This past weekend I took my last trip of the season. I left about noon on
Saturday from my home port of Bolles Harbor just south of Monroe Michigan. I
headed about 120 degrees magnetic towards my favorite cruising destination,
Put-in-Bay, Ohio. The weather and lake were simply perfect. Sun, about 65
degrees and waves less than a foot. Throttling up to 3600 rpm I hit a cruising
speed of 33 mph and about 1hour and 10 minutes later I arrived at my
destination. Needless to say there were many, many boats headed to PIB. I
cruised over to A-dock and called the dockmaster to see if they had a spot for
a 30 footer. I was directed to the inside of A-dock and rafted off a Sea Ray
2nd raft out from the finger dock. I paid for my overnight dockage and then
headed into town. B-dock was packed with some spots rafted 5 boats. C-dock was
also full with boats on the outside so A-dock was my only choice if I wanted to
stay in town.

I went straight to Mossbacks and had one of their burgers for lunch. Then it
was a quick walk around town. I walked over to the Beer Barrel Saloon and found
it closed until October 30th. I heard a rumor that they were caught serving
underage and were shut down. Can't say for certain that is true but they along
with Tippers restaurant were not open. Bummer because Tippers is my favorite
eating destination on the island. Most of the merchants were offering BIG
discounts to move out the last of their merchandise before closing for the
winter season.

Then it was back to the dock to do some cleaning on my boat in preparation for
closing her up for winter. I lemon pledged my isinglass to clean it for
storage. It really works well as my isinglass still looks new after 5 seasons
of use. I did some cleaning and wiping down of the interior, watched a couple
of football games and talked with my dockmates. Then about 7 PM I headed to
Perry's Monument, a monument erected to remember Commodore Oliver Hazard
Perry's victory over the British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie during the
war of 1812. It also serves as a peace memorial between Canada, Great Britain
and the US and remembers those who died during the war of 1812 and to
commemorate the longest unmilitarized border in the world between the US and
Canada. I went there because that is the only place on the island where my
Nextel cell phone will work. Had to make a couple of phone calls.

Then it was back to town for dinner. I decided to go to the Blue Iguana for
dinner. I ordered a steak and received my appetizer (salad) then nothing. After
awhile my server came and apologized. It seems that the kitchen lost my order
ticket. No problem because one of my favorite Island bands was tuning up to
play that evening. The Geeze Cats is the name of the band and they are GREAT.
Finally my dinner arrived and I ate and listened to the band. Finally about 10
PM I was finished and was headed off to The Boathouse to listen to my favorite
Island entertainer John Salamon play the keys. I asked for my bill and my
waitperson said the dinner was on the house because it took so long. I thought
that was nice so she got a very nice tip and I headed out. I walked towards the
other end of town past the Roundhouse and their famous grilled chicken. Some of
the island establishments are already closed. I arrived at the Boathouse and
Mr. Salamon was banging away on the keys. I ordered a Michelob Light and
enjoyed the music. There was a good crowd there and they had the Wisconsin/Ohio
State football game on the TV so I split my time between watching Mr. Salamon
play and the game. It was a great way to end my season. Mr. Salamon played
nonstop from 9 PM to a little after 1 AM.

I watched a little TV and headed off to sleep. About 8:30 AM I was awakened by
a knock on my boat. The inside boat on our raft wanted to leave so I had to get
up and move my boat. I moved over to the outside of A-dock across from the
Boardwalk and reset my lines and then headed into town for breakfast at
Frosty's. The wind was really blowing, flags were standing straight out. The
weather radio stated that winds were between 35 and 40 knots out of the west.
About 11 AM I decided to pull out and head for home 34 miles away. A couple of
other boats had headed out and came back telling me the waves were 8'. I
decided to go anyway because I had to be home for an important Board meeting of
the Boat Club I am currently serving as Vice Commodore so off I went. It was
rough but waves were only running about 5'. I was running directly into the
waves and I made about 8.5 to 9 MPH. About half way I had to use the head so I
pulled in behind West Sister Island where it was calm to use the facility and
to take a break. I was there about a half hour and there were several other
boats there fishing. I pulled back out into the lake and lo and behold the lake
had calmed down a bit. Waves were only running a foot to a foot and a half so I
got up on plane for the rest of the trip home arriving at the marina about 2:10
pm. It was a great last cruise for 2003.

