Beautiful Autumn Sailing - October 4-5, 2008

Warren “Guy” Stewart and Jack vanArsdale crewed our last sail of the season on a perfect fall weekend.  We motor sailed out of Sandusky Bay and turned Southeast toward Vermilion, Ohio.  The northerly breeze proved enough to turn the iron genny off and produce a terrific sail.  Jack worked the helm for most of the trip as we sailed the 22 miles on a fun, breezy, beam reach as the mostly north wind fluctuated towards the east occasionally, but never came too far forward.  It created a sunny day with cool breezes that pushed us comfortably to the high-end playground of Vermilion.  Enjoying the benefits of our modern technology we checked the internet via our phones to learn that the Vermilion Yacht Club was open to transients for $1.80 per foot.  Falling back to the low-tech cruising guide, we found a number for the Vermilion Boat Club and saved $.30 per foot as well as an extra mile walk to and from the quaint, clean and flower laden downtown.
After tying up at VBC, we learned we needed to be on the opposite side of the finger pier.  The three of us merely warped Kelly IV to the other side, placing the stern to the seawall.  This was the first time we had the cockpit open to the dock but it proved to be the most private orientation.  No one was walking the docks (it is October) and the Vermilion River is like a Venetian Canal in Italy, a liquid Main Street, with boats passing on a constant basis.

We discovered and missed the grand “Wooly Bear Festival”.  Apparently this is a huge event with a parade on Sunday followed by a grand display of vendors and craftsman scattered across the park and downtown.  During our walk before sunset, we walked to the beach and grounds of the “Inland Seas Maritime Museum”.  Unfortunately, it was closed but we saw enough through the glass windows to encourage us to return for another visit.

As usual, food on board Kelly IV was a grand, if given, event.  Jack created a classic breakfast on Saturday with coffee, eggs, bacon, toasted Italian bread, grapefruit juice and all done in the tiny 2-burner galley with less room than the smallest phone booth I’ve ever seen!  Lunch was more of the same as Jack whipped up some hot onion soup for lunch.  “Guy” match Jack’s effort with a hot pancake breakfast on Sunday and a terrific Soft taco “wrap” with hot, spicy ground meat.  Now don’t forget, these hot wraps were enjoyed while we were 10 miles offshore, halfway between Vermilion and Sandusky!

Sunday proved to be without any measurable breeze, so we motored our way to Sandusky.  Jack had the insight to ask about the autopilot.  After our “circling” experience on the way to Leamington, I had dropped the autopilot from consideration.  Jack’s question brought the autopilot back into consideration.  Given the calm waters, it proved to be an excellent suggestion.  The autopilot steered a perfect straight line all the way to the entrance of Sandusky Bay.  We had a little trouble disengaging the automaton when we had to steer around a couple fishing boats, but otherwise the old electronics turned out to be just the ticket to a lazy afternoon spent reading, eating, and dozing in the fall sun.  OK, we did look around regularly to be sure we didn’t run down those fishing boats, but it was the laziest trip we’ve done this summer and so-o-o-o-o easy!

Easy Sailing, Tough Rowing - August 29,30, September 1, 2008

Labor Day Weekend brought great weather this year!  Jack vanArsdale and Keith Otto split galley supply and duties for the weekend.  Jack kicked things off with a huge breakfast on Saturday morning consisting of crackling crisp bacon, scrambled eggs dripping with cheese, cold cranberry juice, and hot buttered toast.  Kelly IV’s fourth crewman, Captain Troy Cain, declared “we always eat like Kings when sailing!”  Captain Cain, retired US Army, is skipper of Relentless, an Irwin 34 moored in Annapolis.  Once breakfast was complete, we slipped the lines and left Sandusky Harbor Marina for Middle Bass Island.
Given the northeasterly breeze, we decided to sail to the southwest of Kelley’s Island, then on a northwesterly heading to the channel between Middle Bass and North Bass Islands.  Although the wind was light enough that we seriously considered motoring on several occasions, we never succumbed to the temptation.  The breeze always returned and we enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing, uneventful sail.  We safely crossed the path of the red Marblehead ferries as they worked the waters between Kelley’s and Marblehead.  Then we eased the bow more northward as we turned the corner southwest of Kelley’s Island and steered past the R2 buoy west of the home of Glacial Grooves.  

On Friday’s drive from Pittsburgh, we had discussed the possibility of sailing to Leamington, Ontario, but the light winds change our minds when our trusty handheld GPS presented us with an ETA of midnight.  To ease the pain of missing the travel to a foreign country, we sailed north past our waypoint for entering the channel between North and Middle Bass Islands.  Our charge past the unheeded waypoint took us the additional mile into Canadian waters.  Even though our destination was still in the US of A, we could now honestly claim we had sailed to Canada on this holiday weekend!

Once over the line we turned our back on the now easterly breeze, running before it into the channel between the islands.  We could see Sugar Island and Rattlesnake Island in the glistening golden water of the late afternoon sun.  The wind finally dropped to a soft cushion with no push left, so the iron genny was fired up to take us the final mile into the anchorage west of Middle Bass Island.  Only about 8 boats were in the anchorage, so we had plenty of room to choose our select spot for the evening.  Jack prepared another terrific dining event with so much success that Capt Cain decided to remain with Jack after dinner and relax on board for a quiet evening.  

Keith and I still found the energy to row ashore, so we settled into our bouncy, but functional Port-A-Bote dinghy, and pulled her bow first towards the shore.  A resident on shore gave us directions to a public landing area further south, so we rowed the few hundred yards to an opening in the trees.  Keith and I carefully noted where Kelly IV was anchored in the beautiful orange sunset, certain that we’d find her again in the dark.  Just as we pulled up, a fellow sailor, John, of a very nice Beneteau 39, motored onto the same pebbly beach in his inflatable bringing his daughter and girlfriend ashore with him.  We learned that there was a nice pub/restaurant just a few hundred yards walk from where we tied our dinghys, so all five of us took the short walk to the quiet, friendly publick house.

