June 4, 2021, Friday, Miller's Marina, PIB

This is the Akron Sail and Power Squadron PIB Rendezvous Weekend. It's always an event we look forward to attending. Host Bob Ball does an incredible job with food for the entire stay. 

We came to Vermilion yesterday afternoon to get the boat ready for an early departure today, and to have dinner at Rudy's.  We got to enjoy a beautiful sunset last night  which was a bonus. After 2 showers and coffee and white powered donuts with Jimbo we left Vermilion at 8:30 for the 24 mile trip to PIB.

The winds were predicted to be light today. But when I woke and heard water slapping on the hull I questioned that forecast. Looking out the hatch I saw the tree leaves moving pretty good too. The winds built to about 12-15 on the trip I guess and were pretty much on our beam, not Annie's best point of sail. After about 1 1/2 hours we had waves hitting the windows as we crashed into them although they really weren't that big. I did not have our table tied tight enough on the top deck as it bounced a bit, but I decided not to go out and fix it because of the bouncy sea. Once we rounded Kelley's Island and turned 10 degrees east the ride improved and the table behaved. 

We got the dock we wanted, the one we have had for the past three years, much to our relief. There are new managers at Miller's now, Jim and Deb who are retired teachers and very nice. They helped us dock in our favorite position, in the well behind the marina, safe from any NE winds that might pop up unexpectantly. 

BLT's on the top deck were delicious for lunch. We took a nice walk downtown after that, hitting all of our favorite stores. 

The schedule called for all of us to attend a cocktail party around 5:00. We gathered but our hosts for the weekend, Bob and Patty Ball, were not here yet. Turns out that Bob's boat trailer had broken on the way up and he could not get here by boat, so he took the ferry up and arrived about 6:30. Patty arrived with a big supply trailer a bit earlier. Cocktails started on time though! We got the charcoal grill going so it was ready when Bob arrived.

In all the confusion, Bob's pulled pork dinner got left in a cooler on his boat. We still had his fabulous grilled shrimp and lamb lollipops - more than we could eat. Bob insisted on buying pizzas also, to replace the pulled pork. It was not needed, but we did eat a lot of it. He is going to drive back tomorrow morning, get the cooler and serve the pork for lunch. His wife said this pork is his baby. He smokes it for about 24 hours. 

It seemed like there were as many dogs as people who attended tonight's dinner. We love dogs. I had a pocket full of bones that I used to make many friends.