May 1, 2004
The Boat went in the water today. The only thing that went wrong was the PSS shaft seal line I ran to the top of the engine had water coming out. I guess it still is not above the waterline. We are in our new slip at Hammond P-41.

May 2, 2004
Linda started cleaning the inside today and I ran across a couple little problems. No biggy just another repair. The repairs and updates have continued through all of May and into June. I'm almost done, thank goodness.

June 12, 2004
We went for our first sail today. We headed for the south end of Monroe harbor for a photo cruise put on by Fleet 21. The fly's are BITTING, and vary little wind.

June 13, 2004
The weather has changed again, it is warm but 28mph winds did not go out.

June 19, 2004
It is cold and winds of 30mph, sitting in port again. This is the wettest and coldest spring I remember in a long time.

June 27, 2004
We managed to go sailing for a little while today. It is still cold. I keep plugging away at all the updates I want to do.

July 5, 2004
Well we went sailing again today. The weekend has been cold and wet with plenty of storms. Linda was at the wheel when we were hit with a 24mph gust. We did get to put on 21.3kn Miles.

July 9, 2004
I think I'm finished with all the updates. Today I installed a new starting battery and an Echo charger, also a new shower bilge pump. We have had a high today of 68 degrees and vary cloudy. This is proving to be a vary bad year. Sunday July 11 Phil Byrd and I take off headed for the North Channel Linda will join me in five days and Phil will head back home via Linda's car.

July 11,2004

Hammond to St. Joes
Phil Byrd and I took off this morning around 7 AM. Light winds from the north, happy vacation we are motoring. The new alternator and 3-stage regulator seem to be doing a great job. We have the rpms set for 1850 and we are at 6+ knots. The engine heat is sitting at 162 degrees, the voltmeter is at 14 everything sounds great. For the first time the refrigerator never rose above 34 degrees even after motoring for 9hours and 8 minutes. We went 54.6 KN miles with a top speed of 7.2kn

July 12, 2004
St. Joes to Grand Haven
What a day!!! We were under way by 8:30 AM just a little later then what we had planned. We left the mouth of the Harbor to find the winds at about 7 knots out of the southwest, and with one to two foot waves from the same direction. Well as usual we motored and with the waves off of the port stern the autopilot would not work worth a damn. Yes we had to hand steer for the next 59.6 KN miles. To make the trip even more interesting the air temp dropped at least to 66 degrees with fog at 200 yards visibility and a light mist. What better weather to have on vacation. The engine is purring like a kitten. We do have a sweet smell like antifreezes but we are not losing any. I did not have to top off the oil today even after running at 2200 rpm. We did raise the sails so at times we were making pretty good headway. Total time was ten and a half hours, with a top speed of 8.2 knots. The last hour we were able to sail making 7.2 knots.
Slip fees were $34.00, $2.00 for ice, $2.00 for a dryer, $25.00 for dinner and another $3.00 for Ice cream.

July 13, 2004
Grand Haven to Ludington MI.
Yes we have motored again today all the way. After making the turn at Little Sable lighthouse we were able to put out the Genoa which did help us get another 2 to 5 tenths of a mile faster. We went a total of 59.3 KN mile3s with a top speed of 8.0 knots. Our moving average was 6.4 knots total mileage to so far has been 175 nm miles. We had a small problem fueling the vent line was plugged after blowing that out we took on 17 gallons. The maximum RPM we can get is 2200 but that puts out a lot of soot. At 2100 RPM we are burning clean and are at max speed. The engine sounds pretty good and everything seems to be doing fine.