It started as a quiet evening as Keith and nursed our beers, but as the evening wore on the locals islanders kept coming into the establishment.  While Keith struck up a conversation with a couple of sisters, I surveyed the dancing crowd and live band.  There were Moms and Kids, Grandmas and Grandsons, even John’s daughter and girlfriend all filling the dance floor with exuberance and joy.  It was great to be a spectator of the sport.  It became clear that this was a family place with everyone having fun.  The owners (or at least I thought them to be) set up a game board and we observed a local version of a TV game show as contestants vied for dollars and trips.  The players made their guesses and watched the island “Vanna” pull off the winning cards from their display.  While watching the game show hoopla, I thought I heard Keith inviting the sisters aboard Kelly IV for a sail the next day.  At first I wondered how I would explain the additional guests to Mia, but later I discovered that no times or locations were confirmed so we never did find the ladies to whisk them away by sail.  Eventually Keith and I decided that it was time to remove ourselves and row our trusty dinghy back to Kelly IV.

The time had passed quickly so that John, his girls, and his dinghy were long gone when we untied our little Port-A-Bote.  We looked across the anchorage and saw many sailboats with their slowly bobbing anchor lights.  Knowing that Kelly IV was right there among them, we pushed off from shore rowing with the very light breeze at our stern.  It was an easy row as we pulled past one sailboat after another.  Of course, since Kelly IV was the only blue hull, and the only boat with the anchor light low over the foredeck, she’d be easy to identify from the other boats.  30 minutes later, after rowing the full length of the anchorage, our certainty was beginning to falter.  Well, the water was flat, the night was calm, the wind almost calm, and we had plenty of energy to continue rowing for a while longer.  Keith directed me back through the anchorage, only this time we proceeded more slowly, carefully looking at each and every boat we passed, knowing that we must have rowed right by Kelly IV, but just missed her in the dim, moonless night.  It took some time as we were not going to miss her as we worked the oars a second time through the anchorage.  

Well, that was our plan . . . but once again we reached the opposite end of the anchorage without finding Kelly IV.  Although I knew better, I voiced accusations of Jack and Troy surreptitiously moving Kelly IV just to pull a fast one.  Keith and I discussed the details we were looking for, what made Kelly IV unique in this anchorage, her blue hull, her low-hung anchor light, she was the third boat from the south end of the anchorage, she was . . . not to be seen.  Now we very slowly and deliberately rowed past every boat in the anchorage as we worked our way to the north past every boat we could see.  Even so, we found ourselves a second time at the far end of the bay without locating Kelly IV.  We worked our way back south along the shoreline, looking and discussing each boat we could see, but clearly none of them were Kelly IV.  

It was now 2 hours after we untied the dinghy to find Kelly IV, the night was slipping away, we were both quite tired, and we were making no headway towards locating our berths for the night.  Out of frustration, we gave up and turned onto the nearest beach.  We tried sleeping on the beach, but the air was getting very cool, even cold, regardless of our windbreakers.  The baseball size rocks that made up the beach surface were no help either.  After an hour of minimal sleep, I decided to walk the beach and found a bit of glowing coals in a left-over campfire pit.  It only took some well-dried driftwood, followed by some huffing and puffing and the fire was burning brightly.  I rousted Keith from his less than princely sleep and he eagerly joined me basking in the fire’s warmth.  

About an hour or so later the first hints of dawn lit up a beautiful sight, Kelly IV peacefully at anchor just where we left her the sunset before.  Ten minutes of rowing put us back on board where we actively ignored the questions of our crew mates and slept until the bright light and heat of the day swept the sleep from us once again.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful as we motored to Put-In-Bay for some sightseeing, then sailed back to Sandusky Bay on Monday after a quiet evening in the PIB anchorage.  And yes, we DID find Kelly IV when rowing back in the dinghy!

Great Daysail Beats the Weather - August 9, 2008

John Hart introduced Kelly Greene to sailing on Lake Erie this weekend as the three of us did a terrific daysail in wonderful weather from Sandusky Bay to anchor east of Kelley’s Island.  Even though John had sprained his ankle a few days ago, he was up to hopping aboard Kelly IV as we slipped away from the dock.  The westerly breeze put us on broad reach all the way from Sandusky Bay as John and I swapped turns sailing Kelly IV.

It was quite noteworthy that a 60 foot motor yacht actually slowed down to reduce his wake as he passed us leaving Sandusky Bay.  Of course, the captain of the large motor yacht did the right thing as all skippers should.  

Unfortunately, what makes this event noteworthy is that this is the first time on Sandusky Bay that I’ve experienced a powerboater to honor the rule of minimizing their wake as they pass another boater.  If the large sportfisherman a few weeks ago had done the same, we wouldn’t have had to buy a new lamp globe and risked the injury of 9-year old Sarah Paviol as she ducked the globe when it was bounced out of its holder as the 4 foot wake of the sportfisherman blasted us.

John sailed us into the shallow water just east of Kelley’s Island, we furled the Genny, then luffed up to the anchorage.  I dropped the anchor and we drifted back in the breeze to set the anchor and settle us into a quiet spot for a wonderful lunch.

John Hart aboard an earlier cruise on Kelly III

Our excellent lunch of fresh fruit, shrimp cocktail, ham salad sandwiches, and lemon cookies was provided by Jack vanArsdale.  We sailed without Jack as he had other commitments that kept him off the water, but he came through with a terrific lunch anyway.

