Detroit

We arrived at Bayview Yacht Club on Friday (26th) early enough to have dinner. The City of Detroit has cleaned up Connor Creek which runs along the west side of Bayview. That has allowed the Yacht Club to build more docks which are great. The situation couldn't have been better. Most other boat owners live nearby, so we were the only "live-aboards." It was quiet!

Saturday morning (at early early o'clock as Kyle used to say) a shell came gliding past us with a happy wave from Molly & Libby (friends). We watched them doing their morning rowing workout in the creek while drinking our coffee. These "girls" are long and lean while the coffee drinkers are short and round. Hummmmm? Maybe it's time to trade in Tequila.

Libby and Molly returned for us and off we went to watch Molly's and Todd's boys in a mini-swim-meet. Certainly felt familiar. Tucker is just 5 and swam a 25 freestyle and a 25 fly. It was so cute! Ethan (9) is a "fish". He has qualified for the State Meet in EVERY event for 9 and 10 year olds. That's amazing.

The rest of the day was devoted to doing errands with our friend's car. What a good friend is Sherryl Benton! We even made it to Costco and stopped in to see Lou's sister, Marie. (Just a little note here ----- Marie took us in for 5 summers while Tequila was SLOWLY being retrofitted from racer to cruiser, and we were "homeless." We'll never be able to pay her back!

Walt and Sherryl and Lou and I went out for dinner and did some catching up. Walt and Lou have been friends since Mackenzie High School, Olivet College, and MEA days. (58 years)

Sunday (still had Sherryl's car) was laundry, food shopping, and a sail on the Detroit River with Todd & Molly and their boys, Libby, and Mike & Sally (M's & L's mom and dad. ) Wouldn't you know that it was a rock-n-roll sail with winds gusting up to 25 - 27 knots? Fortunately, everyone has sea legs and it was a short sail, so no one got sick. At some point we dropped the sail and Todd and the boys jumped in for a swim. Remember......Tucker is only 5. Then we went home with them for a delicious dinner and celebrated Sally's birthday.

Monday brought our first good sail since the Charlevoix-Cheboygan leg. Winds were 17 to 19 knots and gusting higher. We were doing 8 to 9 knows with the jib reefed in (that means not all the way out) and the rail in the water. The waves were only 2 to 3 feet high with some white caps but they were hitting us on the beam (the side of the boat). This makes the boat rock back and forth A LOT!

This is my first time in Lake Erie. I was prepared for it to be a lot different than Lake Michigan (it is the most shallow of the Great Lakes), but so far the only thing different is the water is green and not blue.

One of the first stories Lou told me in our early dating days was about coming to Put-in-Bay for the PAR-TY. He was 24 and living life to the fullest. I'm sure he had his fair share of Cold Duck.

This time around his boat partner is a little old lady who can't drink much before getting tipsy. Oh how life tricks us! We came 51 miles in 8 1/2 hours. We've come 386 miles so far.

We read the charts and came into the mooring field. Who has ever tried to hook a mooring ball in 14 knot winds? It was an exciting (never to be repeated I hope) experience. We'll spent a day exploring this little tourist spot before heading farther east.