First night in Lake Huron
07 July 2009 | Harbor Beach
Officially day 2, we're on our way to Harbor Beach Mi. to fuel. Conditions are not conducive to sailing with moderate headwinds. We're all glad we brought foulweather gear to break the wind and the cold temps. Can't believe this is July 7th - we were expecting hot and muggy temps. The boat is performing well and the guys off watch can go below and catch some sleep. Ever since our incident with the oil filler tube breaking and spilling oil into the engine pan 2 years ago on the way to Harbor Beach, I check the engine every 10 hours. When I did tonight I found about 2 gals of water - quick investigation revealed that there was a break in the drain tube of the stern wet locker. Other than the inconvenience of having to bail it out there are no structural or safety issues.
When I called the Harbormaster a few days ago he promised me we could get in with our 5'6" draft. Mark who was at the helm upon arrival brought the boat in flawlessly, even though the depth sounder was reading 0 depth under the keel for the last 50 feet to the fuel dock. Harbor Beach lived up to its reputation of a shallow harbor. A hot breakfast and a couple hours nap revitalized everyone. I though a great temporary solution for the drain tube issue was to put some form of a stopper into the tube since the break was outside the tube - after breakfast I found a wine store in town that had corks - that looked like the ideal solution - so in goes the cork and hopefully that temporarily solves the problem until Kat comes up on Wednesday with a tube of 5200.
At 1:45 we were off to Presque Isle, we picked the time so that we would arrive in Presque Isle in daylight. Nothing is worse than coming into a harbor in the dark - especially in Presque Isle where the last four buoys are a sharp right turn and unlit.
The forecast continued to be less than ideal sailing weather with NOAA promising headwinds and waves all the way to our destination - more of the same stuff that we started with in Lake Erie. Saginaw bay were it meets Lake Huron (also known as the Michigan thumb) has a reputation for sloppy weather including confused waves. We ended up having sunny weather, moderate winds, and 2-3 waves, all very manageable in French Connection. We took advantage of the weather to have a nice sit down dinner in the cockpit prepared by the captain. For our spouses who thought that we'd subsist on only candy bars, please note the tablecloth, and candle (in the foreground), but forget about the wine - very civilized as any French boat should be - the only thing we were missing were the brie and baguettes. Stay tuned for part 2.