We met Invincible in Port Huron last night. A family of 4 delivering their new boat, a C & C 30, up to Tawas, MI. They had started out in the town of St. Clair, earlier the previous day, and were hoping to be home by Monday, Memorial Day. Their next port of call would be Lexington, MI, which we were not planning on stopping at. They were planning an early departure the next morning, so we wished them good luck, and a safe journey.

The next day we walked the main street of Port Huron looking for a grocery store for provisions, and a library, to post our progress update. After our short stay ashore, we made the 11:00 a.m. bridges, and turned upriver towards Lake Huron. The last bridge on the river, was the "Blue Water Bridge", that connected Port Huron to Sarnia, Canada. 

Our local knowledge advised us to stay towards the Canadian side of the river to avoid the worst of the current in the river. Under the bridge it was measured at around 5.5 knots. And a 25 knot North wind blowing down Lake Huron made it that much worse. We spent nearly an hour under the bridge, trying to claw our way into Lake Huron, only to find 6 to 9 footers out on the lake.

The waves were big, and the wind was blowing at 25 gusting to 30, right on the bow. Our forward progress was down to 2.5 to 3 knots over the ground. It was going to be an all-day beating. We were just clawing our way up the western shoreline of Lake Huron when we spotted another sailboat! It was Invincible, calling it a day, and heading back to Port Huron. The seas were too big, and the wind too strong for them to make any kind of forward progress. We spoke with them briefly on the radio, and they wished us luck.

We talked about turning back, and trying it again another day, but we really didn't want to go through the ordeal of going under the Blue Water Bridge another time. So instead of turning back, we changed our destination to Lexington, a mere 17 miles in the distance. Those 17 miles were long miles though. Almost 7 hours before we reached port, only to try docking with a 30 knot crosswind. Lonnnggg docklines saved the day!

Route Summary: May 21st - June 1, 2002

Day 1   55 miles    Cleveland – Put in Bay, OH
Day 2   53 miles    Put in Bay – Detroit, MI
Day 3   56 miles    Detroit – Port Huron, MI
Day 4   20 miles    Port Huron - Lexington, MI
Day 5   40 miles    Lexington - Harbor Beach, MI
Day 6   59 miles    Harbor Beach - Harrisville, MI
Day 7   48 miles    Harrisville – Presque Isle, MI
Day 8   65 miles    Presque Isle – Mackinaw City
Day 9   55 miles    Mackinaw City – Charlevoix, MI
Day 10  73 miles    Charlevoix – Frankfort, MI
Day 11  86 miles    Frankfort – Sheboygan, WI
Day 12  122 miles   Sheboygan - Chicago

Total   732 Nautical Miles         81 Upriver        842 Statute Miles