July 14, 2004
LUDINGTON TO Frankfort diverted to Manistee
When leaving Ludington we had 20 mph winds and 4' waves from the northwest at about 20 degrees off our port bow. The lake was rough but doable until we past Big Sable Lighthouse. The lake did nothing but get rougher. As we were headed for Frankfort the winds and waves did nothing but grow. My partner Phil became ill and it was decided to turn in to Manistee. When I first punched in the new course we were only two hours out. It turned out to be a three-hour ride in water that was 4 to 6 foot with a few 8-foot seas thrown in to make life more interesting. By this time Phil is vomiting and I'm left to steer the boat by myself. We are now rafted off of Ultimate Therapy waiting for the Grand Mariner to make way. The Grand Mariner is the third cruse ship we have seen so far.
The first of the cruse ships was the new catamaran ferryboat out of Muskegon. He came across our stern by about 200 yards. The second was the Badger out of Ludington. We had to wait for him to leave before we departed today, and now as I stated earlier we are now waiting for the Grand Mariner to leave so we may tie up. We went a total of 23.4 nautical miles and it took us 4 hours and 44 minutes. The top speed being 7.5 KN with an average of 4.9 knots.

July 15,2004
Manistee to Leland
Off we go on to another port trying to get back on schedule. This trip was 63 KN miles. I really cannot fill in much more because when we arrived fueled for the first time. We had problems fueling so I took off the fuel vent line. I could not blow out the obstruction of fuel at all. As I continued to try to clear the obstruction, I had Phil continue fueling. Well as I was certain what would happen, did, fuel shot out the open vent line. I must of lost about a cup of Diesel unto the top of the tank and down the sides. I spent rest of the night cleaning up fuel and trying to get rid of the smell. I won and just about all of the smell is gone. I do have absorbanent pads in the bilge for anything I mitt of missed.

July 16, 2004
Leland to St. Ignace
We did a total of 74.2Kn miles, average speed 6.7Kn, with a top speed of 9.9Kn, it took us 11.6 hours to get here with some motor sailing, We are now on the east side of the Mackinac bridge, total trip log 331.2 Kn miles. Linda and Jan are here to meet us. How wonderful my wife looks. Phil and Jan spent the night on the boat then they were off.

July 17,2004
Linda and I, along with John and Marilyn Lucy took the ferry to Mackinac Island for the day. On our return Weal Sea, Mission Accomplished and Quit Island were arriving. It was decided that we would spend a third night here to give everyone a chance to rest, sightsee, and clean up.

July 18, 2004
The boat received a real good cleaning today, and we went and did a little groceries shopping. Just a day to lounge.






July 19,2004
St. Ignace to Harbor Island
This was a short trip, just 6 hours to cover 45.9 Kn miles. We did that in 6 hours. This is the first place we are anchoring at. I have to agree it is vary pretty. We dropped the dinghies into the water and went for a short cruise around part of the island. It started raining so we headed back to Ultimate Therapy for cocktail hour. After that we all headed back to our boats for dinner. While cooking dinner we were visited by a deer on shore about 200 feet from our boat. WE went to bed after dinner, which ended up being about 9:45pm. The anchor drag alarm went off twice each time I got up all we did was swing a little. The weather was great at least 70 degrees, and not a cloud to be seen.

July 20, 2004
Harbor Island to Blind River Ontario, Canada
We left this morning about 8:00 am. This was an even shorter day as far as mileage goes, only 40.7 Kn miles but it took us an extra hour do to the shallow area's we made our way through. On arrival I filled the fuel tank the full tank again today. It took 34.7 liters at a dollar Canadian per litter. I had problems with the fuel vent again. We also had another pump out at $10.00. I then checked in with Canadian Customs and was issued an entry # of 2020537. We all went out to dinner and was picked up by the owner of the restaurant. We all had a great meal and the owner gave us a tour of the area when he was returning us to the marina. It was just like what we read in the book "A Well Favored Passage". Kelly is now getting emails from Quiet Island as to our position and is forwarding them to everyone.

July 21, 2004
I changed out 3.5 quarts of oil this morning. I could not get a filter and the oil pump we barrowed filled up on my boat. We are headed for Turnbull Island a little later in the day. It is only 13 Kn miles from here.

