West Wind at MBIYC

We had a nice weekend at Middle Bass Island Yacht Club. We got going faster than I thought we would on Friday after work which was nice. We got out to the marina, loaded in and shoved off around 6:15pm. Our cruise out to MBIYC will be about 1.5 hours from dock to dock. The wind was generally out of the east. The forecast was indicating SSW so that was wrong. It was not blowing very hard but the forecast was for the wind to pick up overnight and be a "BLOW" on Saturday out of the West. Sunday was supposed to be a little less but swinging around to the north. They got it mostly correct.

We asked for slip #56 which is on the end of the pier facing East. So the wind would be from behind. That proved to be the wrong choice. I figured it would be good for airflow through the interior of the boat, which it was. What I did not anticipate was the racket generated by the 30+ mph wind acting on all of the rigging, bimini and pushing us around causing our lines to stretch and make noise in general. It was quite the symphony which made sleeping tough. We are getting used to the noises but we heard some new ones this weekend.

Saturday was workday at the Yacht Club. WE got up, Chris went for a run and I got things ship shape as when we docked the night before, we had a contingent of American Tug owners come over to say hello. There were 3 AT's of various sizes over at the State marina. Kadey Krogen Group bought American Tug a couple of years ago so we are "related". We gave them a tour then had our arrival beverage and then just buttoned up and went to sleep... At least we tried to sleep. Anyhow..... We got ready and headed up tot he clubhouse and joined the crew of members doing work. We helped with Mulch and other misc. tasks. They fed us lunch and then we finished up and headed back to the boat. We needed to get Rudy out for a break and run him around a bit. We got back tot he boat after that and i needed a nap. After getting a bit of a rest, I made dinner. Chicken Kabobs, Riced Cauliflower and wine. Mental Note.... The Nighthawk red blend from BotaBox wine is pretty good. We like the Pinot Grigio and we will add this to the list. We like the BotaBox since it is an airtight plastic bag inside a cardboard box that fits nicely in storage spaces on the boat. No glass to break and it is a rectangular box so it does not waste space.

We were positioned behind the WiFi transmitter so we did not get good signal in the boat so we used my iPhone and tethered the Apple TV so that we could use our Cable App and watch TV as if we were sitting at home. That works nicely.

Time for bed. I had fixed an additional stern line to help take the load off the spring line but that made the geometry of things different so the noises changed. We needed to put some slack in the spring line to keep it from squeaking. Little adjustments here and there and I was able to get to sleep and stay asleep. Chris shared that she did not sleep well as the sounds were louder for her and different. Still getting used to things.

Rudy got us up at the usual 5:30 but I put him off until 5:50. We got up and I took him out for his morning relief. We got back and Chris was up and she said that we should just get ready and go and get back to home port earlier than we planned. I looked at the wind and wave as well as a couple of webcams. We decided to follow the same route back and take the weather on our starboard beam and use the fins to keep things from getting uncomfortable. Turns out that was a very good idea as the wind was pretty strong still and out of the west. That meant that when we docked at Skipperbud's the wind would be on the bow and help push us back into the slip so we would not have to contend with a side wind. We did learn that we should pull the ball fenders up onto the dock before we leave so that when we return they are not in our way. They got in our way when we were docking but we figured it out and will adjust for the next time.

The main thing we learned is that when we dock with the wind on the bow, the induced noise is all but gone! So we will look at the wind forecast and request a slip at the Yacht Club that will keep the bow into the wind. We figured that one out once we got settled back at home port and we were sitting in our folding chairs int he cockpit. That is the other thing about being bow into the wind. That allows us to sit out in the cockpit as it is sheltered. All good in the end.

We will request a slip for this weekend that will allow us to be bow to the wind and on the better side of the WiFi transmitter.

Out and back to 16..........