Guest Overload? - August 2021

August on the boat: Will Too Many Visitors Make it NOT FUN??

One of our primary objectives regarding the boat experiment was to test whether we could utilize the Perseverance to coax/tempt friends to come visit us. We let it be known when and where we’d be, and by golly, some of them actually trudged up across the bridge to come see us. Or see the boat. Doesn’t matter, we got company that generally was nice to us. We had nine overnight guests (including the cat) in August, mostly all back-to-back.

Tuesday Aug 3, 2021: “Voyage to Door County with Bob”

After the Perseverance had returned us from our exceedingly nice visit to Fayette

with our kids (& partners [and cat], described here), we had no sooner dropped them off at their respective cars and airports to scurry back to their over-programed lives, then we went to fetch my friend Bob Nichols from the Escanaba airport.

Bob and I became friends back at Daniel Hand High School in Madison Connecticut, and he was best man at my wedding. We’ve done a passable job at staying in touch over the years as we both have collected wives (ONE EACH) and kids (TWO APIECE) and moved through various locations and careers. Bob parlayed his B.S. in Wildlife Management into an aviation career and has been flying for Delta out of MSP ever since they absorbed Northwest Airlines. Bob also knows a lot about boats, which is why we selfishly invited him.

Bob came solo this trip (though we hope Mary and kids might join him on his next visit), but he was keen to investigate both the Escanaba region and to scout out as much as he could of Door County, WI. Bob is hoping that he can eventually drag his family out to do some boating/exploring in Door County in his new 17’ Boston Whaler. Before retiring for the night, Lori and Bob pored over a few charts and references as they decided which harbors we might try for tomorrow.

Wednesday Aug 4, 2021:

JKS: Even though it was mid-week, Lori decided to call ahead to ensure there would be a slip at her first choice harbor. A half-hour later, after a lot more phone calls, we had heard positively that there was NO room at any of the harbors we’d short-listed. Boating has really been booming during the pandemic, and this was one of the busiest weeks in memory, according to the harbor masters. One of us finally got ahold of “Kevin” whose friendly nephew we happened to chat with as he bicycled past the Perseverance. Kevin had a cancellation for a 50’ slip at Ephraim at his private marina which we jumped at.

LMS: Once assured of a place to dock in Door County I charted a course, being sure to avoid all those tricky shoals mentioned in the Great Lakes Cruising Club Harbor Guide, and we quickly cast off for a pleasant 3.5 hour cruise down Green Bay under skies tinted red from the western fires. Smooth sailing and a reserved slip did not put my mind completely at ease, however. I would still need to actually maneuver the Perseverance into what I knew to be a tight slip in a small marina I’d never laid eyes on.

Upon entering the bay, we were able to locate the Ephraim Yacht Harbor by spotting the American flag flying atop the little white shack. It was about as far into the bay as you’d want to take a boat with a 5-foot draft. Beyond that was a special lane marked for small boats only. We had to pull up and wait out at the buoy because there was a huge boat at the fuel dock partially blocking the tight harbor entrance. After that situation cleared, I decided to go for it despite a couple of suspicious looking jet skis that were idling around there with no discernable plan. I decided they’d probably get a plan in a hurry once they saw me bearing down on them. They did.

Aiming for the center of the tiny entrance, I managed to not clip anything on the way in, though I thought I heard a great sucking in of breath in my radio headset as one of the deckhands observed the clearance on the starboard stern. A hard turn to port was required to get into the slip which was about 1.03 Perseverances in every dimension. Using every ounce of mental discipline, I blotted out any thought of how big and expensive all those other boats next to our slip looked. There were a few seconds of terror at the boat eased into the slip, but Jim and Bob were calm and encouraging through my headset and the dockhands were extremely helpful. I heaved a big sigh of relief but probably not as much as the folks on the neighboring boat (a brand-new glistening 50’ Burger – don’t even want to think about that pricetag).

