Zatarra Cruise - Ashtabula cont.

The Port Stanley racers left bright and early Sunday morning and we were able to leave our raft and move into a slip for our last night.

One of Paul and Sharon's friends asked if we'd like to go out for a sail as he had not yet taken
his boat out. Paul and I went with him.

His boat was a 36 ft C&C and I felt right at home as Meridian had been a C&C30.

On the way out we saw a bald eagle with a fish on the breakwall.

We had a lovely sail for a couple of hours and the only glitch was getting the autohelm
to work. That problem was solved (Paul has the same one)

Our skipper had played fiddle with a group at the party the previous night

I don't know if that video will work but he played a number of fiddle tunes while we sailed. He said there is a video of him called "Fiddler on the Foredeck" on YouTube.

Back in the yacht club I was again looking at boat names.

Has to be a story behind this one.

Its been a long time since this boat was someone's "Happy Destiny"

Is it good Feng Shui to call your boat Feng Shui?

We all hope our boats are.

We were invited to a friends house for dinner and had a great time with 4 AYC members.

Zatarra Cruise - Ashtabula

We stayed 3 nights in Ashtabula, 2 rafted off and one in a slip after the Port Stanley boats raced back home. We arrived on Friday and there was a Pork Roast planned for Saturday which was also the Fourth of July.

The bank across the river from the club is being rehabilitated as much of the area
was industrial in the past.

Herons regularly fished on the opposite bank. Ducks and of course Canada Geese visited looking for a handout. Osprey and Bald Eagles flew overhead. We saw what we think was a Muskrat swimming across the river.

A short walk from the AYC is a lovely old downtown. It is a about a block and a half
of old stores, restaurants and bars. Many of them have the original tin ceilings and one even had
tin wall cladding. The first night we ate at a very good and very busy seafood restaurant at the
 top of the main street.

A classic old bank building, The Marine National Bank.

I sat and sketched this row of stores, without includung  the road closed section!

While Paul, Sharon and Chelsey had lunch with friends downtown, I explored the town a little, walking up to Park Point.

The area beside downtown was obviously quite affluent when Ashtabula was in it's
hay day. Beautiful big, old, clapboard houses on large lots. A few have been kept up
but most have been divided into multiple units and have peeling paint and rotting
fascia.

We had commented that there was very little in the way of July 4th decoration in the
downtown area but in the residential area there were lots of flags and parties going on.

View of the Bascule Bridge from Point Park. We were docked around the
bend to the right.

One of my favorite things, historic information. Its the only bridge, of its kind,
still in active use in Ohio.

Conveyor and harbour from Park Point.

Park Point also has a Merchant Marine Memorial and

a Marine and Transportation Museum, but it was closed for the holiday.

I saw about 6 houses with these "whirligigs" in the gardens (one house had 4 of them,
all slightly different). When the wind blew, the sails filled and the boats went round.

We ate at the Pig Roast that was put on for the race and then went back to the boat when the speeches and awards started.

Although Ashtabula itself didn't have a fireworks display there were enough private ones around
that we watched from the boat and they were still going when we went to bed.

Zatarra Cruise - Erie to Ashtabula

We were up early, readied the boat (engine on, mooring lines off, sail cover off, sheets and halyards clear) and set off motoring out of Presquile Bay.

We passed this cruise ship coming into the city dock at Erie.

Blueberry muffins for breakfast.

After about 8 hours, sailing most of the way in a lovely 10 plus knot wind, we started to
see the fleet that had raced across from Port Stanley. We learned later that more than 30
boats had been registered in the 50th Lake Erie International Race ( sponsored by
Mount Gay Rum) from Port Stanley to Ashtabula.

Mariway from Port Stanley approaching the finish inside Ashtabula harbour.

Ashtabula has 2 breakwalls that create a large protected harbour. Both sides are industrial with railway lines and sand and gravel piles on the East side and piles of coal on the West side.

There are new lighthouses on either side of the entrance (not photogenic at all) and this is
the old lighthouse, where the entrance used to be.

