Saturday, September 30, 2006

Today was a rainy work day. Just because we are sailing does not mean we can get away from the task of paying bills, and checking the mail that was FedEx to us. Gordon Lee spent an hour changing the oil in our diesel engine and puting in a new filter, a task he just loves to do! He also filled our water tank and helped me make a grocery list to update our supplies. Since we don't have a bike on the boat we got some good exercise walking a couple of miles to get food and special snack treats to give us that extra boost of energy for sailing the boat. Below are some pictures of Gordon Lee checking the weather on the internet, puting in the waypoints for sailing on Lake Erie and me checking the charts. If the weather forcast holds we will be able to sail to Sandusky, Ohio about 70 miles south-south east of our present position in the Detroit River. We hope to be in Buffalo, New York by Friday where our mast will be "stepped down" so we can get through the 54 locks on the Erie Canal and the New York Canal System to the Hudson River.




Joyce checking the Lake Erie charts and course to Sandusky, Ohio.

















Gordon Lee paying bills and checking the internet for the weather forcast.

















Gordon Lee puting in the waypoints on our GPS for Sunday's trip to Sandusky

Friday, September 29, 2006

Today's journey brought us from Port Huron, MI to Detroit, MI. We left Port Huron at 7:45 and followed the river buoys' along the river and through the channel across Lake St Claire to the Detroit River. Although it was very cold, the sun was shinning and the river front proterty and the marshes along the river were pleasant to the eye. We arrived at Harbor Hill port along the Detroit River around 3: 30 pm. The 60 mile trip was relatively fast since we had a southbound current all the way and we were not fighting any waves today.

Scenes along the Saint Clair River

Joyce, keeping warm with a wool hat and multiple layers.
















A ferry crossing across the river from the US side to Canada.
















Beautiful river front property.

















A flock of swans along the marshes on the St. Claire River.













Light house in the middle of Lake Saint Clair

















Passing Freighter

















Downtown Detroit on the Detroit River
















We will probably be laying over here for a day or so as another cold front is coming!!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Made it to Port Huron, MI yesderday afternoon. We had a day of hard boating done on Lake Huron with south winds gusting to 30 knots that stirred the lake to 3 - 5 foot choppy seas. Not only did we have choppy seas, but we got a thunder storm with lightening and hail just as we were approaching the Blue Water Bridge which funnels the Lake into St Claire River. As we were sailing under the bridge we met a northbound freighter which we gingerly kept to our port side. The current runs 4 knots under the bridge so we watched the heaping waves as we passed the frieghter and entered the St Claire River. When we go into to port we were too exhausted to enter a log into our blog.


A lake freighter passing as we were in the shipping channel approaching Port Huron

















Walked around town today and found a really interesting gallery of prints of great lake's ships by J. Clary. Had a long and interesting conversation with his father who runs the gallery about his son and also his experiences on an aircraft carrier in the far east during the Viet Nam War. Going to their website is very interesting: http://www.jclary.com/gallery00.html



A sample of Mr. Clay's work















Jabberwocky tied up on a small river to the west of the Saint Clair River. Sarina Ontario Canada is off in the distance across the river.

















Off to Detroit in the morning about 60 miles down river.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Left Harrisville Harbor at 7:40 am and arrived at Harbor Beach, MI at 5 pm.

Light house on the breakwall
















Basically and industrial harbor

















Today was a lovely sail, with good southwest winds at 10 to 15 knots and lots of sunshine.

















We are at anchor tonight and expect it to be a "bumpy" nite, swinging on our anchor since the winds are southerly and will increase to 20 knots. Unfortunately, the water is too shallow for us to tie up at the docks.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Made it to Harrisville, MI. Difficult trip with heavy seas on winds to 30 knots. At least we are moving south. Two more days to the Saint Clair River.

The Huron shipping traffic zones converage along the route we took today. We saw sever or eight ships on the way. This is the most for the entire trip.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

On Saturday, we left Mackinaw City in calm winds and patchy fog conditions. We motored all the way with the fog lifting and the sun shinning in the afternoon. The following pictures show Mackinaw City Harbor, the Mackinac Bridge in the fog and a lake freighter which we passed while we were headed south bound in Mackinaw Straits. For company,
we had one red sail boat which followed us all the way to Presque Ise Harbor.






Mackinaw City Harbor














Mackinac Bridge in the fog.















Passing a Lake Freighter in Mackinaw Straits.



















