Lake Michigan, done

Well, this has been fun. Great sailing all week.T

Tuesday I made a brief video sailing north from Chicago.

I finally packed up and got underway Tuesday morning into a dying northeast wind. Basically one long starboard beat up the shore until it got very light just off Kenosha. I pointed the bow out into the lake and napped for about 3 hours starting at 4 am.

Wednesday was calm until a SW breeze slowly started filling in late in the morning. I motored slowly 5-6 hours towards Frankfort. Finally when the following breeze reached our 5 knot boat speed I started sailing.I was watching the wind forecasts and the prediction was for the wind to gradually increase to 12-25 knots over the next couple of days. Same direction. Nice sailing conditions. But I had nagging doubts about sleeping when sailing at speed. So when a big shift allowed me to speed towards Ludington about 20 miles away I took it.I made a brief video while heading for Ludington. Didn’t tie up but went up to the head of the inlet and dropped anchor and had a nice sleep.

Thursday I got underway late morning, and had a spectacular 24 hour sail up the shore to the Straits of Mackinac, where I took down the spinnaker and reached over to Cheboygan. Tied up at the municipal marina mid morning. I should keep a better log. Not sure how far or fast, but it was about 160 mm straight line distance.

Friday was a lay day. I wondered into town, had a meal out, chatted with some J35 folks and crashed. It stormed a bit overnight, with some pretty good gusts.

Saturday I sat around drinking coffee for an hour or two – a luxury when cruising Tin Lizzie – while waiting for the winds to moderate a bit. I keep this aboard but it’s not the same.I had a spectacular spinnaker sail across to Canada. Video here. Sailed into Thessalon and met by chance a boat from Chicago with a crew that I knew and enjoyed their hot food and cold beer. Nice way to end the day.

Sunday (today) I had lunch out with Mallory. She had the day off from the camp and drove about an hour to the boat. Nice. I got underway mid afternoon and in light winds sailed down to East Grant Island where I’m now anchored here. Nice spot.