Friday, September 4, 2009

September 3: Harrisville to Harbor Beach. 85 miles


OK. We knew this was going to be a long day.... We left Harrisville before 5 AM. Erika was driving, steering by the stars (our course lined up well with Orion's belt). Bill and Toby were sleeping below, and Erika and I saw the occasional shooting star--probably leftovers from the meteor showers earlier in the month. It was very calm and quiet (except for that blasted boat motor). We watched the moon set, and the sun rise...

After 2 hours I releived her at the helm, and when the sun came up the wind came up too! Yay! We put up the main sail and the screecher, shut off the motor and picked up speed. The rest of my 2 hour shift we had enough wind to sail, which gave us high hopes for the rest of this day. Bill took over at 9:00, and I went below and climbed back into bed. About 20 minutes later I heard him start the motor, and that was the story for the rest of the day.

There was not much to see out there--blue sky, blue lake.... one freighter in the morning when I was driving. No other boats in sight all day, no land in sight most of the day. We turned at the weather buoy about 50 miles into the ride... you can see how calm it is out there. Have you ever seen Lake Huron so placid???? I haven't...
We arrived at Harbor Beach after 5 PM, tied up and walked to town for supper. We walked and walked, which was a good thing after our 12 hour confinement, and found our chosen restaurant not up to par. So we walked back to the main street and had a great dinner at Al's. On the way back to the harbor we saw bats, and Toby had a fun time howling at the moon, with another kid (not in our sight) howling back... guess you had to be there.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can see you are having a WONDERFUL trip!!

Sleep well, my friend & enjoy!!

some of us are at work...dreaming about being on a vacation someday!

hugs to you, Bill, da lil man, & erika

L