Geneva Ohio

We took our first long trip this season. We cruised from Marblehead to Geneva. At trawler speed that takes 11 hours or so. we learned some very interesting things on this trip that we did not know.

We arrived at the marina on Saturday to get loaded in and prepared for a very early start on Sunday. The goal was to cruise the entire distance in 1 day so that we could see how we do on long runs as well as Rudy our dog. So we loaded in, moved the bikes up to the boat deck and used a bungie cord to hold them in place. We went to bed early as my alarm was set to 4:00am so that we could wake up, have breakfast, walk Rudy and be shoved off by 6am.

4am came quickly and we got up, walked Rudy, had breakfast got things ready for a long run, walked Rudy again then we fired up and shoved off. We pulled out of the dock at 6:10am so pretty much on schedule. We ran the genset so that we could operate the fridge, computer, Starlink and a few other things on AC power and leave the batteries to run the electronics and other boat systems required for a cruise. That worked well. It was cool enough out on the water that we did not need to run the aircon. We just left the hatches, doors and a couple windows open and had fresh air the entire time.

As we left Skipperbuds we were 5th in line headed out the inlet. Now we know when the fishing boats leave and head out. We cleared the inlet and turned East. I kept an eye out for the Ferries that run out to Kelleys Island. They were not transmitting on AIS so we figured that they were not running yet. As we cleared Kelleys Island we pointed the boat at the horizon and set the autopilot to take us all the way out to Geneva. We did encounter boats way out in the lake that were fishing but since we are a trawler that goes slow and does not put out much of a wake we just cruised on through with out really changing course.

The Canadian wild fires are generating smoke and we had a north"ish" wind so it was very hazy with smoke so visibility was low. we could barely see the shoreline and the buildings in downtown CLE were just barely visible. We cruise at 9.1 mph which is 8knots. We turn 1800rpm and burn about 2.6 gph to achieve that cruise speed.

We held that speed until we got to Mentor, our old stomping grounds. we encountered a few boats that seemed curious and they were impeding our track so we had to turn to get out of their way since they were to Starboard and one was a sailboat under sail. As we made our way beyond Fairport harbor we noticed our boat speed start to slow. The wind had picked up but not enough to cause us to decrease our speed to low 8 and even 7.6 mph. We never noticed this in the Sea Ray but I figure being up on plane caused us to miss this. so it actually took us 11.5 hours to cruise out to Geneva Eastbound. We hoped that on our Westbound return cruise that we would enjoy a boost in speed. We will see.....

We arrived around 5:30 and got docked and signed in. Dinner was pork loin and veggies. At about 3:30 I got the Sous Vide setup in the galley sink, filled it with hot water, which is heated by an aux circuit from the engine cooling system so the water in the hot water tank is at the temp of the engine coolant so the Sous Vide just needs to maintain the temp. So that saves about 30minutes of time and heating. So we cooked the pork loin as we were cruising to Geneva and once we got there and got situated we had dinner.

Rudy got off immediately once we got docked and ran into the field and took care of business. He was a very good boy the whole way over. We also played ball with him after dinner.

There were 3 other boats on the Transient wall so it was a quiet night. UNTIL the fishermen started to get going Monday morning. 5am is when they start to arrive and launch their boats using the ramp. Some arrive and have boats docked at the marina. One guy blasted his country music at 5:45am on his way out. There is one in every bunch!

We had a couple very nice days with family and neighbors at the wineries. Interesting fact is that some are closed on Tuesday so we had to find a few to visit using good ole Google. Tuesday night we got set for our cruise back to home port. Since we are not in a hurry to get back to home port and we have sunlight after 8pm we decided to get up around 5:30 and we shoved off a little after 7:30am.

We did find that wind and current pushed us along and we were up over 10mph for quite a bit of the run. So we had the engine running at the same rpm but we were going faster than normal so we enjoyed some extra performance when cruising Westbound. It was going to be hot so we started out with the genset running and aircon running to keep things comfy. Rudy spent the entire time in the pilothouse with us and he hung out on the bench seat behind the helm so he could see out or sleep.

We encountered some fishing boats along the way and we kept an eye on the freighters on AIS to make sure we would not be in their way. On our way out to Geneva we came within 4 miles of the Wilfred Sykes as it was on its way to Port of Cleveland. We crossed his route 4 miles ahead of him. It was fun to see a dot on the horizon turn into a big freighter over a couple of hours as the ship got closer.

AIS shows how close a boat will pass and when it will be closest. So the we saw 4miles in 2 hours. That way you can make adjustments to a course if need be.

As we got west of Cleveland the wind shifted and became a following wind. We started with a following wind, it shifted onto our port beam as we passed downtown Cleveland and then it became a tail wind again. We were able to get a bit of a push so our speed was above our usual cruising speed for much of the way and as the wave size picked up we were getting a push.

As we approached Kelleys Island we encountered 1 fishing net. I saw the flags after we passed south of it. We also saw the ferries running on AIS and I saw that it takes 15minutes for them to run from Marblehead to Kelleys. As we approached their route only 1 of the ferries ran the route so we did not have to make any alterations in our route. We steered a route that was going with the waves and headed to the inlet. We entered the inlet and Rudy was definitely ready to get off. Chris headed up to the flybridge and uncovered the helm so that I could dock us from up top. I stayed in the aircon as long as possible and then headed up.

The wind was out of the east and blowing about 10kts. The wind will tend to push us out of the dock until we get all of the lines set. Docking was very easy and we let Rudy off for his business.

It took 10.5 hours to cruise from Geneva to our home port in Marblehead. So it took 1 hour less to cover the same distance. Nice to know that we get a little help from wind and current. We did not know that there was a current in the Lake around the Perry power plant. We were guessing about why but in the end it does not really matter why. It is there and now we know.

We are back home now and getting back into the swing of things. It was a good trip and the last time we will cruise that distance in one shot. We will break things up into shorter days. The starlink will allow us to take more days that are slower. That is the trade off. We are slowing down to gain comfort. our faster boats were loud and the accommodations were not as nice. We got places faster but at the cost of more fuel and such. With the trawler you pay in time. So we can adjust our plans accordingly. I am prioritizing comfort at this point in our cruising life.

The season will end in a couple of months so we are going to be getting ready for winter layup soon.