Thursday, June 23, 2022
Trip: 39.15. GPS 218nm
Last night the wind direction was just right that we left the companionway hatch open and A/C off. The light winds were enough to keep us comfortable and predicted to go down to 63-64F. About 0130, I woke to the banging of lines agains the mast, clang, clang, clang. Even though Phil was very much asleep with ear plugs in, I went outside to see if there was anything I could do. I don’t know if there are any shorter pieces of line around, but the spin off extra jib halyard connected to the base of the mast was hitting the mast even though the wind was only 4kts from the north. I improvised taking the end of the jib sheet line, wrapped it around the line and the shroud tightening line. After that I slept well.
I had technical difficulties last night not being able to upload the photos. Turns out when connected to the marina WiFi (which doesn’t work) nothing loads, but I had success using my iPhone as a hot spot. So while Phil continues to sleep, I revised and published the blog. It was 65F when I woke at 730pm. I had to close the companionway hatch as the wind is still blowing from the same direction. It’s sunny outside and I can hear the noises of construction equipment at work while I write. At first I wasn’t sure about staying, but we really needed a rest day. You wouldn’t think sailing is so tiring, but our bodies are constantly adjusting to keep upright as the boat is moving all the time. We needed a day to sleep in!
1015 am we left to walk up State Street to find a place to have breakfast. I called UPMC Hamot to see if their cafeteria was an option. The answer is no unless you are visiting someone staying there, which didn’t surprise me given the pandemic. We stopped in a coffee shop and they said that Dominick’s Diner on 12th street was the closest but we didn’t want to walk that far. The Irish pub was still closed, so we checked out Flagship City Food Hall.
Molly Brannigans Pub is dark green with the Food Hall to the left.
Parkside entrance
There the smoothie shop also had bagel breakfast sandwiches and breakfast wraps, which is what we got. They were hot and good. While we ate we listened to some jazz and oldie songs, which I Shazammed and added to my Apple Music Library. We then walked to the Food Co-Op next door and though we couldn’t find a case of water, they did have gallon jugs of alkaline 88 water. We got 2 so each could carry one back. On the way back on the dock, I talked to one of the constructions workers and found out they are building a walkway/sidewalk like the other one.
On the left side of the photo are the metal supports for the sidewalk. Construction started early and was noisy.
Smoothie bar in front of the window.
Now it’s 1215 pm and we’re going over to the Maritime Museum and see The Brig Niagara.
We had a nice afternoon first going on a tour of the ship Brig Niagara getting the treat of seeing trainees climbing the rigging. Then we went inside the museum and spent an enjoyable couple hours watching videos and looking at exhibits.
Maritime Museum entrance
Phil at the Capstan. There were long poles inserted in the squares each with a person on the end. They walked around this to raise the anchors.
Trainees climbing the rigging.
Lines coiled on the belay pins.
Adding captions to my photos.
We were done shortly after 3p and hungry. We got a map of restaurants in the area at the marina office and decided to to The Cove restaurant for sandwiches at happy hour. It’s on Dobbins Landing close to the Bicentennial Tower so the water of Presque Isle are in view. Phil had a perch sandwich with salad and I had an asagio cheese crab burger (surf and turf burger) with sweet potato fries.
We were planning on going to Port Dover tomorrow, but when looking at the long range winds it seemed that we would be stuck in Port Dover until Tuesday. So instead, we are sailing to Port Stanley. We’ve completed the ArriveCAN app and with a couple phone calls to 888-CAN-PASS (226-7277), we found that the Port Stanley Sailing Squadron, where we hope to stay, is a place that we can check in. We hope being fully vaccinated and boostered will help ease our way into Canada. It’s 60 nm so will be a long day, but it’s almost the longest day of the year, so should be able to arrive with plenty of day light left. The winds are going to be coming from the north and less than 5 kts to start increasing by the time we get closer to Port Stanley clocking to from the south at 6-10 kts so likely a motor boat day unless we get some sailing in near the end of the day.
Travels with the Dolsen’s 