Trying to take advantage of the beautiful weather, and feeling like we just couldn’t go through another round of send-offs for a trip that had pretty much escaped our grasp, we headed out of the bay on Saturday, Sept. 8th. The wind was predicted to be north (of course!) so we were prepared to motor into it to get to Northport. We were exclaiming how nice it had actually been when, as we passed the end of Old Mission Peninsula, the NE wind built and the waves grew to 3-4 footers. We finally tucked into the bay west of Northport Point and had a peaceful evening, even though the residents motored around us a couple times to check us out. I wondered if we would have been better off in the marina, but we later heard folks complain about the “rock and roll” in there that evening!
The winds went east on Sunday, so we left early while they were still light, and motored until we turned toward the south at Gr. Traverse light. With an ENE wind now on our quarter we were actually able to sail along the Leelanau coast toward Leland. It had been a few years since we were on this side of the peninsula by water, and it was beautiful with the sun shining on the dunes and bluffs, the blue water sparkling, and the islands so clearly visible. We would have preferred to head for South Manitou Island, but that anchorage is open to the easterly winds, so we decided that Leland Harbor would be best. I was worried about the channel depth (we now draw 6 feet, instead of the shallow 4.5 on the old boat), but it had been dredged, and we never saw less than 15 feet of water. And the greatest part of this plan was that our friends Carol and Mike were able to join us for the evening!
Leland is a fun little town, and much less busy in Sept. The harbor is very nice and you can walk to everything. I had a great beach walk, we picked up some smoked fish at Carlson’s Fisheries, met a couple boats/crew who were completing the Loop, and even ran into some GTYC friends who were leading a group over to Green Bay. (photo below: Ritual’s mast is behind the big cabin cruiser)
Monday we headed for Frankfort. At approx. 35 nautical miles, this was the longest leg of our trip. Running along the entire coast of Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat’l Lakeshore, the scenery was gorgeous, but the coast offers no marina or protected harbor for dropping the anchor overnight. Given the light east winds, we probably could have found a spot, but there is just no where to go if conditions change. So we took a slip at the Frankfort Municipal Marina. Frankfort is another cool small town, with an added bonus – our friends Jim and Gerri live fairly close by and were able to join us for sunset!
Early the next morning, with evening winds predicted to move south (of course!) and build, we opted to head for Manistee. Following in the wake of our new Looper friends, we motored along the coast, trying to identify the little harbors along the way – Lower Herring Lake and Arcadia Lake, both of which we feared could not be entered due to shallow channels, and Portage Lake, which is still “iffy” for us with a 6′ draft. We had radioed ahead to the Municipal Marina in Manistee for a slip, so that we would not have to deal with the drawbridge blocking the marina farther up the river. We were placed on “the wall” because most of the slips had been damaged in the spring seiche, and were not yet repaired. (The water had been pushed up the river and rose to the top of the dock posts!) The wall was great with lots of folks passing by on the riverwalk, chatting and asking questions about the boat. Plus, it is right downtown, so walkable to everything. We ambled the riverwalk all the way to the pier and back, reading the historical posters and photos of 1800’s Manistee along the way. As we enjoyed a glass of wine in the cockpit that evening, leaning against the stern rail nestled in our soft folding chairs, a guy walking by says “jeez – you guys need to learn to relax.” Ha ha, if he only knew!
We spent 2 days in Manistee, as the winds built and clocked west. The waves settled down on Thursday, and we resumed our trek south to Pentwater. We had intended to anchor out, but most of the areas that looked good already had several mooring balls in place, so we ended up at the Municipal dock. We tended toward the muni’s because their rates are somewhat controlled by the State, and it was “late season”. At Clinch in TC, the rate for our slip was half the summer rate – $36. Not so in Leland, where the fee was 70 something – guess they need to pay for that dredger! The rest charged less than summer rates, but more than half. Facilities also varied. TC, Leland and Manistee had really nice, new lounges with big showers and bathrooms. Pentwater’s bathrooms are ancient, dark and small. I didn’t use the ones in Frankfort but they looked older.
Fred thought Pentwater was like Mackinaw Island on prozac. Lots of cutesy shops, no grocery store, old marina facilities. We did enjoy a meal at the Antler Bar, and the yacht club looked nice – if you have reciprical membership (oops – nope!). It is a short walk around the channel to Mears State Park, which has a gorgeous sandy beach.
We left Pentwater for White Lake, motorsailing past Silver Lake Sand Dunes along the way. It is one of the last places where you can drive on the dunes, and the numerous dune buggies looked like ants crawling all over a giant sand pile! I was reminded of what an incredible job Michigan did in setting aside so much land in state parks all along this coast. Almost every channel and/or major lake has a large state park and campground with acres of beautiful beach, dunes and forest. Since we were just stopping in White Lake for the night, we dropped the hook in front of the White Lake Yacht Club just inside the channel. The marinas are 5 miles east in Whitehall, and you really have to watch the channel markers for shallows on both sides of the lake.
We had one more short leg to Muskegon, and a beautiful day of motorsailing. But what a shock as we pulled into the breakwalls on a busy weekend afternoon! We were greeted by a 2 foot chop in the channel, with what looked like every boat in Muskegon out enjoying the day. My mom and brother were on the seawall to welcome us, but we were really focused on holding the boat away from the wall and watching out for the pontoon boat 2 feet off our starboard, ski boat 2 feet off port, giant cruisers in front, and all the other boats coming at us as they headed out the channel. “No wake zone” my ass! Whew – we are not used to that kind of traffic! We found our assigned mooring ball at Torreson’s marina, where we spent a couple weeks. We are now hauled out there for winter, and living in Muskegon. Still trying to get the TC house sold. We will try to post a few updates as we complete some projects in the boatyard, and prepare to really leave next spring!
Sailing Ritual 