Port Austin

We made it to the tip of the Michigan thumb but not without a casualty. The day started out typical, light  winds and smooth lake, waiting for the winds to pick up. It was warmer than we had been experiencing so far. There was also a fair amount of smoke from the Canadian fires. It had been predicted to be a nice day. The winds gradually picked up and we transitioned from motor to sail and motor eventually to just sail, all maintaining the same speed. Winds were coming from behind us as we travelled pretty much due north.

Then at 10:00 AM all hell broke loose. In a matter of minutes it got very cold for Summer and the winds and waves picked up. We ended up in 4+ foot waves and 25 knot winds. Since conditions had been so light, we were totally caught off guard and had full sails up. The boat healed so far over the water almost came over the side. The waves crashed over the bow. We tried to reef the main and furl the foresail, but we were too late. The wind reeked havoc on our control of the boat. We started the engine to try to get control, but the engine could only muster less than one knot at full throttle, worse than on the St. Clair River. In trying to bring the main sail down, the topping lift cable broke, dropping the boom onto the safety rail. Almost as quickly as it started, it ended. I'm guessing about 15 minutes later, but it felt like all day. For a little while after that, the smoke was gone, likely due to the 25 knot winds.

Frays had been observed in the topping lift before we left. It is a stranded steel cable about 3/32 of an inch thick. When asking for advice about whether to replace it before the trip, the response was "it should be fine". Famous last words.

We lifted the boom off the safety line using the main sheet, the line used to raise the mainsail. So the boom was in its normal position, but we had no way to raise the mainsail. The rest of the day was mixed. It would have periods of rain, higher winds though not 25 knots and high waves. The waves flowed in the direction we were going as was the light wind. We made good time to Port Austin after the brief storm. The waves were moving quite fast and it looked like we were sailing along with a pod of dolphins, with the waves forming and then disappearing.

We finally reached Port Austin. We had intended to stop sooner, but did not find accommodations at any marinas between Port Sanilac and Port Austin so we pressed on to Port Austin a day earlier than planned so that we could take a day to make repairs to the topping lift. This also saved us from losing a day. We were given advice by sailors that we had met in Port Sanilac to make sure that you do not try to pass between the light house and shore. There is a reef there that is very shallow. We heeded that advice and found out from the workers at Port Austin that even power boats, that do not go as deep as sailboats, had crashed into the reef. The light house is about a mile off shore, so it makes trying to pass through tempting to avoid a long detour.

Here is a summary of all of our stops so far. It looks like we've come a long way, but it is just over half. And given what we saw today with pop up storms, it could be challenging on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, which is why it's an adventure. Our first day on Lake Huron was a perfect relaxing wonderful sailing experience and today showed us what mother nature can drum up very quickly. We will have to be much more diligent about watching the weather radar in order to be prepared.

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