16 Sep 17

We are on the move again. We rolled out of the rack about 08:00 and after a light breakfast, let go the dock lines and motored out of the Milwaukee Yacht Club just before 10:00. The wind was in the SSE at about 9 knots, but we got the sails up immediately and tacked south inside the breakwater passing the iconic Milwaukee Art Museum along the way. After tacking out of the main harbor entrance, we beat south for another 2.5 hours, as the wind increased to S16; eventually, although we were making good boat speed, we were achieving only about 3 knots made good toward Racine, which meant an ETA of 17:00 - 19:00. So, we fired up the iron genoa and motored the remaining 11 miles into Racine, where, after fueling up and pumping out, we tied up at the Reefpoint Marina at 15:20.  After dinner aboard, we went for a nice walk around downtown Racine and ended up at the Reefpoint Brew House, where “Sal & Izzy” were playing nice acoustic guitar and a cahone (a rhythm box) and singing. We danced a bunch and had fun chatting with other patrons.

42-43.864’N, 087-46.683’W; Log = 28.4, Sum (2017) = 2061.8 N-m

17 Sep 17

We slept in a bit this morning, recovering from our dancing exhibition in the Reefpoint. After a leisurely morning and breakfast al fresco, as the wind was still southerly, we decided to stay put for another day and set about doing some boat chores: laundry, cleaning the decks of 2 weeks worth of spider poop, and applying a coat of Le Tonkinois to the neediest part of the toe rails. Later, we walked into town and all the way out to the end of the north breakwater, which our good friend John designed and supervised the installation of back in the early 80’s; it is still standing up well to the rigors of Lake Michigan winter storms. Racine was pretty much closed up for Sunday; only a couple of restaurants and bars were open, but none of the shops. We watched the Astros clinch the championship of their AL West Division today with a win over the hapless Seattle Mariners; it was Justin Verlander’s Houston pitching debut - not a bad way to open before the home crowd. Dinner aboard and early to bed - long(ish) day tomorrow. A year ago today, we were anchored in Cold Spring Harbor on the north side of Long Island.