Sailing aboard Lucy III: 2021 Cruise Week

  Deep Bay, Point au Roche State Park, New York:  July 9, 2021

The mama flamingo and her little ones all in Deep Bay.

Marc-  Last day of Cruise Week for us unfortunately.  We dropped the mooring lines and left with most of the sailors heading for Burlington this morning at 09:00.  The wind was out of the North at 10 knots and we set our spinnaker then raised the mainsail and mizzensail for a nice reach to Cumberland Head.  We actually stayed with the racing sailors for awhile but they passed us around Colchester Reef.  The winds were steady until Burlington and we were warm enough in the cockpit with the rear end of the enclosure closed off.  Temperatures did get up to around 70 but the the wind increased from Shelburne Point to Thompsons Point and so did the waves (increasing to 5 feet).  We traded the spinnaker for a reefed genoa at Shelburne Point.  The waves made for a little rock and roll action but nothing too serious.  Everything calmed down once we reached the turn after Thompson’s Point for Town Farm Bay over to our mooring at Point Bay Marina.  Fortunately we arrived at 15:30 and the marina was still open for us to do our unloading at the fuel dock.  Ray appeared instantly and suggested that we stay the night at the dock since they had placed a boat on our mooring.  That would have been nice except I was leaving early to drive Sara over to Maine in the morning.

We all drove up to Burlington to get the Honda Civic that Sue had left on the street near our friends Jessica and Patrick’s house.  All was fine on our arrival and we thank Jessica and Patrick once again for the bag of fresh vegetables that we found on their porch.  Hope to see you out sailing again soon.

Sailing aboard Lucy III: 2021 Cruise Week

 Deep Bay, Point au Roche State Park, New York:  July 8, 2021

Beautiful flowers at Mooney Bay Marina at Beekmantown, New York.

Marc- Today was all about hiking and eating.  I joined an early walk on the Western trails here at Point au Roche State Park.  Jabbar went astray when he decided to go to the shore instead of following Wendy on the trail up a short cliff.  We all doubled back and he was found near our departure point.  Although Jabar could hear our voices calling him he could not climb up the cliff to the trail.  

I returned to Lucy III and the family.  We decided to head out to the Tiki bar over at Mooney Bay Marina.  Wendy decided to join us.  Wendy led us through a forest trail to the shore of the main Lake and then around the point giving the Park its name.  This was a very nice trail.  She led us to a trail over to the Marina where we saw many large Canadian sailboats out of the water due to the Covid restrictions for any auto travel from Canada.  We did meet one boating couple Aho had flown down from Montreal who were woking on their boat.  @/3 of the docks in the marina were empty.

At last we found the Tiki bar where we decided to have lunch.  Nice location with excellent food and a Lake view. There was certainly a German influence on the menu with offering of wiener schnitzel and reuben sandwiches.  

Sailing aboard Lucy III: 2021 Cruise Week

Deep Bay, Point au Roche State Park, New York:  July 7, 2021

Lucy III in Deep Bay with its flamingo mascot.

Marc- We awoke to a North wind of 10 knots.  Breakfast on board and then we dropped our lines at 09:15.  We kept close to the Vermont shore to minimize any wave action.  It worked except for the area around Colchester Reef where we detoured to mid-lake.  Our new to us stereo system worked well in the cockpit regardless of engine noise while motoring the entire trip.  We took the short cut cup by Stave Island and the Narrows North of Providence Island.  We did cross paths with s/v Bandelero.  The most traffic we experienced was at the Cumberland Head ferry crossing passing between several fishing boats and two crossing ferries.  

Crossing Bandelero.

We arrived at Deep Bay at 01:00 and chose a mooring spot up with our club fleet.  All boats except Spirit were unoccupied having taken a hike over to the Mooney Bay Marina to visit the Tiki Bar.  We set off on the Western trails for a hike and went out to Middle Bay and then the main Park beach area.  The trails were fine except for Sara sensing a skunk that required an immediate turn around on our part.  We saw the lifeguards at the beach but no swimmers today.  They reported 55 swimmers yesterday with the temperatures in the 90's.  The weather was cool but fine except for one brief rain shower.  Sara and I went for a chilly swim and saw a large carp beneath Lucy III.

