Second Anchorage

Cribbage, White Russians and listening to the Cubs game... Perfect!

Second anchoring yes but new anchorage, not quite. After rowing back and forth to shore yesterday we decided to try to move in a little closer to land. This would help us do two things; 1) we would be more protected for the increased winds and storm that's headed our way this evening and 2) we wouldn't have to row as far to get to shore and bonus thing, it helps us practice and get more comfortable with our new skills!

So, after breakfast, we uneventfully pulled up the anchor and motored around to scope out the surroundings closer to shore. Our second time anchoring went just as smooth as the first time with one exception... When letting out the anchor this time, Brady was able to see the anchor hit and see it attach to the bottom before laying out the chain. Unlike yesterday he kinda had to guess when it touched the bottom. Today we anchored in 19 feet of water and it was crystal clear to the bottom! Who would have thought the Lake Michigan water in northern Michigan would be just as clear and blue as the Caribbean! 

Thankfully we moved when we did because soon after our little private anchorage was overtaken by a cruising club with 6 other sailboats for the afternoon and evening. We knew we were gonna have to share but we weren't ready to do so just yet!

Our First Attempt at Anchoring

We finally did it! I'm happy to report that today was the first day we anchored out! And we think we did a decent job the first time around! We decided Sutton's Bay in Grand Traverse would be the perfect first anchorage. It ended up being the perfect day for us novices to attempt to set our anchor. We thankfully were lucky to have light to no winds and no waves in the bay. This was the first time attempting this as well as using our brand spanking new anchor and windlass, we assumed many things would go wrong so having little to no wind was a very nice gift! 

Fortunately it all went better than planned. Tuco and I were at the wheel and Brady was working the windlass, just in case the inevitable problem occurred. He installed the thing so he obviously knows more about the system than I do! During our motor from Leland to Sutton's Bay we went over our technique and hand signals a handful of times to make sure we were both on the same page. Situations that seem simple can become very stressful and hectic very quickly so we wanted to be as confident as possible with the basics so that we were better prepared for any complications that may arise.

Another thing we were thankful for was that there were no other boats anchored out in the bay just yet so that was another thing to remove from our possible stressors list! (We were supposed to anchor at Northport this evening but after chatting about possible boat traffic that may be coming into the area for Traverse City's famous Cherry Festival, we decided to skip Northport and head straight to Sutton's Bay. The nice thing about this area is that there is public transportation to take you back and forth from Traverse City to Sutton's Bay so we can stay out of the chaos of Traverse City!) 

Back to anchoring... After scoping out the area to make sure we wouldn't run aground anywhere in our swing radius, we picked a spot. As I kept the nose of the boat into the wind, Brady lowered the anchor. When he thought it was on the bottom (we were anchoring at 24.1 feet so we weren't able to see the bottom) he gave me the signal to reverse the boat so we could lay out our anchor chain on the bottom in a line and not in a pile on top of the anchor. (For this anchorage we used a 4:1 ratio since the weather was nice and calm.) While laying out our chain we put on a snubber line to help take the weight of our anchor and chain off of the equipment on the boat. 

After watching ourselves on our GPS for about 30 minutes, and freaking out that we didn't do it right cuz it wasn't as bad as we thought, we decided we were secure enough to go walk the dog! After only a couple of hours of being surrounded by beautiful nature, peace and quiet, the joy of seclusion and realizing that we would be spending NO money on a slip tonight, we both quickly agreed that anchoring is WAY better than life in a marina! Our crusing lifestyle just got 100 times better!!! 

Island Spotting

Looking at the Light House on South Manitou Island though our binoculars

                          

South Manitou Island                              

The Manitou Islands on our GPS

We knew this day would come when we finally sailed more north than Frankfort, MI but we FINALLY spotted and sailed past our first two islands today! This may not be exciting for you, but it is for us for a couple of reasons... 1) because we are finally sailing in the area we have been dreaming to go to, by boat, since we purchased Further and 2) because we are BIG dorks and well, almost anything gets us excited and makes us wanna celebrate our accomplishments! Hahaha call us ridiculous if you want, God knows we not only call ourselves that but also laugh at ourselves on a constant basis, but I think that is one of the main reasons we have so much fun together and in life! I mean when there are only three of us on a boat there is only a limited amount of people and animals to make fun of! As they say, you have to work with the material you are given! And even though it's just the two of us, we have a LOT of material to work with!

New Territory

Today is the official 'first day' of our sailing adventure where we have sailed farther north on the shores of western Michigan than we have ever before! We have been fortunate enough to really get to know the beautiful southwest harbor towns of Michigan but after four years of revisiting our favorite spots and finding new gems in each town during every visit, we are excited to finally head more north.

During our past trips, I think we tended to wait for more perfect sailing conditions before moving on to the next town. I'm not sure why but I don't think we pushed ourselves or our skills too hard by choice. This is very odd because as its something both Brady and myself like to do! We were novice and very prudent. We see this not as a bad thing, but just a thing. Maybe it was because we both knew in the back of our minds that we would have to get ourselves out of trouble. Or that we didn't and still don't want to rely on other people to get us out of sticky situations. Not because we are afraid to ask for help but we both see it as we willingly put ourselves into this situation, whatever 'this situation' may be, we should have to get ourselves out.

