Leaving St. Joe to Holland Michigan

Today we left St. Joe and our very good friends Walt and Tim - It may be awhile until we will have an opportunity to sail with them again. They have helped Tom and I in so many ways, learning to sail, repairs on the boat, house keeping and of course WHYNOTS. We will carry them with us on all our adventures.

The day was gray and spitting rain, but the bridge went up and we were on our way home to finish up last minute details before we leave on or extended adventure.

Walt seeing us off

We are in Lake Michigan headed North 

ran the quantlet of fishing boats 

sky  turn bright blue and we had some wind - 3.3 kts for a while

you see things floating in the lake - up close these are two
Mylar balloons - one shaped like a star

after 2 in the afternoon before we finally saw another boat

Tom learning how to set up our chart plotter

Wind fell off so Tom set whisker pole and we sailed for a while
wing to wing. Got us to 3 + knots for another hour or two
then wind fell off again. 

Entering Holland Channel

sun setting, temps are cool- good sleeping weather. Strange to
think we won't be back this way for a long time.

trial

 
 
 

Sailing with Walt and Tim - Lake Michigan

interesting statue in St. Joe

We took Cool Hand out with Tim and Walt to show off all our new toys. Mary Grace and Sea-n-See were also out there and we had a great time. Wind was good and wave minimal. Video posted on face book . This  is the Life

Walt at the helm

rail way bridge that is always open is closed. It is the first bridge
going into St. Joe and Benton Harbor

Sea-n-See

Mary Grace

Tim helping to raise the Main

Walt on deck looking at our new sail

Tom and Walt

We are healed over and this container did not topple off the shelf
Lots of other things came loose but this stayed put.

The little black boat shape is us in Lake Michigan

Walt raising our main Sail - Push button sailing

Our mast clearing the bridge. 

Trip from Holland to St. Joesph MIchigan

Day two- woke to a beautiful morning 56 degree slight winds. We needed to replace the furling line for the new leisure furl sail. Breakfast then Tom when for an early morning dingy ride. Got everything fixed and stowed to have hour progress halted  while large ship -filling the channel - passed by. Surprisingly small wake considering the size. Under way quickly leaving Holland behind we had fair winds in to 1 foot wave, set sail and made 5 kts easy. The wind finally left and we pulled in sails around 2 and motored to St Joe.

A note on Flies- AHHHHHHHHH - I have no idea how they found us but we spent our time swatting and killing them. Downside of knee surgery very sensitve to bites and swats with fly swatter. Tom and I

Add caption

June 13th, Muskegon to Holland

We are finally on a trip. This first one is to St. Joe to meet up with Walt and Tim. Day is quite chilly even though there is plenty of sunshine. We were not the only ones sailing to day and when we got to Holland, there was a race on. I love to watch the boats maneuver around the course. We had no trouble raising our main sail, and after the Jib was unfurled ( I think that is the term) we were making 5.5 to 6kts.  We lost the wind around 5pm but still managed a decent 3. knots coming into Holland. Did have a problem with our furling line and will have to replace before we continue, but it is not a major repair, Tom can fix.

Tom at the Helm

Muskegon Light house

Sailing past Grand Haven

Boats racing - Holland

We will be moving on to Sout