SMELLIN da ROSES, Part 2-j.
Tuesday 15 July (continued) The wind she did blow and blow and blow. At one time the wave spay was coming over the Leland Marina's 12 foot stone breakwall. We tightened lines, added a couple and went sightseeing in the afternoon, cooked dinner on the boat and listened to the wind some more.
Wednesday, 16 July. The weather or rather wind forecast was not too bad so we decided to move on. It was quite a job disconnecting all the electric cords this morning - the 50 amp splitter and 100 feet of cord to the Marge's Barge and 125 feet to the Two J's. Then came the task of untying the two boats from the raft up to the finger pier at Leland Municipal Marina and getting around the boats in front of and behind us. Still, we were underway by 8:00 AM and headed South down Lake Michigan. When we first got out into the lake, it was still a bit choppy and we thought that it was not going to be a very enjoyable day. After about an hour, it calmed down to between 1-2 feet for a couple of hours (no white caps). The last hour was about 2-3 foot swells with a following sea, so we surfed a while - 10 mph going up and 11.5 mph going down. The scenery was more interesting than it has been, cruising about a mile off shore while looking at the huge sand dune coastline of Michigan.
We arrived in Frankfort, MI at about Noon. The private marina where we are staying had been recently rebuilt and is quite nice and even has cable TV. It is just a block away from the down town area. After lunch, we walked into town (about 6 blocks long) and went up one side of Main Street and down the other. Went into a couple of interesting stores and bought a few odds and ends - nothing special.
Rain is expected tonight. Higher winds 10-15 mph, waves 1-3 feet and a chance of thunder showers tomorrow. We only plan a 28 mile cruise tomorrow (3 hours), so we'll get up and check the 6:00 AM weather forecast and make the decision then.
Thursday, 17 July. When we got up this morning, it did not look very good - dark cloudy skies and a little windy. After listening to the weather report and checking the weather TV channel we thought it would be best to stay put in Frankfort. Several loads of wash were done, vacuuming, washing the boat (Two J's) and filling the house water tanks were all accomplished and Howard reinstalled his old VHF radio because his new one could not receive any transmissions. We all had a pizza attack and learned that there was a good shop less than a block away.
A highlight of the day was watching more than 50 sailboats coming into the harbor from the recently finished Chicago to Mackinaw sailboat race which started last Saturday - 279 boats in 15 heats were in the race. When they were all in, there were two raftouts of 7 or 8 boats on the fuel dock, another raft off a finger pier of 7 boats, every available slip filled and three more tied up at the end of the T-head of the dock that we were on and one rafted off into the fairway entrance from one of those plus a 120 foot boat across the fairway (we were blocked in). The race and the four Great Loopers were the topics of conversation (there was a Wisconsin boat who is a member of the America's Great Loop Association) and another looper from Texas who we introduced to the Club.
Friday, 18 July. Today was predicted to be a good day with winds between 5 and 10 and waves less than a foot, building to one to three feet in the afternoon. We got out of the marina at 7:30 AM and decided to do a double run down to Ludington, MI (a distance of 53 miles). We arrived here at 12:20 PM and in the slips and settled by 1:15 after the Two J's took on fuel. The Two J's wanted to take a trolly ride out to the sand dunes, but the schedule was all fouled up, so they could not go - a bit of a disappointment. At about 615 PM the car ferry which goes between Ludington and Wisconsin is due to come in (it is the oldest coal fired, steam ferry boat still operating) so we held dinner so we could watch it come in to its dock near the municipal pleasure craft marina. The ferry is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. Tonight we are going to a concert in the park next to the marina (after walking about 10-12 blocks, John and Judy learned that the concert was canceled due to some kind of basketball tournament - several blocks in the city park were closed off with portable basketball hoops everywhere??? A very nice elderly couple gave J& J a ride back to the marina.
TWO J's V -- John and Judy Gill
MARGE'S BARGE -- Howard and Maggie Daniels
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