Cheryl's Notes:

We wanted to get to Buffalo by Sunday and were afraid that we weren't going to make it. At this point, every day counts for me. We woke up early and noticed that the lake was calm and the wind had subsided. We listened to the weather and decided to make a run up the coast to Erie, PA. We were out of the harbor by 6:30 am. As we were heading up the coast, we were monitoring the weather and the conversations of some sailboats ahead of us. The weather was supposed to get worse again on Sunday and Monday. We were afraid that we would get to Erie and be locked in again. We did some calculating on our Maptech software and found that we would actually save about forty miles by heading straight up the lake to Buffalo instead of moving into the shore at Erie, PA. We were hoping to stay ahead of the weather and get into Buffalo ahead of it. This would be our first overnight of the journey.

We didn't beat the weather, but we sure put the boat to the test. There were two storm systems, one sliding up each side of the lake. For most of the afternoon and evening we watched it move along the shores. About 8:30 the two cells converged right over the middle of the lake. The wind started blowing 45-50 knots and the waves were incredible. (John lost his hat, and one of the cute little bowls that I bought from Lexie went flying overboard.) Surprisingly, we kept Otto on during the whole time and he handled the boat better than we could have. The winds started to subside around 10:00 to a more manageable 20-30 knots. We hit Buffalo around 3:00 am and the winds started to pick up again as we approached the harbor. Big cities have a lot more harbor lights, and the shoreline was confusing in the dark. I kept the GPS plugged into the laptop down below and would let John know what bearings he needed to be on to clear into the harbor. Once we were into the main channels, there were plenty of lights to guide us. We made it into the marina and chose an empty slip.

As we docked, I thought that our adventure was over, but again I was wrong. The slips had very narrow and low finger piers. After a very long night with only a few naps, I misjudged the distance to the dock. To make a long story short, I missed and ended up in the lake. Good thing that I still had my PFD on, and now we know that it works the way it is supposed to. There are no ladders at the end of the piers here, and I am by no means a light weight. Add about forty pounds of water and the guys had a hard time lifting me out. John says that next time I am going to have to swim around to the motor lift and they will crank me up. At least the water here is much warmer than Lake Superior.

We secured the boat and by the time we crawled into our berths it was 4:00 am. We slept for a few hours and I made a nice breakfast. It is supposed to rain here most of the day. During a break in the rain, we were able to get the sails off and stow them below.

John's Notes:

You have already read Cheryl's notes above. First, I will tell you that the boat is performing much better than I would have ever imagined. Frank Butler and Jerry Douglas built a fine boat for sure. I know that there lots of doubters about a Catalina as a cruising boat. Well, we are not one of those doubters. When we get to North Carolina I will have to go over the entire boat and tighten everything but up to this point she has taken a beating and has kept on going. Yesterday is as bad a weather as I have sailed in since leaving California many years ago. When we sit around the bar at Portside and talk about the wind and wave conditions, we are only kidding ourselves. When we talk about 4-6 footers and winds of 25kts or more, they are actually 2-4' and maybe 18-20kts. Sure we have gusts and some of us have experienced more, but by in large they are nothing to what we went through late yesterday and last night. Sailing in 30+kts winds and seas running a steady 8-10' for hours at night will tighten your cheeks. Lots of our sailing friends might be green with envy, but, after yesterday I think just "green" would be a better way to describe it.

I don't know what to say about Cheryl's experience early this morning. Just when I thought our ordeal was over, she was over, the side, that is. I thought she slipped on the dock. I had no idea she was in the water until Tommy jumped on the dock. Now she knows why I am so adamant about wearing our life vests. She had been giving me a little grief last night because I wanted her tied on to the jack lines any time she was on deck. She was even going to take the vest off before we docked. Damn glad she didn't because, while we could have gotten her back up on the dock, it would have been a lot more difficult without the vest being inflated. Went to West Marine and bought another gas cylinder for her vest today. Just in case..........

Tomorrow will be a test to see if we can get our mast un-stepped and loaded on the cradle we have stowed on deck. Un-stepping the mast won't be a problem. Remembering how to assemble the mast crutches will be though.

For the record, we have traveled 1099 nautical miles since we left Port Superior. Not sure about the total of nautical miles we will travel but I think we are about half way to North Carolina.

There are two different kinds of cruisers aboard Leprechaun. Tommy is a destination sailor. He likes to leave early so that we can arrive early. I think his reasoning is that the earlier we arrive at some new place, it will give him more time to scout the area and chat up the locals. Cheryl and I, however, are all about the trip. The fact that we get there, late or not, as long as we do it safely, it's fine with us. We can spend hours together without exchanging much of any dialogue. If we meet the locals, find, if not, fine too.

After last night, I know why I would rather sail during the day and anchor at night. I'm getting too old for this overnight, beat yourself up stuff. That's for young people. I'm destined to lay in the sun, drink rum and enjoy life.

Note to Rebecca and Maddey. If you are reading our blog you might take some time out of your busy schedules to drop us a note. Just a thought.
Love you both.