Weather Day in Harbor Springs

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 127 - August 5, 2017

Our outboard service was finished by noon yesterday, and we could have left this morning for our next destination, except that according to SailFlow, the winds outside Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan would be in the high teens with gusts in the high 20s. The sailors were reporting 7 foot waves outside Little Traverse Bay. Not a C-Dory cruising kind of day! So we decided to stay put for one more day!

We did not waste the day! The first thing we did after breakfast was to try to figure out, as closely as we could, where we wanted to stop each night. We mostly used Active Captain data, although we looked at the Waterway Guides Great Lakes volume as well. Our criteria were that (1) we did not want to go more than 40 miles per day, unless we had to go farther, (2) we did not want to go less than 25 miles, unless the next good spot was less than 25 miles and the next one more than 40, (3) the anchorage had to offer decent protection from wind, and (4) the "Baxter Pooped Here" criterion, there had to be good shore access. This is written down in our notebook and entered in Garmin Blue Chart Mobile as a series of waypoints. Our stops, as of today, all subject to change, will be:

• Northport
• Sleeping Bear Bay
• Frankfort
• Manistee
• Ludington
• White Lake
• Grand Haven
• Kalamazoo Lake
• St. Joseph
• New Buffalo
• (Maybe) Marquette
• (Maybe) Chicago

These all meet our distance criteria, except Ludington to White Lake, which is 45 miles, and White Lake to Grand Haven, which is only 22 miles. The "maybes" are because we could go directly from New Buffalo to Chicago and skip Marquette, which is what I am thinking we will probably do. This is 11 or 12 days, depending on whether we go directly to Chicago from New Buffalo or go to Marquette and then Chicago. If anybody sees any flaw with this plan, please let us know!

 It is almost certainly more than 11 or 12 days counting the days the weather will not allow us to cruise - on Lake Michigan, that means winds. We consult SailFlow for wind speed and direction and Marine Weather for wave height and other weather information daily. SailFlow, though, is what we trust most for wind information. We are not in a hurry and do not like getting our fillings knocked out by big waves!

I spent much of the rest of the morning working on the oxidation on Daydream's brow and roof side stripes, which had severe oxidation from so much time in the relentless sun. I had bought two products at the Irish Boat Shop Ship's Store. Both are Shurehold products: Buff Magic, and Pro Polish. Buff Magic is a polishing agent, and Pro Polish is a wax and sealant. Both can be hand applied, which is what I did, or applied with a dual action polisher, which I have but left at home! I was worn out when I was done, but very happy with the results. I did the polishing twice on the brow, and applied two coats of the wax and sealant. I only did singles on the roof side stripe. I need to do the rest of the boat, but I am not sure when or how that will happen!

Brow polished, waxed and sealed! Sorry, no "before" picture!

Oxidation on side stripe of roof compared to polished and waxed brow.
 The whole brow was oxidized just like the side stripe!

After I did the polishing, waxing and sealing, we had drinks and lunch, and then we set out on foot, Patty for the Farmer's Market and I for the IGA supermarket. We only got as far as downtown, when I asked a police officer where the Farmer's Market was, and he told us we had missed it, it was over at 1:00 p.m. I was headed back up the hill to the IGA for a little resupply of our bar stock, but Patty recalled there was a liquor store downtown, which sure enough, there was! Shock of shocks, it was cash only - instead of their paying a credit card processing fee, they sent me over to the ATM across the street, so I paid the fee, not them!

Right across the street from the liquor store, there was an ice cream store, and how could we pass that up? We had a raspberry swirl in vanilla, but we decided they needed a little more raspberry swirl and less vanilla ice cream! Still, what is a day on the Loop without our ice cream!

Back at the boat, we had our sundowners, and Patty made one of the best taco salads ever! We finished the night as we usually do, reading our Kindles until we get drowsy! I finished my book, "Crooked Little Lies," which I thought was very good, and I am casting about for another one now! 

We will get going as early as possible tomorrow, because the wind according to SailFlow will be in the single digits, and it should be a great day for cruising!

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