Dinner: When in Door County, one MUST partake of a traditional fish boil. These outdoor dining events are extremely popular even in non-pandemic times, often requiring a reservation days in advance. Since we had done approximately zero planning for this jaunt, we did not have a reservation so we decided to walk across the street to the Old Post Office restaurant that had a fish boil sign displayed on their beach. As luck would have it, they had just had a cancellation for their 4:30 seating! Now we had both a slip and dinner due to cancellations. I like this version of cancel culture!

We dawdled around the very cute village of Ephraim and then dutifully reported to the fire pit behind the restaurant at 4:30 sharp, just in time to snag the last bench—the smoky, downwind bench. No matter, the potatoes and onions were already boiling in the cast iron pot. Soon Ted appeared to narrate the history of how efficiently the Swedish pioneers could feed the whole town at a fish boil. After boiling the fresh hand-cut Door County whitefish steaks for exactly 7 minutes, Ted threw a can of kerosene on the flames producing a huge fireball that boiled all the scum off the pot and singed the hair on our legs. Then smelling of smoke, fish and kerosene we headed to our assigned table and enjoyed a most delicious feast.

JKS: With high hopes, we loaded ourselves into our newly repowered dinghy and I headed us out to cross the harbor and visit the state park on the peninsula tip. This attempt conclusively demonstrated that 15hp is insufficient to get that dinghy up on plane when loaded with 3 non-svelte adults. Consequently, our quick buzz across the harbor turned into more of a slog, but we did a bit of beach and island exploring before heading back to port. The return slog got a bit wet and cold, but it didn’t quite get us miserable. Bob and I were both convinced that with just the right puff of following wind combined with sufficiently wishful thinking, the hull would start to plane, but Lori didn’t contribute enough mental willpower to the group effort, so we slogged.

Thurs Aug 5, 2021

Bob has always been a biking/skiing enthusiast, so we loaded our tandem bike and my old Raleigh 10-speed onto the aft deck for this trip. By the end of the day, my legs were wishing I hadn’t brought the bikes, but the rest of me had a nice day. The Niagara escarpment that comprises most of Door County has hills. Lots of them. I also stupidly brought our saddlebags, so the 2nd and 3rd halves of the ride (all of which was uphill) was while loaded with chocolate cherries and 6 bottles of wine added for bonus ballast. We also checked out a lighthouse, climbed the brand-new $3.7M lookout tower ($3M for the ADA compliant 850’ ramp), and biked to the very popular Nicolet Bay loaded with swimmers trapped between anchored boats and sunbathers on the beach.

We squeezed in a 2nd Dinghy ride before casting off for an evening return to Escanaba, our first time running with navigation lights. Overall, an excellent outing to the most touristy part of Wisconsin’s famous Door County peninsula, made better by Bob’s constant grousing about the “plague of Pontoon Boats” now infesting the Great Lakes. We’d keep thinking we were having a fine time, when another pontoon boat would buzz by, triggering yet another rant by Bob regarding how this aluminum plague should be quarantined to Lake of the Ozarks.

Fri Aug 6 – Sat Aug 7, 2021 “Robot Friends in Esky”

Shortly before returning Bob to the airport, our next guests started arriving. This trio consisted of Nathan Miller, an alumnus of the Dexter Dreadbots robotics team and current student at Michigan Tech, and our fellow Dreadbot mentors, Jennifer and Jim Bryson. We only took a brief 1 hour tour of Little Bay De Noc with this crew, but everyone took a turn at the helm where much deep discussion took place regarding time constants, yaw momentum, control theory and how to hold a steady course as well as our autopilot. We had a good spot of fine weather, so we did a little biking and took in an outdoor art show. Later, we attended the School Bus Figure 8 races at the Escanaba Fair Grounds, at which we got soaked, but saw some classic Yooper automotive carnage.

The Brysons made a fine showing by providing an awesome home baked pie and some excellent steaks we devoured for dinner.

