At the end of her 3rd season, more than 7 months aboard, some 3000 miles cruising, from the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean to the freshwater of the Great Lakes, through 10 states, 2 countries and 100+ locks, Happy Happy arrived at her winter storage home in northern Michigan in "not-quite-as-planned", Looper fashion. The final journey from Mackinac Island was intended to be an easy, two segment cruise, first westerly to Beaver Island and then a final southward run to Northport, Michigan...................
The departure from Mackinac started calmly enough (play light, cheery music here). The early morning winds and seas were mild. With the sun warming our backs our initial run west into the northern end of Lake Michigan was filled with a view of the open horizon. At mid day we turned south to transit Gray's Reef Passage and the winds grew stiff from the north and raised the seas up off the starboard aft quarter ("the back right part of the boat") which allowed Happy Happy to surf the big rolling swells.
The size of the swells must have been bigger than what we've experienced before because the force of the following seas on the rudders started to make the autopilot overload every 15-20 minutes. When the autopilot kicked out Happy Happy quickly turned sideways into the beam seas creating much attention on board (resizing/replacing the power feed to the autopilot hydraulic pump will be a future, "For Motorheads Only" post).
By the time we reached our turn west towards Beaver Island the big water became a starboard beam sea and made for an abrupt, but brief and noteworthy side to side rolling that sent any loose items on the galley counters, books and unsecured items in the cabins flying to the floor. Another one of those, haha not so funny when it happened kind of moments.
A quick turn back south, throttling the motors down, navigation/weather checks and calls ahead to confirm an earlier than planned arrival revised our cruising plans and made for a full days cruise all the way to Northport in one go and that was that, the end of cruising season three before we had time to savor it.
Knowing that we were coming to the end of our third season of living aboard was strangely non-eventful. This has been a year of rich experiences and we were fully immersed (maybe a bad choice of words) in the cruising life. Being in tune with weather and sea conditions ahead, keeping all the boat systems happy (Happy) and provisions stocked and networking with other boaters to guide our way was our daily routine.
Now, even sooner than we had thought, we were at our last stop and for the first time in 3 years, having to unpack and come off the boat completely until next season. No monthly car trips to spend part of each winter month onboard like Mobile and Jacksonville. BOATLESS!!!
Thankfully we had the better part of a week to transition back to life offboard. Many of our slipmates were experienced local cruisers ending their summer seasons and like us were preparing to have their boats hauled out and put in storage for the winter. We spent our remaining days in Northport thoughtfully packing up and sharing docktails and stories with our new friends.
With Happy Happy offloaded for the winter, we deliver the keys to the haulout staff and take a few days to savor the drive home through the fall colors and cool northern nights. We arrive in Atlanta the day after Hurricane Irma hits....................... ;)
The Looper life. As we were coming in for the season, we made new friends who were leaving Northport to begin their Looper journey!
Northport is a quirky little town.
Happy Happy's winter home in a heated warehouse.
We arrived "home" in Atlanta, the day after Hurricane Irma passed thru!
Thankfully the tree that went down in our backyard didn't hit the house!