8/15 Port Sheldon to Montrose Harbor, Chicago

My secret hope was to make it to Chicago in one long trip. Going to Racine or Kenosha would have been maybe 3 hours shorter, but would mean a full extra day. So I headed out of Port Sheldon early and found that both seas and wind had calmed down considerably. (Note - Getting up early was really never a problem for me as I usually was in bed by 10PM). I hadn't gotten any new diesel since Leland, and had to be economical, so I motorsailed leisurely towards the SW. The wind picked up a little as I got further offshore, but never enough to sail without the engine.

Later in the day the wind got weaker and weaker and the waves subsided to almost nothing. I did pour the last of my diesel into the tank while on my way and continued on my most relaxing crossing, reading, cooking and dozing.

I first spotted the top of the Sears tower when still 40NM (80km!) distant from Chicago. Visibility was amazing, I think I would have seen it even further if there hadn't been the Earth's curvature. A bit humbling though to think that at my speed of 5kn  it would be another 8 hours before I'd be home...

Three large lakers passed way ahead of me, and then I was through the shipping lanes.

Rolling Home - actually, Chicago is still 25 miles away...

The sun set beautifully today and a dark red moon was rising in the east while I grilled some hot dogs and made mashed potatoes.

I relaxed a little after dinner and then cleaned the dishes, and started cleaning up inside, peeking out every 5-10 minutes. 5 Miles offshore at Wilmette in the early evening I had the lake to myself, I thought, and was shocked to see a large shadow suddenly in front of me. It looked like a large sailboat bearing right down on me and I quickly changed course. 

I then realized that the other boat wasn't nearly as close as I had first thought - it was still a few hundred yards off and as I drew closer I recognized it as the tall ship 'Niagara' that was in town for the 'Taste of tall Ships' exhibition. It was ghosting slowly North in the minimal breeze. A very impressive sight...

After that I reached Montrose Harbor at 10PM, happy to be home at last, after a 17 hour crossing. 

8/14 Pentwater to Port Sheldon

The predicted strong northern breeze indeed materialized, I was immediately able to run using the spinnaker. Initially I tried to bring the jib into play as well, but it proved hard to balance and I eventually pulled most of it in, it made little difference as I was already running at top speed. Things were going really well.

After a few hours I passed White Lake, where several other sailboats where crossing my path sailing on beam reaches, they were having a hard time as by now waves had grown pretty high and caused them more rolling than could have been comfortable. The wave size was indeed starting to be a bit of a concern, as the dinghy started to occasionally hit me when racing down the crests. Some waves were starting to break, and I was wondering what would happen if one broke over the dinghy.

However, while approaching Muskegon my luck was over - the spinnaker pendant suddenly parted. That was wholly unexpected as it's a pretty hefty wire construction. The spinnaker itself was fine, so maybe it was better this way, the pendant is easy to replace with rope.

I hauled in the spinnaker and switched to the jib, but found that running straight before the wind with it was very rolly, so I switched to a zig-zag course to maintain some semblance of stability. The wind and waves kept increasing to a size I had never seen before, and I had to partially furl the jib, feeling I was in danger of rounding up otherwise. It seemed safer to steer by hand, too.

My plan to make it all the way to Holland was becoming unrealistic with the speed loss from zig-zagging and I was getting rather tired from steering anyways, so I again ended up at Port Sheldon.

8/13 Frankfort to Pentwater

Even though the weather forecast wasn't so good I decided to leave early and head south, if necessary by engine. Fortunately, the weather was better than expected (mostly sunny) and an increasing wind allowed me to motorsail and by lunchtime, switch the engine off entirely. The wind now came straight from astern, which meant - gennaker time! This is, when the waves are not too large and cause rolling, the most comfortable direction of sail and I got the pleasure of running like this for the next 7 hours! I let a small section of the jib stand in parallel to the 'kite' which gave it the look of a cutter (double headsail), and which I imagined stabilized and improved the gennaker performance.
As I approached Pentwater one other boat peeked out of the harbor and did a few spins, but then decided to head back in just ahead of me. As I entered the harbor I heard shouts of 'Arrrr' and found Kyle Buckland and his girlfriend Kelly waving to me from a pier. They had seen me entering the harbor and came to invite me to watch the annual Pentwater fireworks. First I had to anchor, but the boat I had previously met came close and shouted that I was free to use a mooring that was currently unused by its owner. Great - that saved me the usual anchoring troubles!
After having a light dinner I headed to shore and met Kelly's parents and watched an impressive fireworks display from their summer home. I slept well that night.