Sun Aug 8-20 “Time to Mow”

Jobs, Detroit, and commitments were calling loudly, we had to reluctantly kick everybody out, close all the through-hull valves and drive home. After we got the lawn mowed and a few other things, we were back to Esky.

Monday 8/23-25, 2021 “The expedition to Cedar River”

Davi and Lauren braved another visit and trundled the 3 hours south from the Keweenaw peninsula (the most gorgeous slice of Michigan yet discovered, also known as “the U.P. of the U.P.). By the end of their visit, I’m sure the cat felt like he’d had enough, and I’m unsure about the other two.

With Davi still crippled from his deck-related tumble during our otherwise wonderful 1st overnight to Washington Island 3 weeks earlier, we had to wrangle crutches along with the cat paraphernalia, making the on-board living space a tad bit tighter than usual. Nonetheless, we had some good visiting time, and Lori found a nice bedtime storybook for Davi, who requested that it remain on the boat in case of future needs.

Cedar River is an inconsequential lakeside community on M35 about halfway between the metropolis of Escanaba and the famous twin cities of Marinette, WI/Menominee, MI. It’s only feature of note is a concrete bridge that spans the lazy fishing river below. Every Labor Day, the residents of Cedarville Township hold their big blast of the year, the 120-yard-long Cedar River Bridgewalk, squarely aimed at siphoning off participation and publicity from the competing 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridgewalk, spanning Michigan’s two peninsulas. Although the length is paltry, the yoopers make up for it in beer.

The 5 of us departed from Esky in the AM for the 30-mile trip south to Cedar River to try docking at a new state harbor. Lori noticed that the lights for the roll stabilizers weren’t illuminated on the Perseverance despite being powered up, the first time we had seen that. As the seas were only in the 2-foot range, we didn’t worry about it… until the turn. Lori made her hard turn to starboard just past the harbor buoy, and perfectly timed to catch a rogue swell broadside. Absent the functioning roll stabilizers (powered fins mounted mid-ship that actively counteract roll detected by a gyro), the Perseverance wallowed like a pig, heeling so far over to the right that the easy chair in the Salon got physically tossed onto the couch on the starboard side. Most everything was battened down decently, and I don’t think anything got broken. The Perseverance righted herself promptly as she yawed out of the cross-wind, but it made the cat puke again and the rest of us were more than a bit unsettled by the roll.

Lori threaded her way up the river and into the brand-spankin’ new harbor with no additional trouble, and the nice DNR lady we had talked to earlier was there to show us where to dock. After tying up, Davi cleaned out the cat cage and we set out to explore the area. While it has a nice view of Lake Michigan and clean basic facilities, the 122 slip harbor has nothing very interesting on site.

The harbor was big, fancy and new,… and empty. We set out for lunch and found out the rest of the reason why it was so empty. The single restaurant (actually a biker bar) was locked up, so remembering being told that “Cedar River has a really nice gas station,” we hiked south along the state highway shoulder where we found the cook just closing up at the travel center. We ended up getting four sandwiches and some French fries to-go, and trudged back to the harbor having had our fill of the local establishments. After letting our lunch settle, I made a work call, and we decided we’d had enough of Cedar River in general. The trip back up to Esky was uneventful and somewhat socially uncomfortable. I don’t think it could be described as a nice day. Summary: A great harbor of refuge if you need to get out of some bad weather. Otherwise, would not recommend.

8/29-Back to Fayette.

Our last visitor for the month was our friend Shari, who ditched her family and drove up to check out the Perseverance.

We had an adventure with her (See Wave Trios for details). It all ended up OK. We’re still on speaking terms.

Conclusion:

Perhaps we will refrain from quite so many back-to-back visits in the future, but even so, it was good. By the end of the month, we were approaching competence in many aspects of operating and living on the boat. And we enjoyed every visitor. We hope they enjoyed the Perseverance.