Given the nice breeze, lots of room, and no lee shore, we sailed off the anchor without firing up the diesel.  John and Kelly both took turns at the wheel as we sailed away from Kelley’s Island.  The breeze had enough southing in the westerly wind that we had to sail almost south, paralleling the shore making very little progress towards our return to Sandusky Bay.  After sailing more than a mile, we tacked only to confirm that we were not going to make much distance to windward.  We did sail long enough to bring the entrance to Sandusky Bay onto our port beam.  Then we dropped our sails and turned on the iron genny for a windward slog back into the bay.  With the wind blowing onto our bow as we turned into the slip, only a little maneuvering got us smoothly into position for tying up and wrapping up a wonderful day of sailing.

The forecasted thunderstorms didn’t hit us until we were well into our dinner at Terry’s, a local pub on the east side of the causeway crossing from Sandusky to Port Clinton.  And the thunderstorm was over by the time we left, so the weather was no factor at all this weekend!

Full Crew Sails to Kelley’s Island - July 19 – 20, 2008

Rain, light winds and possible thunderstorms were forecasted, but Kelly IV and crew were up to the challenge!

Sean Stull, Jack vanArsdale, Bill & Sarah Paviol filled Kelly IV’s crew list this past weekend for a brilliant sail to and from Kelley’s Island, just north of Sandusky bay.

Although Sean is new as crew to Kelly IV, he is an active sailor on his own Macgregor 25, sailing the fluky winds of Lake Arthur, Moraine State Park, in western Pennsylvania. Bill and Sarah were on the very first crew for Kelly IV when we delivered her from Vermilion, OH to Sandusky Harbor Marina last September. Of course, Jack vanArsdale has been very active both working and sailing Kelly IV this season and we expect him back again soon.

Kelly IV ready to depart Sandusky Harbor Marina
Photo by Sean Stull

The crew arrived at Sandusky Harbor Marina relatively early on Friday night so Sarah could join her peers in the swimming pool. It was a fine, warm evening with a light breeze so the cool water of the pool was especially enjoyable as Sarah splashed and played.

Soon the food and drinks for five people over 2 days was stowed for the short trip. As frequently happens, some extra provisions, especially in the beer department, seem to appear as everyone wants to be certain we don’t run out while underway. Even though we rarely imbibe the alcoholic beverages under sail, this was a short trip with lots of time and new friends in port, so the extra provisions went to good use!

Kelly IV under sail, Photo by Sean Stull

The forecast called for winds on Saturday morning to be coming out of the southwest, but as the weather moved through the area the winds were forecast to be light and clocking around to the northeast by Saturday night. Overnight the breezes would continue to move around to the east, then south and finally by midday on Sunday they would be back to the southwest or even the west. Given the 360 degree wind shifts and call for possible thunderstorms, we decided to stay in the Seaway Marina at Kelley’s Island, rather than anchoring as there is no anchorage off Kelley’s that is protected from all points.

With a light breeze from astern we motored out of the bay, raised sail and pointed Kelly IV’s bow to the northwest. Our newest (to us) crew, Sean, took the helm and steered a wonderful ride to the southwest of Seaway Marina, about 13 miles from our home Marina. With the 10 – 12 knot breeze (my estimate) off our port quarter, we enjoyed a broad reach pushing Kelly IV at about 5 knots across the gray waters. The waves were small, but typically choppy having almost no effect on Kelly IV. The only exception was the 50 foot sportfisherman who produced a 4 to 5 foot wake throwing a gimbaled kerosene lantern globe across our cabin, just missing Bill & Sarah to crash into the sole, spreading shards of dangerous glass throughout the salon. Sarah, supervised by Bill, carefully cleaned up the mess as the skipper (me) hurled epithets across the water to the mindless, indifferent, thoughtless, unaware, unsafe and (expletives deleted) powerboat operator.

Marblehead Ferry at Marina entrance, Photo by Sean Stull

The ride to Kelley’s Island gained particular interest as we scooted across the ferry course of the pair of red-hulled boats as they criss-crossed the choppy waters between Marblehead Point and Kelley’s Island. Sean carefully turned upwind to more rapidly clear their path and give us sea room to lower our sails, then we motored back across their path to enter the marina.

Seaway Marina is small and accommodates the relatively large weekend crowd by having the boats raft up to each other. There are no slips (all are private) available to the transients, so the marina has power and water connections along the seawall opposite the slips. There is room for several boats to raft up to each other, so the only instructions were to find a similar sized boat and raft up to her. Fortunately we found an Allman 31 sailboat and tied up to her, finding that our shore power cord was more than long enough to plug in and fire up the much-enjoyed air conditioning on Kelly IV. Given the fluky, hot, humid air, the need to close up the boat due to the occasional afternoon and overnight rain, the A/C was a valuable and helpful luxury. Although the Allman 31 crew was absent when we tied up, they soon appeared, the owner’s family and a friend’s family, totaling 4 adults and 3 boys. We immediately learned that the men (Brian, owner and Tim, friend) enjoyed a cold beer as much as the next sailor. Soon a 34 foot cigarette style powerboat rafted up with us so we became 3 deep in our raft. Their crew was composed of Mom, Dad, 2 teenage boys and Lucy, their pretty, chocolate brown mixed breed dog. Mom and Dad were soon enjoying some coldies and the party was on!

Sarah aboard our rafting neighbor to dog-sit their pooch, Photo by Sean Stull

As the afternoon wore on, our powerboaters went into town to meet friends for dinner, so Sarah got to dog-sit with Lucy. It turns out Lucy enjoyed Sarah’s company, but was very uncomfortable moving across from boat to rafted boat. We had to physically pick Lucy up, hand her to someone on the next boat and carry her around to repeat the maneuver until she was handed ashore to do her business. Sarah earned $10 bucks for doing such a great job! Under the protection of the bimini, Sean avoided the rain and pulled out his new splicing kit, instructions and a test piece of old braided line. In only a couple hours he produced very professional eye splice that looked strong enough for sea duty!

