Conclusion

It is with mixed emotions that we have completed the journey. In some respects, I didn't want it to end since there is so much to see. The winds would have to turn in our favor too, so that we could do more pure sailing. But it was also time to be done and get home. Even when I'm in Florida in Winter or visiting Europe with my wife, I get tired of living out of a suitcase and eventually want to get home. This was the longest trip I've taken and that feeling certainly set in. Also, in this case, I was away from family, making it worse. Add to that, living in the tight quarters or a 28 foot boat.

I've been asked several times whether I enjoyed this adventure. It is a resounding yes. Not only was the sailing enjoyable, but we saw many new places, had new experiences and met many new people. During the first half of the trip we stayed mostly at yacht clubs. On Lake Ontario, this was often cheaper since the yacht clubs have an association and since Greg was a member of an associate club, we could dock cheaply or even free. The yacht clubs were often busy on the weekends, so we got to hang out with members and talk sailing and sailboat racing. It was slower during the week when members weren't at the club. The facilities were a mixed bag, some nicer than others.

The latter half was all in Michigan north of Detroit and we stayed in many municipal marinas (the first two Michigan stops were really nice yacht clubs). All of the municipal marinas were very consistent and very nice. All of them were pretty much the same, having nice showers and laundry. Most of the yacht clubs did not have laundry, so early on, we wondered where we'd do laundry. In the latter half, we did have to stay at some private marinas that cost more but they also had very good facilities. Sailing under the Blue Water and Mackinac bridges were special and the Lake Michigan shoreline is very unique with it's large sand dunes that go on forever. 

I was also asked whether I would ever do it again. My first response was that next year I have to since we have to get the boat back. But this is something I would certainly consider again. I wouldn't want to make it an annual thing since six weeks is a long time to be away from home. Shorter trips, perhaps week long, would be fun but we'd have to rent a boat in the locale that we wanted to sail, or trailer a boat there. Georgian Bay on the Canadian side of northern Lake Huron is something I'd like to see. We'll have to see if we can work it into the return trip.

One difficulty was the distance between some ports. It is difficult to sail on a schedule. If you have the right wind, you can go far in a day. If you have no wind, you go nowhere. If you have a headwind, it takes more than twice as long as good wind depending on whether the waves are also big. This makes planning and executing a plan impossible. We ended up motoring or power sailing considerably more than we would have liked. One marina neighbor with a sailboat said that you can expect to motor half the time and he was right. This was probably the most frustrating thing; having a long leg to the next marina and a headwind. Sailing is best when you have nowhere to get to and can just follow the wind.

Another issue that turned out to be fairly minor was not having transient slips available in marinas. Early in the trip, it wasn't an issue. We could call the day before or day of and get in. Starting just before the 4th of July until the end it wasn't so easy. It seemed to get very busy. Even municipal marinas were full. Fortunately, in all places where our first choices of marina were full, there was another that had a space. Sometimes that put us further from our course, but it was better than nothing. Prior to starting, we had considered sailing overnight once or twice, but after discovering how unpredictable the weather can be, we decided that attempting this with only two people was unwise and would take fun out of the trip. We also thought of anchorages, but didn't really know where any were that were protected enough from possible bad weather. Since we managed to find a marina for every night, we were never forced to sail all night or anchor. 

We learned a few lessons along the way. One is to not trust weather forecasts even the morning of. They were a decent starting point but a local storm can pop up on the lake that can be terrible. Our second day on Lake Huron had such a storm. The wind predictors were also notoriously bad. We'd be sitting in no wind, or wind out of the south and the wind predictor showed wind out of the west. No matter what the weatherman said, we had to watch the sky and be ready to shrink the sails quickly if high winds popped up.

We also learned that the boat was much more fuel efficient that we prepared for. We used 54 gallons of diesel fuel and went 1320 miles. We had 20 gallons in jugs on deck just in case. Just about every marina had diesel, so it wasn't an issue to buy as needed. The trip took 40 days and in that time ran the engine for 198 hours.

We also learned that the Volvo 2 cylinder 13 horsepower diesel engine could push the boat through the swift current of the Detroit River and St. Clair River. We had our doubts, especially the last part of the St. Clair River that goes under the Blue Water Bridge.

I am looking forward to next year's trip back. It should go faster if the winds are anything like this year and we'll be going with the overall current of the Great Lakes. We may even have time for a side trip to Georgian Bay. I think next year's plan will also be to take the Erie Canal from Tonawanda, by Buffalo to see something new rather than the Welland Canal and Lake Ontario. Other people that we met that had taken the Erie Canal said that it was nice to see. I think that will be shorter as well, but more motoring.

Overnight stops

1. Ithaca Yacht Club NY - start
2. Hibiscus Marina Cayuga Lake NY 6/6
3. Fulton NY Erie Canal 6/7
4. Oswego NY on Lake Ontario 6/8
5. Pultneyville Yacht Club NY 6/9
6. Point Breeze NY 6/10
7. Olcott Yacht Club NY   2 nights 6/11-12
8. Dalhousie Yacht Club ON Canada 6/13
9. Port Colborne ON Canada - Sugar Loaf Harbor 6/14
10. Buffalo NY Erie Basin Marina 6/15
11. Dunkirk Yacht Club NY 6/16
12. Erie PA Presque Isle Yacht Club 6/17
13. Geneva on the Lake OH 6/18
14. Cleveland Oasis at North Coast Harbor OH 6/19
15. Vermilion Municipal Dock OH 6/20
16. Cedar Point OH - 6/21
17. Put in Bay Yacht Club OH 6/22
18. Ford Yacht Club Grosse Ile MI 6/23
19. Bayview Yacht Club Detroit MI 6/24
20. Algonac Harbor Club MI 2 nights 6/25-26
21. Port Huron River Street Marina MI 6/27
22. Port Sanilac Municipal Harbor MI 6/28
23. Port Austin MI  2 nights 6/29-30
24. Tawas MI - Jerry's Marina 7/1
25. Harrisville Municipal Harbor MI 7/2
26. Presque Isle State Harbor MI 7/3
27. Rogers City Municipal Marina MI 7/4
28. Cheboygan County Marina MI 7/5
29. Mackinaw Municipal Marina MI 7/6
30. Charlevoix MI - Irish Boat Shop 7/7
31. Northport MI - G. Marsten Dame Marina 7/8
32. Leland Township Harbor MI 2 nights high wind 7/9-10
33. Frankfort MI - Jacobson Marina Resort 7/11
34. Manistee MI - Seng's Marina 7/12
35. Ludington Municipal Marina MI 7/13
36. Whitehall MI - Crosswinds Marine Service  7/14
37. Muskegon MI - Torresen Marine (boat to storage) 7/15

For those interested in roller coasters:

Cedar Point coasters we rode in our 6 hour evening pass

1. Blue Streak
2. Wild Mouse
3. Gatekeeper
4. Iron Dragon
5. Rougarou
6. Magnum XL-200
7. Millennium Force
8. Corkscrew
9. Gemini
10. Valravn

That is all for this trip. Look for this blog to start again next year in early June for our return trip.

Facility storing the boat

The stuff we took off the boat to store elsewhere

The bare boat with sails, extra fuel, extra water and dinghy removed