We pounded west at 5 1/2 knots into apparent winds peaking at 33 knots. Two reefs in the main and about 30% of our headsail made the boat easily sailed. It's my favorite sailing conditions... for about two hours.

We arrived in Conneaut, OH, at 5pm, anchoring behind their breakwater. We invited the crew of Sampatecho for dinner, they declined as they had taken on quite a bit of water during the passage and needed to sort and dry gear. We spent the evening reading as there wasn't a lot to see ashore. We had a great view of kite surfers plying their sport over the sand flats inside the harbor.

7/2/05 - Another beautiful sunny day, another 8am start, 10-15 knot winds on the aft starboard beam. We rocked and rolled westward in 2-3 foot swells to Fairport; arriving about 4:30p. We anchored behind the breakwater and ate supper. Later I rowed over to Sampatecho, about 150', to discuss our next destinations and to sample their great home-made wine.

Dusk fell and Another Adventure was boarded by an armed Coastie. Ruth had gone to bed and fallen asleep. The anchor light was off. We saw the USCG boat approach and turn on their flood lights. They called out, no answer. They radioed their base that they had found an abandoned sailboat and were boarding it. Brad radioed that the owner was on the next boat - the one with two dinghies as opposed to none. Gun in hand a Coastie climbed aboard waking Ruth. She called out, he commanded "Mame, turn your anchor light on now!" Ruth was partially clad and had taken her contacts out; making it hard to be modest while searching for the switch. Next they intercepted me as I rowed toward the dinghy, asking if I had been drinking and if I intended to go anywhere that night. In a rowboat??? "No!" " Okay, we'll be back to check" and they were gone... in search of more terrorists?

7/3/05 - Another warm sunny day. At 8a we pushed off for Vermilion, OH; a run of about 60 miles. We again sailed most of the way on a close reach, motor sailing for about an hour. Excellent sailing!

We arrived at the port and cautiously entered. One chart said it was deep enough, the other said it wasn't. A radio conversation with the dock master confirmed it was deep enough. We've learned to call as many of these ports have been improved and the depths on the charts and cruising guides are wrong.

Vermilion is like a Midwestern Venice. The homes are all white and all face the canals that run through the town (the only exception are the grey condos next to our slip). Provisions and restaurants are all a walk or dinghy ride away. We took a tour in Bradd's dinghy - very nice. They have a large Tartan Ten fleet here!

We ran into the crew of Big Storm, a trimaran we met in the races. They had been boarded two nights earlier by the Coasties. At 2am they were ghosting toward Mentor, OH, trying to find the harbor entrance when they were suddenly surrounded by 6 boats focusing high intensity floodlights on them. The boats had been running blacked out. "Put your transmission in neutral and stop" came a command out of the dark. "The engine's off, we're sailing was the response" as the boats boxed them in tighter. "We'll have to turn and point into the wind." "Do it!" The Coasties tried to tie off against the 30' tri. The skipper had to protect his rig from misplaced lines. Everyone just sat there for a couple of silent minutes. The skipper's spouse finally said "Okay, what are we doing here?" The Coasties replied that they were going to board the boat and conduct a search. "Do you have any firearms?" "No." "Get into the cabin... hey, where can I step on this thing?" Soon several pairs of black combat boots were tramping across the floats and into the cabin. After a thorough inspection for safety gear they issued the couple a citation for having flares that were a year out of date (the skipper has to appear in Mentor, OH, within 14 days with new flares and a receipt proving purchase - Mentor only, no where else.) Their job done the Coasties sped off into the dark in search of another group of terrorists - thought you'd all sleep better knowing we now have lots of boats running around protecting us from the Canadians (and ourselves).

7/4/05 - The Fourth of July! We had our fireworks last night as hundreds of lightning bugs danced in the small park behind our slip. I haven't seen that many since I was a kid! We headed out at 10 for Put-In-Bay, the historic base of Perry's fleet in 1812. We arrive late afternoon, grabbed a mooring ball and called the water taxi. Our mission was to find Pat Dailey's bar and photograph it for our buddy Pat Donley. Pat has this thing for a bunch of nymphos or something.  Alas, Daley sold his place on the island and now plays occasionally at the world's longest bar at Beer Barrel. Sooo, we settled for a photo of a Dailey flyer - sorry Pat, we tried. It'll be in the gallery.

We visited the winery, a crystal cave, and walked the downtown. That evening we watched the fireworks over the harbor. Very nice!

7/5/04 - We headed up the Detroit River, through Detroit and into Lake Ste Clair. It was interesting passing steel mills and car plants like River Rouge before entering Detroit. We encountered several ships, up-bound and down-bound in the tight channel. We had a couple of CLOSE passings. Man those ships are big. Your heart beats with every cylinder firing... or is that fear? You'll get the picture when we get the next photo gallery up.

We motor sailed upriver, past Wyandotte MI, Amherstburg ON, Gilbraltar MI and a dozen burgs I'd never heard of. All with marinas. All with interesting histories, industries and sights. The day was a mental overload! Big cities, heavy industries... yet beautiful!

The Canadian shore near Windsor was a sculpture park - cool! On the US side we had the GM towers while Chrysler-Daimler faced them from the Canadian side. The Canadian casinos draws one million dollars a day from US citizens. Talk about pocket change. We were sailing right up an international border.

As we passed Belle Isle, home of the Detroit Yacht Club, we toasted the memory of my mother. She grew up in the 30's at the yacht club. I think I inherited my love of boats and sailing from my mother. As a teen she sailed on Lake St. Clair, near where we took slips at the Jefferson Beach Marina... the place where Another Adventure was commissioned prior to Strictly Sail in Chicago. A big thank you to Bob Reed, St. Clair Sailboat Center, for finding this great boat for us and for your hospitality during our visit!

7/6/05 - We spent the day provisioning and in discussions with Bob Reed resolving a couple of technical questions we had. Bob leant us his vehicle so we could visit West Marine, Mike's Marine Center, and provision. Finding food for Buddy proved to be a real challenge! Bob was commissioning a 49' Jeanneau Deck Salon -so we toured it. Veerrrryyyy nice! Make me a millionaire and I'd fall in lust with her!

From here we head to Port Huron then on to the edges of heaven with Sampatecho... Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

7/7/05 - AA trod north against a 2 knot current the entire 45 mile distance to Port Huron at the base of Lake Huron. Sampatecho headed for Sarnia ON while we swung west to the Port Huron Yacht club to visit Patrick Hoy. The club hosted us as visiting NNYC member, providing a courtesy slip and welcoming us to their beautiful clubhouse. PHYC has built a large two story club house, complete with bar, meeting rooms, dance hall and two kitchens. It was member designed and built! They have a new harbor with about 100 boats - all to current day marina standards. Very impressive for a 400 member club!

We had a lot of fun that evening, meeting a group of interesting folks. We were invited to enter a 90 mile Huron race starting at 7pm the 8th, but declined. They also invited us to attend the Leukemia Cup Regatta, to be held Labor Day weekend.... hmmmm?

We may be off-line for a few weeks... don't know what to expect for communications in Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

State Park anchorage

Cleveland bypassed

River view - Vermilion, OH

Vermilion park

Park-side condos

Put-In-Bay, from mooring

Detroit skyline

Port Huron Yacht Club