Murph, Bill, Sarah, Jack on the return to Sandusky, Photo by Sean Stull

As always, we eat like kings on Kelly IV, but only thanks to the crew, as her skipper is too much of a minimalist when it comes to food. Jack and Bill split the food duties as we ate all our meals on board and savored the fine dining of a new Greek chicken and cheese
dish Bill just learned. Having enjoyed a full breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, cheese, English muffins, etc., (I could go on & on!), followed by a great lunch, the crew fell into their bunks for a nap after dinner. With the steady rain pelting the boat, bimini and awning, the interest in walking into town melted away and we enjoyed another game of rummy with Sarah in the cool, dry environment of the salon.

Fellow sailor as we head towards Cedar Point, Photo by Sean Stull

News of a nasty thunderstorm clobbering Vermilion and east came over the radio after our hot breakfast aboard. Given our own forecast for possible thunderstorms, we decided to sail away rather than take more time on Kelley’s Island, saving the sight-seeing for another trip. The thunderstorms never appeared and Kelly IV romped under increasingly sunny skies on a broad reach (occasionally even running!). Jack and Bill sailed Kelly IV across from Kelley’s Island, into the Sandusky Bay channel, through the channel and past the coal pier. Sandusky harbor Marina, our home base, was just a few hundred yards away, but the now-brilliant skies, flat water, and 12 knot breeze made for a terrific sail as we blew past the marina heading deeper across the shallows northwest of the marina.

Sean Stull, photographer extraordinaire

It proved to be a terrific weekend of sailing going to and from Kelley’s Island, so the missed sight seeing didn’t seem too bothersome. Sean fit in superbly, demonstrating that Lake Arthur sailors are more than capable on the “Big Lake”. Jack, Bill, and Sarah also made for a terrific, fun time as all 5 of us got along famously as we sailed, ate, played cards and cooled off below decks. Our biggest challenge this weekend was consuming the next meal while we were sere still savoring the bounty of the last meal!

Leamington and the Bass Islands - July 2-7, 2008

After a lazy morning, we got a late start at noon for our 5 day trip living aboard Kelly IV.  Our crew this trip were Bob Zimmerman and Keith Otto.  Although the forecast included a threat of thunderstorms (so what’s new on Lake Erie?) they were not expected until midnight.

With this favorable forecast we headed north out of Sandusky Bay for Leamington, Ontario, 45 miles away.  This is very much the same distance that Bob and I sailed on our first trans-Erie sail in 1992 on Kelly I, my Catalina 25.  At that time we wanted to see if it was reasonable to take the family across the lake.  To test the possibility, Bob, another friend, Dick Beamer, and I sailed our 25 footer across from Erie, PA to Port Dover, Ontario.  It turned out to be such a great trip that Kelly I, then Kelly III sailed to Port Dover about 20 times over the past 15 years.

Photo by Bob Zimmerman

This sail proved to be a terrific example of just how wonderful sailing can be.  With a comfortable breeze of about 15 knots out of the southwest, Kelly IV bounded across the nearly flat green waters at a brisk 7 knots.  Keith, Bob and I took turns at the helm enjoying the superior sailing experience.  As we cruised north of Kelley’s Island, the steady breeze brought on gradually building waves, but they were still well under 3 feet.  The sky was just cloudy enough to dull the sunshine, yet bright enough to require us to wear our sunglasses.  It was warm enough to encourage short sleeves and cut offs, but cool enough to make the trip oh so comfortable.  As we passed Pelee Island the sky was showing some darker grays to the far west of us and the waves were a little steeper and maybe even a little higher.

Freighter in Pelee Passage. Photo by Bob Zimmerman

We crossed paths with a commercial freighter as she sailed across Pelee Passage between Pelee Island and the long, flat point that juts several miles into Lake Erie, like a smaller cousin of Long Point in the central lake.

Storm clouds bearing down on Keith, Murph and Kelly IV in Leamington.
Photo by Bob Zimmerman

By this time the wind had gradually shifted into the west, even hinting at becoming northwesterly and the approach into Leamington required a beam or close reach.  As we were sighting the Leamington harbor lights and preparing to drop sail, the waves became short, steep, rollers that, while not breaking, still hit Kelly IV on her beam and rocked her from gunnel to gunnel.  Thankfully, the experienced crew had properly tied down our gear before leaving Sandusky and the motion was merely bothersome, not dangerous.  We did test the autopilot and the poor machine found itself reduced to going in circles by the rock and roll!
Our timing couldn’t have been better as we tied up in the Leamington Municipal Marina with just enough time to build a tarp cover around the bimini in an effort to keep the impending storm from dousing the cockpit.  Yes, the storm hit us only 30 minutes after we tied up about 8:00pm.  It is a good thing Kelly IV made such good time sailing across the lake!

Photo courtesy of Bob Zimmerman

Given the storm and forecast for a lousy Thursday, we signed up for 2 nights and had a relaxing day in port.  We enjoyed a walk through town to discover the “World’s Largest Tomato”, Gilligan’s Bar (Where’s the Skipper & Mary Ann?), and suddenly found ourselves with a déjà vu experience when we sighted a Heinz plant so familiar we thought we were walking the North Side of Pittsburgh!  It turns out that Leamington has a huge Heinz food plant of its own and has a nifty tourist welcome center built like a very large tomato.  The day cleared up, became warm and sunny as the afternoon turned into evening.

Keith and Murph at Heinz Plant, Leamington, ON
Photo by Bob Zimmerman

With bright golden sunshine bursting through the portlights it was easy to wake up and take off for another terrific sail.  This time we made tracks for Middle Bass Island, passing on the western side of Pelee Island.  The breeze had clocked around to the Northeast and held strong with an easy 10 to 12 knots pushing Kelly IV at a smooth, consistent 5 to 6 knots.  We passed the Leamington ferry port to port as it was headed back north from Pelee Island to its home port.  We set our course to proceed almost due south until we hit the latitude to cut cleanly between Middle Bass Island (MBI) and South Bass Island (SBI).

