A Week and A Lifetime Away

Sometimes, life is just better if you bring all your worldly belongings with you. So Sophie has ensconced herself on her bed from Alexandria at the foot of the forward cabin -- peering out into the boat and asking so why are we here?

My response is that we can go for long walks each morning, mid-day, and evening -- I can read books anytime I want -- take naps whenever -- and visit with good friends who are either sailors I've met on these wonderful waters or people I've known for longer.

After arriving last weekend, it has taken me almost all week to unpack the car and assemble things on the boat in such a way as to make sense. Now, it's a matter of cleaning up, getting the outboard on the dinghy to see that it's running correctly, and eventually actually starting the motors on Sonador (I'll have someone here with me when I do that since ms Sophie is startled by the slightest new sound, let alone the rumble of twin 240 horse diesels.)

My plans are still pretty much in flux, but I think beginning to come together. I'll spend all of June here in Charlevoix -- maybe venture onto the big lake, but really would be content with day sails on this smaller body of water. Then, with the weather and the boating gods in my favor, I'll take the boat around under the Mackinaw Bridge and over to Cheboygan on Lake Huron. Friends BD and Rick will venture with me across Lake Huron to Harbor Island and then into the North Channel for a week -- we will come back to Cheboygan. Probably repeat that with another set of friends, before I have to catch a plane to Sarasota to do the electrical walk thru with the new home at the end of July. Back here and then spend all of August in the North Channel before returning to Charlevoix where I will dock the boat and live aboard until it's either too cold or I'm just plain bored. Then down to Sarasota, rent a small furnished place until the new house is finished -- predicted for the end of November.

That's the plan. Now, those of you who boating know that plans are just that -- weather, mechanical issues, and other acts of the water gods can make the biggest mess of any plans.

But, I'm loving it -- into a pattern that is satisfying and rewarding and a lifetime away from the hustle and bustle of work.

More after the upcoming weekend -- it is supposed to rain and storm most of the time, so solitaire and another book!!!

Summer is HERE

I'm up North after a whirlwind spring - selling the home of my heart in Alexandria, buying a piece of land in Sarasota which will become my next home -- driving up and down the eastern part of the US -- once to Sarasota, and later from D.C. to Charlevoix MI.





It's chilly -- not quite cold -- but not yet warm enough to run around for long without a light fleece on. Tonight, a typical thunder and lightening storm, with a little rain and promises of sun tomorrow.





Sophie will get used to the life on Sonador, but right now she spends a lot of time curled up in her bed -- looking soulfully at me -- I really haven't taken to beating her, but you'd never guess. She has yet to discover the fresh waters of Lake Charlevoix -- it's warm next to the shore but the basic temperature is around 45. Brrrrr.





Haven't formulated plans for the summer yet. Need to be touch with all sorts of people -- what their sailing plans are, when we can meet up, when the weather will cooperate, and when the demands of a new home require that I show up in Sarasota for a personal visual inspection. There is NO WAY to get from most of the North Channel to an airport -- so challenges!





I'm LOVING life right now -- not missing the life that I have left behind, but I've been on such a roller-coaster ride this spring that I'm not certain all of my emotions have caught up with me. This is an ADVENTURE that needs to be taken one step at a time.





Look forward to posting pictures after Memorial Day picnic with Ric and BD on Lake Huron!

Getting Ready for Summer 2011

I know that it is only mid-April, but plans are coming along for another summer in the North Channel and Georgian Bay. With significant changes. Sophie -- a rambunctuous seventeen month old Airedale will be my boating companion this year -- little does she know what is in store for her. Chessie managed to make the trip home from up north, but very soon thereafter really started to fade -- turns out she had a mass in her liver and we had to say goodbye. Sophie has big shoes to fill -- and once she looses her puppy antics (in about five or six years) she'll be a delight to be around. The other significant change -- I'm leaving Alexandria after all these years and relocating my permanent residence to Sarasota, Florida -- house to be built this year. So, the summer on the boat is a break from the heat and an opportunity to just enjoy life as a homeless person.

The End of a GREAT Summer

Wednesday was, as predicted, a quiet day on the BIG LAKE, so Susan and I brought Sonador around to Charlevoix without incident -- even managed to time the bridge opening into Round Lake such that it only took ten minutes of idling in the channel. Then fueled up, and came over to Irish where I'll leave the boat for the winter.

Just to make it interesting the alarms on both engines started just after we left the fuel dock -- screaming that the alternators weren't working all the way (only a short distance, but the noise made it seem an eternity) to Irish. We were met by friends who dock here -- and by the manager of Irish who heard my plaintive call on channel 68 and came to around to greet me. Last saw him and his wife in Gore Bay, Ontario!