July 21,2004 continued
Blind River Marina To Turnbull Island
It only took 3.5 hours to get 10.1 Kn miles we weaved in and out of a couple different islands on the way. Weal Sea had a problem just as he arrived, after Dan played with it and then told the rest of us it was decided that his lift pump was bad. I gave him the fuel pump off our dinghy and we got him running. During the day however we had our dinghy's out and we were going in and out of the passages here. What a great time, we saw a Bald Eagles nest, and later in the day we saw a bald eagle perched up in a tree. The sites up here are unreal. Rock bluffs that are rounded off do to erosion and go straight down who knows how many feet. We meet John this evening he oared over from his boat during our cocktail hour to have a drink with us. John's motto is Sailors never die they just get Trollers. Yes John was on a Trowler at 85 years old. John his wife, and there son to help him. I hope I'm that full of life at that age.

July 22,2004
Turnbull to The South Benjamin's
We woke up to frogs doing their chirp and Dan saying again his boat will not start. He screwed with what we did and lost suction on the fuel line. By 9:30am he was running again, and should be headed back to port for repairs.
Well getting here was an absolute blast. We did the Whaleback what sites to see the colors in the rocks, the rock formations. We went thru Little Detroit passage holly smokes it was only seventy feet wide. The water depth went from 75 feet to 15 feet. And then back up. We are now anchored in the North side of the Benjamin's. This place is cooler then the last. The rocks are pink granite, and all are on a steady incline from the waters edge. As we know our dinghy isn't working at this time so the Lucy's brought us around. We climbed the rocks, picked fresh wild blueberries, saw a Bald eagle flying around, and had a great sunset. Oh yes by the way about 3 miles out from here the winds went from 10 Knots to 29 in a vary short time. That was a lot of fun trying to sail thru that. Shortly after arriving here the winds are up to 30 miles an hour. As of this evening we have swung about 300 degrees and our 30-pound Danfourth is holding. Well we made it thru the night I think we swung a bout 340 degrees.

July 23,2004
South Benjamin's to Little Current
We were the first ones to weigh anchor this morning do to the problems I had getting it out the morning before and that was in calm waters with no wind. Any way the anchor came up fairly easy, that or were just getting better at this. We finally were able to sail the whole trip today. The winds were from the Northeast and vary erratic we had nothing to 20 knots. We took the lead boat position today, it was sort of nice. Linda was navigating and trimming sails. We are all rafted off of each other due to the Mackinac to Manitoulin race. Weil Sea is now back with us, he had his fuel pump replaced that same day we left him. By the way we sailed 16.2 Kn miles with a top speed of 8 knots and a low speed of 2.9 knots in three hours.

July 24, 2004
Little Current to the Pool at Baie Fine
What a fantastic site, coming through Baie Fine the Quartz hills are incredible and the water is crystal clear. This is certainly something that will be embedded into my memories for a long time. We went 22.1 Kn miles 3.5 hours max speed 7.6 Kn We meet John and Michelle Loomis they boat out of lake St. Clair and are at Harbor Bay or Harbor Cove Marina on a 34' Sea Ray They said Jefferson beach Marina is $1000.00 more a year then rest of the marinas and have nothing more to offer.




July 25, 2004
We remained anchored here because it was so fantastic. Climbed the hill and got great photos of our boats in the pool. We also swam in Lake Topaz.

July 26, 2004
Baie Fine to Covered Portage Cove
21 miles 3.5 hours

July 27,2004
Covered Portage Cove to Kagawong with a stop at Little Current.
3 hours to little current held one hour for the bridge then we stopped for fuel and a pump out. Then another 2.5 hours to Kagawong

July 28, 2004
Kagawong to Meldrum bay 7 hours 42.4 miles
Well the pie lady is sick so no home baked goods. We did have an ECP, Emergency Cocktail Party on the steps of the general store. We drank all the local brews, and traded with other people if they bought something that we had not had. That was a really good time. Then we went to the only other building in town for dinner, food was ok but one staff member did not like us. Kim met a guy that he emails on the 40 lists. That evening we were entertained with a lone Bag Piper playing from atop the hill over looking us.