Our next turn was to the south, carefully clearing the shoals west of Sugar Island, then Keith tacked Kelly IV smoothly into the anchorage at the southeast of MBI, just north and clearly in sight of the Perry Monument on SBI.
Although we discussed the assembling of our Port-a-Bote dinghy, it never happened.  We relaxed aboard, observed the various and varied neighbors including several other blue hulled vessels, a very long and sleek racing sailboat, a beautiful green hulled yacht with a clipper bow and a small assortment of powerboats, all but 2 of whom departed the anchorage before nightfall.  Many sailboats but only 2 trawlers spent the night in the calm, peaceful anchorage.

Middle Bass Island anchorage
Photo by Bob Zimmerman

We decided to put into Put-In-Bay (PIB) to replenish our ice, get a hot shower, dump our garbage and generally play the role of sailors in port.  Since PIB was only a mile or so away, we felt we needed to make a real sailing event of the trip by circumnavigating Rattlesnake Island to our west.  Given the very exclusive appearance of the island, we joked and made up stories about James Bond characters, villains and deceitful government operators.  Even the name “Rattlesnake Island” invoked connotations of strange and wild goings-on.  Bob took the helm for the pleasant and wonderful sail going first northwest, then west, then southeast and finally northeast before turning west again into PIB.  Given the July 4th Holiday, we anchored in the busiest situation I’ve experienced.  Fortunately, Bob and Keith are both experienced and we snagged our hook on the bottom for a safe and uneventful anchoring.
After a water taxi ride and shower, we walked around town to get the lay of the land and visit the Perry Victory and International Peace Museum.  As the orchestra was warming up on the museum steps for a summer evening concert, we made our way to “The Longest Bar in the World”, a must-see while in PIB.  A couple beers later and we were on our way as another terrific dinner waited for us on board.  As you might guess, Bob and Keith took turns with our dinners, so each one was a most wonderful repast.  Our dinners included shrimp, steak, chicken, pasta, and other mouth-watering delicacies.

No Hands!  The autopilot has control!  Murph and Keith
Photo by Bob Zimmerman

This brings us to Sunday morning, our last day on the water.  The day dawned bright and clear, but with very little wind.  We plotted a course between SBI and MBI, keeping Ballast Island to our port.  As we went by it seemed there was a small channel we might have taken, but we stayed the course we charted the night before.  Without much breeze, we motored merrily along until about 3 hours out, midway across the northern side of Kelley’s Island (KI), the motor began struggling, as if getting no fuel, and gave up the ghost.  Since the breeze was trying to build, we decided to give the sails another try and although the speed was slow (1 – 2 knots) it was much more fun sailing than motoring.  A tricky bit of tacking by Keith enabled us to safely cruise past the green can to the northwest of KI.  The light northeasterly puffs kept us going south along the eastern shore of KI.  Given the light wind and sometimes easterly headers, our track was inching gradually westwards towards Kelley Island’s shallow water off the easternmost point.  As we slid over the thin water back into deeper, safer, more comfortable H2O, we saw that our ETA would make for a very late drive home.  Conservative thoughts prevailed (all of us had to work in the morning) so we called for the towboat to get us back to port.  We cruised quickly behind the skilled towboat operator and found ourselves back in our slip by 6pm.

Kelley's Island Storm - June 21, 2008

Last weekend Jack vanArsdale, Adam Bartos, and my 18 year old son, Paul, sailed Kelly IV with me. The weekend proved quite different from our plans.

The weather, as always, dictates our plans as we try to go places where the weather, wind, and waves enhance rather than challenge the experience. Last weekend NOAA called for the same forecast all weekend: winds from 5 - 10 knots from the west through the day, shifting to the NW and North overnight, with a chance of scattered thunderstorms. With this forecast it seemed we could sail north on a beam reach up the east coast of Kelley's Island, then steer northwest on a close reach to the anchorage on the southeast of Middle Bass Island. That anchorage looked like it would provide great protection from the SW, W, NW, N, and possibly NNE. In other words, from all winds forecasted. Although thunderstorms were forecast, it has been my experience that these scattered storms are usually relatively light and few and far between. I expected that we were most likely to miss any storms altogether and at worst maybe catch 30 minutes of higher winds and some rain, then it would be quickly over. Based on this, we sailed from Sandusky Harbor Marina with a wonderful SW breeze.

Adam was enjoying his first sailing experience and it was a terrific example of what we all look for when sailing. The sun was bright, the green trees on the island were glowing, the golden beaches were glistening, the small, medium and large fishing boats were all scattered across the beautiful waterscape. The waves were minimal so the sailing was a smooth and comfortable glide across the water. Once we turned the “corner” and headed northwest towards the Middle Bass Island anchorage we noticed that the clouds to the west were building to a darker and more ominous appearance than we’d prefer. Of course, we still thought that the worse we’d encounter was a brief windy, possibly rainy encounter with one of the scattered storms. As we crossed the northern shore of Kelley’s Island, we considered pulling into the anchorage to our port, but the forecasted NW to northerly wind forbade an anchorage on a lee shore, something to be avoided. The clouds went from a frowning gray to a formidable black as we continued westward. By the time Jack had steered us to the northwest corner of Kelley’s Island, the storm was upon us in earnest. Winds were gusting to a high, blustery degree, waves were beginning to build and the black sky was fully covering our destination to the northwest. We decided to run away from the storm and head due west to clear the island, then turn south to further the distance between us and the building thunderstorm.

