Back to Traverse City

Carol & Roger are very happy after a beautiful day of sailing. The wind was from the west, so they sailed back south to Traverse City, where Carol wants to spend her birthday on Friday. They thought it was exciting to be moving really fast through the water.  The waters of Grand Traverse Bay are pretty protected, so you can get lots of wind (today the wind varied anywhere from 6-25 knots, but averaged about 15-20) without big waves. Even so, we “tipped” a lot (20 degrees and slightly more at times). The official sailor’s term is “heeling”, but I can’t say “heel”, since that’s what dogs do, not cats.

They were also excited to see a boat they recognized sailing north, a beautiful schooner with tanbark sails, the “Inland Seas”. It’s an educational ship that teaches people about the science of the Great Lakes.    Roger & Carol know the captain from their old church in Traverse City, so Carol called him on the radio to say hi. You can see a picture of the schooner at the top of this post. If I don’t move it down into the text, you should be able to click on it and make it bigger.

I spent most of the day below on the bed, trying to sleep, but I was bothered by the sound of the water rushing by the hull. I’m not doing as well as I was, so Carol has made an appointment for me to see one of my old vets here on Friday morning. I hope they can make me feel better. I don’t like making Carol worry.

There is a big film festival going on right now in Traverse City, so the town is crowded with tourists (more than usual). A few famous people are here for it, including Michael Moore, its founder, Phil Donahue who is presenting a film, and on Saturday, Madonna, who made a documentary about Malawi they are going to show. The other big-name attendee is Stanley Donen, the director of “Singin’ in the Rain”, which they are going to project on a huge screen in a park overlooking the bay, I think tomorrow night (there’s a free outdoor movie every night during the festival, which started yesterday and runs through the weekend). What fun!

Getting Started

My humans, Roger & Carol Faber, took me to Charlevoix, MI at the end of June to spend a week on their beautiful sailboat (beautiful because there's a picture of me on the transom!) just after it was launched.  They wanted to see if I would make a good ship's cat, since Carol didn't want to leave me at home this summer (she's afraid, since I'm already 19 years old, that it might be my last).  I told them I loved being on the boat (I purred a lot during that week), so they decided I could join them on their cruise this year.  It's going to be a pretty short one, since we all got a late start (they had a bunch of guys working on their house in June, then a friend's funeral, and a bunch of other stuff that delayed them).  We just left Charlevoix yesterday (July 20), but so far, we're having lots of fun!  I'll let Carol tell you about our sail.

We left Charlevoix at the 1:30 bridge opening. 

Forecast was for not much wind, but with a northerly component, so we decided to head for Northport, on the NW tip of Grand Traverse Bay, about a four-hour trip from Charlevoix across the top of the bay (hence, our own "traverse").  Wind came up about 2:30 p.m., just after we'd finished lunch in the cockpit, 

so we put up sail.  Wind increased and became more westerly as the afternoon wore on, so we moved along between 4 and 6 knots most of the way.  

As we approached the buoy marking our turn due west into Northport Bay, the winds were blowing 18-20 and dark clouds were forming on the horizon.  So we took in sail and motored the last half hour.  Gretel doesn't seem to mind the motion.  She has a few favorite spots in the cabin where she feels most comfortable, so she just hangs out there.  Once we were tied up in harbor, she even came up the stairs into the cockpit to have a look around, a first!  We weren't sure her arthritic back legs were able to make that climb.  When we brought her out in the past, she made a big fuss about not being able to get back down.  Not yesterday.  She keeps amazing us.

We plan to leave here tomorrow morning and sail to Traverse City, as our motto this year is to go wherever the wind blows us.  The forecast is for north winds, and TC is about 30 miles south of here, so it should be a nice blow downwind.  And tomorrow is one of the first days there's no rain in the forecast!