I’ve Seen the Light - June, 2021

We joined Davi and Umlaut on the Perseverance on Friday night. Saturday dawned calm and partly sunny meaning there were a few walkers at the dock. A couple of older guys stopped and asked Jim if this is a research vessel. Jim told them no, it’s just a private boat. Davi says we are researching feline seasickness so maybe it really IS a research vessel.

It was still calm and cloudy by the time we finished our breakfast so we decided to take her out for a little trial run ahead of what we hoped would be our first overnight to Washington Island at the tip of Door County, Wisconsin.

We haven’t yet had the Perseverance out into Green Bay proper as all our excursions so far have been confined to Little Bay de Noc which is more narrow and sheltered. I managed to get all the electronics started up: radar, GPS, auto-pilot, radios, etc. We need to spend time getting more proficient with all of these so this will be a good practice run. I was surprised to note that Umlaut barely blinked when the diesel roared to life. Maybe he is destined to be a sea cat.

Last time out I had a slight mishap leaving the dock which left a ‘beginner mark’ on the bow. Anxious not to repeat that experience, I had been rehearsing in my head the proper procedure for backing out of the dock and swinging the bow around to port to leave the marina. I’m pretty sure I informed Jim of my plan but we were both trying to remember a lot of new stuff so it may have overrun his buffer.

We all donned our Type V inflatable life vests and full-duplex radios headsets for departure. All was going to plan until I got to the part where I was going to turn the wheel hard to port to bring the bow around and Jim was insistent in my headset that I should turn the rudder the other way. Since he could see parts of the boat I couldn’t, I went with it. Turns out he just had in his head that I meant to turn the other way. Fortunately, our radio headsets kept it from escalating into a shouting match. That was money well spent. We now have a rule that the pilot gets to make the plan and the deckhands had better like it.

Finally out on the lake, we headed south. The cat did pretty well for the first little bit, sitting on the pilot house seat taking in the sight of water all around...and the occasional bird. Things took a little turn after we got past Peninsula Point and the quartering seas got a bit choppier. The stabilizers took care of the roll but the Umlaut was still disconcerted, starting to make piteous little meowing noises.

I set the autopilot to take us toward the Minneapolis Shoal light just barely visible to the south. It would have been difficult to get lost on this relatively clear day but I compared my trusty paper charts with the GPS and the radar image to make sure I could understand what I was seeing on each screen. My goal is to be able to set a GPS course to take us to Washington Island when we go, eventually.

As the lighthouse grows bigger, so do the waves and we are pitching a little. This does not go over well with the cat. I looked down and happened to see Umlaut lying on the floor hanging his head over the top step of the spiral staircase. I can’t tell if he is green under all that black fur but he definitely looks...unenthusiastic.

By the time we rounded the lighthouse the cat had enough and bolted for the dark hole under the stairs. This is the last place you’d want to be if the motion was affecting you since it’s as far from the fresh air and horizon as you can get. Davi managed to haul Umlaut out of the hole and pour him into his crate which he parked on the pilothouse daybed next to the screen door. The cat got steadily better from that point.

Davi took the wheel (watched the auto-pilot) on the way back so Jim and I could take a turn around the deck and enjoy the sun peeking through the clouds. It really is a wonderful boat with plenty of handholds on all the walkways and its single screw barely leaves a wake even at cruising speed. We could hardly believe we owned this amazingly unique vessel.

The ride back was lovely and uneventful. We saw a few birds and otherwise just basked in the enjoyment of our new purchase.

As we neared Esky, Davi tried to call the marina for help docking but heard no reply. Ordinarily, Escanaba Public Marina staff are right on the ball to help even if we don’t radio ahead but this time no one appeared. (The harbormaster later apologized that he couldn’t hear the radio over the hedge trimmer he was operating. These folks work hard and they do EVERYTHING here!) We would have to dock with just our crew of three. I made one approach to the dock but couldn’t quite get Jim close enough to jump off without getting the boat TOO close so I had to go around again but that time Jim and Davi did a fine job of getting lines on the dock. I gave the bow thrusters one final burst to snug it up and my job was done.

Based on that little jaunt, in which we went nearly halfway to Washington Island, I feel pretty good about heading over there in the next few days if we get some decent weather. SPOILER: This feeling turns out to be wildly optimistic. See Jim’s post titled FLUIDS.

The cat slept all afternoon.