Jack steered Kelly IV steadily through the rolling waves and pointed her south toward the still clear skies over Catawba Island and Port Clinton. As we approached the southwestern corner of Kelleys Island, we first thought we could make for the small marina on the southwestern bay in the only town on Kelley’s Island. As it turns out, the wind kept building, the black clouds kept moving further south until they were totally over Kelly IV. By this time we had furled the jib entirely and put both reefs into the mainsail. Even so, we were sailing at 9 knots on a clear run directly downwind. We turned the corner at the southwest of Kelley’s Island, jibed the main without breaking anything, and continued our downwind run. As we raced past the marina entrance it was clear we were better off just running before the storm and enjoying the brisk, if rolling, ride before the wind. Occasionally the wind would try to broach the boat or ignore our steering effort, but the only time it caught us, the boom brake did its job and the unwelcome jibe was easily handled without anything bending or breaking. Otherwise it was just a bouncy, rolling ride over small but very steep and choppy waves. We rarely saw waves more than 3 feet high (I know, Jim and Troy are already saying the waves had to be fifteen feet!) but constant rolling made life a little edgy. First Paul went below to build a PB&J, then Jack became the “Hero of Kelly IV” by volunteering to go below and create a lunch to sustain the crew through the rough weather. Jack put together cold cuts, cheese, mayonnaise, even bubbly hot chocolate so the crew was able to continue to fight the cold wind, wet blowing rain, and bouncing, rolling sailboat. Jack’s lunch did the trick as Adam and I were both beginning to get a little green around the gills. With a hot chocolate and solid sandwich, all of us were back on track and ready to sail Kelly IV wherever she needed to go.

As Kelly IV passed Cedar Point on our starboard beam, the wind abated, the sky cleared and we made plans to turn back to the marina on Kelley’s Island. Unfortunately, we were too confidant of the end of the storm. Within 15 minutes it came roaring back, winds quickly built to over 25 knots (my estimate) and we were rapidly getting blown southwest of Cedar Point. As skipper, it seemed like the brief, scattered thunderstorm of our forecast was turning into the all day storm of a frontal change. Later it turned out that a front did plow through, and it felt like it was lasting much longer than I had predicted as we worked our way through the wind and waves. With the wind back to its earlier fury and the marina on Kelley’s Island looking like a serious fight upwind, we behaved like gentlemen (gentleman NEVER sail to weather) and we decided to sail a beam reach into Sandusky Harbor and return to our home marina, southwest of our position.

Paul had taken the helm by this time and was doing well, but the leeway from the stiff breeze prevented us from making good toward the entry buoys at Sandusky Bay. We decided to turn on the trusty “iron genny” and fired up the recently commissioned diesel engine. Unfortunately, no matter what Paul did, we continued our leeward slip towards Vermilion, OH, to the southeast. I took over the helm and for 10 minutes could do no better than Paul. Finally, I decided to shut off the motor, it was doing us no good anyway, and just run before the wind as we had done before. The bother to this plan was that we might really end up in Huron or Vermilion, OH, 20 miles downwind from our home harbor. When I grabbed the lever to put the motor into neutral in preparation of shutting her down, I sheepishly discovered that we had never put the motor into forward gear! With this revelation, I called out to the crew that I thought we might motor into port after all, and shifted the diesel into forward gear. As hoped, she jumped forward and began the relentless onslaught towards Sandusky Bay’s entrance. The wind still forced a significant leeway, but by steering more westerly than the compass bearing to the entrance, we easily made the sea buoys. Within the hour we were entering Battery Park Marina. Why Battery Park Marina, you ask? Well, halfway into Sandusky Bay it dawned upon me that we had run the motor quite a bit with the windward effort two weeks ago and the fight with the thunderstorm this weekend. It occurred to me that we might be running low on fuel. Jack crawled back into the quarterberth to read the fuel tank gauge, but the bouncing, rolling boat prevented a clear reading. The tank was something between almost empty to overflowing. Not knowing the correct tank level, we decided to pull into the first fuel dock, Battery Park Marina.

Murphy’s law being what it is, the wind died just as we pulled into the marina, which made the docking procedure quite easy. After a brief respite to clean up our wet foul weather gear, we warped Kelly IV past another sailboat. They needed the gas pump we were tied up to, we needed the diesel pump they were next to. The warping completed, we topped our fuel tanks, emptied our personal “tanks”, and returned to Sandusky Harbor Marina.

Although we had only been sailing for 8 hours, we were rather bushed and decided to give Jack, our chef, the night off. We bought dinner in town and relaxed over soft drinks (for the boys) and adult beverages (for the adults).

Sunday’s forecast called for more of the same, so we stayed in the marina and completed several jobs including installation of a handrail in the main cabin (that would have been nice 24 hours earlier!), inspected & repaired the primary CQR anchor and line, and installed a new cleat for the jib furling line. It turns out that Adam and Paul joined Jack as very important and helpful crew accomplishing both difficult and valuable boat jobs.

South Bass Island Sail - June 6-8, 2008

What a terrific Weekend!

We found that Kelly IV sails great with a bit of breeze. Bill Paviol drove to Sandusky for the entire weekend of sailing, arriving Friday evening, June 6. After getting the gear on board, including the Port-a-Bote dinghy, we left the marina for a burger and beer at a local fishing pub, Terry's, near the causeway. The food and camaraderie were great, and the storm passed by while we were indoors. Later we found that the storm had clobbered the Mills Trophy Sailing Race from Toledo to Put-In-Bay.  Bill cooked a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, bagels, and OJ, then we secured everything below for a great day of sailing.

It was only the two of us, so we took turns at the helm, Bill proving once again that he is terrific at handling the helm, even when the breeze is blowing up to 20 knots. We gradually reduced sail as the morning progressed, eventually ending up with a double reef in the main and a heavily furled roller-furling Genny. Even so, the GPS put us at a quick-paced rate of 9 knots! There were at least 3 major fishing fleets, but Bill successfully managed to weave through the fleets without even a close call. He accomplished all this while also turning into the wind as we made multiple sail changes to reduce sail as the breeze picked up through the day. One of the great things about Lake Erie sailing is that once we set the sails, the only reason to change was the increase in wind strength. The wind direction stayed consistently out of the SW, even when a rather large dark cloud passed over. It brought the heaviest winds of the days, possibly gusting to over 20 knots, but the wind direction stayed locked into the SW. Finally, well after we passed the ship - now house ashore, we lost our breeze and motored the final half mile into Put-In-Bay. Yes, you read that correctly, someone has taken a foundered ship of at least 4 decks, and cut her in half. They have mounted the bow half over the western cliffs of South Bass Island, pointing out over Lake Erie and live on the half ship as their home ashore. If that ship's lights are displayed at night it could easily confuse boaters that they are facing a large freighter westbound from the cliffs of South Bass Island!

