Thursday, May 29, 2014 Last Day of our Trip/First Day at Grand River Yacht Club

The winds howled out of the east all night and had us pinned against Geneva Marina's transient dock.  We were both so exhausted with the 95 miles we traveled yesterday, it didn't make a bit of difference! 

We weren't in any hurry to leave Geneva Marina because we only have 3 hours to get to our new home port of Grand River Yacht Club.  Our morning was spent visiting with marina friends: Hal, Carol, George, Matt, Chuckie, Fran and Ann, the new manager.     Lee and Carol even drove up from their new home, Ashtabula Yacht Club.  We finally motored out of Geneva at around 1:45 to a bright sun and winds that had just settled…still in our favor out of the NE.  I called Sue B so she and Jack  will be at the dock waiting to assist us.  It will feel really good to be home after 9 months and 2 days!  Our last trip turned out to be a beautiful afternoon on  Lake Erie….yes!    Surprise!!  Upon entering the east entrance to Fairport Harbor, we were greeted by the USCG.  They approached us and wanted to do an inspection.  I laughed!  Chuck laughed! We both couldn't believe it!!  I told the young Coasties that they were welcome to come aboard.   I also told them that we've been out on our boat for 9 months and 2 days and traveled over 4900 miles and they were the first to board us!!  What a ‘welcome home’ on our last day of our trip and our first day to our new home…Grand River Yacht Club!!   Chuck maintained our speed, the USCG motored up along side, and 2 Coasties climbed aboard....and we passed the inspection!

After the delay due to the Coast Guard, we finally were able to motor up Grand River.  Jack and Sue were waiting and directed us to a dock at GRYC.  We weren't able to get into our new dock, 12S, because the aft post wasn't placed in the middle of the well between docks 12 S and 13 N and we couldn't squeeze into our new slip.   Oh well, hopefully our dock will be available soon.

happy to be home!

Wednesday, May 28,2014 On to Geneva

not many boats in yet at DYC

DYC

It looks like a 'go' today.  We quietly slipped away from Dunkirk Yacht Club because no on was around except 2 fishing boats.  At 6:30 am the sun was up with very little breeze. The forecast was calling for 8 kts with gusts of 11 and out of the NNE to NE.  That's perfect for our trip to Erie, or if we're making good time,  Ashtabula or even Geneva Marina.  You better believe, we're going to push it as far as we can today!!

Leaving Dunkirk, NY






What a great day on Lake Erie...why can't it last?  Three hours into our morning, Erie threw another curve ball  at us....fog.    This fog bank rolled in and surrounded us with only 100 feet of visibility.  Ok, I better check the updated forecast but this time for Erie, PA.  They are showing patches of morning fog.  My idea of a 'patch' and the weatherman's idea must not be the same!!!  The thick fog lasted for 3 hours.   There is still fog off the entrance of Erie so we decided to keep going....the Cleveland area is supposedly sunny! So we're con

fog bank

Finally, the sun came out strong around 12:30 and we can see the shore!  Yeah!    However, the further west we go, the waves seem to be getting bigger and bigger and of course the winds are strengthening. Since the winds and waves are coming at our stern, we are making great time.  By the time we neared Conneaut...yeah we made it to OHIO...the water was white capping and some of the waves were pushing 5-6 footers. Surfing off the crest of these waves had HHII motoring over 10 kts.  Chuck and I also had memories of another year coming back from Erie with similar waves... we broke our rudder then, and had to be towed into Conneaut by the USCG.  We quickly erased that from our minds!!

Around 3:30 Roger G. called and wanted to know if we were headed for Geneva Marina.  If so, what was our ETA.   He and Carol wanted to to be at the dock to 'Welcome' us home and help us dock....at 7:10 pm we should be motoring into our old home port.   Chuck and I both knew our ride getting into  the channel would be WILD.  As soon as we turn to port 90 degrees, the waves would be pounding the entire port side of our boat...not to mention rolling us to starboard.  We wanted to expose our port side to the waves for as little time as possible.  Right before our approach, I stowed all loose items that were sitting in the cockpit down below.  Here we go.............The waves were 'rocking our world' until we passed the mouth of  Geneva's channel.  Wow, what a ride!!

True to their word, Roger and Carol were at the end of our old dock waving and shouting 'welcome'. It felt so good to see friendly faces waiting to grab our lines even though we knew the winds would push us into the dock.   We were a bit surprised when Roger told us he just clocked 27 kt winds in the marina but thought the winds were probably more in the 30's on the lake.  Yikes!  We didn't feel a thing because our stern panels were down and we were going with the wind.   After securing our lines and more greetings, Roger and Carol took us out to eat at the Old Mill Winery where we continued to catch up on places and events over the last 9 months.  They both were very interested in the people,places, and experiences because they did the same trip the previous season!!