Everything was going great at first. With nice, flat seas, we were chugging along smartly on a close reach. We had planned and prepared for an overnight sail, but our ETA was saying that if we could keep this up, we might actually make it there before dark. Even if the wind died down a bit, we should still be in just after midnight.
Usually, when Maryanne and I are doing anything other than a day sail, we automatically fall into our tried-and-true offshore watch routine. This time, since the sail would likely be barely more than a watch each, we decided to be less formal about it and just have a short nap along the way while the other one does the sailing. Since I was up first, I took the first nap. When Maryanne woke me to tell me that she was starting to get tired, it was basically time for her usual watch.
Instead of having only twenty miles left to go, Maryanne reported that just after I went to sleep, the wind had died and then turned into an unforecast direct headwind. She made a ninety-degree turn towards the U.S. shore, had just tacked and was now halfway to the next tack on the Canadian side. Instead of being three-quarters of the way between the Niagara River and Erie, we were now only about a third. We would be lucky to get there by the following sunset. It would now be too much of an adjustment to assume our normal watches, so we just swapped. It was interesting to see things from her perspective, but I think we both agreed afterward that we preferred the watches we have each been doing for years.
The bugs keep following us... Grrrrrrrr These ones are a chironomid, known locally as 'Mufflehead', but eventually we have Erie in sight and new bugs stop arriving
After getting a close look at both countries from several different places, we finally made it to Erie just before the marina was about to shut for the day. We were there mainly to get a required periodic rig inspection for our insurance company, but we also needed to do a big load of laundry and provision for the rest of the summer.
The job I was both dreading and dying to do in equal measure was cleaning the exterior of the boat. We had the stuck-on remains of our Niagara fly plague, plus a whole new swarm of a different type of fly that we had picked up just before we arrived. Since there wasn’t enough time to do the job in what was left of the first day, we decided to get off the boat and treat ourselves to a meal out so we don’t have to try to eat at home while looking out at the fly-speckled decks through the windows.
When we returned from the restaurant, I was pleased to see a whole family of THE BEST cute little birds helping themselves to the smorgasbord on our decks. When I emerged the next morning, Begonia looked as clean as a dinner plate licked by a dog. They were wrapping up by picking the little carcasses out of hard-to-get-to areas like the seams in the bimini and the folds of the sails. I LOVE these birds. It reminded me of our first landfall in the Marquesas when the local fish removed all of the gooseneck barnacles before I had a chance to don mask and fins and go overboard with a scraper.
To be honest, Erie, Pennsylvania is not actually that interesting of a town. For sailors, it is one of the nicest destinations on Lake Erie, but I think my real attachment to the place comes from umpteen overnight layovers as a commuter pilot. I gradually took a liking to the best parts of the place over the years to where now I feel a certain excitement at 'being back" on this latest visit.
Of course, so much has changed that it could be any smallish city to which I have never been. However, the Plymouth Tavern (popular with flight crew) is still there and still as great as ever, but everything else was pretty much new to both of us.
{Maryanne:Kyle forgot to mention the great library, and, of course, the renowned Maritime Museum, which we visited for a second time while there. We are all caught up now on our history of the war of 1812 and its ship battles between the USA and the Brits in Lake Erie. We made several attempts to get some basic medical checkups done (and failed), but we did get our vaccination top ups that we wanted (and which our "insurance" didn't cover)}
Our rig check went okay, as expected. The rest of the time we filled with the usual chores of laundry and provisioning for the rest of the summer in the boonies. In this, we were greatly assisted by Neil, the local Towboat U.S. Captain. While he was on call at the marina, he offered to rent us his Jeep for the day for well under what the rental car companies wanted. It was the usual long, frustrating day of doing a bunch of necessary tasks that neither of us likes, culminating in tearing the boat apart to make room for hundreds of pounds of new groceries. In the end, we were tired enough that we neither wanted to eat aboard or walk to a restaurant. The nearest Mexican restaurant was pretty good, though, so eventually we decided to refuel there.
We found time for fun and chores - AND the most amazing desert pizza EVER at the U-Pick-6 Tap House
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