In less than 5 hours we were picking up a mooring at Put-In-Bay harbor in South Bass Island, Ohio. Our mooring fee included shower and toilet facilities ashore, so we took advantage of them. There was a nice town museum and a brewery pub that we visited before getting our showers. After rinsing off the grime and sweat of a hard sail in a full breeze, we returned to the beautiful, but one of the smaller yachts in the harbor, Kelly IV, to have a relaxing afternoon before heading out for a night on the town. We wandered around the small, but possibly wild village of Put-In-Bay to find at least 6 different bachelorette parties underway. It is best if we leave the details of the male inflatable doll carried by one bride-to-be to your imagination.

Kelly IV on her mooring

Since both of us were on the elder side of 40, we left the "The World's Longest Bar", a long, winding, undulating bar at the Beer Barrel Bar, about 11pm. Given the warm evening, we both slept under Kelly IV's bimini for a quiet and comfortable sleep on the mooring. Breakfast on Sunday was pancakes with bacon, bagels, strawberry jam, and OJ. Having a full galley makes cooking almost as easy as it is at home. We built the Port-a-bote across the lifelines at the bow, then rowed into shore on our own, even though the water taxi was already making his rounds. After a visit in our quaint little 12 foot rowboat of a dinghy, to a large, 4 decker, 70 foot motor yacht asking for some "Grey Poupon", we got our morning showers and visited the museum and visitor center of the Perry Memorial and Peace Monument.

Bill at the top of the Perry Monument

The 15 minute video was well worth it as it was very informative about the details of the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1913. Since it included significant footage of the reincarnated Sailing Brig "Niagara", our frequent sailing companion when we were based in Erie, PA, we felt very much at home in Put-In-Bay. We were also inspired to make the 352 ascent to the observation deck near the top of the monument. On a clear day, they say you can see Canada. Even though it was hazy, we were able to Pelee Island the largest of the Erie Islands and the southernmost populated land in Canada.

We went to the clean, bustling little depot to pick up John and Brianna Murphy, my brother and niece. They had taken the Miller ferry from Catawba Island to South Bass Island, the bus to Put-In-Bay village. Bill rowed the dinghy back to Kelly IV, while John, Brianna, and I took the water taxi to Kelly IV. It didn't take long with the full 4 person crew to make ready for the return sail back to Sandusky Bay.

Brianna, Murph, John sailing Kelly IV, photo by Bill Paviol

The wind was every bit as strong on Sunday as it was for the sail on Saturday, except that we had to motor into the waves for the exit from Put-In-Bay and later for the transit from the entrance to Sandusky Bay all the way to our slip in Sandusky Harbor Marina. In between, we had a beam reach to close reach for the return sail with strong breezes again pushing us to 9 knots, per the GPS. Although the 2 to 4 foot chop and waves west of South Bass Island made all but Bill a bit queasy, no one got sick and once we settled on the reach back east, all was well. Especially if you like being doused regularly by fresh water spray as we sliced through the green water and took significant water over the foredeck and side decks. John liked the forward starboard seat in the cockpit and held his ground even though his position meant he took the brunt of the water splashing onto the boat from the stiff breeze.  In fact, John looked like a competitor in a wet t-shirt contest!

Once again we sailed with the double reefed sails, but still sailed consistently in the 6-8 knot range with a few spurts up to 9 knots.

We discovered that Kelly IV loves a strong breeze as she cut through the waves cleanly and romped with speed smoothly without pounding for a wonderful and enjoyable sail both coming and going.

Now we can go Sailing! May 19, 2008

Keith Otto spent his Sunday and Monday helping with a number of jobs, but especially the job of launching Kelly IV! We double-checked all the thru-hulls and it must have worked as Kelly IV floats on her lines! In addition, Keith did most of the work as we bent on the mainsail, installed the boom brake, re-rigged the running rigging to the cockpit, removed the plastic shroud covers, cleaned and inspected shrouds, recovered the shrouds, Installed wires on all shackles for anchor, chain, boom brake, etc., Inspected all the standing rigging, located & placed plugs by each thru-hull, cleaned fuel from engine sump, Replaced bilge sock, bought and installed wall clamps for stowing both table legs. The only glitch was when we discovered we were missing two large clevis pins and shackles required to bend the genoa onto the roller furler. I've been perusing the web tonight trying to locate replacements, but at worst, I can attach the sail with other hardware.

Kelly IV Officially Named - May 10, 2008

Now Kelly IV is Officially KELLY IV! Keith Otto and Jack vanArsdale spent 11 hours (8am until 7pm) on Saturday, May 10, cleaning all the old glue off the transom. They completely washed, then waxed the entire transom, measured meticulously, carefully placed the new name and hailing port and finally pulled away the last paper to expose the grand new name of "Kelly IV, Erie, PA". The new name is Kelly Green with a gold border (Packer colors according to Wisconsinite Otto!). She wears her new name beautifully, Thanks to a terrific effort by Jack and Keith.

Keith poses with Kelly IV's new name on her transom

In addition, Jack spent hours in the small starboard lazarette replacing a drain hose and securing a loose hose and wire. Now the new propane tank (filled after an arduous effort by Keith to locate someone open on a Saturday) is safely located in its own locker in the cockpit.

