Day 16: The last day

We woke up at 6:30 and had the boat at the fuel dock when they opened at 7. We did not have much of an idea how long it would take us to get home but guessed it would be 6 or 7hrs.

Belle woke up just as I had filled the tank and was not quite out of bed before we were ready to leave so once again the poor kid got shafted and would have to wait until we got home before she could get off the boat. I should add that the time keeper (my wife) would not allow us to look for a breakfast as we had to hurry up and get home… So I had what I hoped would be the last pop tart I would see for a very long time and we were off.

We lucked out with another nice day and some nice breezes and were once again motor sailing our way back home. Once we got to the mouth of the Detroit River it got pretty shallow and I’m pretty sure we were kicking up mud as we went. Unless you are in the big channel it is really shallow around there, luckily the lake is unusually high this year or we probably would have been calling sea tow several times prior to getting to the marina. At long last we had finally made it home. When I pulled into the marina it seamed much smaller then it looked from land. We saw our slip and attempted docking. Well apparently I turned a bit late and missed our slip. I was pretty impressed that I was able to do some maneuvering and got the boat turned around but as soon as I did the wind came by and blew us right into the dock beside us. Luckily both boats were out for the day as we were now sideways filing up both of their slips! Fortunately our new neighbors came over to help with a bit of coaching on the helm controls and then helped us walk the boat into the slip. Crisis averted. We got the boat tied up, bumpers out, stepped off the boat and our ride was there to take us home where Max was quickly dropped off and the grandparents ran away quickly for vacation!

We had spent the last 18 days living aboard our new to us Allmand 31ft sail boat. We completed a trip that was over 1000 miles going across the New York Harbor, up the Hudson River, across the Erie Canal, did our first overnight sail (38hrs on Lake Erie without stopping) and made it home to Detroit. We were first time boaters, with very little actual boating experience prior, traveling on a 30 year old boat that we had purchased on a snowy day in NJ nothing other then a surveyors report to go by, all while traveling with a 4yr old. Our friends, family, and co-workers thought we were crazy to even try such an adventure as new boaters but it turned out to be a great experience for the 3 of us and we are now looking forward to when Max gets a little older and we can start taking some trips as a family. The dream of taking a year off of work to spend it sailing up to Maine and then over to the Caribbean does not seem that far off any more!

Things that were great to have on the tip: A hand held radio, seems on most sail boats the radio is down in the living area which is hard to get to and probably even worse when someone is trying to hail you on the radio. I purchased a floating ICOM that worked great and rarely needed charging. Binoculars: Having owned a photography studio all our equipment had been Nikon and I knew the value of paying for good glass. The waterproof Nikon binoculars we bought worked great and actually made it easier to see in the dark then just my eyes alone. A nice chart plotter: We bought a Garmin 540s the day before the trip (I was going to try it without GPS going on charts alone but West Marine had a sale and my wife seemed to think it was not a bad idea to have one). The plotter was very easy to use and was great for all except the last couple days on the canal where the markers become unmarked and it did not even show that we were in water. It turned out to be great for trying to navigate at night, around Put-in-Bay (again at night), the Hudson River, and the Detroit area. A toaster oven (only worked when we had shore power): But worked out well for making pizza, toast, cookies, and other hot foods as our stove on board the boat is not currently in working order. Finally the Leapster & portable DVD player were great for keeping my daughter entertained as playing I Spy & all the other car games we played with our parents as kids on car tips does get old after a number of continues days ..

The only thing I wish we had on the trip was some way to have 110 power while underway. We had brought a little inverter with us but it was not much good other then to charge the DVD player, ipod or laptop while underway and with that the alternator was not really strong enough to recharge the house battery in any kind of reasonable amount of time after charging two devices. For our next trip we will have the propane stove fixed (it appears to be a smashed copper line not letting the gas though at the moment) and we are planning to buy one of the quiet Honda generators to take with us to top off batteries and provide limited power when anchored out.