Moved the Boat

Moved the Boat

We moved our boat from Charlevoix Marina to Sommerset Marina (near Boyne City, MI), a 10 mile trip. We plan to keep the boat there until we leave on the BIG trip. This was a guy’s trip with the crew consisting of Bill, Dan (our neighbor) and Spartak (Kristen’s boyfriend). This marina is closer to us and cheaper, a win-win.  It also has a great restaurant and a swimming pool. The weather got windy (of course) just as he was docking the boat, but Bill came through docking with flying colors. Wind is not a good thing as this boat is so tall with relatively little weight and blows around easily.  I am learning how to be a good first mate and handle all the lines.  Bill is now 4-4 getting it successfully into the slip.  Wonder when he will stop counting?

 

 

Provisioning the Boat

We are starting to provision the boat for our BIG trip which should begin Aug. 15, weather permitting.  We just spent $200 on an offshore life jacket.  If you fall overboard it immediately inflates when it hits the water and there is a light beacon that automatically starts flashing.  I objected to spending the money for it until Bill reminded me that my life was worth way more than 200 bucks.  When we made the long 56 mile passage thru Gray’s Reef we only had one of these lifejackets and Bill insisted that I wear it. Must be love!  However he said that if something happened to me and I didn’t have that lifejacket on he didn’t want to  feel guilty forever.  Never mind that if HE fell over I couldn’t pilot the boat!

Just bought new “ boat shoes” for both of us.  Regular tennis shoes don’t have enough grip and slip like you are on ice when the deck is wet and rocking. Found this out the hard way on our rough trip through Gray’s Reef.

We are soooo fortunate that the previous owners of the boat literally gave us everything on board when we bought it from them.  They had completed the Great Loop 5 years ago on this boat, and so had all the “stuff” needed to begin the trip.  I felt like it was “Xmas“opening the drawers and cupboards finding what they left us. They left us everything from anchors, ropes, tools and electrical connectors to silverware, dishes, bedding, vacuum cleaner, blender, hairdryer, etc. We even have a whole set of monogrammed towels – with the old boat name!

I forgot to mention that when we bought the boat the previous owners gave us a nice bottle of wine, stocked the refrigerator with beer and wrote us a very nice letter in the ship’s log, including their phone number if we ever had questions.

We have a week to figure out the rest of what we need and have the boat ready to go. After we leave we will be going to the store on foot or by bicycle! I know there is one long stretch of about 300 miles (about 5 days) with no gas at all available.  Think of the movie “Deliverance”.