Category: LaSalle to Racine

We found our Endeavour 43 during a lunch time internet search in the spring of 2015. She was located in LaSalle, Ontario, Canada. Little did we know what an adventure that advertisement would kick off.

After contacting the broker and explaining our distance from the boat he sent us 150 very detailed photographs. He showed her, warts and all, and it was clear he was not hiding anything. After a few conversations via phone and email we decided to make an offer with contingencies for our inspection, a professional survey and a professional mechanical inspection.

There was only one wrinkle, we didn’t have passports yet. It was one of those things that just kept getting put off, but now we needed them fast. Kristi contacted Congressman Adam Kinzinger and he was able to help by getting us an appointment immediately. We dropped everything and rushed to Chicago,  and spent most of the day traveling, waiting, and finally getting our passports. Even with our congressman’s help, it required a large surcharge for this service.

Now we were off to see the boat. She looked just like the pictures, no real surprises good or bad. She needed work, but it was work we could do, so we decided to move ahead. Next came another trip to LaSalle for the survey, which didn’t reveal any deal breaking defects. The yard put her in the water and the mechanic checked her out. Everything worked as advertised, so she became ours. We spent the next four weekends traveling to Westport Marina in LaSalle, ON on Friday after work and back home Sunday evening, working to make sure she was safe for the trip to our home port in Racine, WI. I’m sorry to say I can find no reason to recommend Westport Marina. There must be better facilities in the area, but that’s where our boat was when we bought her.

After a lot of research we decided to buy new sails from Mack Sails. UPS screwed up no less than three times getting our sails to us, but we finally got our sails thanks to Travis at Mack Sails being bulldog persistent in dealing with UPS. We were delayed a day but that made dinner with some old friends possible, so it wasn’t a total loss.

At first light on a crisp clear morning we backed out of the tiny marina and headed up the Detroit River. Phase two of our adventure was beginning.

Continue to Part Two

At first light on June 20, 2015, we started the motor, and crept out of tiny Westport Marina in LaSalle, Ontario, Canada to begin our  journey to Racine, WI. We motored up the Detroit River full of excitement as we looked at the Detroit skyline. We were planning to cruise through Lake Huron’s North Channel, so we stayed on the Canadian side of the river. Although chilly, it was a gorgeous day for a beginning.

Eventually the river opened into Lake St. Clair. A couple freighters were coming into the river as we were exiting, so we gave them plenty of room. We were starting to be troubled by Perky’s hiccups. “Perky” is our Perkins diesel, and as she rumbled along she would occasionally miss a beat, just for a fraction of a second. She kept going though, so we vowed to have a look when we stopped for the night.

The weather was fine and we were motoring, so we made a bee line to the St. Clair River. Perky kept up her hiccups, and we kept going. Well, that is until Perky had a bigger than usual hiccup and died. We tried to restart, but the starter was dead. Suddenly we were adrift on the St. Clair River with freighter traffic coming up behind us. We managed to drift to the edge of the channel, and dropped anchor. Tom scrambled below to find the problem while Kristi radioed the approaching freighter so he’d know we were disabled. The freighter captain said he had plenty of room and even throttled back a bit as he passed to minimize his wake.

We found that in our panic at the engine stopping we had left the transmission in gear, so the starter didn’t engage. Once we shifted to neutral, Perky started right up. Yea! Time to haul up 120 feet of chain and a 45 lb. anchor. This is not a good time to find out that while your windlass (a winch for anchors) “works” it has no power. Kristi tried to pull it up manually, but after she mistakenly got the chain wrapped around her ankle, we traded places and Tom pulled the chain while Kristi manned the helm. It was a very scary moment for both us, but no harm done. It’s tricky getting the throttle setting just right to counteract the river current, but not overrun the anchor.

We were a little shaken, and tired, but we were on our way again. We reached Sarnia Bay Marina a little later than intended, but with our first day behind us we felt good.

