July 30, 2011 Little Sodus Bay

It took 7 hours to motor sail from Sackets Harbor to Little Sodus Bay. We set sail at 8:00 just as the clock struck 8 bells, and arrived at 6 bells in the afternoon. It was a beautiful trip. The sky was blue and was matched by the water. The wind was behind us at about 5 knots. Because we were motoring faster than that the apparent wind it was like a close reach, keeping a nice breeze blowing over the deck. I thought about doing some teak maintenance but decided that it could wait until I was back in Vermilion, so just did some reading and enjoyed the day. Unfortunately, there were some 3’ swells coming at us from all the way across Lake Ontario, and they did not agree with someone’s stomach. At one point I had to give her crackers, Dramamine, wrist bands and a barf bag. Kerry made it without getting sick though.

On the way we talked with Rosemary, Big Jim, and just as we were pulling into Little Sodus, Roger and JoAnne Matz. It was great to speak with them all. JoAnne is recovering from back surgery and returns to work part time Monday.

For sailors use to Lake Erie depths of 40’ or so, I included a picture of my chart plotter showing the depth at that point of 482’! Sometimes it was so deep that the depth sounder just read, “Deep.”

We hoped we would be able to dock at the Fair Haven Yacht Club but had not been able to reach anyone by phone. Our alternative was to anchor in the Bay. Fortunately there were two docks available on the visitors dock, and we were able to get them both. For the first time on the trip, Lew had his mainsail cover on before me. He was so tickled about this that I told him I would take a picture and put it on the blog, usually I put mine on before we arrive, but this time I left the mainsail up until we were very near the entry channel.

When we arrived I noticed a screw lying at the base of the mast. Now it is never a good thing to find a screw lying on the deck. This one turned out to be from the plate that holds the boom on the mast. When I checked it, I discovered that two of the four on the starboard side were on the deck and the other two were loose and ready to fall out.The plate had moved back about 1/8". At first I worried that it might be difficult to move the plate forward to align the screw holes, but it turned out not to be so. Lew helped me re install them again with Lock-Tite, which it what I always do when I find them loose. For some reason, they still loosen.

After our arrival rum and tonic, and after the boom plate repair, I took a martini over to Windchaser. Kerry was still recovering below. Lew gave a rum and coke to a FHYC member. We chatted a while and he offered to let us use a car to go to dinner or to the grocery tomorrow. We will probably take him up on the grocery offer.

We decided to take our dingy's to dinner at a restaurant across the bay, the Little Sodus Bay Inn. When we got there it looked pretty awful and was empty. We went to the Pleasant Beach Hotel instead which was recommended by some of the FHYC members. We had really good dinners. My fried haddock was delicious.

The Annie M had to be towed by Lew. My engine started the first pull, ran 10 seconds and refused to start again. I was so mad at it I considered just throwing it into the bay. Every year I spend $100 to $200 trying to get it to run. It always has carburetor problems. I figured if I buried it at sea it would end my frustration with it and I would stop wasting money on it. Lew and I are going to look at it today. If I do bury it at sea, I'll try to find a 500' spot so I won't be tempted to try and get it back!

The funniest thing was when we tied the Annie M to Lew's dingy and started back to the boats after dinner. Lew thought he would be able to turn to port and leave the docked boats behind. Instead the weight of the Annie M made it impossible for him to turn, so we bounced down the sides of two big sailboats and almost ran directly into a big trawler before he could stop the engine. Pretty entertaining for the folks dining on their boats.