Perry's Monument in early October.
As bad as the weather was during the entire month of September, this week's weather was fantastic. Highs in the uppers 70's near 80 and lows in the low 50's. I've been waiting a long time to enjoy the Lake. Since the First Mate had work issues, I decided to drive up early Wednesday morning and single-hand Therapy for a few days. High pressure had settled over the Lake giving us light winds out of the East and giving me a chance to air out the sails. There were no other boats on the Lake except for a few die-hard fishermen. I decided to sail upto Put-In-Bay where the mooring would be easy for a Captain without a Crew. Even though the weather was nice, no other boats were in the Bay. The shops were all closed and the water taxi service was discontinued during the weekdays.
Thursday was just as nice. I left my mooring twice, once for a sail north past Middle Bass Island in the morning and again for a few laps out to Rattlesnake Island in the afternoon. The afternoon wind picked up and the best sailing of the week was had with Therapy hitting 6.40 knots on its final tack back to Put-In-Bay.
Thursday was just as nice. I left my mooring twice, once for a sail north past Middle Bass Island in the morning and again for a few laps out to Rattlesnake Island in the afternoon. The afternoon wind picked up and the best sailing of the week was had with Therapy hitting 6.40 knots on its final tack back to Put-In-Bay.
Connie at the helm.
Friday was another gorgeous day on the Lake and I left Put-In-Bay early in the morning to motor back to Herl's Harbor to meet First Mate Connie. Not a sign of the wind from yesterday afternoon, but the trip was enjoyable just the same. The Wednesday to Friday single-handed trip to Middle Bass, South Bass and Rattlesnake Islands had been a success. Once Connie was onboard, we motored to Kelley's Island to spend the final evening on the Lake for the year. The North Bay of Kelley's is our favorite anchorage and shortly we were joined by three other sailboats intent on enjoying their last weekend as well. The water quality, unfortunately, was the worse that we encountered all year... maybe ever. The algae, or cyanobacteria, was incredibly thick... like sailing through a billion gallons of green paint. Something desperately needs to be done to curb the runoff of farm fertilizers and nutrients into the Lake which feed the runaway algae bloom.
We returned to Herl's Harbor on Saturday morning under power as the wind failed to return. Still, I was glad that the final sail had been a good, fast tack on flat water between Rattlesnake and Put-In-Bay. You always want your last sail to be your best. We decommissioned Therapy during the rest of the day, getting her ready for her long winter's nap, and we'll start dreaming of our adventures for the 2012 sailing season.
We returned to Herl's Harbor on Saturday morning under power as the wind failed to return. Still, I was glad that the final sail had been a good, fast tack on flat water between Rattlesnake and Put-In-Bay. You always want your last sail to be your best. We decommissioned Therapy during the rest of the day, getting her ready for her long winter's nap, and we'll start dreaming of our adventures for the 2012 sailing season.