[Rhodes22-list] Crossing lake Michigan (was Rhodes22 spotting)

[Rafe]

Ron,

If possible, let me know what day you are sailing in,
and I will see if we can sail out to meet you.  I have
never been able to find another boat via radio yet,
but maybe with the radio and GPS we could keep an eye
out for you on this side.  We could agree on an open
channel ahead of time.  It would depend on our
schedules here.  After 10 hours of sailing I bet you
start to look like a sailor - that is a lot of wind
and sun!  

I hope to find a lot of time for the boating this
summer - so we should be able to meet up at least some
time.  We sailed down to the Indian dunes one day -
that was a long day of sailing, but a lot of fun. 
This summer I want to see how far north we can sail
and still get back the same day.  We sail up by Monroe
all the time.  Great views of the city up there.  Down
South we have an ancient industrial park in the back
ground.  So we often go North for short trips.

Sounds like you hit a lot of wind the last time you
sailed in.  Sometimes the weather for the shore line
and 5 miles out is completely different.  So I am sure
the weather from one side of the lake to the other is
often quite different.  

The second time we were out in strong winds things got
a little out of control.  At first it was a lot of
fun, but then these nasty gusts starting hitting us
every few minutes.  I am not certain for sure what the
conditions were, but it felt like a steady low 20s
with gusts over 35 - probably just me.  When the gusts
hit at first the boat would start to go over and then
whip up hard into the wind.  We ended up with hardly
any sail out just riding the gusts in.  I've since
learned that it is better to keep the boat flat anyway
- so maybe we did the right thing that day.  We had a
lot of sail in - both main and Genoa.  We also headed
in after a couple of those hard round ups.  The
weather felt like it was only getting worse.

A couple times we started motoring out of the harbor
only to turn right around and go back in - not so much
from wind but from waves.  When the waves are bad
things get real scary.  One time I got thrown hard
under the seat - for a second there I didn't know what
happened.  The wind was not that bad that day and it
did not feel like a knock down I think a wave just
spun us around into another wave and we got tossed
back and forth a bit rough.  Amy got slammed against
the seat hard, but managed to stay off the floor. 
Anyway when looking for you a nice weather day for
your crossing, try to pick a day with small waves
predicted for that day and the day after.  Maybe you
should buy a couple harnesses just in case.  If it
picks up, you could be stuck in it for hours.  

Hopefully your trip will be windy and flat - 6.5 knots
the whole way in.  Just tied the tiller off and enjoy
the view.

Rafe