Presque Isle Harbor.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Have layed over at Presque Isle, MI for the day due to wind and rainy weather. Will head out to Harrisville, MI down the east shore of Huron tomorrow morning on 10 to 20 knot west winds with some gusts.

Here are a few views of this area as we got out and walked around a bit this afternoon.

On Sunday, I got a chance to sleep in, while Gordon Lee listened to the 6 am weather forecast, suggesting we needed to stay in the harbor for the day. We stayed warm in the cabin and ate a late breakfast of bacon and toast. In the afternoon when there was a break in the rain, we ventured out taking the above pictures. It is really a lovely place to stay. Too bad the sun was hiding most of the day.

You can track our progress by logging on to SHIPTRAK.ORG and enter the radio call sign KB9RPI.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Light houses on the route through the Mackinac Straights are clearly identified.















Made it to Mackinaw and under the bridge. This is the most northerly in latitude we get on this trip. The last few hours were heavy duty sailing. As you can see we are approaching the bridge from the west and it was hard to get a good shot with the boat bouncing around.

















We saw the occasional freighter. Not a lot of traffic in the Straights.
















As we move east in Michigan we may loose cell contact. The next marina east of here is closed and they said we can just tie up when we get there. Folks here think winter is coming.

Bear with us on updates for the next few days.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Successfully made Charlevoix, MI. On to the Straights of Mackinaw tomorrow.


The northwestern Michigan coast line

















Charlevoix anchorage shore line
































Gordon at his laptop















Updates coming soon.

Wednesday, September 20,2006

Brought the boat into a marine for the day and evening at a local marina to get out for a walk, do some shopping and get caught up on laundry. We are heading north in the morning finally.
























Gordon in the park by the Frankfort City Hall.














Main Street














Sunset over the harbor.














We will send an updated position report tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Still at Frankfort, MI. This is like Ground Hog Day the movie!!.

Clouds, Clouds, Clouds















Joyce bundled for the cold.














While at anchor on Monday, even though the sun was out the boat was bouncing around on the anchor and the wind was howling across the harbor. At five in the evening the cold front started coming across the harbor which is reflected in the above cloud picture. All night long the wind was howling and it was difficult for me to sleep until I settled in the back cabin away from the shrouds clanking on the mast keeping me awake. We were hoping Tuesday morning things would get better, but it was still non-favorable winds. Gordon Lee captured my picture while I was on deck on Tuesday morning, as you can see I was bundle up trying to keep warm. As usual, Gordon Lee is fixing things on the boat, yesterday it was the self steering vane, today the head.

The head decided that it did not want to work right first thing this morning. Sooo, most of the morning was spent trying to disassemble it and rebuild it. Thank goodness for spare parts, which now are not longer spare. The head is critical at the moment as we have been at anchor for the last couple of days an have no access to on shore "facilities".

Speaking of being at anchor, this also requires running the engine twice a day, morning and evening to charge the batteries and cooling down the fridge.

We appreciate the comments from our family and friends.

If you want to see our position then go to : shiptrak.org and enter radio call sign KB9RPI.

Monday, September 18, 2006

We had hoped to be sailing north on Sunday but a low system is producing unfavorable winds and 10 foot waves near the harbor we were headed for so we will be staying in Frankfort, MI through Tuesday. Wind conditions on the lake are completely unfavorable to head further north. Things will hopefully settle by Wednesday morning and we can get moving again! Sunday we spent reading and enjoying the changing colors on the trees surrounding the town of Frankfort and planning our route north. On Sunday not only were people enjoying the harbor fishing and padding in their kayaks but a large flock of swans and what looked like a loon were also enjoying the waves and the early fall afternoon.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Made Frankfort, MI after a vigorous 10 hour crossing of Lake Michigan with 3 to 5 foot seas and average wind speed of 20 kts from the south. Jabberwocky likes the wind. Not much traffic while crossing the lake, but we did encounter one medium sized freighter late afternoon and as we entered the port of Frankfort there were many small fishing boats trawling for "the last big fish" of the season.

We are presently at anchor over loooking the quaint town of Frankfort.

We had hoped to go on to Charlevoix, MI today but weather forcast was severe thunderstorms and following seas so we will be laying over here for a day for the wind to ease and shift to the west.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Travelled from Port Washington to Manitowoc, WI today and plan on crossing east to Frankfort, MI on Saturday. We anticipate stormy weather from mid-weekend to early next week.

Thursday September 14, 2006

The weather finally cleared and we were able to leave Racine after weeks of preparation and commence our venture. We stopped over this evening in Port Washington, WI. We celebrated this first leg with a bottle of bubbly.