Three lakes down, one to go.

Today we traveled 110 miles in 10 hours. For some boats that may not seem like a great accomplishment, "Whatever It Takes" is nearly 50 years old and she likes to cruise at 10 MPH, to us this was a banner day. Good weather and a tailwind was with us most of the day until the last two hours when the only storm in the entire continental U.S. and Canada swooped down on us. No matter, we made it to the Mackinac straits and Lake Huron is behind us. With Lakes (Erie, St Clair, and Huron) now in the books, we can concentrate on our journey down Lake Michigan to Chicago.

Gale force winds, thunderstorms, and other nasty weather fore casted for tomorrow so we are expecting to stay put here in Cheboygan until Friday. 

Good morning Jeff.

Thunder Island. We couldn't get closer due to submerged rocks so...

I got this pic of lighthouse through the binoculars.

New radar is really neat. Lower white mass is land, small dot at 9:00 is a buoy, and the X is where we thought we should be ???

View from the porthole in master cabin. Just a little spooky.

Denny piloted the boat the entire day (with help from the Autopilot).

The only bad weather in all of the U.S. and Canada is over our boat !!!

Each X is a port we stayed at so far. The little boat is where we are docked tonight in the Straits of Mackinac.

 

Gale winds, waterspouts, and one engine down, OH MY!

 

   We had a great start to the day, 50 miles of smooth water with a following sea. That all changed when tried to cross the Saginaw Bay. We were greeted by six foot waves and halfway across our port engine started to overheat. We were three hours out of Harrisville Harbor (with two engines running) when the engine went down. That was the same time the U. S. Coast Guard issued a small craft advisory with gale force winds, 6 to 9 foot waves, and waterspouts heading our way. Operating on one engine we limped into the narrow opening of the harbor just at dark. That was a long 30 miles!

   This morning Jeff got into the engine room and found that the port engine through hull water cooling valve had closed in the high waves (same problem we had on stbd 2 days ago). The mechanic had assured us he had tightened both valves before we left Catawba. Lesson learned. Fortunately we shut the engine down before the impeller was damaged and all we had to do was open and tighten the valve then replace the seal on the impeller. This morning I caught tonight's dinner off the bow of the boat, FRESH Michigan Salmon.

   We are holed up here Harrisville Harbor until tomorrow when the weather is supposed to clear and still expect to reach the Mackinac Straits by Thursday, Sept 20th.

Red sky in morning, sailor take warning!

A great start to the day, 20 miles out.

Smooth sailing so far.

Shit, we are still 3 hours out, with one engine down.

Two miles was the closest we could get to shore. All the little +'s are submerged rocks. 1/4 mile further out and we are in 100 feet of water.

Entrance to Harrisville Marina. Tight, especially on one engine with gale force winds.

This is why your along Jeff.

Just a little off season.

Denny, the mechanic's helper.

OK boys, I just caught dinner. Fresh Michigan Salmon.



Thats more like it.



  We departed Detroit this morning at 8:30, leaving Chuck standing on the dock to wait for Laura to drive from Cleveland to pick him up. First time I have left a crew member stranded. Traveling the 24 miles across lake St Clair was uneventful with calm water and not much to see. That all changed when we entered the St Clair River. Denny said "This is more like it" as the riverbanks were dotted with vacation homes and boat houses while the water became very clear with a fast current. Denny was along on the trip up the St Lawrence Seaway and across Lake Champlain (Vermont) last fall. The St Clair river was 30 miles of fun cruising.

  We reached Port Huron and the start of our voyage up the west coast of Lake Huron at 2:30 and continued another 20 miles to Lexington State Harbor where we are docked for the night. I was lazy tonight and we had dinner at the restaurant in town.  

Calm waters on Lake St Clair allowed a hot breakfast while underway.



Yes we were that close. This stretch of the St Clair River is pretty tight.

Entrance to Lake Huron.

Port Huron lighthouse.

End of a good day.

Why I am old fashioned...

Today was lesson in boating for all the crew. "Whatever It Takes" is equipped with some really smart electronics: radar, Sirius XM weather, depth sounder alarm, auto pilot, and electronic charts with aid to navigation. As we were approaching the mouth of the Detroit River we checked our electronic chart to identify the channel needed to get up the river. WHOOPS, the only channel with enough depth goes up the Canadian side of the river (this is one big river with scattered islands and shoals). Our electronic charts are not programed for any Canadian waters, not only that, but there were two channels, one down-bound and one up-bound which crisscrossed as we traveled up the river. 

We were still a few miles out when we discovered the issue. I had my paper charts out before we left this morning (not really expecting to need them) and started identifying the track we would have to take. In ten minutes we had charted our course and identified the markers as we passed them, confirming our location. Chuck spent most of the trip up the Detroit River as our navigator and did a great job. The crew agrees being "old fashioned" can come in pretty handy when new technology lets you down.

We arrived on the south end of Lake St Clair at 2:30 and docked at the Gregory Boat Yard. Tonight's meal was venison roast and gravy with scalloped potatoes (from scratch) and butter bread. Did you know you can thicken gravy with Aunt Jemima's pancake mix if you don't have any flour?

We had a little rough seas this morning.

The seas settled down when we reached the Detroit River. The new furniture rode well in rough seas, Denny and I spent most of the ride across Lake Erie in the new stern cabin.

 



Downtown Detroit and the bridge to Canada.

Three great deck hands.

The Canadian side of the Detroit River.

The U.S. side of the Detroit River.

Glad we didn't go up the down-bound channel !!

Chuck, the navigator, working his magic.

View from our marina tonight.

An old "woodie" in this Marina.

Not quite as good as the Browns...

  The Cleveland Browns lost a very ugly first game of the season this past Sunday. Our first day on this trip wasn't any better. Our total milage gained on our first full day of this 1,800 mile voyage was  NEGATIVE 1 MILE !
  We left the Catawba Island Club this morning at 8:30 heading for the Detroit River. At 8:40 the rain started and the wind climbed to a gale, 5 minutes later the STBD engine overheated and had to be shut down.
  One engine, a 20 MPH northeast wind, 5 foot waves, and torrential rain. All in the first 15 minutes! After a rough turn and crossing the waves broadside, we headed back to the service dock (one mile south of where we started). On our way in I called the deisel mechanic which had upgraded our engine water coolant system yesterday.
  We got docked OK and the mechanic corrected the problem (loose sea valve had closed in the high waves) and replaced damaged water pump. We decided to weather out the storm right here and start out fresh tomorrow on our 1,801 mile voyage.
  Denny and Jeff each caught some catfish. Jeff had to board a neighboring boat to free his line from their prop while trying to land the fish.

Denny in his environment.

New canvas provides lots more room.

Jeffs special bait.

Jeff on neighbors boat trying to get line free from prop.

Line is free, now trying to get back on the dock without losing the fish or getting soaked.

SUCCESS !!!

Denny said his fish was prettier (and smaller).

Ham, mashed potatoes, and sweet corn for dinner.

Laura dropped Chuck off and wished us luck.

Damn lake finally calmed down. Hope it's like this tomorrow.