Entry #68: N45.03.560, W83.25.649
Saturday, June 29th: I left early in the morning under partly cloudy skies, ‘0’ wind and flat (glass) seas. It wasn’t 7 am and I was already feeling the suns’ heat. Temperatures were going to reach 85 to 90 degrees. Thank goodness for the bimini. The flies were hungry as well and I ended up wearing a mosquito net and wrapping my exposed ankles in a towel. Hopefully the wind will pick-up otherwise it will make for an even longer day.
Originally, I had planned to make Harrisville but there was a large line of severe thunderstorms to the west that were scheduled to arrive Monday. Whatever the scenario, I would be loosing another travel day either Monday or whenever the storms would arrive. I wanted to make Presque Isle but that would mean a tweener arriving in the middle of the night. Not appealing given I wasn’t familiar with the area. I decided to go for Alpena. Though not the shortest route to Mackinaw, at over 70 miles it was going to be my longest daylight distance achieved to date with the exception of my adventures in Lake Erie.
Initially my sails layed limp but slowly – ever so slowly – the winds began to pick-up and by 4:30 in the afternoon they reached 15 plus knots coming from the south and south west. With the following surf I found myself going past hull speed and was truly enjoying myself. The fun didn’t last long as the winds began to die down to below 5 knots. I arrived in Alpena around 10 pm exhausted. I found an open dock and tied up. My brother-in-law has a cottage nearby on Long Lake and offered to pick me up to watch the fireworks. I politely declined, got rid of my sweaty fly infested clothing and collapsed for the night.
The next morning I met my brother-in-law for breakfast and left immediately afterwards. I wanted to reach Presque Isle before the weather was forecast to hit.
Never Too Late For 