Erie, PA to Put-in-Bay, OH
07 July 2015
We left our lovely anchorage at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA on July 2nd at 1630. We so enjoyed that anchorage and were the only boat there Monday through Wednesday. But on Thursday, the crowd began arriving for the 4th of July weekend and we were happy to be on our way. I think people must not realize how well sound carries over the water...at least we will give them the benefit of the doubt.
This was our first long passage over night. It was the perfect night for it. We were able to sail the first four hours. The wind was directly from the East and as we were sailing West it was all downwind. The winds were light and we configured the sails to be “wing and wing” where the main sail was on the starboard side and the genoa on the port. We were surprised how well the boat did in light winds with this sail plan.
The sun set at 2100 and the moon rose shortly thereafter. It was so beautiful, a big red ball rising in the East as the sun set in the West turning the sky pink and purple and red. We could see Jupiter and Venus racing across the sky to the Northwest. The moon was very bright, so the stars weren’t as bright but the Big Dipper was directly ahead. We ghosted along the Pennsylvania coast and it was very nice not to have the engine running.
At 2200, Chris went down in the cabin to get some sleep and I took the first watch. Dorito came up to keep me company and he wore his harness with the leash. Every 15 minutes I scanned the horizon for other boats, checked the AIS on the chartplotter for contacts and consulted our Seaiq Program on the iPad. Chris had laid out a track line to Put-in-Bay, 120 nautical miles, and I made course corrections to keep us following the track. Every hour, I recorded our latitude and longitude along with our heading and speed over ground. It’s important to do this so that in the event of a problem with the equipment on the boat we would at least have a recent last known position. You need to help the Coast Guard help you!
At 0100, Chris came up for his watch and I laid below. It was hard to sleep and I tossed and turned a bit. Dorito came and slept with me. I slept until 0430 then got up. I made some coffee and relieved the watch. Poor Chris had a miserable watch as the bugs showed up. I don’t believe I can adequately describe how disgusting and awful it is. He said that he couldn’t see them but he cold feel them. As the sun came up, I could see the cockpit littered with dead and dying bugs. They were everywhere, on the lines and canvas, all over the fenders and stern, clinging to the pedestal and table.
Chris got up around 7 and we cleaned as best we could. At 1000, we could see Put in Bay ahead of us and the Cedar Point amusement park to the left. We slowed the boat down and got a bucket out. We filled it with lake water again and again and removed the majority of the bugs. Then we headed into Put in Bay. Our original plan was to take a mooring ball, but it was such a zoo! Boats everywhere, zooming around with little regard to the Rules of the Road. We decided to go to a small island nearby, Middle Bass Island and we dropped the hook there. Again we took out the bucket and this time, using soap, go the boat pretty clean. After a celebratory beverage, we took a 3 hour nap.
That evening, we made snacks for dinner and Dorito was happy to be able to roam about the boat again and have engine turned off! There were a few other boats anchored near us and we enjoyed the view. Another wonderful sunset. There were fireworks off of one of the small islands near us. It wasn’t the main show, but it was very pretty.