Bowers Harbor, MI back to Suttons Bay, MI

What another great day of sailing! Based on weather information from the night prior. We made the decision to make a run back to Suttons Bay for protection. The forecast was calling for thunderstorms and gusty winds of up to 25 knots out of the southeast for Sunday night. From where we were anchored in Bowers Harbor, we would not be protected against this new wind direction and would have another miserable night at anchor (like last night) wondering if our anchor was holding with the wind howling.

Winds were at around 10-15 knots out of the south as we sailed for Suttons Bay. We made great time with just the genoa earning us around 5 knots consistently. We tacked back and forth across Traverse Bay and made our way into the entrance of Suttons Bay. The winds at the opening were a little questionable; as they were being staved off by the land. But once in the bay a little ways, they built back up to around 15 knots and we enjoyed another fast close-hauled sail at around 7-8 knots into the recess of the cove with just the genoa. We again tried to spill some wind out of our sails to slow the boat. But, she kept wanting more. The winds climbed to around 20 knots out of the south and we hit 8.2 knots with just the genoa. Fantastic!

Since we made Suttons Bay in such great time. We spent the rest of the day lounging in the sun; as it would was most likely to disappear again for the next 2-3 days as a cold front blows through and brings with it storms and rain.

Update: Well, the rain finally arrived at around 6:30pm EST. We did not nearly get as much rain as we had anticipated. It looked, judging by the landscape and photos I took, that Northport, MI got hit much harder with the rain.