A Lovely Week

[Seadogg]

Well, after messing around with the boat and learning the ins and outs of fiberglass repair, we did some sailing this past week on ol' First Step.

Our first destination was a small inland lake here in mid-Michigan to make certain that my glass job didn't leak.  The winds were a bit light, but that made it perfect for checking things out and just lounging on the boat.  As an added bonus, Kelley, my beautiful sailing wife, is getting more and more into this sailing business.  She now feels it's HER job to hank the sails on.

The day ended on the best note possible when she said, "THAT was fun!"

We did a bunch of projects around the house during the middle of the week but we finally decided to do a weekend trek to Lake Michigan and see how the boat performs.

Even though Friday was quite dreary and drizzly, we enjoyed a few firsts.

1. First time at a marina.  We stayed at Eldean's on Lake Macatawa, just a short skip from Lake Michigan.

2. We used the cabin tent so we could have standing head room during the drizzle and, of course, at night.

3. On Saturday, we actually got out on the big lake and had a delightful sail.

We met some really great sailors and were very impressed with everyone's friendliness and helpfulness.  David (35 foot Bristol) gave us some tips for finding a good place for dinner, and Craig (Jessica Nicole 24 footer) gave us a bottle of Roll Off to help with cleaning the boat.  Thanks, guys!!

Very few gaffs and goofs (nothing that caused too much damage) and everyone had a great time.  We got home without incident and are eagerly looking forward to another weekend trip.

What a blast!!

Here we are in our slip at Eldean's.  Kelley is in the cockpit enjoying a cup of coffee after cleaning the bow.  She gets a kick out of cleaning the boat and does a fantastic job.  Am I a lucky guy or what?

Hope to be able to add more adventures before the end of the season.  Tentative plans include a weekend at Traverse City and another trip to the Lake Michigan coast!

Fair winds,

Nick

[AdriftAtSea]

Last week was a most lovely week for sailing.  Slept out on the deck of a C&C 38 I was on, on Thursday night, tied up along side Motif #1 in Rockport Harbor.

[s/v Faith]

Nick,

  Glad to hear of your sucess.  You are right, it is easy to get frustrated with the first mate in the midst of things like docking, or anchoring.  It helps to remember how luck one is to have someone to share the experience with, as many are not so lucky.

We met some really great sailors and were very impressed with everyone's friendliness and helpfulness.

  It really is one of the great parts of the experience.

I am thankful to have so many here.   ;D