Racine to Buffalo updates
Hi all,
Well, we took possession of Sea Gull on 15 Jun 2021 planned to cruise south in baby steps to get used to the boat after 2 weeks of shakedown cruises. We ended up leaving Racine on 15 July we had a few minor maintenance issues and a couple of repairs before we can leave. First issue was the bow thruster, stopped working to port. The thruster has 4 solenoids one looked liked it was replaced and the other three were original. Troubled shooter the bow thruster and one solenoid was not sending power through the contacts. Original parts would take six weeks to be delivered. Found early ford solenoids that would fit, ordered four Chinese knock offs received them in two days. Now the head, after five days of using the head it was full and needed to be pumped out. There is no level guage on the black tank so I went to visually check the tank and my square tank was almost round. The vent was plugged and I decided to vent the tank into the bilge. It was not a pretty site. I had a water hose and soap ready to clean the bilge, of course the bilge float stopped working. I removed the vent and installed a new vent hose and used a 5/8 through hull for the vent. With repairs done we decided to go north to make up the time used for repairs. My wife was adamant about not crossing Lake Michigan in the middle, so the plan was to keep heading north and cross at the top. We left Racine with everything loaded and full fuel and water. First leg was Racine to Sheboygan we ran between 2900 rpm and 3100 rpm we used 50gals on diesel to run 63nm. Next run was to Manitowoc 22nm and 11 gals of diesel and the dog apparently gets sea sick. On this leg I decided to turn on the chart plotter. The chartplotter took over the auto pilot and started turning the boat in S turns all over the lake. I convinced my wife we should cross Lake Michigan from Manitowoc to ludington, I used since the ferry crosses here it would be safer. We crossed with no issues at all and had to weave through the Chicago Mac. Race. We were delayed at luddington for a week because of no slips were available. Finally left luddington and cruised to Frankfort, this was a fun cruise we had wind coming from the northeast. Now we're starting to have fun cruising and getting confident. We planned to leave in the morning as a front was passing through and the wind was going to shift from the west northwest an hour after we left to the east. We left frankfort with winds blowing 15-20knts and gusting higher at times. We were following two fishing charters out and they turned around I decided to give it a try and if it is bad we'll turn back. We kept going I let my wife decide this one I was on the fenced but wanted to test the boat and ourselves. She decided to continue on, it was a lot rougher than we expected I had 4-6 foot square looking waves from all directions about 1 to 2 seconds apart. I couldn't speed up or slow down and make it any more comfortable I had to hand steer and vary the throttle for 3hrs. We were a little concerned but the camano took a beating with now problems, Sherman the not so sea going dachshund threw up 7 times and was in a bad way. The second half of the cruise was very pleasant after the front passed through and we pulled into harbor bay for a slip. Petoskey city marina was booked solid. The MAC racers were heading home and bay harbor was the only slips available. So we had to skip the towns between frankfort and harbor bay. We were able to ride our e-bikes from bay harbor to Charlevoix for a day visit. We moved over to Petoskey city marina after 3 days at bay harbor. Petoskey is on our favorites list. Since the chartplotter/gps was not going to work when we pulled in Petoskey we bought the cheapest garmin plotter. I used my old garmin 441 and navionics on my phone and the new garmin for navigation. We don't have a radar or a windlass so we waited for good to best weather and slip availability to cruise. Petoskey to mackinaw city was our next leg. We planned to go to mackinac island but after seeing so many tourist in mackinaw city we decided not to go. Our next leg was going to be from mackinaw city to Presque isle, the weather was so favorable that we continued on to rogers city for the marine fest. Next leg was rogers city to Harrisville. Harrisville was a nice stop. Next leg was Harrisville to Port Austin was fun with a market close by and a dog beach in front of the marina. Next leg was port austin to port Sanilac. Port Sanilac has few eclectic bars that are fun. Next leg was port Sanilac to St. Clair city. Nice little marina behind a draw bridge. Next leg was st Clair city to Jefferson beach. Then Jefferson beach to toledo beach. Toledo beach was where we got eaten up by no-seams, until then we hadn't had an issue with biting insects. We wanted to go to put-in-bay but it was booked solid b/c of bay bash so our next leg was to Kelley's Island. We rode our e-bikes all over Kelley's Island. Next leg was Kelley's Island to cleveland, cleveland was a surprise and had a great time, I was going into this stop with some skepticism but was pleasantly surprised. Next leg cleveland to geneva marina, this marina storr has yuengling on draft. Next leg geneva to erie pa, this was a working class party town so I fit right in. The next leg was a downwind roller coaster ride to Buffalo, we had 4 to 6 foot swells and an occasional 8 footer. From Buffalo it was on through the erie canal this was a relaxing cruise. Crossing lake onieda was a downwind run 2-4 foot swell not smooth but fun still. While on the erie canal my old garmin didn't have the charts for the east coast and went to default charts with no information. Then the new garmin stopped displaying charts. On the Hudson River so I was down to my cell phone and cruising guides. The new garmin can only update charts by card transfer not by wifi. We decided to take the outside route around New Jersey, we traveled with southeast 5-10 knt winds on the two legs in the Atlantic, it was rollie at times but not to bad. When we left cape may up the Delaware Bay and river it was almost down right awful. The current wind and tide terrible. Delaware city to annapolis was a fair weather cruise. Annapolis is another favorite stop. Annapolis to solomons Island another easy cruise. Okay we are down right cocky by now, the fly bridge auto pilot control head needs to be cleaned so I have to overide it by oversteering the auto pilot to shut it off by error or quickly get to the helm to shut it off. We ended up bumping a semi submerged capsized skiff, no damage, called in coordinates to the coast guard. Then we we're trying to go to Deltaville Marina but went to Deltaville marine center on the other side of the peninsula b/c I hit the wrong button. We finally landed in deltaville 20 September. It took us 65 days to go from Racine, WI to Deltaville. VA. Sea Gull is in storage and shrink wrapped for protection waiting for another adventure. We had great weather most of the time we never were hit by pop up thunderstorms. I used to windsurf so I watched the wind forecasts first then weather radar before we left port. I've learned we half to slow down more on the travel speed and not to even have an ending so I can go slower. The boat performed flawlessly besides electronics. Also double or triple budget for cruising we spent 14k on marinas, fuel, food and fun. My favorite boating items were e-bikes, ice machine, portable air-conditioner. Honda 2200 generator, and induction cooker. Can't live without was Navionics on my cell phone also What I didn't need was my dinghy, paddleboards and anchor. Anyway I ran on alot, ask any questions.
PAUL
