Thursday, July 30, 2009

Just Hanging Out







Our visit in Mt. Pleasant with the Sytsema family is about to come to an end. We're leaving in a couple of days to return to Buffalo and our sailing/motoring trip into the Erie Canal. It's been so fun to watch Brady in his first few days and his brothers reaction to him. They are all wonderful. Lisa and Don are certainly calm parents and that carries over to the "youngins".


Kyle has suffered from a bout of the flu, but so far no one else has gotten it. Ryan just keeps us all in stitches. He's got a wonderful sense of humor.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Life on Land







After we left Tequila in Buffalo, we drove back to Mt. Pleasant in time to "grab" the boys (Kyle is 5 1/2 and Ryan is 3) and set off on a three day "adventure." This included a trip to Indiana, a visit with the Cordray clan at White River Campground, a dune buggy ride, and two nights in motels. We had a fabulous time. Thank heavens for DVD players in cars!!!!! While we were gone Lisa played in a golf tournament (2 days before delivering baby #3).



Monday, July 20th we welcomed Brady Jacob Sytsema to our family. He weighed 9 pounds and was 19 1/2" long. He is a BIG boy. Mom and baby are doing fine now, but Brady had the cord around his neck at birth and needed some extra oxygen and monitoring for awhile. He looks like the other two boys but especially Kyle.


We'll be landlocked for the next couple of weeks, but plan to return to the boat and start into the Erie Canal system around August 3rd. To be continued......

PS Once again I have to thank my personal computer guru, Bill Murray, for holding my hand and helping me through the technical stuff.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Buffalo

Sorry you are getting two blogs at the same time. Somehow I lost them in the "draft" section.

July 12, 2009

Did you think that The Great Adventure would concern events only on the water? Tonight we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out and picked the Anchor Bar which is where Buffalo Chicken Wings were discovered/developed/created. They were really good, but the story is in the cab rides there and back. The first cab driver got lost and couldn't find us. He felt so bad about keeping us waiting that he turned off his meter before we got to the bar. The second cab driver who brought us back to the boat had no idea where the marina was located either. So, he talked non-stop and drove like a race track driver. He also turned off his meter. I felt like I had whiplash.

It's been so fun to get feed back from so many of you about the blog. Thanks for reading it. We're hoping to get the mast pulled on Monday, 7-13, and head for Michigan on Tuesday. However, as with all our plans, everything is subject to change.


July 15, 2009

The mast pulling went without a hitch. The guys were good......but not as good as the Irish Boat Shop crew. Still, we have no complaints. Lou and I spent the entire day getting the sails down and prepping it to be pulled and then wrapping the shrouds and halyards to the mast. We were pooped. My hat goes off to the people who do this day after day.

This is my good will story. In Erie a few days ago a Hunter 33 docked behind us. It was a young family with two children - 9 and 10. That was just the time we started sailing with Matt and Lisa. We exchanged some stories, he gave us some advise on where to dock in Buffalo, and we sailed away. They have met up with us again, helped us get to the airport to pick up a rental car, and given us directions. I hope we see them again!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

New York

July 8 - Erie, PA

Look out Sam and Susan. We beat you to the surfing waves that you find in Hawaii. Our trip from Ashtabula, Ohio, to Erie, PA, was one big surfing day with winds driving the waves from 13 to 16 knots (gusts up to 18). Those are high winds but still "safe". Can I tell you that I was happy to get into the marina?

As marinas go, this is the "Cadillac" of marinas we've been in. The bathrooms are fabulous, the washers and dryers are new and actually dried the clothes, and the common grills are the best we've ever cooked on. Since the winds are turning (in the wrong direction), we've decided to stay in Erie for the next few days. We'll get our bikes off the boat and go exploring or rent a car and go farther from the water.