8/12 Great Traverse Bay to Frankfort

8/12 Great Traverse Bay to Frankfort
The wind was, of course, right against me. And the waves were big. No need to explain this again. I put into Leland as I needed fuel and some fresh food, but left quickly and continued though the Manitou passage south. Slow going again, with large steep waves and the wind right against me. I reached Frankfort fairly exhausted and had some quick dinner, but just before bedtime I got an email from Dean and Charlotte of Carrie Rose, telling me they were just 500 feet away from me in the harbor. So I rowed over and spend an hour in their beautiful tug. It's 32 feet - shorter than Caprice - and has about 5 times more space inside. Ahh, the tugging world. It also needs 5-10 times more fuel than Caprice, but it can work its way through waves much better.

8/11 St Ignace to Great Traverse Bay

8/11 St Ignace to Great Traverse Bay

Today I got up even earlier and motored into the Straits for my third attempt. I only now noticed that I had lost my flagpole and the flag in the violence the day before. Today the winds were much more moderate and other boats showed up in the straits. And indeed, after motoring into the breeze, after 4 hours, I turned the corner south-west at the abandoned lighthouse. Unfortunately the wind decided to turn south-west too, and I ended up motoring a good deal more. Finally I started sailing and tacking to SW. I really wanted to reach Leland, but that proved impossible before evening. I sought shelter at the tip of Great Traverse Bay instead, where the anchor dug in right away. Unfortunately the spot I picked was only good for protection from SW winds, and as the wind of course shifted to S during the night, I had a rocky sleep.

My Nemesis

Apparently, not everybody thinks you need a big boat to get through here - notice the Kayak.

Plenty Traffic

8/10 St Ignace to St Ignace

8/10 St. Ignace to St. Ignace

OK, next attempt to make the straits. The wind was stronger than yesterday, and the waves bigger, and no other boats in sight anywhere. This should have been a hint for me, but I was blind to such omens. I cranked the engine to full power and headed under the bridge I by now knew so well. It was tough going, even with full power the boat was going very slowly and would occasionally even stop completely when it crashed into a wave. The waves were not just high (8 feet), but very steep and fast. I started taking water in through the companionway hatch and decided to call it quits after 4 hours in which I barely covered 10 miles. The return to St Ignace took just 1.5 hours! I anchored where I came from and had some lunch and was ready to take a little siesta when I noticed the landscape had changed. Incredulous, as I had set the anchor alarm which didn’t alert me, I checked the GPS and found that I was dragging anchor. It was blowing intensely, and after raising the anchor I found it fouled with seaweed. I decided to head for a different anchoring spot as my Danforth anchors don’t work well with weed. The new place inside the ferry harbor basin looked promising, but I failed again and again to make the anchor stick. Weed everywhere! Frustrated I gave up after an hour of failures and headed further north to a bay that seemed shallow and protected from the winds. Upon arrival I found that winds were still very strong and the seabed full of weed. Again, I tried anchoring multiple times, and eventually even used the stern anchor to stop Caprice from swinging. Maybe that did it, maybe the fact that the wind finally abated...

