Buggy Sail from Sandusky, OH to Port Colborne, ON

7/3/19 - I got up at 5:30 am to get groceries and was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise.  There was also a nice breeze, so I was pretty excited for our first long passage, from Sandusky to Port Colborne. We were so happy we were able to stay at our old dock at SYC for a couple days since Doug and Pam on Bleu Lagoon had left for a long cruise up to Lake Huron.  Our friends Denny & Ellie from Sans Souci and Frank & Billye arrived around nine with lots of provisions for the trip.  We were off the dock by 10:45 and after a stop at Cedar Point Marina for fuel and holding tank pump-out, we hit Lake Erie and had a nice half-hour sail before the wind died.  We started the engine and motor-sailed the rest of the way.  Unfortunately, the bugs (biting flies, sweat bees and small muffleheads) descended when the wind died and they tormented us the rest of the trip.  Denny and Bryan did the bucket brigade to try and keep the bugs from piling up on the deck, but by the time we arrived in Port Colborne at around 4 pm on Thursday, the dead bugs were everywhere.  After showers for all, we had dinner at Don Cherry's, the restaurant right at Sugarloaf Marina.  The whole crew was tired after the 30-hour passage, so it was early to bed for all of us.

Sunrise at SYC Dock H51

Frank & Billye, Denny & Ellie, Polly & Bryan

Frank & Billy, heading out Mosely Channel

Comfortable in the cockpit, enjoying the hard-top bimini and dodger

Headed to Cedar Point Marina for fuel

Denny relaxing in the "Bob-seat" after cleaning all the lifelines with MagicEraser

It was pretty glassy by sunset.

And pretty glassy the whole second day.

Denny trying to keep the biting flies off his face and head

Bucket brigade

Canada!

All cleaned up 

We're on Our Way - Sassy Marina, Algonac, MI to Sandusky Yacht Club, Sandusky, Ohio

6/29/19 - We're actually doing it! We've lived aboard for the month of June, at the dock at Sassy Marina in Algonac, MI but as of Saturday, June 29, 2019, we're casting off the lines and becoming live-aboard cruisers.  Our friends Bob & Beth came up to Algonac on Friday night and sailed with us from Algonac to Put-in-Bay on Saturday and then to Sandusky on Sunday.  We are sad to leave Algonac and we will miss our friends at Sassy Marina.  They have been great to work with for the past 10 years for winter boat storage and it's been very nice docking here for the month.

The trip down the St. Clair River, across Lake St. Clair and down the Detroit River was very uneventful.  There was a pretty sunset on Lake Erie and we picked up Red Top 1 at Put-in-Bay around 9 pm.  We went in to the Boardwalk for one last bowl of lobster bisque before heading back out to the boat for bed.

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at Frosty Bar and were joined by Ron & JoAnn on Krockpot.  We hadn't seen them for a while and it was great catching up.  Back on the boat, I got in the bosun's chair and rigged the batt cars for the main sail.  We thought we would have a nice sail, but as soon as we got out by Ballast Island, the wind died.  We arrived at Sandusky Yacht Club, at our old dock by 1:00 and made it to the Bon Voyage party about an hour late.

Linda, Liz, Karl & Bryan saying goodbye at Sassy Marina

Family of swans looking for dinner on Joli

Heading out from Sassy Marina one last time 

Celebrating the start of the adventure with champagne

Detroit

Approaching the Ambassador Bridge

Beth's feet holding up the bridge??!!

LOL!!

Back to Lake Erie

Lake Erie Sunset

Put-in-Bay mooring field - We're on Red Top 1

Happy crew

Filling the aft tank from the jerry jugs at the start of the Livingston Channel to Lake Erie

New Chain Plates

We're getting down to the nitty-gritty! With less than 3 weeks until launch, we're focusing on the work that HAS to be completed before Joli goes in the water.  We removed the chain plates last fall as they were original (1974) and some of them had been leaking.  There was some minor corrosion in some places and elongated bolt holes in most of the chain plates.  We delivered the old chain plates to Schaefer Marine (https://www.schaefermarine.com) in New Bedford, MA and met with Steve to discuss some changes that we wished to incorporate for the new chain plates.  The new chain plates were fabricated and shipped to Michigan the week before Easter and we picked up the 430-pound crate with Baby Huey, AKA the Party Van, at the UPS Terminal in Romulus.  Thank goodness we had help (Thanks, Hank & Bob!!) installing them because there is no way Bryan & I would have been able to do it by ourselves!  It took about 5 days total to get all nine chain plated installed and torqued.

Steve reviewed the new chain plates with us.

The OLD and the NEW

Baby Huey settled a little lower to the ground when the UPS guy loaded the 430-pound crate into the van.

Two big guys had to squeeze into a small space to maneuver the biggest chain plates into place.

We had to open up the cabinet door opening to get the chain plate in place.  No worries- we will repair it and the old speaker holes at the same time.

