Day 361: Monday, August 31, 2013
Port to Port: Frankfort to Ludington, Michigan
Underway: 7:17 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 53 Stayed At: Marina
Mile to Mile: Probably one of our biggest challenges on this trip is figuring out the weather. Yesterday morning it looked like today was going to still be too windy and rough to the make the long trek to Ludington. As the day wore on, the forecast changed and by evening it looked like a go. But depending on which weather forecast you looked at, we could potentially see everything from thick fog to 5 mph winds from the south to 20+ mph winds from the north to1-5’ waves. It’s always a crapshoot. We ended up having a great (if boring) travel day. The wind was light from the east at first with long low rollers pushing us along from the north (how does that work). It became almost calm for the middle part of the day although the rollers kept coming. We were regularly surfing at more than 7 mph down the fronts of the waves. By the last 3 hours, the wind finally freshened and clocked more to the north giving us a nice push. We had the sails up all day and even flew the sails wing and wing (jib out to starboard and main out to port) for the last hour. A perfect sailing day in spite of the weather forecast.
After our long straight run down the lake to Ludington (and after being passed by Tour De Loop, Corina, Journey and Down Time) we cruised into the municipal marina to join our friends. After getting tied up and checked in, I borrowed Kents’ bike again and headed off on a Walmart run. It’s been a long time between stops and I am out of 2 cycle motor oil (about $14/gallon at Walmart vs $10 a quart here at the marina) and we need some more 1 lb propane canisters. As usual, I spent almost $100 on my shopping spree and carried it all (a little precariously) back to the marina on the bike. I only missed about half of happy hour but they saved me some Yellow Hammers that Jane made for everyone. She is so excited to be able to get a cable signal so she can watch her college football she left docktails early (she’s been deprived for a while too).
We may be here a couple of days to wait for some strong winds to pass us by. This is a nice and reasonable price marina and the town is big enough to be interesting. It is too far to another decent stop before the weather changes late tomorrow and especially on Monday. We will see what tomorrow brings.
