Author: markperil@gmail.com

Day two: All the way to Buffalo, NY

by  on  in Destinations, New York State, Passage • 0 Comments

We knew we had a long day ahead of us, so we were up early to make the ~75 nautical mile trek up to Buffalo from Erie.  Damn that was a good cup of coffee.

Surprisingly we made it!  We were working the engine pretty hard (and felt pretty guilty burning so much fuel), but we kept telling ourselves that it would be worth it to get there…

We made such good time we even decided to make our way up to Rich Marine where we were going to de-step the next day.  This involved transiting a lift bridge, swing bridge, and a lock – NONE of which we’d ever done before (frankly).  Thank god for the handheld VHF :)

Alles friedlich

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Departure Day!

by  on  in Ohio, Passage • 0 Comments

The forecast was looking good, we’d had any number of “going away” parties, we’d made our upgrades and built a smashing mast cradle…it was finally time to go.  September 23rd, 2014.

We had a long downwind motorsail (interrupted by a nice broad reach once we’d banked some time), and arrived at Presque Isle, Erie, PA for a nice sundowner around 6pm.  The voyage up Lake Erie was a quiet one, and the anchorage was empty when we arrived.  Perfect for our first ever anchoring experience on Tara.  It went very well by all accounts, largely due to the fact that we’re packing a 45lb Mantus.  Uh huh.

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It’s a Morgan Morning

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I love waking up to the sound of engines roaring in the morning!

Welllll….if, and only if, they are classic Morgan automobiles doing time trials around the yacht club parking lot courtesy of the Ohio Morgan Owners Group (and Pat and Sheila on the start line).

I’m not a car guy (yet) but just look at these things…

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Scooter

by  on  in Guest Boats, Ohio • 0 Comments

Lately I’ve been inspired by this little passenger boat, “Scooter”, at the Mentor Harbour Yacht Club.

It’s a pretty straight-forward working boat with a steel hull and diesel inboard.  Despite being a little ding’d up from daily use all summer long, it has surprisingly classy lines and accoutrements.

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Stormy Saturday

by  on  in Boat Work, Ohio • 0 Comments

This morning we had a bit of a wake up call…

We arose to heavy winds gusting to 25-30 knots and pouring rain.  There were 5-6 foot waves out on the lake – we sure wouldn’t want to be out there.  The waves were surging through the small channel into the marina and all of the boats were swaying back and fourth…creaking and groaning.

We were reminded that it is mid-September…soon to be October.

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Caitie and I are starting to get antsy.  We’re hauling the boat on Monday to put on new antifouling paint (on the bottom of the hull to prevent marine growth), and we’re going to have a friend from the club help install our new alternator.  Hopefully I can finish up the mast cradle this weekend.

We’ve got to get moving.

First Dinghy Ride!

by  on  in dinghy, Ohio • 0 Comments

We’ve been spending our days getting the boat ready at the Mentor Harbour Yacht Club in Ohio.  It was gorgeous last night so we blew up the dinghy for the first time and went for a nice sunset cruise…I figured the 3.5hp outboard didn’t need much gas, buuuuuuttttt turns out it needed a little more than I estimated…

Pops was kind enough to take a quick vid while laughing on the dock.

 

Erieau, Ontario

by  on  in Destinations, Passage • 0 Comments

SHAKEDOWN CRUISE! After landing in Cleveland and spending a few days recuperating from the craziness of packing/leaving Vancouver, it was time to take our first cruise on TARA.  Our goals were pretty simple: Get a feel for the boat and understand where we needed to focus our $$ and time over the next few weeks. So why not sail across the… Read more →