The sun did come out later in the afternoon for our round raft appetizer / dinner.  Great food and conversations were enjoyed by all.  We all returned for a "firewater" treat at dusk.  Patrick has a propane camp stove set up on floats enabling a floating campfire.  It worked well for toasting marshmallows to make s'mores.  Patrick somehow remained in the water for the entire time.

Partick and Jessica setting up "water fire".

"water fire"

Sailing aboard Lucy III: 2021 Cruise Week

 Ferry Dock Marina, Burlington, Vermont:  July 6, 2021

At the Ferry Dock Marina (yes where the Burlington to Port Kent Ferry used to dock).

Marc-  We separated from the fleet again.  This time our excuse was to meet up with Sue and Sara who are joining the crew for Cruise Week.  Lucy III performed well under sail alone doing the 12 mile journey from Willsboro Bay to Burlington.  We were well received by the Ferry Dock staff.  The facilities are new including a laundry room and four single, all-gender full bathrooms.  The Spot Restaurant is also right on the pier.  Steph and I cleaned up the boat making room for the added crew.

We then went off exploring the Burlington area by bike and by foot.  We made it to the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory for chocolate chocolate chip ice cream (super good).  We stayed in the air conditioned comfort of the chocolate store for awhile.  Once energized by the ice cream we were fine heading North to North Beach for a lemonade.  Burlington was busy even on a swelteringly hot day of 90 degrees.  

giant chocolate bean pods.

Sailing aboard Lucy III: 2021 Cruise Week

 Willsboro Bay Marina, Willsboro Bay, New York: July 5, 2021

The fleet is coming in...

Marc-  The rest of the fleet arrived today for a total of 13 boats.  The marina here is super nice and welcoming.  Our cruise club dinner took place as a potluck supper starting at 17:00.  Our scalloped potatoes were a success (no leftovers).  There were some younger people this year and three kids.  We are next to a kid boat on the dock.  We all had an enjoyable time at the picnic dinner.  There was plenty of excellent food.  It was great to see some old faces and the new faces as well.

There were some local evening fireworks that lasted 15 minutes.  Great if you missed the last two nights.  Tomorrow we head over to Burlington to connect with Sue and Sara hurray!  They are coming in late so we plan on staying over at the Ferry Dock Marina.

Sailing aboard Lucy III: 2021 Cruise Week

 North Beach Anchorage, Burlington, Vermont:  4 July 2021

Burlington fireworks last night from North Beach Anchorage

Lucy III is the Yawl out there.

Marc-  Great fireworks last night from our viewing of the display from Lucy III and Coquina rafted up.

Lucy III showed her best speed as we sailed on a board reach across Lake Champlain to Willsboro Bay doing 7 knots in 15 knots of wind.  We were welcomed to the Willsboro Marina and have enjoyed our first day here.  

Lucy III all decked out in lights

We were part of the celebration.

Mindy cooked up a fantastic picnic dinner on the gas grill ashore.  Nice view of the harbor from our table.

Sailing aboard Lucy III: 2021 Cruise Week

  Point Bay Marina Moorings, Thompson's Point, Charlotte, Vermont:  July 2, 2021

Lucy III is the red triangle.

Marc-  Today was a rather wet start to Cruise Week for the Diamond Island Yacht Club.  Twelve boats are signed up for the trip on Lake Champlain rain or no rain.  We did have a few periods when the rain stopped briefly.  First when loading the boat at Point Bay Marina and second when we anchored in Converse Bay.  Steph was at the helm for most of the 3 mile trip over in the rain and North wind of 10-15 knots (we motored with the wind on the nose).  We first tried to pick up a mooring but did not find any available and then just anchored in our favorite spot behind Cedar Island.  Several Club boats were in the area and others were anchored a little further North in the Bay.  I visited both with Jerry and Susan as well as Patrick and Jessica.  Roger, Susan and Alex came over to visit and saw Steph.  Steph was cooking dinner and had little time to socialize.

Steph and I enjoyed a nice quiet dinner and then a very calm evening.  We watched a movie. Tomorrow we travel 13 miles to Burlington's North Beach to anchor and watch the fireworks.