July 29, 2004
Meldrum Bay to Harbor Island
We sailed all day today and checked back into the US. John and Marilyn were over for dinner. We had a good time just talking. 6.5 hours Max speed 7.9 avg. 5.2

July 30, 2004
Harbor Island to St. Ignace
We motored all day in the rain what a loose day we went past Martins Reef and took a couple of photo's then we had some light wind off the port quarter so we were able to at least put out the Genoa. We did not get a confirmation on slips until about two hours out. Grand Banks & Tiara were having a rendezvous here. Total mileage was 44.8 Kn miles in 7 hours. We had a 50th birthday party for Bob Kuba on the docks.

July 31, 2004
We stayed in St. Ignace and did laundry. Light rain in the morning and cold winds, good day to be in port.






Aug 1, 2004
St. Ignace to Beaver Island
What a ride, after we all took pictures under the Mackinaw bridge life became interesting. We were able to motor sail into 3 to 5 foot waves. While in route we saw Sand Bob and tried to radio him with no luck. We went 42.3 Kn miles in 7 hours and 50 minutes. We set the anchor and put the dinghy in the water. After about an hour we were happy that the anchor was set, ashore we go. We were roaming around the streets checking out the sites when we meet Bob and Cheryl they were going to eat at the Irish pub, so the four of us joined them. The Lucy's, Kuba's and us all had a good time while eating. When we left the restaurant we looked into the harbor for our boats. I did not see ours but John Lucy said I was just missing it and that he saw it there. We decided to continue our tour of the town. With in 2 minutes of that decision we received a call from Mission Accomplished that our boat was headed to shore. John, Bob and I headed for the dinks to save our boat. By the time we made it to the boat she was tied up to a barge and just touching the ground underneath. The guy sitting on the barge put out a fender and a tire to protect her, it did a great job of doing that. A couple of guys from another 36 came in dinks to try to help. One was trying to tow the boat while the other was pulling up the anchor chain. I jumped aboard started her and seen that I could get off. The gentleman on the barge untied us and I was able to pull away. I then turned the helm over to Kim from Mission Accomplished and I went to help the kid pull up the anchor. We both were having a hard time of it until we got it to the surface and seen that we had a rough cut board approximately 14 x 4 x 16 caught on the anchor and it was covered with zebra muscles. Once this was off the anchor we motored out to reset the anchor. Well the wind had kicked up to about 30n to 35 Knots while eating and was still blowing just as hard when we attempted to reset the anchor the second time. Needless to say we drug the anchor again.
On the third attempt we finally got it to stick and we put out a second anchor. Everything is looking good and we are staying in place. I ran around in the dink thanking everyone for there help and gave the crew from the other 36 a bottle of wine. Well of course the wind died down to nothing. The next morning we were ready to go on to Leland. I thought I would pull in what I could on the second anchor line; I managed to pull in the anchor. Rest of the group was worried about the thunderstorms that were North of us. So we spent the next hour and a half checking weather before we left. The port side of the boat is covered with black marks from the tire and orange spots from the barge. But it looks like it will all clean off.

August 2, 2004

Beaver Island to Leland
Well it was a pretty unremarkable day so we motored as usual. When we arrived Leland we were informed that we would be rafting off do to the marina being full. The weather reports were for sever thunderstorms. The Mack racers are also making there way home. We are number 2 of a four boat raft. The first boat is locked up and not a sole on her. We all went out to dinner and it was decided that the three other boats were going to go across to Wisconsin. So we said our goodbye and gave everyone a hug. At 5 AM the fishing boat that was in a slip wanted out so we all had to break off. Linda and I decided as long as we were up we would keep on going. We went a total off 52 Kn miles in 8 hours.

August 3, 2004

Leland to Manistee
We are now on our own. We motored again and went 59.9 Kn miles in 9 hours. We are using about � of gallon of fuel an hour. We filled up the fuel tank and had a pump out. We walked thru town and ate at 440-west restaurant it was a great meal. After dinner we walked back through town and had ice cream.




