SSSSM - Part Deux

[Bdozz]

I think it was about midnight when I woke up to splashes of water on my head, and the boat rocking a bit more then when I fell asleep. I will never forget coming up the companion way that night. Tater was at the tiller , it looked like he was fighting it for dear life his eyes were as big as pie pans and he looked at me and said rather loudly , Brian were gonna F****** die, and Pinstripe Dave was hanging over the side trying to puke.

[Bdozz]

I wasn't quite prepared for this emergency, so I excused myself from the cockpit to go below and find my cigarettes, if we were gonna die I wanted to relax and have a smoke first. On the way back up I realized that I had had the best couple hours of sleep I'd ever had and my seasickness was gone.

[Bdozz]

Once back in the cockpit I looked around to see what was going on while assuring Tater that the Suzy Q could handle much worse waves and weather then this , after all she was built in Washington for sailing the north Atlantic and her home port had been Anchorage Alaska , I told him I was sure we were going to be uncomfortable, but probably not going to die , he finally let me have the tiller and grumbling something about never getting on a boat again with many expletives made his way to the front of the cockpit and hugged the cabin for awhile .

[Bdozz]

After taking the tiller and seeing the waves coming at us I had a little better understanding of his fear, they were only 5 to 7 feet, with an occasional larger one, but that looks a little scary for someone who hasn't experienced it before especially from the cockpit of a small boat , it was like a huge black wall of water coming at us , and the waves on lake Michigan are usually close together.

[Bdozz]

I took the tiller and asked about our course . They pointed out a light on the horizon and said they thought it was Racine about 25 miles south of where we were going. Apparently shortly after I fell asleep the storms did hit and were headed right at us from the north with lots of lightening and the waves had kicked up to the closely spaced 5 to 7 footers we were experiencing now, and were taking us directly on the beam which is why I was getting splashed through the open port. Pinstripe Dave has a house in Racine so they had decided to head south away from the storms and into the waves for an easier ride, and we could put the boat in the marina there for a few days. Very good thinking except we would have got to the marina in the dark and none of us had been there before.

[Bdozz]

I have to tell you, it was the best experience I had had in a long time, maybe ever, there were lightening storms many miles north of us and it was amazing to see, and the sky over us was amazingly clear , you could almost touch the stars. Have you ever felt that you were in your element , exactly what you were made to be doing , I loved the waves I think I even had us surfing a few times. I felt really bad though because I was telling the guys how great it it was and they were miserable.

[Bdozz]

I tried again to get them to go below and sleep for awhile but nothing doing. We discussed it and decided to head north towards Milwaukee where we were originally headed. After we headed north and Tater relaxed enough to let go of the cabin , Pinstripe Dave made the funniest comment Tater and I ever heard , we are thinking about getting a T-shirt made, Tater asked him how he was doing and without missing a beat he said I'll be alright, I just have to get rid of my sandwich.

[Bdozz]

So we were motoring north towards Milwaukee, the waves had calmed down some and were actually helping push us along.

[zeehag]

sounds like a fun trip....

[Bdozz]

Shortly before dawn my crew finally decided to go below to sleep. I moored on nort towards Milwaukee and I think it was about 6 am when I was just able to start making out the city, the waves kicked back up a little and another lightening storm started, I could tell it was centered right over the harbor area, and I had never seen so much lightening in one smallish area, I wasn't really sure what to do, my instinct was to grit my teeth and motor on, but I decided to ask Dave what he thought. I woke him up and he came up and looked around and said he wasn't sure and asked if a sailboat was safe in lightening.

[Bdozz]

I was really tired at this point and I know I had read about it, but I had never seen so much lightening before and we'd be motoring right into the heart of the storm so I told him I didn't know but because I was leaning on wet ropes attached to a 40 foot lightening rod I sure didn't feel safe .

[Bdozz]

Dave looked around some more and pointed towards shore a little way behind us . He pointed out a small harbor surrounding a boat ramp that he had told me about the night before. I asked if we would fit and he assured me we would, he described it as small but said the inside was wrapped with a wood dock so all we would have to do is sneak in the opening and tie up for awhile.

[Bdozz]

I turned around and headed for it knowing it would take a while to get too Dave went back below for more sleep. About halfway to the harbor the rain and lightening caught up with us . Before we left we went to the store for supplies and at the top of the list I had rain gear, we left the store with 3lbs of lunch meat , hard rolls , a 12 pack of Mt Dew , batteries and a new Hawaiian shirt for Tater , and no rain gear.

[Bdozz]

Tater started heading up to help me but I sent him back down , I told him there was no sense in us both being killed by lightening and the rain was coming down so hard I could barely see. When we started getting close to the harbor I was getting real nervous it was right on shore and just a small square of rock wall maybe 150 feet a side if that much and I could barely see.

[Bdozz]

I called Pinstripe Dave up to guide me in and headed toward the opening that couldn't have been more then 20 feet wide , he went up to the bow to guide me in and just as I was asking him if he was sure we would fit he was saying something about the docks not being there , I was intently watching the depth gauge and as he was telling me with confidence that he wouldn't have suggested it if he didn't know we'd fit , the depth gauge went from 17 feet to 3 faster then I could reverse and we draw 4.5 feet.