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.

Manistee

It's a neat, historic town on the river.

Cruising to Manistee

After careful consideration, we decided to continue on. Arcadia is only 8 miles from Frankfurt and all agreed we could make it at least that far no matter the conditions.
We found small waves and a light wind from the southwest, right on the nose. When we reached Arcadia we decided to motor on.
We motor, however there are two other sailboats sailing with us. They headed the same direction and tacking back and fourth but aren't making the same progress as we are motoring.