Lousy Weather, Light Air Sail, June 5, 2010

By now you've already heard about the terrible storm and tornadoes that took 7 lives in Toledo, Ohio and devastated Leamington, Ontario.  As you know, both of these towns are sailing distance from Kelly IV's home in Sandusky, Ohio.  Fortunately, Allen IV, my oldest son, and I were safely tied up in our home marina on Saturday night when the storm blew through.  Although the wind and rain were quite heavy overnight, we had no tornadoes and it was all over in a few hours.

Allen and I had sailed for a few hours on Saturday after topping off the diesel.  Our course took us due north along the east coast of Kelleys Island under mostly full sail.  We reefed the main briefly when the cloudy skies turned darker and the wind was picking up, but it was a false alarm and the breeze never grew beyond 12 knots, so we shook out the reef and continued sailing until the wind died completely.

Since we were still planning on having some guests for a daysail on Sunday, we fired up the new motor and turned back to Sandusky Harbor Marina.  Once tied up there, we got calls from our friends (including a novice sailor) that the ugly forecast encouraged them to cancel their daysail.  As I listened to the NOAA weather forecast for Lake Erie, I had to concur.  Although the storm wasn't all that bad, it was enough that winds were blowing 15 - 25 knots and waves were cresting at 3 - 5 feet.  Although we've sailed in those conditions before, the threat of more rain and possible seasickness (I easily get seasick in waves that are 3 feet & greater) convinced my son & I to call off another sail for Sunday.