sailing

I've been to Lake Michigan many times and the view of a  sailboat on the water to me was calming .... majestic. The bucket list included being on a sailboat.

I found a brochure in the rented condo and I called Frankfort Sailing Excursions, LLC.

Captain John answered the call and put us down for Wednesday. He told me that he would call first thing in the morning after making sure the weather would be good for sailing.

True to his word, he called the morning of the sail and said it couldn't be a better day for sailing. Yay!

So we packed up the list of items he suggested we bring and headed off to the Marina.

We set off on the Elly, named after his mother. Turns out Captain John built the vessel himself top to bottom.

Sleeping Bear Dunes loomed in the distance.

I ventured to the front to get some photos, the winds were pushing us nicely and he gave us frequent updates on how fast we were going.

Of course, I had brought the wrong lens. I tried to keep down the amount of camera packing on a boat so I brought the telephoto lens.

Captain John told us that he worked as a shop teacher at Saline High School and had retired north. The charters were a way to pay for the property taxes and slip costs and he loved meeting new people. He underwent stringent testing to become a Captain and his boat is both Coast Guard and Michigan DNR certified.

I didn't get pictures of the inside of the boat, but it was mahogany and absolutely beautiful. It had 2 sleeping compartments and a nice comfortable living space. It's amazing that he built it from the ground up.

We were focused mostly on the views.

The feeling of sailing away.

It was beautiful and we were focused on the trip - that everyone neglected to mention sunscreen, even though I had packed it. Holly ended up with a pretty good sunburn on her face. (Sad face)

Burke got some mild sunburn on his legs.

It was easy to be distracted.

Right?

We pulled back towards Frankfort.

Waving to the people hanging out by the lighthouse.

Finally back into port. That's our condo right behind the boats - a beautiful condo overlooking the Marina in town.

The whole trip took a couple of hours. Captain John was very knowledgeable of the area and gave us some good tips of places to journey.

If you've always dreamed of sailing - I highly recommend it. Check it off your bucket list.

Don't forget the sunscreen.