"Knot Neighbors"

The hot winds are blowing from the southwest today up on Sandusky Bay. With the sudden appearance of mid summer temperatures you also get reminded of how some boaters cope with heat and humidity. Unlike at home, most of our nautical neighbors live just a few feet away without any big walls to separate the noise and activity.

Many of the boats around here have air conditioning units to keep things cool down below. Some rely on lots of fans to circulate the air and the owners leave the ports and hatches open (with screens) to let the cooler breezes circulate. The traditionalists also like to listen to the sounds of the night on the water. They can point out the cackle of a night heron, the creak of the dock lines snapping taut, and the flapping of the pennant in the rigging.

All it takes is one party boat to upset the delicate balance and dock harmony. Since there are few natural sound barriers and the fact that water helps carry the noises, the entire dock gets to share the music, the television programs, the conversation and arguments of the revelers. Anybody with an open hatch trying to sleep or read soon gets an unwelcome audio show from their dock mates. Soon the hot wind is also being fed with hot tempers.

Our marina has noise rules between 2300 and 0800. So after 11p.m. things are supposed to wind down quickly and the party has to go inside. Quite often, the bigger the boat, the slower the captain seems to be at grasping this concept. Big money doesn't always equate to big brains. The logic for them must run this way. "What's the point of having big cockpit speakers on this big yacht if we can't crank them up. Who doesn't like classic rock at midnight?"

At one point last night, we had a guy at our dock with dueling television and radio audio coming from different parts of the same boat. Judging by all the heads popping out of the companionways around me, not everybody was sharing that particular boater's taste in programming.

Lake Erie has lots of room for every boater to go out and celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of classic rock. Unfortunately, the floating homes tethered to docks don't offer those same freedoms. The hot winds blowing may be getting a little extra steam up here on Sandusky Bay.

"Paradise Lost?"

For generations there has always been a (usually) friendly rivaly between sailboat and powerboat owners. Each side has developed a distinctive persona that has become more exaggerated over the years, depending on the storyteller.

A marina owner on Kellys Island told me last week, "you sailboat guys are cheap. You never buy gas, show up at our dock with $20 bucks and a dirty t-shirt and leave with both". He was only slightly kidding. The "rag packers: as some folks with power boats call us, don't tend to have big parties on their boats and don't buy much fuel.
I know some sailors who actually get a kick out of walking past a big Carver or Viking at the fuel pump and say something like, "gee, you're already at 600 gallons for this weekend, I haven't used that much in 10 years". Of course, on big trips the power boat owner will get home about 2 days before the sailor ties up at the his or her berth.

On the other side, the cliche about power boat owners usually lumps them in with Rodney Dangerfield's character in "Caddy Shack". Captains who know more about stocking the ship's fuel tanks and liquor cabinet than seamanship, navigation, and wake control. The boater who can be seen dropping the anchor and snubbing the anchor line as soon as the hook hits the bottom. Of course, the fiberglass condominium then drags across the harbor in the first big wind.

But the fuel price issue has become a real threat to the average boater. Thurston Howell III can find the money to feed his engines. Regular folks who own powerboats are slowly getting squeezed out of the joy of boating. When I was chatting with some of the very nice people at the Mentor Lagoons last week, each had a story about coping with high marine fuel prices. One owner told me that with his twin 450's, if he motored up to Put-In-Bay and back, he could spend the same amount of money going to Las Vegas for a week. Many others talked about "stay"cations where the boat stays tied up at the dock and the friends and family just hang out at the marina for their vacation.

Many of the owners said that if they take any big trips this year they will try to find another family to share the cost. Others said that they will take one trip instead of three or four during the summer.

When I suggested that they think about moving to a sailboat, most shook their heads. They told me that using sails for power was too slow and too complicated. Several said they didn't like that whole tipping over feeling they got when on a sailboat that was heeling in the wind.

It's apparent that if the fuel prices continue to set a new "record" every week, the boating world is in for a tidal wave of trouble. The marine economy depends on middle class support and that is quickly eroding with every price hike in fuel and fiberglass.

Sure I can slide across the lake all day and spend about a dollar in diesal fuel by using wind power. But the marinas depend on a healthy mix of both sail and power boats. Empty docks and under utilized fuel pumps will quickly cause negative ripple effects for marinas, yacht clubs, restaurants, mechanics, and the entire service economy that centers around boating.



Living on the fresh water seas is one of the most extraordinary assets that we have in the midwest. If this trend continues, too many good people will be forced to look at that great lake only from shore. Maybe a slower pace and a little heeling isn't such a bad thing. I do like to keep the $20 dollars in my pocket, but I do put on a fresh shirt!!