Over a well deserved dinner we decided to stay an extra day for boat work.  In addition to Perky’s ailments, and the powerless windlass, we found that Otto, our autopilot, occasionally turned randomly, which required that one of us be at the wheel at all times. So, we had our “day off” well planned for us.

The next day we checked fuel filters, bled injectors and tested Perky under power at the dock. We found that the previous owner had wired the windlass to 6 volts instead of the 12 volts it required. At least that was an easy fix. Otto, however, remained mystery as we prepared to clear the Blue Water Bridge and head into Lake Huron.

Continue to Part 3

We bid goodbye to Sarnia and headed north towards the Blue Water Bridge and Lake Huron. The current under the bridge was pretty stiff and we were glad that the previous owner had upgraded to a larger engine. We made forward progress, but it was slow. We learned much later that the trick is to hug the West bank where the current slacks a bit. That would have been nice to know before leaving Sarnia.

Once we got into Lake Huron we headed straight for Goderich. There were thunderstorms predicted for that night and we wanted to be off the lake before they hit.  We made it to Maitland Valley Marina with no problems. If you’re headed there, just look for the turquoise salt mine. The friendly staff helped us tie up just as the first thunder could be heard in the distance, and rain started to sprinkle down.

We ended up having quite a storm, but it was short lived and the marina was very well protected.

Once the storm subsided we decided to walk into town because a reviewer said it was a nice walk. Nice, perhaps, but it’s long, and steep. There is a long stairway leading up the bluff to town, followed by a fairly long walk to get to the downtown area. If you were in a hurry, and in good shape, you might be able to walk it in under 30 minutes. The town was very nice and has some wonderful old architecture. We got rained on a little, but not too bad and ended up having a nice meal before heading back to Pearl Lee.

We found out we had only experienced the edge of a very large storm and the following morning reports of large waves kept us at the dock. So we spent a sunny, warm day relaxing and planning our next step, heading to Port Elgin.

Continue to Part 4

Early in the morning, on June 24, 2015 we backed out of our slip at Goderich, turned right on Lake Huron and we were on our way to Port Elgin (pronounced with a hard G, as in “gun”). With little to no wind, and small waves we motored north. It was sunny, but a bit cold with wind finally kicking up just as we wanted to dock (why does it do this?).

As we negotiated the channel and breakwater into Port Elgin Harbour, people on the dock were shouting and pointing in three different directions which caused some confusion. We bumped the fuel dock slightly due to bad directions and somewhat unfamiliar controls, but eventually made it into our slip for the night. Lessons learned, pay no attention to the bystanders, and when in doubt go back out. You can always approach again once you have things sorted. With nowhere nearby to go, we relaxed and got ready for the next day’s trip to Tobermory.

Fog, drizzle and very cool temperatures marked our trip to Tobermory. We didn’t see another boat out all day and at times felt like we were the only people on Earth. We motored along fog shrouded islands, feeling our way forward. We were very thankful for our full cockpit enclosure which kept us dry and relatively comfortable.

Finally, rounding Bonnet Island we could see Tobermory Harbour. As we got closer it seemed more and more like a 19th century fishing village. The staff was helpful and professional in getting us squared away. Once we were settled we explored the town a bit. If you want fish or fudge, this is your town. We did a bit of shopping and had an excellent whitefish dinner. This was one of our favorite stops, and we both wanted to stay longer because there was so much to see, but with limited time, as Kristi said, “If the weather is good, we have to move.”

We went to bed knowing that the next morning we were off to Killarney.

On the last day of June, 2015 we untied the lines and headed from Meldrum Bay to Drummond Island. We were very excited to be returning to the USA, but neither of us could put our finger on exactly why. The weather was chilly and fair, but with a lake haze that washed out distant shores. We were motoring due to some sail problems, but our passage was uneventful, with nary a hiccup from Perky, our diesel. We were happy to have those problems finally behind us.