8/9 Harbor Island to De Tour Village and on to St. Ignace

8/9 Harbor Island to De Tour Village and on to St. Ignace

Harbor Island is just 90 minutes from De Tour, and on that hop we had to fight some big swells coming through the Detour Channel. I was a bit apprehensive about the conditions on Lake Huron and after Dana got into her Matrix to drive back home (which would take her just 8 hours, not 8 days), I set out south. It actually turned out to be very good sailing conditions, and I was able to sail towards Mackinac Island beautifully, just a few times interrupted by violent rains. By the time I reached the bridge though the wind started to really increase and veer to the west. I tacked a few times and then decided to head straight into the blow with the engine. The wind kept increasing, the waves growing, and the autopilot started acting up again. Eventually I had to give up because it was clear that under the conditions I would not find a protected anchorage before midnight. I returned to St Ignace and anchored right south of the marina, off a beach.

8/8 Meldrum Bay to Harbor Island

8/8 Meldrum Bay to Harbor Island

The weather had improved so we set out right after Circus, who were valiantly trying to sail in spite of fluky weak winds. We motorsailed instead and passed them (the only way Caprice would ever pass a C&C 37). 

We arrived at Yacht Haven on Drummond Island in the afternoon, got immigration formalities done and left again for Harbor Island. This horse-shoe shaped island is a perfect anchoring spot, and we ate our delicious whitefish we had bought at Meldrum Bay.

Benjamin Islands to Meldrum Bay

8/6 Benjamin Islands to Meldrum Bay

We had no wind, as usual, but nice sunny weather. Since we were motoring we decided to make a really long step again, especially since there’s nothing much interesting on the southern shore of the North Channel. We decided to skip Gore Bay, thinking Meldrum Bay sounded just the same – this was before we heard from several sources that Meldrum bay has 24 or 64 or so year-round inhabitants only.

Meldrum Bay Marina, where we arrived in the early evening, had to rebuild their docks every year since the ice of winter would regularly destroy the old docks. Eventually they got tired of this and build a big breakwater. We got one of ‘last years’ docks though which was close to sinking, had no electricity and no water. We didn’t mind that too much with our solar panels, but the price was the same – 50$. And that didn’t include showers which were $5 extra! We had a delicious dinner at the historical Inn, now run by a Persian owner. Fish and Chips and Smoked Trout Linguini made a welcome change from cooking for ourselves every other day.

We met a nice couple from Traverse City here, Beth and Jack, on a beautiful C&C 37 called Cirrus. They reported that most people would mispronounce their boat ‘Circus’, which we promptly decided was the only way to call their boat, too.

The next day was rainy and had a strong northern wind, and since we weren’t in a hurry we decided to stay another day and had happy hour with Beth and Jack. Of course we got the tour of their boat and I insisted on checking the engine, in the process not finding the dipstick hole anymore and soiling Dana’s pants with oily dust.

8/5 Long Point Cove to the Benjamin Islands

This was a long ‘drive’, and without wind (what else is new?) we motored all the way. This part of the North Channel is the most famous one, it has the most beautiful channels, islands and anchorages. We were lucky to have great weather, sunny and clear, and enjoyed the trip immensely. We passed through the whalesback channel, then through a very narrow pass called ‘Little Detroit’ and eventually turned south to enter the anchorage between the two Benjamin Islands from the south. This is the only real passage in there, even though there’s a shallow channel in the west between the two islands and we saw some small boats passing though there. One sailboat in particular came through with a nice clip and we clearly heard the bang of him smashing a rock at some point...

The anchorage is maybe the most popular and well known one of the whole North Channel, and there were maybe two dozen boats anchored there. Since it’s large they spread out well and we didn’t feel crowded here either. The neighboring powerboat played some opera and at sunset felt compelled to entertain the anchorage with a tune that must have burst their eardrums, but otherwise it was all peaceful and beautiful. We went foraging for blueberries and were quite successful, but retreated to the boat to put on insect repellent after encountering plenty critters. We ate all the blueberries of the first crop with some yoghurt, and then returned for more. Initially not very successful, we suddenly encountered the mother of all blueberry bushes on North Benjamin Island – a bush very much larger than all the others we ever found, and laden with fruit. We picked so many that we still have some today, two days later.

