Manistee

The day started taking down the foresail and reinstalling it. It wasn't furling properly. That seemed to do the trick. It only delayed us about a half hour.

The sail started beautifully. Nice breeze and no waves. Wind was out of the north but was a close reach (traveling 30-60 degrees off the wind direction), so we didn't have to tack. Things changed midday to stronger winds and 3 foot waves. Where yesterday's waves weren't bad pushing the boat, today they slowed the boat down , pushed the bow to the side affecting steering and giving the autopilot fits. As a result we had to steer a lot of the time.

The Lake Michigan dunes. They build houses on them but unlike cliffs in California that are eroding, these are growing. Wind and water bring new sand that continues to pile up. One house in Muskegon had a sign saying "Free Sand" in the front yard. You could see the sand was getting higher.
Entrance to the channel is between the lighthouses.

We arrived at Manistee a little late. We ate at T.J.s Pub. We had a very good salad and wrap. I had  a Keweenaw Brewing Black Ale that was very good. Though it was dark, it was less like a porter because it gad a little malty sweetness. We then went to North Channel Brewing. I had the Manistee's IPA. It is super if you like happy bitter IPAs like I do.
Can you spot Rovinj?




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