Another big job was centering the wheel over the rudder. Somehow the wheel was off center by about 120 degrees. After an hour or so of fiddling with the binnacle (compass housing) and quadrant (below-deck rudder-turning mechanism) the three of us figured out that a chain and sprocket drive the turning of the rudder. Once we determined that detail (buried under six layers of compass and binnacle parts!) we were able to lift the chain off the sprocket like a bicycle chain off its gears. Once off the sprocket, Keith and Jack were able to move the wheel to a centered position over the amidships rudder so the fancy weaving on the wheel properly centered the wheel over the rudder. We are now able to enjoy a truly ship-shape wheel!

How Shiny!! Jack and Keith's handiwork is brightly evident.

In addition to these major activities, First Class crew Otto and vanArsdale accomplished numerous tasks to prepare Kelly IV for her launch on May 19. They removed, inspected & replaced the water pump impeller, planned several jobs with the marina Service Manager including a new engine instrument panel, a high water bilge alarm and pump, and a hot water heater and LPG system repair. They also rinsed out the bilge, checked and confirmed the oil level, installed the batteries, confirmed proper operation of the primary bilge pump, located the US Coast Guard documentation number, replaced the nuts on the battery terminals with wing nuts, and inspected the numerous through hulls and located emergency stopper plugs at each one.

Not Bad for an 11 hour day with no lunch break! Seriously, Jack and Keith were terrific crew more than measuring up to their colleagues and the tasks at hand!

My heartfelt "Thanks!" to Keith and Jack for many very important jobs "Well Done"!

Terrific Work Weekend! April 20, 2008

What a terrific Work Weekend! April 18-20, 2008

Jack vanArsdale, Whitney Stewart and Warren "Guy" Stewart worked non-stop this Saturday and Sunday to accomplish many important tasks for preparing Kelly IV for the new Season. After a great breakfast at "The Better Half", our new breakfast standard in Sandusky, this great crew draped plastic sheeting around the entire boat, stem to stern, so the dust from sanding wouldn't foul the neighboring boats. Then they sanded the entire bottom below the water line and pressure washed the dust of the entire hull. Jack loaned his pressure washer to make this happen!

Once sanded, Warren filled in the cracks on the rudder and the entire crew painted the bottom with 3 coats of Petit Hydrocoat Ablative Paint. The first coat was blue, followed by 2 coats of black. The purpose of the different colors is that if/when we see the blue bottom paint, then we know we need more paint!

There is a ton of exposed wood on the outside of this beautiful sailboat. That didn't intimidate this terrific crew! Warren and Jack coated every square inch of wood surface with teak oil while Whitney followed to clean the area so no drips or spills could be seen. Please understand the work this involved:

Dirty Teak

Oiled Teak

A band of teak 3 to 6 inches wide surrounds the entire cockpit, the handrails across the cabin top from foredeck to cockpit are all teak, the cockpit stowage bins in the coamings have teak surrounds, there is a teak highlight about 1/2" high that surrounds the cabintop, the companionway drop boards are teak, the three cabintop hatches are all mounted on teak, the winches, rope clutches, anchor roller and cleats are all mounted on teak pads. I've probably missed several other exposed teak areas, but this crew coated all of it with teak oil! The good news is that the canvas covers do keep the sun and weather from damaging the wood after the great effort of Jack, Whitney and Warren.

As if this wasn't enough for a Saturday, this team also replaced a cracked portlight in the forward starboard cabin, lead by Whitney. The new portlight was tested immediately by a rainstorm and proved to be entirely weatherproof!

"Guy" models the new "Kelly IV Crew" T-shirt 

Once the crew cleaned up and showered, they donned the Inaugural Release of the Brand new "Kelly IV Crew" T-Shirts! With all four of us looking like Smurfs (the Original Blue Man Group - to help the younger crowd) we headed into town to pick up some hardware and tools for the Sunday work. After a fun and relaxing dinner at Max & Erma's with the most beautiful and attentive waitress, Jenna, we retired to Kelly IV for a well-deserved rest.

On Sunday we enjoyed our breakfast at "The Better Half" again and began our work for more preparation of Kelly IV. Warren applied the heat gun and removed the venerable and wonderful name of "Raconteur". It was the sad end of an era, but none of us is the "Raconteur" that Mr. Don Slessman, prior owner is. Kelly IV's new name will be added in a few weeks so she enters the water with her new appellation. While "Guy" prepped Kelly IV for her new moniker, Whitney and Jack completely cleaned and cleared the dust and cobwebs of 3 seasons on the hard.  "Raconteur" was last on the water (ignoring her delivery) in September 2005.  Jack, Whitney and Guy all pulled out the carpet, emptied the drawers, cleared out duplicate tools and hardware, and possibly most important: served as Kelly IV's conscious for keeping the boat clean and open. The new Lifesling and old boom were rigged, while the mainsail was wrapped in her sail cover and stored on deck, opening the cabin for further work. In fact, they even reorganized the entire tool bag and all the screws, blocks, bins, clevis and cotter pins, engine parts, emergency equipment, cabin carpet, every drawer, locker, and surface in our now-clean sloop! Warren lead a team effort to mount the old Loran, new GPS, and a small compass in a very cool cockpit mounting that enables the helmsman to steer from the side as well as the stern.

Close-up of Kelly IV T-shirt logo

After a relaxing dinner and farewell at Chili's, the Stewart's headed for Erie and St. Mary's while Jack & I drove off to Zelienople.

At this point, Kelly IV only needs her new handle on the transom and she can be splashed. There is much more work to be done, but almost all of it can be done after she is in her slip.

Here's a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Jack, Warren, and Whitney for a superhuman effort to accomplish more than could ever be expected. You can be certain you more than earned your new Kelly IV T-Shirts this weekend!

Cruising World Recognizes Kelly III - February 20, 2008

Cruising World Recognizes Kelly III Cruising Lake Erie!

Cruising World magazine published a link to my online log posted on their website.  Unfortunately, they have rebuilt their website and their post about the log entry has gone missing.

For the log post that caught the eye of Cruising World, Click Here.