Mackinaw City - preparing for the North Channel

The other half of the anchoring experience is pulling up the anchor. We had a little trouble getting the windlass to pull. We discovered that the tension needed to be tighter. With just a little shove the anchor came up smoothly until the anchor reached the top in a backwards fashion. No amount of shoving with a pole will move an anchor facing the wrong way. We sent it back down and pulled it up again facing the proper direction.

As the photos show, it was cloudy and cold again. But the water was not too bad. As we approached the first lighthouse entering the straits it got bumpy so we sped up a little. The engines really like running at 1700 rpm so we let them fly for a little while, slowing down when we saw the bridge.  The the water calmed and we entered Mackinaw City on flat water with a little wind. Perfect weather for boating!

We are so excited to be in Mackinaw City because we might meet loopers! The 2014 looping gang is bunched up in the North Channel and canals leading to the North Channel right now. In the meantime we met several loopers and gold loopers in Mac City as we hoped.

One boat Boreas was waiting to meet us when we arrived. Fred and Julaine traveled with One September and Jim's Joy in the North Channel. They knew many of the loopers we traveled with: Sareanna, Sequel, Karma just to name a few. We spent a delightful docktails swapping stories about best stops. Then Fred gave us a tutorial on all the best places in the North Channel. I pulled out pen and paper because you never want to miss a chance to pick a local's brain!! Fred and Julaine and sailboaters who swapped a sailboat for a 405 Carver aft cabin for the loop. It is perfectly laid out for long term traveling. We certainly agree about the value of an aft cabin.

Next we met our neighbors. We didn't see a looper flag on this 45 foot Benetau trawler but the john boat strung on the back and the Georgia state flag branded them and fellow travelers. I kept bumping into this nice lady with a southern accent at the grocery store. Come to find out when we returned that she was crew on our neighboring boat!! They started in coastal Georgia. Actually the father is the looper. He was very quiet, just nodding, while the younger folks (our age) talked about loving NYC, this weather, and fresh water. The dad changed crew this morning as one set of kids left and another got on. This new set will travel down the rivers with Dad.

Dad had a bit of a problem this morning. We planned to leave this morning too. The weather looked right. A storm blew through the neighborhood last night. No rain but lots of wind causing high waves. We were ready for an early departure when Kermit checked the weather again. Something bothered him about this storm. It brought a low weather system. He said he had a feeling that the low would bring the winds and storm back around. He made the captain's call to postpone departure. Sure enough by 9am the storm came back around with high winds and ugly clouds. This is exactly the kind of weather system that kept us in Mackinaw for a week last time.

Dad next door decided he needed to leave. He had a schedule or something. Anyway he pulls out in a big wind and immediately got blown around big time. He bumped into this and skidded off of that around the corner right into a debate with a ferry over who has the right of way. The ferry breezed through pushing Dad into the rip rap. He bounced off that and slammed into the gas dock. It was scary but Dad and crew were ok. It is so tricky up here. We felt bad but there was not much we could do to help since he was a few docks away by that time. No photos of this situation. Kermit felt it would add insult to injury so we kept the camera below.

Needless to say we are staying in port today finishing up last minute chores. Kermit decided to finish the last bit of waxing so while I write this he and Paul are on the back deck with the power waxers purring away.

The good news is we are now ready to put the name on the back of the boat. To bring you up to date on the naming, Kermit made the new owners take "Good Karma" off the old boat so we could keep the name on the new boat. He bought nice new letters for the new GK but the material got caught in the wind and bunched into a knot. So we ordered new letters to be delivered to Mackinaw. They arrived yesterday!! Hence the effort to wax the back so the new name looks good. We are waiting until the wind dies down in the afternoon then we will have the naming ceremony!! I will share pics of that later.


We had two wonderful surprises on arriving at Mack City on Friday - Tom Taft (from Charleston fame) called to chat with Kermit. That is the little surprise. The big surprise is my sister Martha came to visit! She has a consulting gig in Green Bay (actually north of Green Bay close to Minnesota) and she stopped in on the way home. We had lunch in St. Ignace (pronounced  "Snig-nis, eh?) according to locals. Great pulled pork sandwich for me and and turkey veg sandwich for Martha with fresh fries like you get at the fair. Yum!! We stopped at the grocery store in St. Ignace because it looked more substantial than what we can get in Mac City. The locals all helped us with everything - really friendly! They answered unasked questions about produce, meat, and beer. Martha and I looked at each other then figured out that not only do we look unfamiliar to these locals but we sounded funny! We got a chuckle out of that!!

Martha brought her dog, Dieter 2.0. She calls him 2.0 because he has become a much better, more well behaved dog since going through training. He sits and heels when told and doesn't jump or run off like he used to. It was a pleasure having him on the boat! Makes me miss Rusty!!

Martha left at 5:30am the next morning for the long ride back to North Carolina. I sure wish I could see her more often. Maybe next year.

On Saturday the four of us took our bikes over to the Fort Michilimackinaw. We talked about going to Mill Creek to see that working saw mill but we judged it to be too long a bike ride for all of us. Good thing too because we learned today that the mill is not working. The five mile trip each way is too long just to turn around and come back. Right Don?!? (Sorry, that is an inside joke!)

The fort is reconstructed from a massive archeological dig started in 1958. Buildings have been reconstructed on the foundations of the original buildings destroyed by the British when they moved the fort to Mackinaw Island in 1774 during the revolution. This is where the history we learned on the trip comes in handy. The British leader enlisted Obawa Indians to fight against the revolutionaries. They didn't just stay local. They went to New York and as far south as St. Louis and Kentucky.

The fort was the site of voyaguer trading since the 1600s. French would bring goods from Montreal to Fort  Michilimackinaw in the spring. Voyaguers would move out to trade those goods with the Indians for furs that the Indians trapped in the winter. It was a good cycle.

The blacksmith shop

The reconstructed fort is set up with an Indian encampment outside, displays about the voyaguers, and the fort itself set up as it would have been in the 1770s before decamping to the island. We saw these two fellows shoot off rifles and cannons, a nice lady talked about what it was like to live in the fort and shared the bread she just baked. The blacksmith was fascinating. He is trained as a welder. About 17 years ago he started learning about blacksmithing. Now we demonstrates blacksmithing in the summer at the fort and in the winter has a welding business in AZ. Nice life! He looks like a blacksmith too - a big guy with the coolest safety glasses that look like he made them out of fancy metal.

We also stopped at the old lighthouse to terrify Kermit with heights. Not so bad this time. This lighthouse is only 55 steps to the top, a lot shorter than some of the lighthouses we climbed before like the one at Bald Head Island in NC.

We stopped for ice cream (of course) then to KFC for a light dinner. Sometimes you just have to get out!

Today is Sunday July 13. We are a little behind schedule but still not in trouble. We are scheduled to meet Ron Pfeldner and the other boats at Gore Bay on Wednesday so we still have time. Tonight we plan to grill out with a nice bottle of wine and some steaks. Then early to bed and up early tomorrow to head over to DeTour passage and finally enter the North Channel. I can't wait!!