August 12, 2007 The weatherman predicted that the wind would blow from the north and churn up some rather large waves on Lake Michigan so we decided to stay another day in the lovely port of Charlevoix MI. The marina is isolated from the lake and is rather protected. As you come off of Lake Michigan you travel down a channel, underneath a drawbridge that opens on the hour and half hour and into Round Lake, where the Marina is located. It was a gorgeous day. Temp in the mid eighties and a stiff breeze to cool the body. We took a dinghy ride to the the middle of this small lake to visit an enterprising soul that had a grill on his houseboat and fenders all around so that you pulled up placed your food order, and then cruise around until he calls you on the marine radio when it is ready. He also served smoothies so we all had a smoothie to go. By the way this is Formula country. I have never been to a place where Formula Boats out number Sea Ray boats. Several boaters ventured out on the big Lake but they soon returned with reports of 3-5 ft waves.
August 13, 2007. The wind was predicted to quiet down around noon today. A late morning start was relayed to the crew the night before. However as the sun came up the wind appeared to have calmed down. There is no fresh water at the Marina since it is under construction. We awoke this morning at 6:30 to that familiar backup alarm on the construction equipment. Our onboard water was exhausted, but we knew we could "water up" at the next port. Everything was made ready for the 9 am bridge opening. We were off for Frankfort Mi which was about 65 water miles. The first 15 miles were pretty lumpy as we encountered 3-4 ' waves. These were Lake Michigan waves and they are more rolly than Lake Erie waves which are steep and close together. We were taking them on our beam (side) and our stern which is not as comfortable as when you head directly into them. The autopilot pump works very hard in these sea conditions to provide a straight course. The GPS shows a trail of where we have been and when the Autopilot is in control it is very straight but when I steer by hand you can see some wandering in the trail. The autopilot contains a gyro compass that senses the boats rolling motion and feeds that information to the autopilot computer so the movement of the boat is anticipated and the autopilot moves the rudder accordingly. We traveled today with Forever Young. There are a couple of other looper boats here in Frankfort, but I have not had a chance to visit them. The latter part of our journey was fantastic. The Lake calmed down, the sun was shining, and the Michigan shoreline view was absolutely fantastic. The water is very deep right off shore. At one point our depth meter read 505' and we were within a 1/2 mile of shore. Arrival time in Frankfort was 3:30 pm so it was a long day on the water. We have missed some ports that I would like to have stopped at, but that is another story for another post The picture above is of Sleeping Bear Dunes just north of Frankfort
1 comment:
Zane has a cottage 5 miles south of Frankfort and was there on the 13th. He came back to Decatur on the 14th. It is a shame that you did not know he was so close and you put in at Frankfort. You could have met. We have been there many times and love the Frankfort area. I also have a fraternity brother who lives in Harbor Springs. We also know that area as we used to ski in Harbor Springs and Frankfort really reminds me of Harbor Springs as the harbors are very similar.
Having just found your "blog" (i have no idea what they are) I am enjoying following you on your trip.
When you get to Englewood, give us a call to see if we are up here or there. We would love to see you in Englewood.
Bill & Eileen Zwick
PS. Eileen is having a hip replacement on Monday, August 20
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