pincky → huron → day 11

Day 11: South from Port Austin

The day started well, the marina staff came by to collect the expired flares and stayed for a while to admire the boat. They were particulaly capitvated by the self steering gear which they had never seen before. We then went off to stock up, one of us to the supermarket and the other to the hardware store. The hardware store turned out to have more of what we needed than the supermarket but we were well stocked for food in any case.

As had now become customary for us, we spent the morning working on the boat and set off just before lunch. Unfortunatly our departure put a pall on the day, two near dunkings while untying and we ended up leaving one of the ropes behind! However the marina staff were kind enough to retrieve it and throw it to us as we went by the fuel dock.

All in all Port Austin was our favorite port of the trip and I don't want our clumsy departure to deter anyone from visiting!

Once underway our fortunes improved again, once again we had a fair wind although slightly more easterly than we would have prefered. We left Saginaw Bay keeping a sharp eye on the Port Austin reef lighthouse and sailed east until we had almost reached the shipping channel. At that point we turned our nose to the south and started the last leg of our trip down Lake Huron.

The coastline on this part of the lake seemed fairly uninteresting (at least from six miles out!) but we were able to mark the towns as we passed them. Harbor Beach seemed to stick around the horizon for a long time, natural enough give the height of the towers that marked it! This section of the lake did however treat us to one of the nicer sunset we had.

The night that followed was as delightful as our previous night of voyaging. However the glistening stars distracted one member of the crew from the not so stealthy approach of a freighter and the unfortunate soul found hinself illuminated by their searchlight when they considered that we were too close for comfort. A second freighter also shone their searchlight on us when we didn't change tacks quickly enough for their liking. After that we came about and heading inshore in order to avoid future illuminating experiences!

This change of course and an earlier wind shift meant that we headed slightly north of west during almost an hour but even so we knew that we would reach Port Huron and the entrance to the St. Clair river early the following morning.

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