We left Grand Haven Sunday afternoon and headed to White Lake after having fixed the steering. We also tightened the forestay that had loosened during the race. We arrived in White lake in the early evening. It is a beautiful lake. We anchored off a very protected shore with a nice beach just in front of us. We went for a swim that evening before making dinner. We had hoped to check out the Light House museum there but it was closed on Mondays. After some hiking around Jeff made the decision that we should head out for Pentwater, some 40 miles away to the north. It ended up being a bad choice for that day. We ended up with winds up to 26 knots and 3 - 5 foot seas. The very first sign of the adventure to come was the look on Katies face as she was driving the boat out the break water at White Lake. There were some waves rolling into the channel and the bow went way up and then was buried into the next wave. Water filled the deck and blew over our heads. Once we got out onto the lake we set the Genoa and headed North. When we headed out the forecast talked of 2 - 4 foot seas and winds to 20. It was supposed to have been better than it ended up being. It should only have been a 6 hour sail. It ended up taking over 12 hours to get to Pentwater. The wind kept shifting on to our nose right where we wanted to go. We did a lot of tacking. Ended up way off shore and on top of that we learned a valuable lesson on cruising. " Don't tow your dinghy." Especially with the motor on it. At 2:00 in the morning after a tack the tow line got caught under the motor and flipped the whole thing. Fortunately the motor stayed on and we saw it soon after it had happened. The seas had calmed some and we were able to winch it up on to the deck of Mezzluna. We secured it down and motor sailed the last 2 hours into Pentwater. We dropped anchor at 4:00 am. It had not been a good night. Jeff is lucky that Katie didn't ask for an immediate ride home, on a plane.

Pentwater ended up being a really neat place with wonderful people. We ended up staying 3 nights at Snug Harbor Marina. We had some repairs to do. The furler had almost twisted off the turnbuckle on the forestay again. Something wasn't right. We ended up pulling the whole stay off and rebuilding parts of it. We were in the perfect place to do it. We had good weather.

Jeff had met Barry Miller of Pentwater at South Shore before the Queens cup. Barry had given him his phone number and told him to call when we got in. Barry was a life saver. He helped find tools that we were missing. When the dinghy tipped over, we lost the floor boards for it. Barry had some plywood and the tools to shape it for our boat. We also found a local artist coop that was funded by a Gene Davidson. Gene is now in his 80s'. He built the building and supplied it full of a wood and metal shop, ceramic studio, painting studio, fiber and jewelry studios. Locals can use it for a membership fee of $100 per year. When Jeff went up to the studio, Gene gave him a tour and offered to make some parts and deliver them the next morning. That same afternoon Gene showed up with the parts. It turns out he had owned a 42' sail boat and spent 5 years cruising the Atlantic, Med and Caribbean. He was excited to get a chance to see our boat and help a fellow sailor out. Neighbors in the port helped when Jeff went up the mast. Jim Peterson from South Shore YC came in our 2nd night in Pentwater and got in the act of helping. It was a great experience. Plus we had lots of time to see the town. They had a concert in the square one night. We had drinks at the Pentwater YC with Barry and really enjoyed our time there.