Have the rental car in hand, and now begin the joy of unloading all the STUFF from five months on the boat. This morning took five grocery bags full of canned goods to the local food bank -- not the tapenade but almost everything else. Now, need to start going thru all the storage areas and identifying that which must go home, that which must be tossed, and that which can stay. Sonador will have heated indoor storage this winter, so don't need to worry quite as much as when she is stored outside like last winter.

Hard to believe it's over -- but on Tuesday the 21st I'll throw Chessie and myself into the car early and with any luck be home late on Wednesday the 22nd. Then, start planning for next year.

Petoskey

Well, Michigan has obviously decided that winds and waves are the fall program (see later) We arrived without incident after a VERY smooth crossing from Mackinac Island -- and in record time for me, less than 5 hours.

BUT, when we had pulled into our slip the starboard engine alarms started going off. So, here we go again -- this time, after a frantic call to Irish Boat in Charlevoix which is twenty miles away, they sent a mechanic from their facility right across Little Traverse Bay -- and, viola, it was a simple connection between the alternator (which he described as "falling asleep") and the power on the boat -- even showed me what he did in case it happens again.

The afternoon and evening were spent visiting with one of Susan's friends who has a cottage on Walloon Lake -- back to the boat only to wake very early on Sunday to winds in low twenties from the north west (that means beam seas for trip to Charlevoix). Forecast is no better, both Monday (today) and Tuesday call for high winds (gusts to mid thirties) and waves (4-5')

Good friends are hard to come by, but Susan has some winners -- we are now happily ensconced in the cottage with Chessie and our hostess and her dog until Wednesday morning when we will make the trip. In the interim, good books and places to go.

Not the best end to a great summer, but NOT as dramatic as last year.

The Great Lakes ARE Big Waters

So, I played for a week in Cheboygan -- visiting with BD and Rick at their beautiful home on the shores of Lake Huron -- they hosted my GLCC friends for dinner and drinks. And, surprise, the GLCC group and I also partied in the evenings at the marina.

Then Susan came up, and with two straight days of gale force winds we just hunkered down. On the third day we took a road trip to Sturgeon Bay on Lake Michigan where we saw the effects of the winds and the crazies who kite surf in this stuff.

Next day was beautiful and calm, so we came over to Mackinac Island-- where we remain because of high winds -- including gales which managed to put this sail boat on the breakwater. Amazingly, no one was hurt and the boat still floats.

We hope to leave tomorrow for Petoskey -- Lake Michigan is still rolling today and we have both done that six plus hour journey in 5 foot seas on the beam. It ain't no fun.

Back to Cheboygan

As planned, we spent a quiet night in Joe Dollar Bay -- anchored just off of Yorma and Ann's cottage where we took a sauna, splashed in the sixty degree waters off their dock, and ate royally with good friends and lots of tall tales.

Next morning, we were off in a light fog for Beef Island -- because we were above 46.15N my chart plotter had NO detail, so I followed like an obedient child to make sure that I hit no rocks. Eventually the detail came back -- below that magical number which must be where the charts for Lake Superior begin. The anchorage behind Beef was lovely with sandy beaches and tromping across the small island to other shores -- saw deer and bear paw prints, but none of the critters themselves. Sunrise was spectacular.

Then motored onto Drummond Island, Michigan where I docked and waited to be cleared by Customs Officers who must come down from the Soo to check in boats at Drummond. About two hours, but Chessie was patient. Noticed a horrible smell -- rotten eggs -- so another battery problem had to be addressed (different battery) -- turned out it was BAD and really leaking acid. Thank goodness for good mechanics! It blew like stink all afternoon and evening -- everyone heading to Cheboygan went to bed thinking they'd wait til Friday to cross Lake Huron, but Thursday the forecast changed again and by noon on Thursday after my repairs I was putting some speed under my hull to try to catch up with the others. About half way across I passed Class Act (they were motor sailing) and bucking three footers on the bow I headed straight for Cheboygan.

USCG Mackinac showed up on radar, and then closing fast on the horizon -- since radar indicated a possible collison course, I called on the VHF -- they concurred with my assessment and offered to stand down (have evening meal in the process) and let me enter the channel to Cheboygan first. Nice guys and gals those Coasties.

Into Duncan Bay Boat Club, where all my buddies and the staff were ready to catch me. So, I'm here for a week before taking off with my friend Susan to cruise the northern shore of Huron and head on over toward Charlevoix after the Labor Day weekend.