6-27-99:
This weekend turned out to be another 100 degree scorcher! I opted
to wait until the evening to pull out and slide down to the docks
at the Zebra bar for one of their famous Zebra Burgers and wait for
the grand arrival of Steve with his new, right out of the box, Sea
Ray 215. His first boat! He can be seen in the pics section sleeping
behind the wheel of the Peregrine dreaming of passing out on his own
boat. It’s a nice little weekender that he’ll have the time
of his life on until he graduates up to a real (read sail) boat.
All
he needs now is to put a scratch in it so he can relax and enjoy the
boat instead of worrying about hurting it. After a burger and a beer
Steve and his crew left to motor south to make it home before his
curfew expires and his wife kicks his butt. I hate seeing a grown
man get grounded! I then made it down to the dock of John H’s.
Long time friend and fellow Warrior.
His family is largely responsible for getting me into the boating
lifestyle here in Mi.. Their antique wooden cruiser would melt the
heart of any boater that can see past the soulless plastic crap sold
as PWCs and jet boats these days. After a quick shower he jumped at
the chance to go on a night sail up the Canadian coast. The breeze
was a light but steady 6 knots out of the East and the water was like
glass! After trimming the sails and setting the autopilot we settled
in up on the bow for a midnight snack and caught up on events of our
lives gliding along at a gentle 4 knots. The full moon made the night
dream like as we sailed about 7 miles up the foreign coast before
turning back. The new Lazy Cradle worked flawlessly! Get one of these
over the winter break and you will never regret it! It takes several
weeks to convert you mainsail and sew the cradle so plan early. We
were treated to a kick ass blues band on the deck of the brew pub
at 1:30am while waiting for the Military street drawbridge to open
on the way back in from a perfect night sail. There is something magical
about night sailing that has to be experienced to understand. Those
who know are nodding their heads right now! This week is the Canada
Day fireworks on the 1st and the Port Huron fireworks on the weekend!
For the 1st I always anchor up in the cove on the Canadian side of
the Saint Clair river directly across from Port Huron early and make
a great diner before settling in to a few cocktails and a first class
fireworks show over the river. Ahhh, life is good. I’ll bring
back pictures. And don’t forget that “boat night” is
coming up on the 16th! An unbelievable display of racing yachts from
all over the world waiting to race the “mac”. I’ll
be docked across the Black river from the PHYC at the Shell dock for
the night. Stop by and say hi. You can’t miss me! I’ll have
lights run up the mast from front to back and a large jolly roger
flying! See you there!!!
