LUDINGTON TO STURGION BAY WISCONSIN

We got up this morning with the sun and were on our way to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin by 7 AM. The forecast was for winds from 10 to 15 from the South West and waves from 2 to 4 feet all the way across the lake. We had anticipated an average of 5 knots, which would have been about a 13 hour sail. When we got out on the lake, the winds started out from the southwest but quickly changed to the West and Northwest This meant a nice beam reach that resulted in a beautiful sail from 6 to 8 Knots almost all the way across. We set the autopilot, kicked back and enjoyed the ride. Our average speed kept increasing to the point where we were almost 3 hours ahead of schedule! There's nothing so peaceful yet exciting as the feeling you get when an 11 ton boat can travel hundreds of miles with nothing more than the wind and the only noise is the wind in the sails and the water rushing across the hull. Since we took a Northwest angle across the lake, we spent a lot of time near the middle. For several hours, there was nothing but blue water.  No land and only a few boats in sight.  The boats we did see were large freighters and tugs and we could see them coming for miles, thanks to our AIS system. The system allows us to see boats beyond our field of vision on our chart plotter with their name, size, course, destination and speed. They will also be able to see us as soon as we get our ID chip from the manufacturer.

As we got closer to the Wisconsin shore, the skies started to cloud up and the winds began to increase and switch to more out of the North. We decided to reef the genoa to about half it's size, but the wind continued to increase, along with the waves, and we eventually furled it completely. Still the winds kept increasing until we were getting some winds over 30 knots! The waves continued to build and were soon in the 6 foot or more category. The VHF was buzzing with a May Day from what sounded like a good sized power boat that was sinking about 12 degrees south of us. It was taking on water fast and the people wound up in the water before they were finally rescued. Several other "Pon Pons" were issued as the waves and winds increased. By this time, we decided we should have reefed the main too. Note to myself, "The best time to reef  is before you need to". We got the first reef in but the waves and wind blew us in the opposite direction and somehow fouled the dutchmen. Rather than break something, we decided to just drop the main completely and motor the last few miles to our destination. This was my chance to try out my new double safety harness. I clamped myself onto the boat, secured the main halyard and tied up the main sail as the wind and waves crashed into and over the bow. It was kind of fun! The last hour of motoring was not as much fun, but we finally reached the canal entrance to Sturgeon Bay around 6 PM. By 7 PM we had worked our way down the channel and are secured to a dock in Bay Harbor Marina. We are well protected from the winds that continue to howl around us. We hope to venture out into Green Bay tomorrow and enjoy some of the harbors and bays of Door County, weather permitting.

The light house and entrance to Sturgeon Bay Canal. The waves had diminished as we got closer to shore but the wind was still blowing 20 to 25 knots

A view of the Coast Guard station and light house just inside the canal.

Finally, calm waters motoring down the canal

MEMORIAL DAY

The storms have been marching across Northern Lake Michigan most of the weekend. We have been sitting them out and waiting for a good weather window to hop across the lake to Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin. Of course the forecasts aren't always accurate, but we would rather err on the side of caution. Although I am sure we will get caught in our share of storms, there is no need to force the issue. Rain doesn't bother me but severe thunderstorms are not my favorite thing to be caught on the lake in. The way it worked out, we could have done some traveling today. Even as I am writing this, however, we are watching the lightening flash across the lake and a huge roll cloud heading right for us that is supposed to be bringing 50 MPH winds. Denise is getting all excited and taking pictures!

Tornado????

