Delivery - Day 8

It's these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, nothing remains quite the same.

It was a 120 mile sleigh ride. Downhill from Charlevoix to Ludington. The wind was NNE at 20 kts and the waves were 6 - 8 footers on the stern quarter. If the waves had been on our nose it would have been another layover day.

We surfed 40,000 pounds of motor yacht today.

We arrived in Ludington at 2:30 pm and fueled up the Harbor View Marina. We took on fuel and I backed the boat into our slip. It is a very steep learning curve to go from docking a 39' sailboat with a 35 hp diesel to our motor yacht that has twin 480 hp Volvo Penta diesels. The key to docking is to bump the transmissions into gear for only a moment and constantly adjust very slowly in tiny increments. Next summer will be devoted to becoming highly proficient at docking in all conditions.

We traveled 230 miles since we last fueled up in Rogers City. When we travel by sailboat this distance would take 6 days but cost a lot less in fuel. Fuel - O - File update - today's fuel load 383 gallons.

The weather report for tomorrow is quite favorable. East winds at 5 - 10 kts. Waves 1 - 2 feet. Tomorrow we will travel 120 miles across Lake Michigan from Ludington to Waukegan which is our home port. The boat will be hauled out at Larsen Marine and enjoy inside heated storage. We can work on her all winter to get her ready for spring.

According to Katie the marina owners daughter and fuel dock manager in Ludington, there is a micro brew pub one block north of the marina. We shall see. Katie said her favorite sailor from Waukegan is Billy McCaffery on Nana. No matter where you go someone knows Billy.

Photo - 31st Street draw bridge at Charlevoix - photo credit to crew member Chris Weber.

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