August 4, 2004

Manistee to Muskegon
Well we were headed for Pentwater but about 1 hour out we found out that everything was full so we went on to Muskegon. This will also give us a weather day. It was a bit rough today, following seas with a 15 KN wind. I kept playing with the set of sails in order to find something comfortable to steer with. We went a total of 70.1 Kn. Miles in 10 hours. Top speed with engine running and sails out coming down a wave was 11.1 Knots. The winds were building all day and into the evening.

August 5, 2004

Thank goodness we made it as far as we did. We are now using the one weather day we managed to build in, winds are 25 KN out of the north and we decided to stay hoping it will be a little lighter tomorrow. While eating at the Yacht club some of the racers that came in today stated that the winds did hit almost 40 mph, I really glad we stayed. We did make reservations at Tower Marine in Saugatuck for tomorrow. We tried for South Haven but they were full. Here is hoping tomorrow will be better. We also talked with Torreson Marine about a new and rebuilt engine. The new M-25XPB is $6200.00 plus $387.00 for the new engine-starting panel we would need. To rebuild this engine is only $2400.00 plus they can rebuild the transmission. Something for us to think about.

August 6, 2004
Muskegon to Saugatuck
I would of lost, if I was a betting man. I cannot belief in less then 10 hours this lake is like glass. Of course we are motoring. Winds are maybe 5 out of the west; we only have a one-foot rolling following sea. We only did 38.1 Kn miles in 5 or so hours. Off to Michigan City in the morning, we called the Luther's looking for a slip and were told no one from the fleet will be there tomorrow.






August 7, 2004
Saugatuck to Michigan City
Well we are still on schedule, it took us 10.5 hours to motor the 68.6 Kn miles. Vary light winds on the nose. The lake was vary flat. We were out far enough that we did not see a lot of other boats. We tried to make reservations at Michigan City but they do not take them. So we called Hazel Luther to see if see could make some for us. No such luck; she was at home and no one else from the fleet was going to be there.

August 8, 2004
Michigan City to Hammond
We started the day out great, we were sailing. Well that lasted a whole hour and then back to motoring. I tried a couple more times with no luck the wind was to low or to far forward. The last 8 miles the wind picked up and I thought about the sails, but then it would switch again. So we ended up motoring most of the 27.6 Kn miles and did that at 4 hours and 28 minutes.
We are home and what a great vacation it was. We will be revisiting the North Channel in the future. We also found out do the improvements I have made over the years that we really enjoy anchoring. It is a shame that there is nowhere to anchor on the south end of Lake Michigan. Linda will do her vacation analysis and that will be added at the end of this.
Things we found that we would add or change would be a different bow roller it would be the Windline BRM-3 with a 33 pound Bruce anchor and 200 feet of chain, add a Radar with chart plotter, I also need to change the fuel vent and fuel gage.
We did 1046.6 Kn. Miles or converted to Statue Miles it was 1204.




August 14, 2004
We had Bonnie and Tom out sailing around Hammond for about 4 hours. It was a bit cool but still nice. We had a great Dinner when we arrived back in port.

September 3, 2004
Well our weather has turned to crap. The last couple of weeks have been cool and wet and now on Labor Day weekend, it is cold and wet. We take the boat to Harbor Isle Marina in St. Joe after we return from St. Maarten in the middle of the month. We are trying to get her empted out for the truck up to Markley Marine on the Clinton River, in Lake St. Claire, in early March of 2005.
October 4,2004
I am sailing our Silent Dream alone in the accompaniment of Bearoness with only Ted aboard to St. Joe Michigan. The morning started a little rough waves from the nose and no wind. By 8:30, we were clearing the Gary point when the wind picked up, and the waves laid down. This is turning out to be a great day. I made it to St. Joe in record time for us. It only took 8 hours and I played around waiting for Bearoness to catch up at times, so we were always within eye site of each other.

The next couple of days I will have the mast pulled and readied for shipping. I removed the prop and am sending it back to Martec to be cut down. We are over propped and I do not wont to deal with that smoky mess again next season. We will not see our boat again until see is at her new home in Markley Marine Slip # A-23.


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