At Drummond Island Yacht Haven we were directed to come into the fuel dock to clear customs. The wind was blowing us off the dock hard, so Kristi threw our midship line to the dock hand with instructions to tie us off to the cleat at the end of the dock. Normally this would give us a spring line and we could use the engine to snug us up to the dock. The dock hand just stood there and pulled on the line. Did this 100 pound girl really think she was going to muscle in a 35,000 pound boat? We did manage to get tied up with a little drama after being pinned to the pilings in the middle of the slot.

Our main reason for stopping here is because US Customs has an officer on site. The Customs agent was very nice and even printed out a form we thought we didn’t need. Importation with an old boat that was built in the US was a non-event, and we were back in the USA! The friendly folks at the marina decided that with the problems we had docking, and the wind increasing, we could just stay there. After a short rest it seemed like a good reason to celebrate, so we took one of the $12 rental cars and went into town for dinner and drinks, and even a game of pool. It felt good to be “home” again.

The evening was cold, but we were excited to be getting closer to home waters.

Continue to Part 9

We woke up early on July 1, 2015 to a chilly, gray day but we were full of excitement. The wind had died down so leaving the dock should be no trouble at all, except for one minor detail. Perky, our diesel engine, refused to start. Not a single cylinder would fire. Tom had just been through everything there was to purge air from the fuel system 2 nights ago, and we experienced no problems at all yesterday. Tom decided to call in the cavalry. Drummond Yacht Haven sent over their head mechanic to have a look. Of course he started doing all the things Tom had done two nights before. Finally he changed the fuel filter and discovered a missing o-ring, that must have fallen off as Tom installed the filter. How it ran at all without it was a mystery to everyone, but we were running again.

Off we went, headed for the Straights of Mackinac. Or is it Mackinaw? Curiously, it seems to depend on whether you’re on the island or the mainland. Of course Mackinac Island is the finish line for the Chicago-Mackinac, the longest freshwater sailboat race in the world. The clouds broke up and we had a gorgeous day of sightseeing. Kristi arranged a slip at Mackinaw City Marina since Mackinac Island was overcrowded. Everyone was very friendly, but the marina is a little rolly during the day due to island ferries going in and out. No worries, it calms down at night, once the ferries are done.

After we got settled and enjoyed a well deserved beer we strolled around the touristy part of town, did a little shopping, shared a funnel cake and generally had a good time. Once again, due to our schedule, and needing to conserve our “weather days”, we had to push on the next morning to Beaver Island.

Continue to Part 10

We had a beautiful, sunny day for crossing under the Mackinac Bridge that separates Lakes Michigan and Huron. They’re technically really one lake, and share the same water level, but I won’t argue with hundreds of years of tradition. Our destination for the afternoon would be Beaver Island, and with Perky running like the proverbial top, we had no worries at all.. This was a fairly short day for us, and with smooth water we managed to start late and finish early.

We pulled into the very well protected St. James Harbor and headed for Beaver Island Marina.  Be sure to follow the marked channel because it gets pretty shallow in parts of the harbor.  Our friendly and efficient dock hands parked us right next to a Hatteras 52 motor yacht.  Our friendly neighbor explained that they had previously sailed the world but settled for a few years in Beaver Island. Now they were preparing the big Hatteras to head south, to the Gulf of Mexico, having experienced one too many Beaver Island winters. We met plenty of friendly people on Beaver Island. We did some minor re-provisioning at the grocery store, conveniently located just across the road from the rustic marina. Be prepared to pay island prices though. Downtown was a pleasant, and scenic walk away.

Beaver Island was settled by Irish immigrants and the entire town has a nautical Irish flair that seems to fit this island just right. We would heartily recommend Beaver Island if you’re looking for a laid back, relaxing town surrounded by wilderness.  This is not a tourist trap type of place, but they do welcome boaters. Nautical architecture and Irish heritage was a bonus for us.

More than just a stepping stone to other destinations, Beaver Island deserves to be a destination in it’s own right, but maybe that would spoil it. Take a trip and judge for yourself.

Continue to Part 11