The Great Loop

2004 - 2005

This starts our exploration of the west coast of the state of Michigan. It's summer, it's warm and the water is fresh!

This page contains our most recent postings. The Loop Log accesses the entire narrative via a list of voyage segments, and Loop Gallery contains photos of the trip in a main gallery and a host of sub-galleries accessible through a gallery log page.

Updated 8/11/05.

8/2/05 - Ariel and Another Adventure elected to spend the day in Petoskey, taking time to explore the town more. We moved off the outer wall and into slips for greater protection from the power boat wakes. 8/3/05 - We headed to Leland, MI, detouring along the way to take a look at Bay Harbor. What a layout! The yacht club looks like a top shelf resort hotel. The trip to Leland was a great sail. We rafted off Ariel who had rafted off the end of a couple of slips. Leland is a "safe harbor" meaning that they cannot turn away boats when a storm is brewing. In our case a strong cold front was spawning intense thunderstorms. About 3am we had a fantastic fireworks display as a storm passed just north of us. 8/4/05 - Thursday dawned with high humidity and moody skies. We decided to stay in Leland as radar showed a series of storms crossing the lake. We visited a few art galleries; seeing some great metal sculptures - whimsical insects, giraffes and birds. We stopped at a small grocery store to find it was larger and better stocked than we ever would have imagined; a great place to restock. All in all it was a pleasant way to spend the day. By evening the sun was out and the humidity had dropped. The cooler temperatures and light breeze made for excellent sleeping. 8/5/05 - We left Leland early, around 7:30, after transferring 5 gallons of fuel from our deck supply as the fuel dock was blocked by boats that had taken shelter in the harbor yesterday. 12-15 knot NW winds propelled us along at 7-8 knots the first part of the trip. We were enroute to Frankfort when we received a phone call; Jill telling us that Gary Angell had passed away last night. What a shock! We started our adventure with Gary and Patti sailing as far as Milwaukee with this couple. We're ending it knowing he's gone. We're trying to get back to Appleton quickly now - Sunday at the latest. Enroute to Frankfort we broke out Gary's recipe for rum & coke - coke cowering in a glass of rum and drank to his freedom from pain. The gentle giant is sailing higher seas. 8/6/05 - At 7:30 the anchor came up and we pulled into the fuel dock. By 8 we were on the lake. Surprise! The weather forecast was right and we had a beautiful day with S-SW winds in the low teens. Ariel and AA stormed across the lake arriving at the Sturgeon Bay shipping canal around 2pm. Best lake crossing we've ever had! Lady Lynn, Lynn and Chuck, met us about 8 miles offshore taking photos and welcoming us back. They talked us into stopping for the night at Quarterdeck Marina. Miles tied first to the end of the tee dock so I swung in to back up to him. Suddenly, we were in a deluge  of water- a group of Wave Pointe buddies had set up 4 hoses to welcome us home (they claimed a Champaign shortage). It was great to see the gang again. We spent the afternoon touring the new boats that had been acquired during our absence, That night we grilled out and watched the fireworks - they claimed they'd arranged them for our homecoming but the were really a part of  marina Days. The loop is closed. Now pesky reality sets in as we locate a slip and a yard to haul and winter the boat. I have a list of repairs and improvements that need to be made to the boat. We need to project the next phase of our lives. But first, the funeral of a great friend and the celebration of his life! Smooth seas and fair winds Gary! 8/10/05 - We're home, the boat is at Quarterdeck Marina in Sturgeon Bay. We're trying to catch up with mail, etc. - the details of daily land life. I'm tying up the loose ends on stories I've been commissioned to write and getting prepared to complete some projects for Mr. Sew & So. We have one photo gallery to post to finish the log of the trip (posted 8/11). We hope you enjoyed it! 8/22/05 - We're back to week-end sailing. We visited Wave Pointe Friday evening to see our buddies. We anchored out because we miss doing so. Saturday we sailed with Ariel to Menomonee where we rejoined three of our high powered WP boats.	AA returns to home waters The Michigan Crew On a charter Gary was told, "Captain you don't need no flippers" We'd add "Angell you don't need no wings! - you earned them long ago" Channel light - Sturgeon Bay - Home? 8/22/05 - The last two photo galleries are not functioning properly. We are working to resolve the problem. We'll post an e-mail when they are up.