Gran Vida's Great Half-Looped Adventure: Harbour Springs, Michigan. We're Safe and Sound!!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Mackinac Island to Harbor Springs
9:00 - 5:00. 53 nautical miles

We went to bed last night not really knowing what we were going to do today. It seems everyplace we checked we got a different weather report. We woke up to East winds (which NO one was predicting) and calm seas. There were some vague reports of mild thunderstorms in the morning (the sky was clear blue) and perhaps some thunderstorms in the evening. We cast-off, thinking if we didn’t like the looks of things we could deke into the one anchorage we saw not too far off our course between Mackinac and our destination, Harbor Springs, seven or so hours away.

Things were going well and the sky remained beautiful and clear. We bopped under the Mackinac bridge, continued right on past that last safe anchorage with clear blue skies and calm seas. We hung a left at the appropriate green buoy towards Harbor Springs, our destination, knowing that from here on in we were committed. It was an open water crossing. There were no more safe anchorages until we got there.

It continued sunny and calm for awhile but soon it started picking up, which was expected, we knew a storm was coming later in the afternoon, well after we would be safely tucked into our harbour.

Then things got bumpier. We started seeing four to six feet waves. No problem though, Gran Vida can easily handle that.

Then rougher. Off in the distance we could see some dark clouds. We switched on the weather. Hmm… Thunderstorms approaching from the west. Should be here by three o'clock. THREE?! This morning they said they weren't forecasted to arrive until the evening. Our landing time was four o’clock. Oh oh.

Darker clouds. Then suddenly a very ominous sounding alarm when off on our VHF radio with a weather alert: “Severe thunderstorms, with penny size hail and wind gusts of up to 50 miles an hour possible. Expected by two o'clock. All mariners take immediate refuge.” Holy cow! We were out in the middle of Lake Michigan. We had no where to hide.

We’ve heard those kinds of reports before and knew that the word “possible” was comforting. There were about four hours to go before we could find cover and we could see the storms in the distance all around us. By adjusting our speed we missed a few at first but eventually they caught up to us. We closed up the vinyl windows, stowed everything below that might take a tumble and enjoyed the show. There was nothing else we could do.

It turned out not too badly. The boat bounced around like a cork. We put our sailing know-how to work and basically tacked back and forth so we rarely took it on the beam, which the boat does not like.

We made our way into port, taking turns on the helm. The worst part of the whole storm was when we tried to tie up at the pier in town. The winds were swirling around like crazy into the bay we pulled into. Trying to get a read on the winds, we could see several flags onshore that were literally all going in different direction. The seas were following suite. We found the town dock (they were closed), spotted an open spot on the dock and tied up with the help of other boaters only to be bounced and banged around like I’ve NEVER seen Gran Vida bounced before. It was NOT pretty. It made the thunderstorm look like a walk in the park. She was bouncing to such a degree that she was in danger of getting jammed under dock or landing on top of it. We had to get her out of there quickly.

We spied a better looking, more protected dock not too far away and with the boat bucking like a wild bronco, pushed Jeff off. He was too far away and bouncy for me to make it aboard. I watched as he bounced away from the dock solo, trying to make the boat go where he wanted it to without damage, hopng I'd see him again. Knowing he was going to have a great deal of difficulty getting the boat into the dock by himself in that wind, I ran around as fast as I could to catch him. With the help of different helpful boaters we were were able to wrestle the boat safely in. Whew. Thunderstorm nothing. This was far more “exciting”.

Of course, as soon as we got all tied up and caught our breath, the sun came out. We’re staying put for awhile though. As I write I hear the rumblings of the next storm coming through and they're predicted to keep on coming for the next twenty-four hours or so. We’re going to sit here and wait it out. After this passes, through, they are predicting three days of sun and calm. We’ll sure take that when we can get it!