Sunday started out with some excitement as the Badger was supposed to leave at 9 AM. It ran into a problem with a supply truck that uses a ramp to back up to the upper deck of the ship to unload. Apparently, the ramp broke and the truck was left dangling against the side of the ship. It took them several hours to rescue the truck and driver and get on their way. We were told that the Badger has a new Captain, and the day before he had run aground in Milwaukee and had a four hour delay. Not a good start! The rest was a good work day as we rescued a fouled halyard, tore apart and cleaned on of our Lewmar winches and Denise tweaked a few things on our full enclosure. Our dock neighbors invited us to go to dinner with them at the Grand, so we cleaned up a little and the Captain started flowing. The Grand is only about two blocks from the marina and has quite a history as a bar with a brothel upstairs. The brothel was gone but the food and drinks were good and reasonable. After dinner, we returned to the docks and the party began. I brought out my guitar and Marty brought his nice sounding Fender acoustic. It was a fun night and it felt good to play my guitar and sing to someone other than myself again. They say meeting people along the way is the best thing about cruising. The people we met on B dock were all very friendly. We can never seem to remember everyone's names but Joe and his wife were extremely helpful and Marty and Jocelle (hope I got the name right) were very welcoming and lots of fun.

Ooops!

We spent the majority of Memorial Day putting things back together and getting ready to leave for our next lef. We took a nice long walk downtown and to the beach before the storms came in. Ludington is a very nice town with a lot of history so we've added a few pictures. Our plan now is to leave for Sturgeon Bay early in the morning.

Part of the Downtown area

One of many historical sculptures in the park near the Marina

GOING NORTH TO GO SOUTH

We were back on board Manana late in the afternoon on Wednesday May 23rd. All the work had been completed by Torreson's and  now we can start learning how to use the E-7 Chartplotter, digital radar, AIS and inverter. Our first task was to transfer another load of supplies and other essentials we couldn't leave behind. With the car loaded to capacity (only a space for driver and passenger) this was not a minor task. Fortunately, Denise is the expert at finding places to store things and we will eventually have a place for everything. We wanted to get our sails on right away since Thursday was supposed to be gale force winds and 6 to 8 foot waves.  It was getting dark as we finally got the genoa on and furled with the help of one of Torreson's employees who was staying on a boat a couple of slips away. We spent Thursday organizing everything and getting orientation on the new equipment from Brian and John from Torreson. The multi-function chart plotter, radar and ais are just amazing! Torreson did a very professional job of installing everything in as neat and convenient manner as possible. Everyone on their staff was extremely helpful and friendly. Although Brian kept talking about how much extra work they ran into (more boat bucks) the final bill was close to their estimate after Kathy Torreson helped us sort it all out. One of the problems they ran into was the West Marine AIS unit. They went to considerable effort to install it in an out of the way but efficient place, only to see it quit working shortly after turning it on. They took the initiative of uninstalling the unit and returning it to West Marine and purchasing a new, (and better), Em-trak unit. When we went to West Marine in Muskegon we couldn't have asked for better service. Rand at West Marine came in on his day off to help us sort out the refund for our unit and even gave us an additional gift certificate to compensate for the cost and inconvenience of switching out the unit. After a few Captains and a late dinner, we called it a night with plans to get under way on Friday.

Manana Ready to go at Torreson's

The forecast for Friday called for 10 to 12 knot winds from the Southwest with waves from 2 to 4 feet along the Michigan coast. We had originally hoped to go across the lake to Sturgeon Bay to visit the Door County area before we leave the area. Unfortunately, the waves were forcast to be 6 to 8 foot along the Door peninsula, so we opted to go North along the coast to either Pentwater or Ludington. The winds were strong enough in the marina to give us trouble getting out of the slip, but when we got out on the lake, they were less than 10 knots, and, of course, on our nose. The waves, however, were still in the 4 to 6 foot range. After some frustration trying to deal with the waves and preparing to raise the sails, we decided to continue motoring and hope the wind changed directions and the waves laid down. The waves eventually laid down, and the wind changed directions, but was less than 5 knots true. We sat back and let the Yanmar do her thing with the genoa out to help push us along. We enjoyed the beautiful coast along the way and reached Ludington by 6:30. After some issues with the electric, we got settled in at the Ludington Municipal Marina just before the rain came. We were greeted by friendly boaters on the dock and plan on hanging out in Ludingington until the next wave of rain and storms go by.

