Fairport Harbor to Lorain, OH

The wind blew hard last night causing 3-4 foot waves early in the day, we decided to leave later and reduce the distance traveled today to 45 miles. By leaving at 10:00 we found 3 foot rolling waves from the ENE, the boat begins to surf down the waves and we registered 8.9 knots on the GPS at times, really flying. All in all I believe we did make a bit better time than in flat seas but the effort required is 10 times that of flat seas.

Jim has decided to return to Milwaukee and Carol will join me here in Lorain, taking the Amtrak from Chicago at 9:30 this evening arriving fresh as a daisy about 4:15 AM. So I rented an Enterprise car and they picked me up after a bit of confusion about 5:30. The train station is 13 miles away and since this all happens early in the morning, we thought it might be better to have some flexibility with the car.

Met a really nice guy at the marina this morning, Dennis Spencer he operated an automotive parts plant in Fairport Harbor that makes a reinforced Teflon hose for fuel delivery. He explained Teflon is designed so nothing will bond to the material. The company he worked for has a patent that does bond fiberglass reinforcement to the Teflon; it is heat resistant to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and 125 PSI. He and his wife are living on the boat during the summer and he is currently working to rebuild his 46 foot Bertram Yacht. I told him my story and we discussed how to fix boats and other neat stuff. He made a hardtop for his fly bridge that is beautiful, wish I would have taken a picture. He offered and I accepted a trip to the grocery up town. One of the problems traveling on a boat is getting to stores at an appropriate time. Not many marinas or towns offer transportation to grocery stores or do many grocery stores offer services to transient boaters.

Again with the following sea, we each steer the boat for 10 miles and rest for 10 miles. Spitzers Lakeside Marina is fairly new with floating piers, nice showers and restrooms and a laundry on site. Jackson the dock hand here was very helpful and friendly. This is a well-run marina that I would recommend to anyone passing through the area.

I think "The Wall" came from the center boat

Sorry no pictures today, to busy hanging on and driving the boat. As I was grilling this evening, strains of Pink Floyd’s the Wall floated across the marina, great when boaters play classical music.

So another day in Bringing Reunion ends with a partly cloudy sunset.