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

[Mark Kaynor]

Julie,

Great story. Thanks.

Mark Kaynor

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]On Behalf Of Julie
Thorndycraft
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 12:20 AM
To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Door County: Blue Loon had a great time!


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



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