So everyday we plan what the next destination is.

Michigan cities along the lake have municipal marinas. These are paid for in local taxes like libraries, schools, fire and police. They are well staffed with friendly locals and have a variety of set-ups- along a river, on the main channel , in an enclosed marina down a scary narrow channel with tons of boat traffic. The rates are state regulated so every night you get the same cost plus or minus a few dollars. They include access to rest rooms, showers, grills, a boater lounge with TV and coffee machine. They vary in age but are always clean and tidy. The dock hands have seen it all.

The picture is a typical set up for a 50' slip, a narrow dock set at a variety of heights on one side and then telephone poles on the other. The goal is to arrive to an unfamiliar marina, call ahead for help securing your lines and a deck hand comes out to meet you. Once you arrive it’s up to you to put your boat in the slip without hitting anything and then tie up to 4 corners. You can through a line to a dock hand but the rest is up to you.

So our boat is 46' long and weighs 40,000 lbs loaded with us and our gear. The bow has a beautiful bow pulpit in which our 33 Kilo / 73 Lb polished stainless Rocna anchor lives (it looks a bit like a battering ram). We're towing a dinghy behind that you have to make sure you don't run over the tow lines and foul your prop. You have to have your lines secured to the correct positions on your boat for the slip configuration which is usually 4 corners and two spring lines {hold boat in place fore and aft in slip} on correct side and UNDER the life lines. You always have winds and sometimes current to deal with. The marina's many times have slips that are on piers extending from a main pier and the path to your slip is called a fairway and varies in width. A sailboat has one propeller that is just fore of the rudder and so they only way you can steer is to maintain speed so your rudder has something to steer off of (your forward or reward momentum). Many big boats like ours have added a bow thruster which is essentially a sideways propeller under the bow that allows you to go right or left from the point under the bow, ours does not. You have to play the wind, current and your own speed to arrive at your intended destination. You usually get one shot at it all the while not screaming your head off at the dock hands or your precious wife. It’s a 20 ton accident waiting to happen.

Here is our navigation capture of our arrival in Muskegon.

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/svfrisky/index.php?show=gallery&aid=33273&pid=694363

Notice the “where the heck is the entrance to this marina anyway” circle outside of the channel to the marina and then the unusual back and forth in the fairway. After our docking the marina dock hand who stayed calm and serene while it was going on said “he had never seen a sailboat turn around in the fairway before”. We missed on the first pass then had to try and reset the attempt in the 75’ wide fairway with the wind preventing our bow from turning through the wind. I had never had our throttle wide open yet until I nearly locked anchors/bow pulpits with a docked boat and then when backing nearly backed into another telephone pole on the slip across the way from ours. Very exciting.

So as you see pictures of our boat serenely docked in a beautiful slip somewhere know that every-time we dock it’s an adventure in and of itself.