Looking back I'm not sure why we didn't push ourselves more. It seems that this time around, now that we have a destination, I think that there is a little fire under our butts pushing us a little harder than our past years. My "babe!" (aka my 'oh shit') alarm doesn't go off now until we are healed 25 degrees or greater. This is a great improvement from the 15 degrees my alarm would go off at about 2 years ago! The lets us sail the boat much faster. I also don't freak out as easy when we come into odd or emergent situations. We handle the situation with more confidence and level headedness and this I'm sure helps with my overall confidence in my sailing skills.

We both are fully aware that this is most likely the last time we will be sailing in this beautiful lake and we want to experience all of the wonderful towns and things we were hoping to experience and see when we first bought Further and thought that we would be racing in the Mac the second year we owned the boat. Hahaha! I don't think the fire is the only reason, I also think that our overall sailing skills and confidence is different. It has to be.

We are on our way to sail in the ocean. Yes, people say that Lake Michigan has some of the closest conditions comparable to sailing in the sea but we don't know that. We don't know what to expect. As of right now we can only go by what we have learned from other people who have sailed out along the ocean coast before. On the lake you may see a freighter once a day and there aren't a whole lot of buoys and markers of hazards in the water to look out for.  After talking to people and reading books and blogs of people who sail on the ocean quite frequently they have put a little fear in us. As it should be. We will come out into the ocean in New York City and those shipping lanes, traffic, etc. aren't something to joke around about.  As we will move further north along the coast there will be more ledges, shoals, etc to watch for as well.

So, maybe we are a lot more confident in our skills here on the lake because we aren't novices in this area anymore. However we know that we will be novices in just a couple of short weeks once we hit the waters out east. The unknowing reason why we still get nervous in the morning before leaving or just before coming to the dock. We aren't nervous about what we are currently doing, the relatively comfortable similar situations we have been in over the past few years, but we are nervous at all of the unknowns that lie ahead further along our journey. 

Officially a Cruiser!

One is not like the other!

Well, kind of. Or maybe I'm officially a parrot head. Either way I'm officially something by Jimmy Buffett standards that is. 

A stereotypical thing happened to me yesterday... I blew out my flip flop, right out of the line in Margaritaville. We stopped when it happened and Brady thought we should tie it back on. My first thought, I'll just cut off the broken strap with my knife! Hardcore cruiser right here! Hahaha!

Yep, you read that right... I now carry around a very sharp and pretty aquamarine pocket knife. It's part of my daily uniform. You never know when you might need it, right Grampa T! And used it often, I have! And yes, it's aquamarine just like my engagement ring. Coincidence that Brady bought both for me to match each other? Maybe... maybe not. 

And So It Begins

Us sometime after midnight taking a moment to
relax on our floor in our empty apartment

We have slowly been getting into the living on the boat/blogging groove after our chaotic last two weeks in Chicago. For those who don't know we had to postpone our Monday send off until Wednesday because, well, there just weren't enough hours in the day to do everything that we needed to complete before shoving off. We quit our jobs and are sailing from Chicago to Portland, Maine this summer. 

We thought we had our last couple of weeks planned SO perfectly. Our last days of work were both on June 1st then we had all day June 2nd to pack all of our remaining stuff that was being sent in the pod. June 3rd we scheduled the movers to come in and take all of our stuff not only to the pod but also pack the pod for us. (In Chicago, you aren't able to have the pod sitting on the street hence why we needed movers to not only pack the pod but also move or stuff from our apartment to our pod.) Our thought was to get all of the nitty gritty stuff out of he way so that we could focus on getting the boat in order our last week during the day and at night we would be able to hang with friends. Perfect plan right!?!

The reason why we did it this way is because we heard and read about all the other couples  we followed who were doing a similar thing we are and each one of them experienced the time crunch during the last few weeks before sailing off peacefully into the sunset. 'That won't be us' we said. 'Our last week in Chicago will be spent finishing up little stuff but we will be able to hangout and see our family and friends' we said. Well, I'm sad to say that we ended us eating our words, each and every one of them.

Every day after our last one at work was packed with a laundry list of things to complete. By the time our parents came into town for our going away party a week ago Saturday and to help us finish everything on our need to complete list we were going full throttle and didn't have time to stop and think. Thankfully they were in town to not only to lend a hand, ear, car, etc. but also feed us, since food was the last thing on our minds, and help cross each must do before we leave off he list. They did everything we asked without question or hesitation and we cannot thank them enough. Without their help and support we would still be in our apartment in Chicago. We seriously cannot thank them enough. 

After trying so hard not to, we ended up being 'those people' but I think a little more worse for wear. When left Montrose Harbor Wednesday morning, we shoved off with a very, VERY disheveled boat. We were so burnt out that we just weren't very excited anymore about this amazing journey we have been preparing for for years. We needed to find our passion of why we're doing what we are doing. It became a chore and we needed to regroup and refocus that THIS is OUR DREAM! The dream that we have been working on together for the last 8 years to finally get to this exact point in life. EIGHT YEARS! And you better believe that we were and are determined to enjoy each and every minute of it! 

We do still have a laundry list of to-dos however we are now able to complete things at a more relaxed and desirable pace. As we get more into a routine and out of the fabulous places we know and love dearly in southern Michigan we will be posting more as well as completing and posting a plethora of past writings that we were just too lazy to post before. We'd love for you to stick around and join this journey we will be on for the next 2-2.5 months! FYI... We updated the track us links, you can track us through our spot tracker or with our AIS.