We dropped the girls at the airport and the next day our family was to shove off the dock for our sailing clubs mid summer cruise. The schedule was planned for everyone to meet at Kelly's Island, then sail over to Loran, on to Mentor, then to Geneva on the Lake for a couple days. We would then work our way back to Cleveland and Vermillion then the club would head home and we would go back to Put-in-Bay for Jr Bay week. Well everyone got to Kelly's ok unfortunately it seemed the weather gods were not with us. The lake was way too rough to head out in the next day so we all sat down to replan the trip. It seemed that Loran was the only marina that would not credit back folks reservations so we decided to head there for a night then on to Cleveland for a couple days back to Vermillion and on to Put-in-Bay. Because we can't do anything simply we had left Max with another friend to take him to a Jr Olympics sailing seminar. We were supposed to pick him up in Loran on Sunday. Unfortunately this was not going to happen. Luckily the family he was with was happy to drop in off at the ferry dock allowing him to join us on Kelly's Island Sunday night. Seemed the water was even to rough for the ferries so they were down to one boat instead of their usual three. This had really messed up car traffic but did not turn out to be a problem with passenger traffic.
For once we had some good sailing weather on the way to Loran. We were the last boat to leave but was able to easily catch up with the fleet of 7 boats ahead of us allowing us to snap some nice sailing pictures of everyone's boats. It had been a while since we had been to Loran and it was a nice marina. They were close to a parts store and we were able to get a new bulb for our outboards fuel line. Once I got that installed in Vermillion I was able to start the outboard right up with no problems.
Next stop was Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland for 2 nights. We had good weather which made for a nice trip and some boats even got to sail a bit. The first day having a power boat was fun but at this point I was starting to miss being able to sail. The folks in Cleveland gave us someone's dock that was doing the Mackinaw race and while it was not hard to get in it was our most challenging yet as we drove by the dock and I got to do the 180 degree turn in a fairly tight fairway. Unfortunately we didn't do much in Cleveland other than hang out in their pool and relax the next day.
After a quick two nights in Cleveland we were on to Vermillion. We have been here a number of times and while its a pretty area with all the home owner association mandates to ensure everyone keeps their house looking just like everyone else's I don't get very excited about it. Our first night there turned out to be a small business night. They had three bands and lots going on. Our timing was great and the next day Max was able to participate in a regatta that one of the local clubs was having we didn't think we would make. Turned out to be a good day for Max and it was the first time we took the boat our on the course to watch him race. I was really impressed how much effort the club put into getting the course exactly right for each of his four races that day. Unfortunately it rained quite a bit that night. The marina is on a river which is not something we have much experience with. It seemed that the river runs over 200 miles up and Vermillion is where all the water gets dumped into Lake Erie. Well we were stuck and could not leave due to the current. If I were to untie my boat I surly would have smashed into another boat before I could have even got out of the slip. If I could have made it out of the slip I would then get to execute a 270 degree turn in the river going against the current due to the fact that we have a single engine and our boat backs to starboard. Needless to say the port authority came and closed the marina and told no one to leave as there was a ton of logs and other things floating down the river. Luckily we were closer to the middle of the dock in the river then the end where all the crud was floating down so we had a couple of bigger boats that stuck out further to do some blocking for us. We decided to get off the boat and head up for the Corvette show and some groceries. When we got back just before 5 things got really exciting. The city had been working to clear a bunch of junk that had blocked up one of the bridges up the river. Once they got the log jam broken up it all came directly toward us and took out a 50+ foot boat on the end of the dock. He ended up breaking four or five of his dock posts and almost floated off. In a effort to gain control of his boat he jumped on started up the engines and quickly sucked up a garden hose he had on his swim platform in one engine and a dock line in another to find himself quickly disabled and wedged into another boat on the dock. A number of us made a lot of effort to help but eventually after consulting with tow boat us the fire department/police department told everyone to get off the boats. It was a big scene and I can't due the drama involved justice but let's just say the owner was not very happy with that idea. After a few hours went by and everyone left the scene a number of us made a few more attempts to help him with no success. The next morning we had the idea of trying to use his windless again to pull the boat back over to the dock and that worked where everyone got to wait out yet another day of crazy current. Unfortunately at this point we needed to have Max a Put-in-Bay to join his sailing team. So once again we found a kind stranger to take he and Amy to the ferry dock with the plan of Annabelle and I meeting them as soon as we could. Amazing we woke up the next day to a much more normal type of current. Unfortunately the four boats before us in the river had a huge log stuck under them. It was in one of their pod drives, under another's rudder, and just in the way of the props to two more. I was the next boat in line and figured we better make our attempt to get out of there before they figured out how to free that thing and send it my way. We were the first boat off of that dock and everyone was eager to see how it worked out for us. I'm happy to say Annabelle and I did quite well and even managed the 270 degree turn in the current fairly well. We were now off to Put-in-Bay and just had to hope not to run into any kind of log jam at the sea wall on the way out.
No comments:
Post a Comment