[Rhodes22-list] Door County: Blue Loon had a great time!

[Julie Thorndycraft]

Dan and I just got back from sailing Door County on Blue Loon. If you're not familiar with Door County, it is a finger peninsula that juts north into Lake Michigan. It has lots of great sailing areas along with even more tourist towns - all filled with gift shops/artist and craft stores, etc. The towns/villages are small and quaint and are definitely after the tourist dollar. Our target was the west or Green Bay side of the peninsula.  

We drove from Minneapolis to Egg Harbor, WI on Tuesday (about a six hour drive) and launched at the Egg Harbor marina which has an excellent ramp. The harbor master was very nice, if you gave him a chance to get to know you a bit - helpful with the inside information regarding the other marinas and such. He's a sailor and likes to take care of the 'little boats'.

On Wednesday morning we headed north to Fish Creek with South winds around 7-10 knots and following seas about 2-3 feet - I swear they were more like 4 or 5 feet at times. We did some rolling but I thought it was great amusement park ride - nice sun, nice wind. Our friends were sailing their Precision 23 and I got the distinct impression that it did not handle the waves as well as the Rhodes based on their comments afterwards. We stayed at a private marina that charged 1.75/foot (ouch!) and we were surrounded by big buck power boats and even bigger sailboats. We did the touristy thing at Fish Creek exploring the shops and walking all over the place and drooled over the fabulous sailboats in the harbor.

Thursday morning we planned to head to Sister Bay further north but  the Precision had motor problems. After much discussion we decided to set sail anyways hoping the next marina might be able to look at the engine - it's a two year old Nissan 6hp. Having more sailing experience than Bob's wife, they put me on the Precision to help him if there were problems. In the most inelegant fashion, we got towed out of the winding harbor by a jetski - fortunately no one took a picture! Once out of the harbor entrance we launched the sails and headed north. Again we had good southern breezes to push us north until about 2:00pm and then the winds died completely. With no motor and another 3 miles to go we hailed Blue Loon, who had taken a longer route, and politely asked for a tow. 

We took Blue Loon's dinghy and tied it to the Precision and had a little pre-fourth parade. When we got closer we tied the Precision to the side of Blue Loon rather than behind for better control. I can now say that I'm very happy that we got the 9.9 Yamaha - we chugged along at 4 knots with both boats and the dinghy and I'm sure it could've gone faster! We ended the day by getting margaritas-to-go at the marina bar which were heavy on tequila and light on the mix.

Unfortunately for our friends, their motor was sucking water into the oil reservoir and an easy fix was not to be found. We ended up staying two nights at Sister Bay while they sorted out their options. Dan and I headed out sailing and when we returned we learned that their choice was to pull the boat out of the water or sail without a motor - the latter not being realistic since none of us knew the marinas/harbors that we would be heading into and the weather predictions were for thunderstorms. They opted to pull their boat out. 
Dan and I once again took off on our own and headed South for Ephraim. The winds were light but we were not in any rush. In the Ephraim harbor we spotted another Rhodes in the mooring field - it had a navy hull and was named Lil' Darlin' - does anyone know who owns this one? After circling the Rhodes we headed into the marina which was through a long winding channel of buoys and four feet of water. Our friends caught back up with us in their mini-RV - they left the boat at Egg Harbor on the trailer. 

We had originally planned on anchoring out but the weather forecast was very questionable - we ended up staying in marinas the entire time. The night at Ephraim brought heavy rains and threatened thunderstorms but we stayed nice and dry in the Pop Top. 

The next morning was our last sailing day and we had to head back to Egg Harbor. It was chilly, drizzling, and foggy. Our friends decided to join us for the final sail which was about a thirteen mile trek. The winds were very light to start and we ended up motoring out of the Ephraim bay area. We were able to get a good look at Peninsula State Park and Horseshoe Island as we passed and there are some very protected anchorages at both. Once we passed the island, the winds picked up and we sailed with full Genoa and no Main - I call it BVI sailing. We did a run down the coast with the winds and waves behind us. Although a little chilly, it was a great day of sailing. 

We pulled back into Egg Harbor and got tucked into a tiny, tiny slip which was the only one available. We were lucky to get settled because the winds picked up to 28 knots and the waves were pounding over the docks. It continued howling all night and I gained a great appreciation for the singing of the mast as the wind howled through. The harbor master managed to squeeze in one other small sailboat after we landed - a Compaq 23 that was being single-handed and wasn't able to make his target destination due to the weather. We invited him to join us for dinner and had a great evening sharing sailing adventures.

If any of you are thinking about sailing Door County, avoid the two weeks around the Fourth. The marinas are very full and it is difficult to get slips if the weather gets bad. Most of the harbors are exposed to the north/northwest and shelter is needed when it comes in from either direction. We did learn that some of the public marinas (Fish Creek, Sister Bay) have a certain number of slips available for transient usage but you have to call at 7:00am to put your name on the list. You have a pretty could shot at these on any day of the week as long as it is not around the Fourth.

Blue Loons' next adventure is wilderness sailing on the Ontario side of Lake Superior by Nipigon and Red Rock - unfortunately I don't have enough vacation to go so Dan and a friend are going and leaving me behind to pay the bills.

Fair winds,
Julie and Dan
s/v Blue Loon