Dunkirk to Erie

The weather was predicted to be good for this leg and for most purposes it was, sunny and blue sky.

Late sunrise just before we left Dunkirk

Wind was a nice 9-12 knots but out of the worst possible direction, directly from where we needed to go. As a result we had to tack directly into the wind. To make matters worse we ended up with way too much sail since the winds in the morning were not too strong and the winds increased to 17-20 knots with up to 4 foot swells not too long after we started sailing.

Sitting at the helm was like riding a bull. The boat was heeling to 40 degrees cutting through the big swells splashing water all over the deck.

These two are while sailing. You can get a heeling perspective using the horizon.

This video is while motoring. While the boat stayed mostly level, it was very rough.

We furled the foresail which helped, but not enough. The we took two reefs in the mainsail (dropping the sail part way down and tying it essentially making it smaller). With both sails at about one third their full surface area we could maintain near the maximum hull speed at the optimal 15 degree heel. We sailed like this for a while, covering almost half the distance but requiring way too much time due to having to tack and the waves working against us. The waves were a pain but we had adjusted for the wind velocity and could do nothing about the wind direction. Because of the waves and the wind direction we realized that we would not make the next marina in time so we motored the last half. Marinas are too far apart and there are no protected inlets to anchor so we had to make it to the next marina at all costs.

Cliffs along Lake Erie in western Pennsylvania



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