flynn
• DEAD WATCH by John Sandford
• LAST LIGHT by Andy McNab
• Several books by Tom Clancy

I am now down to just a few books left unread onboard and I may have to start reading the technical books again.  Diesels Made Simple and Shipboard Electrical Systems make for stimulating reading.    As you can see, I am getting desperate and even writing in my blogs again.

The internet here at the marina is now working again in a very slow fashion and there is insufficient bandwidth to meet the demand.  During the week it is marginally acceptable but the weekends are disaster and you might as well forget the marina internet and go downtown to the coffee shop.  We do this often.