Greetings to all Quickstep owners!

July is well underway and the holiday is now history, but it was great.  As usual, our family gathered on the dock and the boat for the annual fireworks display over the harbor.  The crowds were big, and it was another terrific show.  The weather was perfect and both the marina and the harbor were filled with boats.  There were 20 of us in Door County for the holiday weekend- all staying at our home. We rented pop-up campers to serve as extra bedrooms and grilling and yard games dominated the activity.  It was a madhouse, but it was great to get everyone together.

 

The sailing season is proving to be a very wet one.   It seems that waves of thunderstorms have been passing almost daily over the Door Peninsula this summer making it tough to get out on the water.  During the latest, last Thursday night, a line roared in with winds clocked at over 60 mph in the marina and two water spouts over Green Bay.  Trees were down in the park above the harbor, one transient boater suffered the loss of a stern cleat as the wind tore his boat from the dock, furled headsails were torn and the staff had some cleanup to do on Friday.

Yet yesterday provided one of the best sailing days of the season.  Winds were 10 to 14, it was sunny and cool.  We watched the end of the sailboat races, and then had a nice sail from Egg Harbor south several miles to Murphy County Park were we paused off-shore to eat lunch.  We sat and watched flocks of white pelicans circling above and then resumed our sail home.  Once back, we joined our fellow Egg Harbor Yacht Club members at the marina for a few beverages and snacks.  It was a perfect day.

 

Looking at the marina yesterday, I was struck again by how deep Lake Michigan-Huron is again this year.  Take a look at the two pictures I’ve attached.  One, from 2012 and another from this week.  It’s pretty dramatic.  It takes a lot of water to raise the lake level by this much.  Let’s hope it doesn’t get much deeper.

 

We hope your sailing season is going well.  Don’t forget that you are invited to send pictures or stories about your adventures to us so that we can share them with other Quickstep owners.  Just email them along and I’ll get them posted.