The new chain plates are made of stainless steel vs the old aluminum. Looks nice & shiny where they come through the deck!

Becoming a Live-Aboard Cruiser - Step 1: Retire

I'm back!  My friend Paul encouraged me to get back to my blog and get it up to date.  He reminded me that I haven't made an entry since March 2018 (a year ago already!!!), so here goes.
Back when Bryan and I were first married, when we lived in Toledo, Ohio and were getting ready to buy our first home, we thought about buying a sailboat to live on.  A friend of mine at work lived on a powerboat year-round with her husband and she invited us to visit them to see what the live-aboard lifestyle was all about.  She suggested we pick a cold day in January or February so that we could appreciate what it takes to live on a boat in Ohio in winter.  They docked near downtown Toledo and their marina installed a bubbler at their dock so that they didn't get iced in; however, they had to trudge down a sometimes icy dock to use the facilities and they hauled fresh water to the boat in jugs every couple of days.  We went to visit on a very cold day and found their boat to be very comfortable and cozy but decided we weren't ready to be live-aboards.  Instead, we bought an 18-foot Interlake which we actively raced for several years and a "land-based home".

Interlake (Bryan's brother) sailing on Sandusky Bay out of Sandusky Sailing Club

Fast-forward many years, two kids, a bigger boat (a Schock 35 - still into the racing sailboat mode but also great for cruising western Lake Erie), a move to Port Clinton, OH and lots of time with kids' swim team and junior sailing activities and the cruising/live-aboard bug bit us again.  We decided to take a year off from work and go cruising with the kids.  We began looking for a 42' to 50' boat by doing a lot of research on the Internet. In February of 2002, we went to Torresen Marine in Muskegon, Michigan, to look at a Derektor 50 but were also intrigued by a C&C 61, Triumph, that was for sale.  The broker, being the smart man that he was, showed us Triumph first.  She had been on the hard for over a year and really needed a lot of work but I loved her at first sight.  After seeing Triumph, the Derektor just didn't compare.  We also made a trip to Newport, RI to look at a boat but ended up making an offer on Triumph by that April, 2002.  After two years of refit work, we sold our house and moved onto the boat with our kids, who were 11 and 14 years old at the time.  Long story, short; we came really close to reaching the live-aboard cruiser dream, but did not. That fall, it was back to land-based living. 
Fast-forward many more years in which we enjoyed cruising Lake Erie plus a couple races on Joli (ex-Triumph) and supporting Sandusky Junior Sailors race team, and we have returned to the dream! As of December 1, 2018, I am officially retired! This is one step closer to becoming live-aboard cruisers. We feel so fortunate that I am able to retire early and Bryan will retire by May 1 next year. I have worked with some great people over my 34 years with the same company and I really appreciate that, too. Below are some photos from the retirement party.  

Michelle & Ben, Stan & Carrie, Julie & Jim

Gary, Brad, Jerry & Mary, Bryan

Steve & wife, Doug & Mary, Mike & wife

Mike, Vince, Keith, Diane & Walt, Frank

Bryan and Polly

Nick, Chris, Rick & Margie, Doug, Mario, David and Lynne

Sewing a New Lazy Cradle for Frenzy (C&C 41)

One of our winter projects will be making a new Lazy Cradle for Joli.  We had some practice on Frenzy's Lazy Cradle.  After many hours for Bob & Beth doing the lay-out and cutting out the pieces, we spent about 11 or 12 hours over two weekends sewing it all together.  It came out looking awesome and I can't wait to see it on the boat this summer!

Leaky Keel Bolt

The following was overheard on Channel 16 earlier this summer:

Boater, "May Day, May Day, MAY DAY!!!!!"

Coast Guard, "Vessel hailing May Day, what is the nature of your emergency?"

Boater, "My boat's broke!!!"

Not to make fun of another's misfortune, but now I know how he feels - my boat's broke!

A couple months ago, we discovered that Joli's forward-most keel bolt was leaking.  The top of the nut and bolt sticks up through the stringer inside a recess in the stringer.  We had noticed water in that recessed pocket and thought it was from rain coming in through the leaking hatch above it.  After further inspection, we determined that the bolt was leaking.  After consulting with Karl at Sassy Marina, we decided to haul the boat early and get the keel removed to assess the situation.  After three days hanging in the slings on the keel stand, the guys at Sassy finally got the keel separated.  It was really stuck on there, but not sealed, allowing the one bolt and maybe others to leak.  We will probably be able to let everything dry out over the winter, clean up the bolts and reattach the keel using 5200 sealant.  It shall never come off again!!! So, my boat's not actually broke, just undergoing maintenance that is not that unusual for a 45 year old boat.

The notch in the lead that you can see above is where the nut was removed from the bottom side of the keel bolt that was leaking.  The bolt has also been removed.

If you look closely, you can see the bolts coming up through the lead keel.  There are 11 keel bolts along the center line and 2 smaller ones on either side up forward where the lead mushrooms out on the bottom of the boat.