SHAKEDOWN CRUISE!
After landing in Cleveland and spending a few days recuperating from the craziness of packing/leaving Vancouver, it was time to take our first cruise on TARA. Our goals were pretty simple: Get a feel for the boat and understand where we needed to focus our $$ and time over the next few weeks.
So why not sail across the lake to Canada?? The destination: Erieau, Ontario.
What can I say about Erieau? Neither Caitie nor I knew this place existed and frankly thought it was a joke (I mean, c’mon – we’re sailing on Lake Erie…and the town is called Erieau?). It’s hard to judge because we didn’t really leave the marina and apparently there’s a brew pub in town…but let’s just say we saw several t-shirts which proudly read, “Erieau: A drinking town with a fishing problem”. All jokes aside, they treated everyone in the marina to a Labour Day BBQ with live music…apparently they fed 300 people!!! The food was good so we couldn’t be too hard on ’em 😉
The best part was that my grandma/uncle/aunt came down from Cambridge/Kitchener to hang out for the evening.
The sail over and back was awesome! TARA was happily averaging over 6 knots in both directions…The boat felt solid. We’re pumped!
Next: Time to get down and dirty for the next few weeks with upgrades and preparing to de-step the mast for the Erie Canal.
“YOU better trim that jib!”