July 5, 2021, Monday, VYC Last Day of Cruise

I woke about 5:20 and listened to NPR for about an hour. I thought about making the 6:30 bridge but decided that 7:00 was early enough. I noticed that there was a fair breeze coming from the south and wondered if I should back into it and go straight out of the channel or back away from it and back down the channel to the river. Since I don't like backing Annie, I decided to do the former. The only issue was that Annie will be perpendicular to the breeze will backing out of the dock and would that prevent me from turning into the wind. It proved not to be a problem. Kerry and I wore our headsets in case an issue developed and we needed to communicate. 

We saw Herb and Sandy before we left. We were docked next to them at AYC. Herb said we were the nicest transient people that ever docked here and that we were welcome anytime. We told him how much we appreciated all the hospitality they showed us. They were making the 7:00 bridge to go fishing. There was quite a lineup of boats waiting for the bridge.

Shortly after we went to bed last night a big fireworks display started. I had to get up to see if we could see it from the boat. We could. It went on for a long time and was very nice. I went back to bed after awhile but got up again as it kept going and I thought the least I could do was appreciate it if they were going to the trouble and expense of putting it on! When it was over some folks were putting on an impromptu display that seemed to go on forever. Give it a rest!

The lake was as promised by the forecast, waves less than 1', with winds from the south. I decided to run Annie at 2000 rpm which moved us about 9.5 knots. Other than dodging several fishing boats the early voyage was without incident. I got the computer out and restarted my newspapers for our earlier return and did some shopping - rooibos tea k-cups for Kerry and plastic anchor chain markers for me. We have been using tape to mark the chain but it needs replaced each year. 

The winds and seas picked up around Mentor and white caps started to appear. Oh boy, I thought, another wrong forecast. But after an hour or so both calmed down and we had a nice run into Vermilion. It did get much breezier near Vermilion with waves big enough to land on Annie's windshield when the bow hit them just right. Kerry manned the helm and watched while I rested for about an hour. She kept everything under control. For lunch we heated the extra hamburgers I grilled last  night and they were delicious with a cold beer. 

We were back about 3:15, so we covered the 78.5 miles in just a bit over 8 hours at an average speed of 9.5 knots. We hit 15.4 once when I was blowing carbon out of Annie's diesel. The entire voyage was 242 miles. We used 125.7 gallons of diesel which equates to a rate of 4 gallons an hour, higher than usual, but expected because of our higher average speed back an running the engine to charge batteries while anchored.

Jim and Jola came over for cocktails, at least for Kerry and I. Jim is having a gout attack and avoiding meats, nuts and alcohol. He has been plagued by gout for months now, but refuses to get medical relief from his doctor. I don't understand it.

Jola and Kerry cooked us a delicious walleye dinner in the club house. Afterwards we walked to the beach looking for driftwood that Kerry could use to make a bird. We found a few pieces. It was early to bed for this crew as we were tired. One final Andrew's hat picture from this trip. He will get his hat back soon.

PS. On Tuesday Mark from Parker Marine came to Vermilion to fix Annie. While he feared a big project and lots of dead boat time, the actual fix took seconds. It seems that there is a reset button on the bottom of the Magnum inverter/charger unit that I was not aware of. Once he pushed it, the problem was solved. I asked why he had not told me that. He said it was in the manual. I sure never saw it and it was not in the trouble shooting guide. Oh well, now I just have to hope it does not continue to trip.