Surprise on the River

Karen, Conor, Emmet, and I were visiting Donnybrook today when we got a nice surprise: The bulk carrier Algomarine was backing up the river toward South Chicago with a load of salt. According to Boat Nerd she passed Round Island (Straights of Mackinac) yesterday. If only Donnybrook could make it the length Lake Michigan in 24 hours!


The picture above is what she looked like passing under the rail bridge. She had two tugs helping her, the Colorado (in the picture) and Massachusetts pulling from her stern.

Conor (back) was thrilled that he got to see the bridges go down, especially the rail lift bridge! Karen was content to read in the car while Conor filmed trains on his iPod touch. Emmet and I were inside checking out Donnybrook and the other cool stuff in Crowley's cold storage building.

Donnybrook Stars in Vueuve Clicquot Short Film!

The best parts of the video are :10-:18, :23-:25, 10:48-10:49, and 11:17-11:23. The rest of the video is pretty good, too. The video must have been filmed from a Wednesday beer can race. It shows what a good looking vessel Donnybrook is!

Donnybrook crew off season

Here are Kevin, Bob, and Mike together while visiting Todd in Muncie, Indiana. Off season isn't as glamorous as sailing season, is it?

Approach to Crowley's

Today was the last day of the season for Donnybrook, the weather was perfect! We were able to sail the entire way to Crowley's from Belmont Harbor. Bob, Kevin, and Capt. Kyle had a very good day. Next, after we dock, is to take off sails, prepare the standing rigging for mast stepping, and change the oil.

Return To Belmont

We arrived back at Belmont around 5:00 am central Saturday after leaving at 3:00 eastern Friday, about 15 hours on the water including swim.
We sailed for the first 3 hours until the wind died and motored the rest of the way. We had a westerly headwind the second half so only motored at around 5 knots and 2500 rpms.
The highlight of the trip was a sunset swim. We swam 20 miles southwest of Saugatuck in 200+ feet of water. The lake was the warmest of the trip--it felt nearly 80. With mask I could make out the prop from two boat lengths. Looking down the water was an intense shady of midnight blue.
We took all the safety precautions we could. Each swimmer had a PFD with him. One person stayed with the boat while people were in the water. While motoring at night we treated it like the race: Everyone wore a PFD with light and was tethered to the boat.
More including lots of pictures to come.

Saugatuck

From Grand Haven we sailed the 20+ miles to Saugatuck. There was a small craft advisory because of 10-20 knot NW winds and 3-5 foot waves but A LOT more fun than on the trip to Frankfurt. We sailed with only the genoa and regularly reached 8+ knots surfing down waves.
We stayed at Tower Marine in Douglas which is one of the nicest marina's on the trip. It's clean and friendly with laundry facilities. It's across the lake from Saugatuck fin Douglas but easy access via water taxi, Interurban bus, or regular taxi.
We left Friday afternoon to return home early Saturday.
More about Saugatuck as time permits.

Grand Haven

More to follow on Grand Haven. We had a fantastic time at the Coast Guard Days carnival and good drinks served by Pete at Rosebud.