Little Sable Point Lighthouse

The SS Badger in Ludington

Manana at Ludington Municipal Marina

MUSKEGON BOUND

The rain continued the rest of the night Sunday and into the day on Monday. We spent the day wandering South Haven, which had quite a bit of construction going on, including several downtown streets that were yet to be paved. We enjoyed a late breakfast downtown and then did a little shopping before we went back to the boat. Tuesday looked good for continuing the trip to Muskegon. It would be cool, but the winds would be from the Southeast which would keep the waves down below 2 feet. With the temperature dropping, we needed to get our enclosure finished and spent the evening putting snaps on the boat to hold them on.

We had a comfortable and quiet night, but when we woke up there was a heavy fog coming off the lake and up the river. We had traveled in fog before and were'nt too concerned, but I have to admit, this stuff was pretty thick. The forecast said it should clear off later in the morning, but we had to leave early enough to get to Muskegon before Torresons closed, or at least before dark. Going into a strange harbor at night is not my favorite thing. The fog appeared to be clearing some by the marina, so we tossed off the lines and headed out to the lake. About halfway out the channel, the fog became thicker until we could barely see one boat length in front of us by the time we passed the lighthouse. With the radar and the chartplotter guiding the way, we set the course and made the turn North for Muskegon. We knew there were a few fishermen out there but the radar only picked up one boat about a mile away. Denise manned the ship's bell to warn other boats. The further out in the lake we got, the lighter the fog. At about 2 miles out, we could see at least a half mile and as the sun came out and the wind picked up it became clear enough to crank Manana up to hull speed. The full enclosure kept us warm and toasty and we had a comfortable ride on an almost flat lake. As a result, we got to Muskegon at about 4:30 and were able to find our assigned slip at Torreson Marine with no problems. We were welcomed by the service manager and planned to meet with them Wednesday morning to discuss everygthing we needed to get done. We got settled in and then walked over to retrieve my car that we had left there Sunday. We took a drive around the lakeshore and  found a fun restaurant called Mango's on Sherman Street before calling it a night. The wind shifted during the night and the winds were gusting up to 30 from the Northwest, right across the Muskegon Lake into the lightly protected dock area. It was a noisy and bumpy night!

Torresons is very busy this time of year. We waited until about noon today before going to the service department. I had planned on getting back to the office on Monday and needed to get going. The mnanager and the electricians made it over about 1 PM and everything is set for them to get started, on Monday. I took Denise to get her car in St. Joe with a stop Butlers in Sagatuck for dinner.  I continued on home and Denise went back to the boat.

I'll have some business to take care of and then will be off to Washington DC for a week on Monday for the REALTORS.  My granddaughter's first birthday is May 18th and her party in Indy is the day after I return from Washington. We hope to be back to the boat after that with all the work done and ready to go!

Splashed!

We finally splashed Manana on May 2nd and quickly motored over to West Basin to begin the job of loading her up for the first part of our journey. We are about 3 weeks behind schedule due to the problems we ran into trying to prepare the bottom. We had to strip off the VC 17 so we could apply Ultima SR 60 for the salt water. Turned into a really big job! After 2 days, lots of boat bucks and very little progress, we finally turned it over to the yard. It took them two weeks to get it down to the fiberglass. Now we, or maybe I should say Denise, had the task of putting on 4 to 6 coats of barrier coat and 2 to 3 coats of bottom paint. The biggest problem was the weather, and since Denise had the most flexible schedule, she got stuck doing almost all of it.

That part is behind us now and it is great to be back in the water. We have been working every day to store things away and prepare the boat for the next trip to Muskegon. Torreson Marine will be installing our new chart plotter, radar, AIS and invertor (More boat bucks). Our first two days in the water were nice and warm,but by Thursday night, the storms came rolling across the lake with torrential downpours and massive lightening and thunderstorms. We sat in our cockpit and watched the show all around us hoping no lightening would find our mast. Friday brought a slightly cooler day with some clouds, but the rain was gone. We got a lot accomplished, we had to have someone come out to the boat and fix our stanchion that had gotten bent when we put the boat in (more boat bucks). Later in the afternoon, the wind shifted from off the lake and brought in a pretty heavy fog. After a while we could barely see across the marina and it felt like you were in a continuos mist of cold water.

