July 4th at Cedar Point

We spent the holiday weekend back at our home dock at Cedar Point Marina. The wind had shifted to NNE and the temperature and humidity dropped. The 4th started with a dinghy parade and ended with fireworks on the beach. 

Sun rise over Cedar Point

Party at the Sandusky Bay Sandbar

Sunset over Sandusky Bay

Fireworks from Cedar Point Beach

Lake Erie Islands

 Our first trip of the year took us to Kelly's Island and Put-in-Bay.  

We stayed at Seaway Marina at Kelly's Island and had a great view of the lake.  We took the dinghy all the way around the island.  

Of course it wouldn't be Lake Erie if we didn't get a storm.  

Shortly after the storm we were visited by a swarm of bees!  A beekeeper advised the queen was in there somewhere and that they were probably looking for a new home.  No one was stung and they were still there when we left. 

Next stop was Put-in-Bay.  We stayed on a mooring buoy for the night and took the water taxi in for dinner, drinks and live music.  The next morning we decided to head back to Cedar Point due to the wind forecast.  

 

Shake Down Spring 2021

 We returned to Cedar Point Marina on May 1st, 2021. The first shake down cruise went well with all systems working as they should except the bow thruster. The thruster is a 24 volt KP12 from Key Power and had worked great last fall. I had the thruster apart over the winter and replaced all seals and gaskets.

The month a May was devoted to troubleshooting and attempts to repair the thruster. After replacing the motor cleaning/testing the relay box and having the batteries checked a call was made to Dean at Key Power. The voltage was dropping below 20 volts under load he recommended replacing the batteries. The 4 year old 8D AGM's were replaced and the thruster is back up to full power.  Thanks Dean!

It's good to be home with a full summer ahead of us. Cedar Point opens mid May and Covid restrictions are being dropped in Ohio. 

Winter Work 2021

Our first winter with Cheers is finally over. A long list of projects was completed while inside heated storage at Son Rise Marina in Sandusky Ohio. 

The anchor pulpit was re-cored.

The heat exchangers were boiled out. All belts, hoses and clamps were replaced. 

The bottom was repainted and the hull was buffed/polished. 

Spring launch April 26th, 2021

Trip Summary Baltimore to Sandusky

Our second leg of our journey home to Sandusky is now complete. We covered 867.7 miles over 145.5 hours run time and transited 35 locks total using approximately 480 gallons of diesel fuel.

Date	Departure /Arrival	Miles	Locks	Hours
8/23	Baltimore to Ford Landing DE	37.8	0	6.5
8/24-8/26	Ford Landing DE to Waterford NY	333.5	1	53
8/27	Waterford NY to Randall NY	44.7	11	10
8/28	Randall NY to Sylvan Beach NY	65.1	9	13
8/29	Sylvan Beach NY to Lyons NY	79.3	4	13.5
8/30	Lyons NY to Albion NY	61.4	7	13
8/31	Albion NY to Buffalo NY	51	3	11.5
9/1	Buffalo NY to Sandusky OH	194.9	0	25
		867.7	35	145.5

Buffalo NY to Cedar Point Sandusky Ohio

Up at 6 am to start the last leg to our home port, Cedar Point in Sandusky, Oh.  

Lake Erie welcomed us with southwest winds of 20 knots and 3-5 foot waves.  Luckily this only lasted for a couple hours and the waves died down.  

We took shifts throughout the day and into the night.  As the evening progressed,  so did the winds and waves.   At about 4 am we were about  20 miles off the shore of Lorain when we ran into a storm with steady winds of 25 and gusts to 36 knots! Waves were about 6 feet and the boat did great!  She's a tank!  We did make one mistake.  We didn't realize that water was coming in the pilot house doors because we didn't latch them down....one of many lessons we will learn.  

We made it through the storm and just as we were getting close to Cedar Point, the moon came out to lead us the rest of the way home. 

We came to the Sandusky Bay Breakwall Light at about 7 am.   

Finally home!  

Had a great first day catching up with old friends and making new ones!

The sunset's here are just a beautiful as we remember. 

Woke up the next morning to something we conveniently forgot about....muffle-heads!!  The boat was covered with them.  Appears we made it back just in time for muffle-head season!  

From Albion Canal Park to Buffalo NY

Work-up to low 50's this morning.  We plan to make it out of the Erie Canal and stop in Buffalo to step-up our mast.  This leg will be 56 miles and 3 locks.   

This is a picture of the canal going over a aqueduct.  The canal is actually a bridge going over a waterfall! 

Headed into our last set of locks in Lockport NY.  These two locks are combined for a total of 50 feet of lift.  

 

Made our way to the Niagara River, leaving the Erie Canal behind us.  The current in the Niagara is really strong....took us a while against the current to make it to our last lock.  

Exiting the Black Rock Lock we had to call for passage through a swing bridge and then a lift bridge. 

We made it to Buffalo NY!!  We tied up in Canal Side in the Buffalo river to step-up our mast and well deserved rest.  

Took an evening walk into Buffalo and back to the boat for dinner.  Up early tomorrow to start our final 200 mile leg across Lake Erie!