Crossing the lake

Tuesday, 7/26
The day started beautifully, sunny and mild, and a little NW breeze. I got on my way early at 6:45.

I sailed right from the start, initially ENE, which unfortunately cost me dearly in time, and also forced me to gradually change course to E. My hope to make it to Whitehall was dashed cruelly!

The next attempt at crossing Lake Michigan - Racine in the background

I encountered two lakers in the center traffic lanes, by which time the wind was freshening, and waves started building more and more. For the first time ever I put a reef in the main and partially furled the genoa, which made life a lot better. Winds from the North kept increasing to maybe 20 knots.

Traffic lanes in the middle of the lake - I encountered two large lakers, but they were miles ahead of me 

I was getting queasy from the rolling and got better only after un-eating my lunch. I took a little nap, but eventually the autopilot was overwhelmed by the bigger and bigger broadside waves. I myself was sick two more times, but had to helm the last four hours.

Entering Port Sheldon (Pigeon Lake) was awful, as I had taken my sails down 1 mile out and the waves were making me roll through +-30 degrees. I was glad when I entered the lake, and in here it was gorgeously calm, if not exactly quiet on account of the nearby coal power plant.


Wed, 7/27

At Pigeon Lake (Port Sheldon)

I woke up early next morning from some bird song - where would those birds have perched if I didn't have to divert to Port Sheldon?

Good Morning Song

Before I set off on my next leg, my weather team Admiral Dana and Chris warned me that bad weather was going to hit soon and recommended sitting it out - and I'm sure glad I did. It rained buckets, and bailing the dinghy afterwards took a good effort - here I might add that I'm dragging our dinghy with me instead of transporting it on deck. The school of thought is that the dinghy on deck is safer and obviously reduces drag - but it's also in the way if you have to get on the foredeck, and reduces visibility, so that's my choice, school be damned.

After that, the flood

Finally, at 4PM, I decided to get on my way and get as far as Muskegon, to make up for lost time. The weather still didn't look nice. As soon as I exited the harbor entrance I discovered that the autopilot hadn't just been overwhelmed temporarily yesterday, but that something was clearly broken with it. It would simply not keep a steady course. Now, you can sail with a broken sail, a broken motor, even a leak. But without an autopilot it's just no fun! I was again tied to the tiller for the whole 6 hours it took to get to Muskegon. The reason why it took so long is that after passing Grand Haven the weather turned really ugly, with thunderstorms galore. I had to take shelter in the cabin twice when some of those storms caught me right in the middle, and without the autopilot I had no choice but to switch everything off and drift for the duration of the storm. I wasn't hit by lightning, but then the trip has hardly started, who knows what else will happen. Finally around 10PM I entered Muskegon lake and anchored in the NW corner. The new gas oven worked wonders to dry my drenched clothing.

Next I had to tackle the autopilot - I hoped that maybe something got wet inside, or condensation had formed in the compass (this is an ancient model with a real optical compass!). I got lucky - after opening it the fault was obvious - a bracket that holds the pushrod had worked itself loose. Reattaching should fix the thing, I thought.

My weather trouble was far from over though - this night brought more heavy rain, and eventually Caprice started leaking in multiple places. All main four windows leaked, two of the gasketed opening ports leaked, even the sailtrack that's throughbolted leaked. I woke the next morning from persistent drips of water on my head...


Thu, 7/28

In Muskegon Lake, close to Snug Harbor

OK, on to good news - the autopilot proved itself fixed (apart from a small 'cosmetic' issue that the course selector knob sometimes kind of slips.) On exiting Muskegon lake I passed the USS Silversides, a museum submarine. That beast has 2400 tons vs. the Caprice's 7...

The USS Silversides, a WW2 fleet submarine - that thing is huge!

For a change, I didn't have technical or weather trouble today - it was kind of foggy/misty and the wind died several times, which made me use the diesel half the time. Just before Pentwater I passed Little Point Sable and observed plenty people on the beach.

Little Point Sable

Just north of there are huge sand dunes that are apparently some kind of ATV playground, I saw dozens of vehicles racing up and down the slope. To each his own hobby!

And now, finally, anchored at Pentwater, and even some WIFI now and then. I haven't actually touched Michigan yet because I haven't stepped off the boat since leaving Racine on Tuesday morning.