9-2 Sandusky Bay: Our last day of the trip dawned bright and sunny. The trip around the back side of South Bass was extremely rough due to wave action. Once we came around the Island and started the run to Sandusky Bay, the waves settled down and the ride became much more pleasant. The winds were actually in our favor. We put up both sails and turned off the engine. . . . what a concept. Ten minutes after we turned off the engine, the wind died. Eventually the wind became constant at 10kn. and we had a glorious two hour sail to the mouth of the bay and down the channel. Here's a funny story: We were coming down the channel, 10kn. winds, both sails up. I said, I need three minutes to go to the bathroom. Keep calm and Keep sailing. I go down, I am on the pot and all the sudden I feel the boat heel mightily. Then I hear "Barb, I need you now". A 17kn. gust got us and I had to get up and release lines. It's hard to climb the companion way stairs, pull up my shorts and release lines all at the same time. It was a great way to end our sailing trip. We pulled into Sandusky Harbor Marina at 1pm and our trip was done for the summer. Linzee and Michael and Claire are coming up this afternoon to spend two nights on the boat. They will take us home on Friday.

9-1 Put In Bay: Michigan did its level best to keep us from leaving. We woke to heavy fog and were unable to travel till late morning. I was uneasy going out into Lake Erie in the fog and refused to leave until I could see across the bay. Once we got out on the lake we had a visibility of about 2 miles. East Sister Island came into view, then Pelee Island, and finally North, Middle, and South Bass Islands. These are home for us. We travel these islands every summer. We put the sails up, but the wind was basically on our stern. We pulled in the jib and left the main. We were a couple of miles off Put In Bay when a large fog bank started rolling up from the South. We took in the main, it was just up for decoration anyway, and increased our speed to 5.5kn. It turns out the fog bank was just a random cloud that passed with no harm, no foul. We grabbed a mooring ball at Put In Bay by 4:30pm, a 6 hour day. This is the last night of our trip. To Celebrate we went to the Boardwalk for dinner and had the famous Lobster Bisque. We walked the town, but basically it was all closed up. A few bars were open. It was hot and humid and we were glad when the sun went down and the temps cooled.

8-31 Ford Yacht Club: It was down the Detroit River today. We left at 10am and had enough wind to put up the head sail. It was an hour sail to the mouth of the river. We encountered several tankers in the first three miles. Then the freighter traffic eased. There was a much lighter amount of small boat traffic as it was Monday morning. The ride today was much less choppy than yesterday and much more pleasant. The sun was shining all day, but it was hazy. The temps were much warmer in the low 80's. The humidity was quite high, making it feel warmer, so the breeze was much appreciated. We passed the GM plant and several other big industries. The left bank was the Canadian side and the right bank was the Michigan side. If there is a competition of which country gets the award for the nicest river front, Canada would win hands down. The American side was all industry and high rise. The Canadian side was all parks and landscaping. We took a couple of side channels off the main river. This was for two reasons, one a change of scenery and two to get out of the shipping lanes. We arrived at Ford Yacht Club at the bottom of Grosse Isle at 3pm. The club is closed on Mondays, so no one was around. We spent a pleasant hour sitting under willow trees on the water front. Dinner was sausage grillers. The evening cooled off nicely and it was very pleasant to sit out and read. The pic is the GM plant.

8-30 Grosse Pointe Yacht Club: OOPS, I say, OOPS. We goofed today. We called yesterday, making a reservation and confirming that we received reciprocal (free) transient docking. First of all, we had the wrong GPS coordinates. We ended up three miles South of where we needed to be. That added an hour to our travel time. Then, when we got here, we find out that "reciprocal" means we have the privilege of docking here. Nothing is free. The slip cost us $95.00, then they charged us $5.00 for electric. That's $100.00 for the night. We were flabbergasted. That's the most expensive slip we have paid this summer. We were tired, it was 5pm, and bad weather threatened. We paid the $100.00 and grumbled about it. We took a tour after dinner. The grounds were exquisite and the building was quite impressive. Our ride down the St. Clair River today was very bumpy. It was Sunday and there were a ton of boaters out. That translates to a lot of wakes that we were traveling through. That means a very choppy ride. We also saw quite a few freighters today. We saw more freighters today than we saw all summer. Of course one of them passed us in the narrowest part of the river on a blind bend. Bob was having heart failure. He likes to give those big freighters lots of space. The pic today is the Grosse Isle Yacht Club building.

8-28 Port Huron: We woke to some strange yellow orb in the sky. I believe it is called the sun. It's been a while since I've seen this miracle. We left at 9:30 and attempted to sail. The wind was supposed to be out of the SW. But alas and alac, the wind came directly out of the south, right on our bow. Bob wanted to tack back and forth all day. I was not quite so enthusiastic about this idea. It just meant a longer day. At this point in the trip, I am not interested in longer days. We took the sails down and motored all day. The lake was flat and the winds were light and the sun was shining. All in all, it was a pleasant day. We were gassed up and pumped out and docked by 4pm. We are at the GLCC Headquarters in Port Huron. Dockage here is free for the night for GLCC members. We are officially off Lake Huron. Port Huron is the first port we have duplicated this trip. We were last here on June 17, when we headed North and went up the Canadian Coast. We should be home in about four days. 8-28 Port Huron: We woke to some strange yellow orb in the sky. I believe it is called the sun. It's been a while since I've seen this miracle. We left at 9:30 and attempted to sail. The wind was supposed to be out of the SW. But alas and alac, the wind came directly out of the south, right on our bow. Bob wanted to tack back and forth all day. I was not quite so enthusiastic about this idea. It just meant a longer day. At this point in the trip, I am not interested in longer days. We took the sails down and motored all day. The lake was flat and the winds were light and the sun was shining. All in all, it was a pleasant day. We were gassed up and pumped out and docked by 4pm. We are at the GLCC Headquarters in Port Huron. Dockage here is free for the night for GLCC members. We are officially off Lake Huron. Port Huron is the first port we have duplicated this trip. We were last here on June 17, when we headed North and went up the Canadian Coast. We should be home in about four days. The picture today is the Blue Water Bridge. It separates Lake Huron form the St. Clair River.

8-27 Port Sanilac: We left harbor at 7:30am. Our goal was Port Sanilac, 52 miles down the shore. We hoped to make up some time from all our weathered in days. The weather report said 10 knot winds for most of the day. But as we left the harbor we were facing 15 kn. winds. The first hour was directly into the waves, a lot of bow bashing. The second hour was with the waves on our beam, a very rough ride. The third hour was with the waves on our stern, a much better option than the first two. By the fourth hour the winds had lessened and the waves started to die down. We rounded Point Barques, headed more south, and life got even better. We were out of the swells and the ride was flat. It was a nine hour day, the first half was miserable and the second half was good. The sun never did shine, it was lots of low dark clouds all day. The high was 65 degrees. We did eventually get both sails up, but we never turned off the motor. After we made port and had dinner, we walked the town and had ice cream. The pic today is the entrance through the break wall. Each harbor has a unique entrance, and it is often a maze to get in the harbor. It always ads a little excitement to the end of the day.