Sturgeon Bay, WI to Frankfort, MI

What a fantastic first day of sailing! It was an early start at 5am on Friday morning, but we had about 15knts of wind right off our beam the entire way over from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Frankfort, MI.

The wind did vary slightly depending on where we were in the lake, however. We experienced gusts of around 20knts and sometimes it dropped below 10knts. All in all, we were able to make around 5-7knts (SOG) for the entire 10 hour sail with just the genoa!

The wind aside, the sail was unfortunately very cold. We left Sturgeon Bay and the temp was at around 60F at 5am (not bad!). When we hit the lake, the temperature dropped to around 40-45F (possibly even colder!). It was so chilly that we donned our heavy duty foul weather gear and multiple layers underneath just to keep warm. When we got close to the Michigan shore, we could feel the warm breeze coming from the mainland. It was quite a welcome sensation, as we had been chilled to the bone for the last 10 hours!

As customary on any of our longer trips, we always do a message in a bottle dropped into the water midway across Lake Michigan. Sometimes we offer a cash reward for response. Sometimes just a little note about our adventure. To date, we have not heard back from any of our bottles. They’re probably floating out in the ocean or have smashed on a rock somewhere. Oh well! We can try to have a little fun with it!!

Frankfort is a beautiful little town situated on a recessed inland lake, Lake Betsie. There are multiple marinas and rows of lake-front housing. It’s incredibly well protected from the wind and makes for a great anchorage! We were able to slip into one of the marina docks with our dinghy and have a tradtional Friday Fish Fry at one of the local establishments; strangely enough named Dinghy’s. Great food and it was warm inside!

Tonight we will most likely retire early. But, we won’t miss the beautiful sunset unfolding before our eyes for anything.