We went to the 'Put In Bay Yacht Club', but nobody was there and we tied up and walked around some this party town before we got dinner.
On a Monday night this place is not too busy. We heard it's a different story on weekends.
While we were preparing breakfast some lady from the club appeared and demanded money for dockage. She wasn't impressed by us being from another yacht club, in fact she stated that Put In bay Yacht Club doesn't even have many boats and sailors. Quite a contrast to Bayview yacht Club and Port Huron Yacht club which welcomed us with open arms and didn't charge us for our stay.
We walked the town some more and went to the brig 'Niagara', but unfortunately it wasn't open for visitors. Next we got to the Perry Monument, celebrating the victory of 1812 and the ensuing peace between the UK and the US (and Canada). Fantastic views, and we got in for free because Ira is a veteran. In fact, the official said 'Thank you for your service' when she gave us tickets. Ira deserves and enjoys the recognition.
The view from up there:
During the weekend the harbor is totally full, they tell us, with every buoy taken. it's called 'the Key West of the North'
We departed at lunch time for our long overnight passage to Geneva-on-the-lake. We started with a nice brisk wind from the NW and used the auto-pilot until it blew a fuse again. This has happened several times now, and I was finally wondering if there might be a problem with the cabling. Bingo - the cable was frayed and creating an occasional short at the plug. While Ira steered by hand I got the soldering iron out and fixed it. This is one of those occasions when having crew makes all the difference. Without Ira I would have had to heave-to and would have had a hard time soldering this.
The wind slowly diminished in the afternoon and we motorsailed for two hours, but then it started again and we made good progress. Also, a system of thunderstorms started approaching from the west and eventually caught up with us.
Torrential rain but no near lightning. We had reefed the main and the jib in time and rode this weather out just nicely.
I had planned to sleep from 10PM to 2AM and take the second watch from 2AM to 6AM, but I wasn't quite able to sleep below, the waves were steadily growing from the N and causing a lot of rolling that made me sick multiple times.
We were approaching what appeared like a huge harbor channel light close to Cleveland, but curiously we didn't seem to get closer for a long time, and I couldn't find the thing on the charts at all. We finally realized we both were totally wrong and the light was a huge structure on land, at least 5 miles away, probably a power plant.
When I took over for Ira at 2AM I wasn't feeling all that fresh and by 3:30 I was exhausted and felt like falling asleep multiple times. I proposed to heave-to for a while to recover, but Ira suggested we try to move on some more and offered to take part of my watch.
I was glad to get a rest and managed to sleep for almost an hour before I was able to take over again. Ira is a power house. He's 17 years older than I but has double the energy. He took a rest now and I was able to keep awake until it got light again.
Day 22, Wednesday, August 12
Geneva-on-the-lake
At 7AM we finally approached Geneva-on-the-lake, an old style resort town, and tied up. We both fell into our bunks and didn't wake until 12PM.
We chatted with a power boater Richard who said he'd been stuck at Geneva for 2 days waiting out the rough weather. Lake Erie is true to its reputation, with high choppy seas.
Ira and I walked into town and found 'Effin Burrito', which was a fantastic lunch (and dinner actually, it was a full pound of goodness). The owner was super friendly and funny too.
Day 23, Thursday, August 13
Geneva-on-the-lake to Erie
The wind was still nice and brisk, but the waves were a little smaller and we took off early to get to Erie. With the following wind, the jib was largely blanketed by the main, and Ira suggested we try to run with the main only. This worked really well, and also reduced the danger from an uncommanded gybe. We made great headway all day and officially entered Pennsylvania around noon. The dinghy was doing its usual dance. It sometimes filled with a lot of water, but would quite often lose the water again, too, so I was getting used to its antics.
Only one hour out of Erie it finally happened. The dinghy turned turtle for the third or fourth time, and this time the painter snapped...
Since the waves were still high we hesitated for a moment but then decided to turn around and attempt to rescue it. We rolled in the jib and started the engine.
We did several approaches from downwind, but they didn't work - when we slowed the Caprice to avoid running over the dingy we would always drift off from it. We finally remembered the right procedure, go upwind and drift down on it. That worked well, and since there was enough line remaining we managed to snag it and cleat it. Ira quickly tied another line to the stub and we started dragging the still filled dinghy. I thought it would lose its water again, as it did before, but instead it turned turtle again, and ripped the painter again!
We took this as a sign that it wasn't supposed to be, and abandoned the poor dinghy at this point. We had managed to rescue it once, but the remaining painter was too short, and conditions still too rough to risk injury for it. I kicked myself for not tying a second line and a bridle, I think this would have stabilized it enough to prevent the whole mishap.
We arrived at Preque Isle Bay an hour later, passing one of the largest ships on the lake which was moored close to the entrance. We had been wondering why we didn't encounter any sail boats on the lake during our day, but now we saw why - the bay is huge and sailors have enough space to sail in here where the waves are not nearly as big. The northern edge of the bay is formed by Presque Isle State Park, and here is the marina we went to. We had planned to anchor, but for lack of a dinghy we decided to dock again. There were no slips free, but the fuel dock was already closed (in fact, temporarily closed altogether), and we tied up there to use the facilities. Richard, who we had met the day before at Geneva, came by with his kajak. After dinner we cast off and went into the harbor basin and anchored for the night.
Day 24, Friday, August 14
Erie to Dunkirk
We had breakfast and then raised the anchor. As we motored by another sailboat with a mast on deck called Pyxis, we had a brief 'good morning' chat with the owners. We didn't know it then, but Dana and I would meet those guys again in the Erie canal. We docked on shore again to go for a quick bike rental and ride in the state park. Ira isn't used to biking anymore and got a good workout - we went the whole length of the state park and back, something like 9 miles, in one hour. The state park is beautiful and we could have stayed for days here, exploring all the paths, waterways and beaches. It's hugely popular with the Erie population.
We took off towards Dunkirk, and once we left the protection of the bay encountered the usual big swells from astern. Now, without the dinghy, things were well under control and we had an uneventful sail which we eventually turned into a motorsail when the winds finally calmed down towards the evening. We now entered New York State, which means that we had touched four states in five days of sailing.
Entering Dunkirk harbor and approaching Dunkirk Yacht Club we noticed a group of five people walking on the dock toward an open slip, and waiting to help us tie up. We were warmly greeted as if we had been expected, and whisked to the club and treated to beer and great company. The club members were super friendly and we just couldn't believe the hospitality we received. Again they didn't charge us and even left the doors unlocked for us to use when they departed at night. They had a party next day which we would have loved to attend, but we had plans for Saturday in Buffalo, so we left in the early morning to sail on.
Day 25, Saturday, August 15
Dunkirk to Buffalo
We had another good sail to Buffalo today. Ira called Amtrak to buy a ticket to Chicago for the night, and was amazed to find that they were totally sold out. Southwest airlines was much more expensive and we decided that he'd stay on another day to take the train the next night.
We arrived at Buffalo's First River Marina shortly after lunchtime and found that nobody was there at all. I didn't realize that this is a private marina and that there's no staff to give us keys for bathrooms etc. We eventually managed to sneak in with some of the few regulars and jimmy the door open, but it was a problem that we wouldn't be able to prepare much for the mast drop on Monday.
We took a little ferry across the water to the museum ships - a WW2 destroyer, a cruiser and a submarine. Surprisingly they didn't give Ira much of a discount, and I had to pay full price, but the ships were very interesting and full of displays and info. One could spend days exploring them.
