While it's always more fun to sail, it can also be nice to have a calm day where our Autohelm can do all the work and we can relax a bit. Today was one of those days. The lake was calm and the sun was shining as we left Frankfort. I took advantage of the calm to write the previous two blog entries on the laptop while sitting at the helm. When the autopilot is steering, you only need to look around occasionally to make sure there are no other boats crossing your path. Sometimes you see interesting things, such as bright yellow NOAA buoys which don't appear on the chart. Given how inaccurate the NOAA marine weather forecasts are, it's hard to imagine the buoy can be giving them much data.
Another interesting thing you notice is the mirage effect. We saw Big Sable Point as a mirage long before it appeared over the horizon as a continuous piece of land. The sailboat in the distance has not yet gone over the horizon, so it appears normal. It was another hour or so after this photo was taken that we finally reached Big Sable Point and passed close enough to photograph its lighthouse.
We arrived in Ludington, just south of Big Sable Point, early enough to meet Roger's brother Don and his wife Carole, who drove up from their campsite in Muskegon, to have dinner with us at the local brew pub. If all goes well we will make the final leg of our journey to Muskegon tomorrow.
While it's always more fun to sail, it can also be nice to have a calm day where our Autohelm can do all the work and we can relax a bit. Today was one of those days. The lake was calm and the sun was shining as we left Frankfort. I took advantage of the calm to write the previous two blog entries on the laptop while sitting at the helm. When the autopilot is steering, you only need to look around occasionally to make sure there are no other boats crossing your path. Sometimes you see interesting things, such as bright yellow NOAA buoys which don't appear on the chart. Given how inaccurate the NOAA marine weather forecasts are, it's hard to imagine the buoy can be giving them much data.
Another interesting thing you notice is the mirage effect. We saw Big Sable Point as a mirage long before it appeared over the horizon as a continuous piece of land. The sailboat in the distance has not yet gone over the horizon, so it appears normal. It was another hour or so after this photo was taken that we finally reached Big Sable Point and passed close enough to photograph its lighthouse. 
We arrived in Ludington, just south of Big Sable Point, early enough to meet Roger's brother Don and his wife Carole, who drove up from their campsite in Muskegon, to have dinner with us at the local brew pub. If all goes well we will make the final leg of our journey to Muskegon tomorrow.
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