Joe & Sally 9-20-08

My workmate Sally, and her husband Joe joined us for a visit aboard Latigo. We shared some tasty treats and then took a walk out to the south pierhead.

Two great people!

The four of us in front of our lighthouse (BigRed)

Sunset Cruise 9-18-08

I blew out of work just after 4:00 today and headed to the marina. I had to change the secondary fuel filter on the boat. That took all of a half hour. So, Eileen and I decided to take a sunset cruise. We picked up a couple of pizzas from the Piper and headed out to the big lake. Winds were out of the East at 6 to 8 knots. That means flat seas on Lake Michigan. We unfurled the genoa and headed South along the beach. What a wonderful quiet time. A couple of rum and cokes later, the sun was setting and it was B E A utiful.

After two rum and cokes!

Shiloh on watch

Eileen on watch!

The sun melting into Lake Michigan The dune just to the south of the channel taken from Lake Macatawa

Sunday Sail 9-7-08

The day after the race, there was wind to spare! Where was this wind yesterday? We went out on the big lake for a couple of hours. There were solid 4 footers and a stiff West breeze. We tacked back to the Holland pierhead and sailed on Lake Mac for a while in flat seas. Steve got a better flavor for how Latigo sails!

Steve at the helm with a little bit of heel

Another crossword puzzle for Jamie

Brotherhood! How sweet it is!

Jamie holding on...we must be getting ready to tack

My best girl

The Anchorage Cup 9-6-08

The Anchorage Cup is a 15 nautical mile race from Grand Haven, MI to Holland, MI with a gate at Port Sheldon. 78 boats competed in several divisions. We were in the JAM 3 division. My brother Steve flew here from Jacksonville, FL to crew and my friend Tim Klaff crewed as well. Steve and Tim are accomplished sailors. We had a tremendous time together and I would not have been able to pick a better crew. It was a day of ever-changing winds and weather. We had rain, sun, cold, wind, calm and more calm. Of the 78 boats that started, only 2 made it to the official finish line. The finish line became the gate at Port Sheldon. We were the 4th boat in our division to reach the gate. Although two boats that beat us to the gate, they retired from the race (i.e. quit) but we were still the 4th place finisher. Bummer for us! Still a great time!

A pic of the crew and boat prior to departing for the starting line

Motoring up the Grand Haven channel facing West

Racing numbers 168, a new addition to our mainsail

Facing East, some of the boats heading toward the starting line

"There must be wind somewhere!"

Just chillin...literally!

Single-handed to Grand Haven 9-4-08

Sorry, no pics of this one! I needed to transport Latigo to Grand Haven prior to the Saturday Anchorage Cup Race. It was my first time single handed on our new boat. I left Eldean's at sunrise, donning an inflatible life vest and tethered to the boat. It was a smooth departure but I encountered some weather and waves along the way. Conditions were NE winds at 15 knots gusting to 25 knots. Waves were left over from Wednesday, 4' rollers coming from the NNW. Smaller waves with whitecaps were coming from the NE and it rained for most of the trip. I sailed under genoa all the way except when I went through a squall. Who knows how fast the wind was blowing, but it buried my port rail and it took all I had to get the sail furled. I saw the squall coming so I started the engine ahead of it hitting. At this point it was raining sideways! So, I motored for about 5 miles on a 30 degree heading and then reset the genoa and headed back offshore. The fog rolled in and I couldn't see the shoreline. I navigated by compass and water depth! I was sailing in the remnants of hurricane Gustaf. I hate that guy! Anyway, I made it to Grand Haven without incident and tied up at the municipal marina.

Labor Day Weekend 2008

On one of the best weekends of the summer, and a long weekend at that, Eileen and I set sail for Saugatuck, MI on Friday evening. The rhumb line between Holland and Saugatuck is about 10 nautical miles. We stretched out the sail to about 20 NM as the winds were out of the WNW at 10-12 knots and we had such an easy reach down. We cooked Zweigle hot dogs on the grill on the way down and also had tossed salad and potato salad that Eileen prepared earlier in the day. We sailed well passed the Saugatuck harbor approximately 5 NM offshore, then reached back up to the pierhead. It was a pleasent motor up the Kalamazoo river to SMYC. We found our slip and tied up for the night. We took a walk into the downtown area and had tasty treats at Kilwin's. We met a couple (Jack and Chrissy) aboard a huge trawler, must have been 60' or more. Chrissy offered us cinnamon rolls from a bakery in town and they went well with our morning coffee. We went downtown again in the morning and found a neat little restaurant where we could eat outside and Shiloh could join us (Ida Red Cottage). What a wonderful time we had! We set sail for Holland at approximately 1:00 PM on Saturday. We sailed with favorable West winds and beat about 15 NM offshore in relatively flat seas and North of the Holland pierhead. Another lovely day for an extended sail. We spent the night at home on Saturday night and went to Mars Hill for the 9AM service. After church, we went home and packed up to spend the night aboard Latigo once again. We motored out to Lake Michigan and dropped the hook about a mile South of the pier. We cooked chicken on the grill and just relaxed, swam and enjoyed eachother. At sunset, we motored back to Eldean's and got settled for the evening. We woke up Monday morning and visited with our friends Tim and Julie aboard Julianna and then proceeded to the Parkway Inn for breakfast. A rendezvous out on Lake Michigan followed as we anchored off Tunnel Park, just North of Holland. After swimming and such we motored back to Eldeans to pick up Ed and Lois, our friends that took care of Shiloh for a couple of weeks earlier this summer. We went for a nice sail, went for a swim and dip in the hot tub at the club, and enjoyed dinner at the Piper afterwards. This was a super-good weekend in my book! A huge plus was getting the phone calls from Leah and Matthew about them taking their solo maiden voyage aboard the B! Here are some pics of the weekend...

Eileen at the helm on the way to Saugatuck

The pea soup that we woke up to in Saugatuck...it was really beautiful and not a whisper of wind

Working on the diesel...again!

Tim and Eileen on Jeff's tender at Tunnel Park...Julianna and Graan Finale in the background

Proudly displaying the colors of the Poor Man's Yacht Club

Lois to starboard, hanging with Shiloh

Ed up on the foredeck

The Smiths 8-26-08

On my first day back to work after having the previous 11 days off, I just had to go sailing. Eileen arranged for our friends Greg, Linda, and Maggie to join us on short notice. We had a rare East wind at 10 to 12 knots and very flat seas. We sailed North toward Port Sheldon at speeds of 6 - 7.5 knots under full sail. We reached for about an hour and a half and then came about and reached back to the Holland pier head, watching the sun melt into the sea on the way! It was one of those real nice sails. Everyone seemed to be hitting the chianti but I was happy with my blue light specials! I always am!!

Greg at the helm, Maggie and Eileen

Jamie and Maggie working on a crossword puzzle

Jack...I'm flying!

Just after sunset

Heading back to Lake Mac