Annie's 2021 Summer Cruises

Memorial Day started with a horrific storm on Lake Erie. The waves were 14 to 15', with sustained winds over 30 knots and gusts to 55 mph. Annie survived without any boo boos luckily. Gary and other club members tied and retied boats throughout the day, which was fortunate for us as we were not here. We did not come up Saturday either as it rained all day and had a high temperature in the mid 50's. We did come up on Sunday afternoon when we had sun and mid 60's temperature. John Robinson sent some pictures of the waves rolling over the break wall like it was not even there. Jim and Jola invited us to dinner where we had turkey burgers and homemade veggie burgers. They were both good, but the veggie burgers Jola made were particularly tasty. Today was sunny and pleasant with light west winds, perfect for our Memorial Day activities and fleet parade. There was no band this year as the town parade was cancelled due to Covid-19. For the same reason we did not invite all the lag...

It was another wonderful day that had Kerry and I scratching our heads wondering how the weather can be so nice this early in the year. We have never before been able to use our boat like this before Memorial Day.  Last night was another nice evening for sleeping. Although it was a little warmer than it has been so we were tossing our blankets off, then putting them back on for much of the night. I was up at 7:30 drinking coffee, updating the blog and listening to Fox News. I finally caught up on all the old newspapers on board and then moved outside to successfully attack some minor rust stains on Annie's upper rails.  Kerry got up about 9:30. She made her Roiboss tea in the Keurig. I used the K-cup a second time for another cup of tea and it was fine. Nancy Simson tipped us off that you could use them twice. It worked for my coffee too.  We had pancakes, bacon and fruit for breakfast/lunch about 11:30. It was great with a beer served up on Annie's upper deck.  We r...

Our first day anchored in 2021 could not have been any better. It started with a very good nights sleep. We even slept through (almost anyway) a wind shift which caused waves to begin slapping on our hull.  I was busy in the morning. I caught up on emails and then ordered a new fitting for my washdown pump. The company rep said that some of the old ones had too much resin in them which caused them to bind. Amen. Then I ordered plaques for the VYC Board of Trustees new members. I also had time to catch up on my newspaper reading before lunch. Kerry was up about 10:30 and made us BLT's for lunch after her morning tea. She spent the day fussing with a Betsy Wetsy doll she bought at the "Doggy Store" for her sister Marty and finishing a floor plan for Tom and Beth Plocki in Venice. They asked her to redesign their utility area in their new home. Unfortunately I knocked over her tea on her first drawing. However, that did give her the opportunity to make a couple of changes on...

Kerry and I set sail for the first cruise of the season today. It is hard to believe that we are cruising this early, but with a forecast of warm weather and mild south winds, we could not pass up the opportunity. After a first root canal for Kerry, we departed from VYC about 3:30.  The trip to East Harbor takes about 3 hours. While the trip was uneventful, the anchoring was anything but. It took us at least 5 tries to get the anchor to set. It just kept dragging in the weeds. Then we could not get the washdown hose fitting to fit into the water outlet. That was really frustrating, especially since we had mud and dirty water on the deck from the many anchoring tries. Eventually we got settled and found ourselves on Annie's top deck having our first cocktails at anchor this season. Delicious! While we were having cocktails an eagle swooped down right in front of us trying to get a fish. He missed, but we still think it was a good omen for our new boating season.  Dinner was sim...

Jimbo Karpinski and I sailed Annie from Parker Marine to Vermilion today. It was a beautiful first cruise, with a light following wind and smooth seas. Bright, warm sunshine make it perfect. This Annie is a lot different from the first one we had.  We had not planned to bring Annie home today. Tomorrow was the scheduled date. I had planned to help Jim with two projects that we though would take a long time - pulling out a damaged dock pole and removing bricks from a sunken walk. But we got both done in about 2 hours, so we had plenty of time to pick up Annie, which was ready to go. Kerry was at home but said she did not mind if we made this first cruise without her. Jim and I celebrated the season's first cruise at Rudy's with hamburgers, chicken wings and a pitcher of beer.  And to make everything more perfect, the CDC announced that people vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer had to wear face masks. What a day!