The conveyor, across the river, that moves the coal from the railway yard to the dock where
it gets loaded onto Lakers.

Monster machinery on the coal side.

Their own version of "Happy Face".

We motored under the bridge, that lifts every half hour, and up the river.

Rafted off at the Ashtabula Yacht Club and warmly greeted by friends that
Paul and Sharon had made on previous visits.

Zatarra Cruise - Erie

We stayed in Erie for a day, rented a car and added more ballast to the boat (Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby and the Liquor Store) and Panera Bread for lunch. I then walked the docks and chatted to some sailors getting back from the Interclub. They confirmed that the Buffalo race had the usual strong winds but they had had a lovely sail back.

Zatarra on the transient dock at Erie Yacht Club, with other Port Dover
boats around.

I enjoy the boat names that are a play on words. Many have "knot" or "buoy" in them the worst being a Port Dover boat called "Knotty Buoy".As I walked the docks I started observing the different kinds of boat names.

We know what paid for this one.

Many names reflect the enjoyment that they bring.

Maybe owned by someone from the Eastern Seaboard

No idea, it's a tri-maran.

Zatarra Cruise to Ashtabula



The original plan was for Paul, Sharon, Chelsey and I to sail to Port Stanley on Wednesday, race to Ashtabula on Friday and then cruise back along the south coast of the Lake. A number of things conspired against this. Paul was put on very heavy antibiotics that wiped him out, we worked out it would be a minimum  of a 14 hour day and the wind was against us all the way. We decided to scrap that plan and go across to Erie and cruise down to Ashtabula. This turned out to be a good decision.


We started out with a good wind from the North East which gradually dropped. We tried
sailing wing on wing but this became more difficult as the waves increased. We turned on the motor
and bought in the head sail.

The winds as usual were fluky around the Point and just as we reached deep water the engine quit.
We unfurled the headsail and as the wind was picking up were able to sail close to our planned course
to Erie.

Paul was not feeling that well and now had to figure out what was wrong with the engine. He let it cool and the wind built.

This Laker waited for us to tack away before turning in towards Nanticoke

I don't usually helm while standing on the seat but I was also spotting as Sharon
and Paul reefed the mainsail.

The wind continued to build and we had a very rocky and wet ride with 20knot winds and 6 foot swells down the middle of the Lake. Meanwhile Paul had his head in the engine compartment. Every now and then he would emerge to try and settle his stomach before checking another component - not the oil, not the anti freeze, water is coming out the stern, belts all look good. We restarted the engine a number of times but it didn't sound or smell right. Paul was focused on the engine and Sharon and I were starting to calmly discuss whether we could tack up the channel (directly into the wind) or towing options. Calmly because we didn't want to worry Chelsey or bother Paul.
We were almost to the Pennsylvania shore, East of the Erie channel when Paul (looking green again) found the problem, plugged air filter. We turned the motor on with the air filter off and slowly motored up the channel, to the customs video phone and to our slip in the Erie Yacht Club.

Dredger in the Erie channel.

We were very happy to get to this dock. Tidy up the boat (the combination of rough weather and
engine examinations had made quite a mess), have a glass of wine and have dinner. Needless to
say we were all pretty exhausted and went to bed by 9:30!

Lake Erie Interclub - Committee Boat Day 3

I am a Sunset person, not a Sunrise person. George always woke early and would tell me (later) that I had missed a lovely sunrise. No. I didn't miss a lovely sleep. One of the things I hate and ( secretly) love, about the Interclub, is the sunrises I see. I was up at 5:45 to leave the dock at 6:30 to start the first fleet at 7:30.

Chuck was again zipping around, setting the course, giving us instruction. Wonder
if he gets sick of sunrises too.

Bill and Alistair with the course letters ready to be hung on the back of the boat.

We had the routine down pat now and everything went like clockwork.

Polar Express starting out on the race to Port Colborne

They started off in grey but dry weather. The wind was up and down through the day.
We heard via e-mail that Caliedascope won their fleet that day.

We celebrated the end of our Committee Boat duties with breakfast at the Port Dover Dairy Bar