Capt. Michael O'
s/v "Adagio"

"Weather or not"

I opened up the v-berth hatch this morning to a beautiful blue sky. What a relief. That clear sky is something to celebrate for those of us who try to live on the water during the summer. The weather becomes the framework of our existence, our state of mind and dominates much of the conversation among sailors.

For some reason my neighbors want to blame me for any bad boating weather. "You guys really blew that forecast", I will hear.along with, "can't you do better than this?". Working in a tv newsroom in proximity to the meteorologists somehow makes us culpable for the weather forecast. Of course, everybody really knows that forecasting weather near Lake Erie is equal parts art and science. It's just nice to blame somebody for getting the forecast wrong.

I am sure Betsy, A.J., Bruce, and Holly take an inaccurate forecast personally. They probably get peppered with comments everywhere they go if it rains on a supposedly "sunny" day. They are also wise enough to take credit for an accurate forecast but not the good weather. Although how many times have you heard a news anchor say, "see if you can do something to warm up these temps" to the weather person. As if the meteorologist has some special satellite phone request line to the wx gods.

Today we're going to have winds out of the north around 10 knots. That means it's going to be a bit chilly on the water for sailors heading up wind. There will be a lot of fleece on deck as we trim our headsails and crack off on a reach across the lake. But I can guarantee everybody will be smiling. We've been waiting for this kind of weekend since October.

But at the end of the day, when all the boats are back in their slips tied up safely and the owners are relaxing in the cockpit with a beverage, folks will still be talking about the weather. "It's about time we had a good day", you will hear along with "they say it's supposed to be even nicer tomorrow, but what do they know".

With summer on the Great Lakes so short and precious, we treasure every weekend and the weather is the key to that enjoyment. That's why I won't mind it one bit when somebody complains and tells me on the dock, "can't your weekend weatherman warm things up?".

We're all in the same weather boat up here!!!

-Capt. Michael O'
s/v "Adagio"
Sandusky Bay

Boater's Message from Capt. Michael O'

Nothing says "don't get out of bed" like a cold wind blowing through the rigging and rain drops pattering on the v-berth hatch a few feet above your head. That's what we have this morning in Sandusky Bay as we get ready for the first full weekend on the boat.

A lot of sailors are going to be getting up a bit slowly anyway after savoring the exciting Cavaliers victory over the Beantown visitors last night at the Q. Of course, only the most intrepid mariner and ardent Cav's fan would believe the Celtics will be as kind to us on Sunday back in Boston. And why is it pronounced Sell-tics and not Kell-tics??? We don't call our team the Savs!

For many of us, today was the supposed to be the day to hank on our main sails and hoist and roll our jibs. We launched "Adagio" last Saturday in the sunshine. Sunday as you recall was a total washout. So we wait for the following weekend to make the boat look pretty and get the sails ready to fly. That's not going to happen today.

Despite Bruce's optimistic forecast of temps in the mid 60's, on the waters of Lake Erie the air temperature may not get out of the upper 50's. The water temp beneath my keel is 56 degrees at the dock. And did I mention that the wind is already blowing between 10 to 20 knots increasing to 15 to 25 knots later this afternoon? Lovely.

There is nothing more entertaining than watching the nautical show as some die-hard sailor decides to hank on his (or her) sails with the wind blowing hard across the beam. The big white cloth goes up slowly and then wham...the boat starts heeling at the dock. The cloth starts whipping across the pier as the first mate openly (and loudly) questions the sanity of the captain. Of course, the halyard jams because there is too much tension on the sail and there it sits flogging noisily for the entire marina to enjoy. Great entertainment for everybody except the crew of the docked sailing vessel.

By the way, did I mention that the Lake Erie waves are supposed to build to 3 to 5 feet when the wind goes to the West later today? I think I'll keep the marine radio on this afternoon to see if the plucky Coast Guard crews will have to pull some die hard fishermen out of harms way when the waves start coming over their transom. We will talk about bass boats on a rough lake another time.

When I woke up this morning I heard tiny footsteps over my head. It took me a second or two as I pulled out of my groggy stupor to realize that I had a visitor on deck. A bird was patrolling the bow area looking for spiders, midges or any other bugs to crunch for breakfast.

It's time to adjust the heat in the salon and make some coffee. I've got a lot of interior cleaning, reading and napping on the agenda for the day. Let it rain. The sails will go up another day.

-Capt. Michael O'
"Adagio"