Saturday turned out to be a pretty nice day after some morning showers, but the forcast had been calling for more storms, so we we planned on Sunday as the travel day. Once more, we spent a day working on storing and setting up systems so we could get everyhting we may need in the boat. Like the verse in 'One Particular Harbor' "Times are rough and I got too much stuff, I can't explain the likes of me". We got the generator snugged away on it's own little perch and struggled with making room for everything in the rear lazarettes. Denise had to run back home to get the AIS that was delivered the day after we left. By the time she got back, we had to run one of our cars up to Muskegon so we would have a way to get back. We finaly got back to West Basin around 1 AM and called it a night.

Sunday looked good. I checked the NOAA great lakes site and it showed SouthEast winds with waves of 1 to 2 feet, with only a chance of showers until Sunday evening. Perfect! We got up early (for us) and were on the lake by 10 AM. Everything looked good. The boat was cruising along at about 7 to 7.5 knots and it looked like we would make Muskegon well before dark. Denise, being the weather bug she is, checked the radar after a few hours and there were some pretty fierce storms that were coming right across our path. Plan B! We ducked into South Haven just in time before the rain started. So here we are. In South Haven, with our cars in Muskegon and St. Joe, and trying to figure out if there will be a long enough weather window tomorrow to make the next 50 miles. I guess this is preparing us for the cruising life. The best plans are no plans, because they usually get changed anyway.

3/25/12
We have been very busy since my last post researching equipment, buying equipment and finding new problems that need to be fixed.
One of our unexpected purchasing decisions was a new chart plotter and radar. The Raymarine Chart Plotter I was using could only use the the C Charts and I had been working on making a list of the ones we would need. I was surprised to find that if we purchased all the detailed C charts along the way, we would be spending more than $3,000 before we got to Florida! I was also getting some reports that they may not even be up to date. That sent me on a mission at Strictly Sail in Chicago to find out as much as I could about the alternatives. The results helped me make the decision to purchase the E 7 Raymarine touchscreen chart plotter with HD Radar.  In addition to getting the latest technology, we will get all the detailed charts for all of the United States and Northern Bahamas, for less than what it would cost us to buy the charts for the old system. A trip to Torreson Marine's "Spring Thaw" convinced us to let them do the ordering and installation.
A Honda E2000 Generator was also on our list and we found the best price on that at Camping World. Our AIS was ordered from Digital Yacht and we are looking at an invertor as the last upgrade we will need. (we hope!)
Bottom paint for saltwater required some exhaustive research by Denise and we wound up opting for Petit Ultima SR60, which will require us to remove our current bottom paint down to the barrier coat. Denise is working hard on making the best of our storage space and goin through our check off lists to make sure everything is in good shape. So far we have repaired the head (not as hard or stinky as I thought) and fixed a fuel leak we found while preparing to replace the Racor fuel filter. We are also checking off our list of spares we'll need, and preparing for launch date.
We are scheduled to splash on April 13th, which just happens to be a Friday. One of my luckiest days!  Once we're afloat we will hop over to West Basin and make sure everything is ready for our trip to Muskegon to get the Chart Plotter installed.
Lots of work in front of us, but I'm sure the "pleasure will be worth all the pain".

1/29/12
Although Manana is sitting on the hard in St. Joe, Michigan, we are busily making preparations for our trip to take her to warm and salty waters. We are planning to splash her as soon as we complete the bottom maintenance and the weather (and the marina) permits in the spring.
Our plan is to sail her over to the Wisconsin shore to cruise Door county for the first short leg. It's one of the places we have not made it to and thought we should see it before we leave Lake Michigan. From there, we will work her around  through Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Erie over to the Erie Canal. There, we will drop our mast and have it shipped to the exit on the Hudson River, restep it and head down the river and finally, into salt water. We are leaving our time schedule and the route we take from there as flexible as possible, since I will still be taking care of business, but we would like to be in Key West for the Parrotheads Meeting of the Minds in November.
We spend the last two days at Strictly Sail in Chicago trying to get solutions to some of our questions and purchase what we feel we will need. The results were a little disappointing since we wound up with more questions than we started with. But, it is the beginning of the journey!