8/4 Turnbull to Long Point Cove

This anchorage was just a short hop from Turnbull, in fact it’s in visible range and took just 2 hours to get to, and this included ghosting out of Turnbull for about 30 minutes. So, with almost no wind, and from the wrong direction, we had to motor yet again! Did I mention that the admiral likes two kinds of winds best? 1. No wind at all 2. Light wind right on the nose. You can guess why!

Long Point Cove is beautiful. Very small and well protected from all directions. It’s surrounded by the typical rock formations and trees of the North Channel, and we enjoyed rowing the anchorage and climbing a little viewpoint. We found our first blueberries here; they are a different variety than the ones in the stores, smaller but very sweet. Delicious! We ate them all on the spot.

On the way back we feared we were doomed, as we got lost in the dense forest. Eventually we found our way back to the dinghy.

8/3 Blind River to Turnbull Island

Today’s trip was a quick one, Turnbull is just 2 hours away from Blind River. There wasn’t enough wind to sail, so we ended up motoring there. The eastern end of Turnbull Island affords some well protected shallow anchorages, and plenty space for the dozen boats in there. We rowed around the anchorage and searched for loons, without much success.

8/1 and 8/2 De Tour village to Thessalon, Canada and on to Blind River

August 1: De Tour Village to Thessalon, Canada

The North Channel part of our cruise started with perfect sailing weather, steady 10-15 knot wind on a broad beam reach. I had resolved to make the trip as comfortable as possible for Dana and left a reef in the main from the beginning. As the winds picked up, we also reduced the jib to eventually 50%, but we still achieved 5 knots average, and with a heeling angle of just 5-10 degrees max.

We had just one small adventure when just before Thessalon we were forced to execute a HOB (hat over board) procedure. We took about 2 minutes to turn the boat around and almost gave up on finding the hat again. We hadn't promptly pressed the 'mark' button on the GPS and had also failed to throw a life ring. But luck had it that we found it after a few more minutes of searching! A good omen.

We anchored in the bay at Thessalon and actually didn't even set foot on land. We were tired and hungry, and after dinner went to bed early.

August 2: Thessalon to Blind River

Thessalon in the morning

The weather prediction had been dire for today, with rains and thunderstorms in the offing. However, we were instead greeted by a incredibly calm and balmy morning. After breakfast we set off by motor and headed east. It was so calm that Dana decided to take a nap on deck while I read and let the autopilot do the steering. Later Dana went below and started knitting one of her projects, something she would not have done days ago.

Eventually the predicted weather caught up with us, and rain started pouring on us and eventually through some of the still leaky windows. When we reached Blind River the rain was so bad that we decided to stay out on the lake a little longer to avoid getting drenched, but when there was no improvement we headed in.  

July 31st: Beaver Island to De Tour Village, MI

Beaver Island

After a brief thunderstorm in the early morning the day became nicer by the hour. The wind was slowly increasing from the west, and by the time I crossed though Gray's reef, I was able to run the engine in low gear and get much speed from the sails.

Gray's Reef abandoned old lighthouse

Visibility was amazing, I first saw the Macinac bridge from 20 miles away. By the time I reached the bridge I could switch off the engine and run wing-on-wing straight past Macinac Island. This was a glorious sight, first the bridge and then the shabbiest place in Michigan. I even heard a cannon shot when I passed the Mac lighthouse, but my torpedoes jammed and I couldn't meet the challenge.

Approaching the Macinac Bridge wing-on-wing

The Macinac Bridge

Shabby Macinac Island

Approaching De Tour Village

I was happy to continue under sail all the way to De Tour village. Dana was meeting me there, she had left Chicago by car in the morning and it took her 9 hours (including 2 hours for rest stops) to cover what took Caprice and me a full week. Sailing isn't the fastest method of locomotion I must admit.

De Tour Village (population 235) was my first stop in a Marina since Chicago. Caprice is now fully self-contained, with solar panels, gas heater, shower etc. I had really not missed anything, in fact I only now realized that I had lived in the wrong time zone since I reached Michigan.

It was so good to sleep next to my bunny again!