This year, due to work and family commitments, Kristin and I only had about ten days to spend cruising on Priorities. We were hoping to go to a few places we hadn’t been in a few years, including Frankfort, MI, and South Manitou Island. Frankfort has a great beach right in town, a great selection of restaurants, and a nice marina with a pool that’s super convenient. South Manitou, which I’ve written about before, offers great hiking in a wilderness anchorage setting. Both destinations are northeast of our home port of Milwaukee.
We were hoping to leave either Thursday or Friday due to Kristin’s work schedule. If we chose a Thursday departure, I’d sail the boat alone to either Sheboygan, WI, or Muskegon, MI. Kristin would then either drive or take the ferry to meet me in the evening, giving us a jump on getting to our destination without Kristin unnecessarily burning a vacation day. Kristin was off from work starting Friday, though work would allow her to reschedule her vacation day to the end of our trip on short notice if needed.
Of course, by Wednesday the wind forecast for both Thursday and Friday was for northeast winds! Sailing a beat is something I like to avoid since you have to work so hard for comparatively minimal progress. Staring at everything ready to go on the boat by Wednesday evening tempted me to leave as planned.
We could have merely chosen a different destination… Saugatuck, MI is a nice town, for example, and lies southeast of Milwaukee. But we had been there only three years earlier, and I wanted something different.
Kristin’s work approved a vacation change from Friday to the Tuesday after Labor Day, allowing us to delay our departure until Saturday of the weekend prior to Labor Day. While we were disappointed our vacation wasn’t starting as early as planned, she’d still have the same number of consecutive days off. And, the forecast for Saturday was for strong southeast winds for at least the beginning of the day.
And so we chose to leave together on Saturday, bound for Michigan.