July 10 - Buffalo, NY
We made the big push to Buffalo today (69.6 miles) in order to have time to set up the building of the cradle and unstepping the mast in the next few days. The winds were favorable at 6 am but died by 9 am. We motored almost all the way. It was a 12 hour day. We'll be carrying the mast on the boat through the Erie Canal and expect that it will stick over the bow by 10 feet and over the stern by the same amount. The man we need to arrange this with is on a 3 day vacation (imagine that!). So, here we are in a big city, no friends to meet us, and no car. Hummmmm.......

Monday, July 6, 2009

Ashtabula, Ohio


Today was a completely new experience. We were trying to get into Ashtabula to the Yacht Club. When we came into the outer harbor, we were stopped by this big conveyor hanging over the river ready to off-load cargo. There weren't any signs telling about the height over the water, so we had no idea if our mast could make it under it (it sure didn't look like it would). We circled around and around and around and finally called the Coast Guard for advise. They contacted the coal dock who called the ship and the conveyor was raised. A man was on the deck of the freighter giving us the high sign that we could make it under. It was just like crossing under a bridge.......no perspective. Whew!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Cleveland


This is our 16th day since leaving Charlevoix and our beloved Lake Michigan. Today was our first PERFECT sailing day. The winds were steady, we had the main and head sail up, and we were doing about 7 knots with only a little heel and no motor noise. This is what it's all about!!!!!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Vermilion
















Thanks Bill, Susan, and Joelee for advice on sending more than one picture. Now if I can figure out how to space them better. We'll save that for another blog.


We sailed/motored under a black cloud from Vermilion to Cleveland today. It finally dropped a few sprinkles on us as we entered the Cleveland Harbor. This is the first time I have been to
Cleveland by land or by sea, so I want to do a little sightseeing by bike and taxi. We plan to stay here through the 4th, so we'll get to see Cleveland's fireworks.






Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island in Lake Erie didn't quite match the picture in my head developed from Lou's stories. It is cute, but not that cute. The mooring field probably has 80 mooring balls and I counted 15 sailboats and 5 power boats. I'm not sure if that's a sign of the economy or the weather. There's a water taxi that runs from 8 am to midnight so people aren't "stuck" on their boats. In fact, they want to make it easy to go ashore and leave some cash in the T-shirt shops, restaurants, and bars. Unlike Mackinac Island, there are cars --- and hundreds of golf carts.


It was an easy sail to the next port - Vermilion. It's located on the Vermilion River and is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE. The houses along the river and side canals are all white and well tended. We took our bikes off the boat and rode around town before and after dinner. After we were tied up to a wall another boat arrived and tied up behind us. It was a beautiful Jeanneau sailboat. Just to give a few comparisons:




Papa Bear (Jeanneau) Mama Bear (us)

54 feet long 40 feet long

5 1/2 feet of freeboard 3 feet of freeboard

dingy davits no davits

bow thrusters no bow thrusters





Vocabulary:



freeboard - distance between the water and deck

davits - fancy system to hold the dingy out of the water

bow thrusters - motors that push the bow right or left (We use arm power.)






We've noticed a few differences in the ports we've been in so far:



Northern Lake Huron ports - empty

Detroit - very quiet

Put-in-Bay - high winds made the rigging "sing"

Vermilion - busy train tracks about 2 blocks away

Cleveland - airport "next door" and busy 4 lane highway very close by



Fortunately, when we are snug in our cabin, we don't hear (actually we have trouble hearing anything) the outside noises. What we can hear is the splashing under the transom. It's enough to drive you crazy.


The lake levels are up again this year so we need to use a 2 step step ladder to get on and off the boat. Thank you Mike and Marlene.


We've had some hitchhikers on the boat:



*hundreds of pesky flies

*thousand of gnats

*one small bird

*one large bee or yellow jacket




The little bird rode on our bow rail for quite awhile. He must have needed a little rest. The bee came aboard and settled on the cooler lid. He must have thought it was the biggest flower he'd ever seen. He stayed a couple of hours and looked like he was taking a nap. He finally left after we docked in Cleveland



Now it's raining and cold so we'll probably watch a movie tonight. All the comforts of home in 550 square feet.