After 6 months of living on the boat, it might be easy to assume the small space and constant movement would get old. The truth is, I’d never move back to land if I didn’t have to.
As fall quickly passes buy, the weather gets less and less predictable and the wind becomes a constant factor in life onboard. People who don’t live on the Great Lakes don’t understand the Great Lakes and how dangerous and destructive the weather can be, but Gordon Lightfoot’s “gales of November are a real thing.
25 knot winds can stir the lake up to 4 to 6 feet or worse, which may not sound like much to the coastal sailors. A 3 to 4 foot swell on the Atlantic ocean is a nice day because the wavelength is muc winder than here. A 4 foot day on Lake Michigan, with it’s close, quick chop, will beat your kidney’s out.
When the wind comes hard out of the west, many of the marinas situated just off Lake Michigan can be subjected to a swell that builds and tears down that funnel, slamming boats around like bathtub toys. One recent storm had my 40 foot Sea Ray ramming back and forth, and up and down, and side to side like it was a cork.
It was like trying to sleep on the back of a mechanical bull. My slip neighbor, who is a life-long sailor with as much experience on the water as anyone I know, was slammed around so badly he actually got sea sick while in his slip.
The two of us were out adding extra lines and doing our best to get control of our boats until 4 in the morning. I did keep her safe, by the time I was done I had 14 lines holding the boat in the slip and still didn’t feel comfortable with things.
The funny thing is, no matter how bad it is outside, as soon as I sit down on the couch and turn on the TV, I don’t even notice.
But, that’s October in Michigan. Sometimes. Other times, the weather is nice enough to get a last sunset cruise in. You just don’t know what you’ll get from one minute to the next.
A lot of years I’ve waited until November 1st to have the boat hauled, but these days, whenever my winter apartment becomes available, it’s time to move. So, move I did – back to the shore early this week.
Of course, that means I’m going to worry about the boat because no one is on it. 15 years ago, a statistic from somewhere like the NMMA said that, for every boat that sank at sea, 4 sink sitting at the dock. Which is because they are unattended.
So, now I’m running over to check on my summer house every day to make sure no lines have broken, and she’s not hitting the dock. I need to make sure she’s safe and secure until the boat is hauled out around the 20th.
That’s life in the northern latitudes. You take what you can get and enjoy every minute you can, then wrap it up and wait out the next 5 or so months until the ice cracks and it’s safe to move back onboard. You’ve got to get your boat fix by catching up on winter projects while she’s in the building.
At least my project list is long this year so I’ll be spending as much time over there as I can. The shore power will be plugged in, water tank fill be full, and I’ll be able turn on the tunes while I work and get her ready for the new year.
Yemaya too, I’ll need to catch up on some projects on the big blue beastie while she’s in the barn.
So stay tuned for winter project posts, with tasks like carb rebuilds, cleat reseals, and simple stuff like filter changes, along with some wiring and the one big one this year – fix my anchor windlass.
Until next time…
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