Autopilot sure makes life better

The boat has autopilot which will keep it on a preset course. Like cruise control, you get on the heading that you want to keep and start the cruise. It will maintain that heading, which works great when motoring but can get exiting when winds change. You have to be alert to changing wind and other boats so you can't set cruise and have everyone go below deck.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Whitehall and Muskegon

Image
Our marina in Whitehall was at the end of White Lake, about 6 miles from Lake Michigan. so we had a long cruise even though, for all intents and purposes we were there. Despite the long trip, we got there in plenty of time. The marina seemed to favor sailboats as most of the slips had sailboats in them, in contrast to Ludington, where the marina was half empty by 6 AM as all the fisherman had left. The decommissioned lighthouse, now museum, at White Lake  We had a short trip to our final destination, Muskegon, so despite unfavorable wind conditions again, we sailed about one third the distance before motoring. The winds had good speed but again were headwinds, and the waves were quite high, with occasional whitecaps. We saw several other sailboats going north, with the wind. I hope those were one way trips or they'd be motoring back. In reading documentation about boating Lake Michigan, we had read about long nets strung out along parts of the lake that you need to avoid. They are ...
Read more

Algonac

Image
Due to the prediction of lightning for today, we reserved our slip for 2 nights. We planned to do a much needed oil change, refuel, do laundry and get groceries. We did accomplish those but at the expense of missing out on what turned out to be a day with favorable winds and no lightning. We also got to sleep in real beds at my cousin's house and do laundry. We are three days behind our original schedule but that did not include any planned down days.
Read more

Bushnell's Basin / Pittsford

Image
It was a comfortable cruise down the Erie Canal. We went through two more locks, 33 and 32, and several lift bridges. You have to call ahead for the locks and bridges, which can slow you down if the operator isn't ready. Some see you coming and when you call they just say to maintain speed and they'll have it open. We saw several of the rental canal boats that you can sleep on, a tour boat or two and a rowing team practicing. It was a little dicey getting through the rowing team as there were at least a half dozen boats. With the oars, they are as wide is our sailboat. When they stopped to get instruction from the coach, we'd pass them, then when they started rowing, they'd pass us back. It was a little annoying but was short lived. A tour boat was behind us and we wondered if it wanted to pass but it stayed behind and eventually turned around. It was probably out of Pittsford and took the customers through a lock then back through, then a little downstream and then bac...
Read more