Cheryl's Notes:

Our day started with hauling John up the mast. The Scottish gentleman on the next boat offered his assistance. I got John most of the way up, and got some help the last couple of feet. John removed the old antenna base and installed the new one. Piece of cake. At least it looked like it from on deck. I got him down, and then had to harness him back up. He forgot to fold the mast steps up on his way down. It turns out that the antenna was screwed in tightly, it snapped off above the connection. We had breakfast and then headed out of the harbor. The water was flat calm when we entered the lake and the gnats followed us for about ten miles. With no wind to blow them out of the cockpit, it was miserable. We opened every part of the enclosure to get them out. Finally, the wind picked up enough that they moved on.

We planned our day to Harrisville, MI. According to the guide book, there was room to anchor several boats off of the piers. NOT. We went into the harbor and back out again. The weather forecast calls for no wind again tonight, so we are anchored outside the harbor.

John's Notes:

Note to self, sailing naked is awesome until the bugs come out. Wait for better weather.

All in all, the installation of the new VHF antenna went better than expected. It took all of about 30 minutes. If I had to drill and tap new holes, it would have taken much longer. We did have help from a dock neighbor, but Cheryl did most of the work getting me to the top of the mast. Everything worked just as we had planned it, including the tools and how we would get the new antenna to up the mast with me without dropping it overboard.

Just a note about anchoring tonight. We are anchored in about 14' of water. Unfortunately, the bottom is full of rocks, weeds and sand. I set a trip line but I have a feeling that we do not have the best anchor set possible. We have been here for a few hours and we seem to be right on top of our anchor. Forecast calls for winds SSE at about 6kts. Shouldn't be a problem, but then you never know. We will set an anchor alarm.