Monday, which was bright and sunny was a beautiful day to winterize the boat. I
launched her and went to the fuel dock, put in the stabilizer and filled the
tank. I then headed out to the lake for one last 30 minute run then back to the
dock. I then winterized the fresh water system, pumped out the holding tank and
winterized that. Then I changed the oil in the engines and when my daughter
arrived I winterized the AC system. Then it was time to say goodbye until
spring and they put the boat away. The marina will winterize the engines and
service the drives. All in all the 2003 season was OK. I missed the first 2
months recovering from surgery but really did not miss out on that much because
the weather from April 15th thru the middle of June was not that great. I ended
up with 388.1 hours on the engines this being my 5th season with the boat.

So now begins my annual countdown to the start of the 2004 season and January
1st when my year as Commodore of West River Yacht and Cruising Club (WRYCC) for
short begins.

181 days to go...

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the
Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

In article ,
(RGrew176) wrote:

This past weekend I took my last trip of the season.


Just remember RGrew176, you CAN have more than one last trip. Especially
since it looks like we may have cooperative weather this week as well.

You went to Mossbacks wiith all that good German food around? The potato
salad and turkey dumpling soup alone was better than anything mossbacks
can offer! Most of the food was reasinably priced too.

So the Geez Cats were playing at the Blue Iguana? They usually play at
Tipper's. While it's a great place to eat (I like their "Iguana Fingers"
, and their conch fritters), where in the hell did they fit the band set
in that tiny place? I wish I had known they were playing. It would have
been the deciding factor for my dad to get off his ass, and up to PIB one
last time. BTW - Tippers and the Beer barrel were closed immediately
after boaters new years, for the some under age drinking infractions that
occured two years ago. They will not be open for the annual Halloween
party, which might make that event a washout.

Looks like we may have bumped into each other this weekend. What time did
you head to the boathouse? My buddy and I headed up there at about
10:30pm and took "the ride of shame" to Skyway, and closed that down.
Went back tot he boat with some new found friends for a few drinks and
called it a night shortly after 5am.

It was our late night that actually helped us. Instead of leaving early,
we hung around until 2:30, which by then the lake was almost as smooth as
glass.

Glad to hear you had a good time and a safe trip. Good luck with cabin
fever season. Should we bump into each other next season at the bay,
remember the golden rule:

What goes down on the Island , stays on the Island...

Take Care,

Bob Dimond

In article , To wrote:

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:51:40 -0400, (Bob
D.) wrote:


What goes down on the Island , stays on the Island...

Take Care,

Bob Dimond

We won't tell your girlriend who went down on the island last weekend.

She knows. Just not the specifics :^) Besides, nothing happened. But in
case it did, we DID make sure the kids were asleep before we left, so
when they asked what we did we said we went to my boat and watched
movies. When they're asked by their mom, they'll just repeat what we
said.

Bob

P.S. Where are you heading out to this weekend, Wally? When my
girlfriend get off of work, we may head up to Kellys, maybe PIB.

I guess in California we are pretty lucky because we boat and fish all
winter for trout and stripers in our lakes and Delta system.

--
Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA
www.kiene.com

"RGrew176" wrote in message
...
This past weekend I took my last trip of the season. I left about noon on
Saturday from my home port of Bolles Harbor just south of Monroe Michigan.
I
headed about 120 degrees magnetic towards my favorite cruising
destination,
Put-in-Bay, Ohio. The weather and lake were simply perfect. Sun, about 65
degrees and waves less than a foot. Throttling up to 3600 rpm I hit a
cruising
speed of 33 mph and about 1hour and 10 minutes later I arrived at my
destination. Needless to say there were many, many boats headed to PIB. I
cruised over to A-dock and called the dockmaster to see if they had a spot
for
a 30 footer. I was directed to the inside of A-dock and rafted off a Sea
Ray
2nd raft out from the finger dock. I paid for my overnight dockage and
then
headed into town. B-dock was packed with some spots rafted 5 boats. C-dock
was
also full with boats on the outside so A-dock was my only choice if I
wanted to
stay in town.

I went straight to Mossbacks and had one of their burgers for lunch. Then
it
was a quick walk around town. I walked over to the Beer Barrel Saloon and
found
it closed until October 30th. I heard a rumor that they were caught
serving
underage and were shut down. Can't say for certain that is true but they
along
with Tippers restaurant were not open. Bummer because Tippers is my
favorite
eating destination on the island. Most of the merchants were offering BIG
discounts to move out the last of their merchandise before closing for the
winter season.

Then it was back to the dock to do some cleaning on my boat in preparation
for
closing her up for winter. I lemon pledged my isinglass to clean it for
storage. It really works well as my isinglass still looks new after 5
seasons
of use. I did some cleaning and wiping down of the interior, watched a
couple
of football games and talked with my dockmates. Then about 7 PM I headed
to
Perry's Monument, a monument erected to remember Commodore Oliver Hazard
Perry's victory over the British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie during
the
war of 1812. It also serves as a peace memorial between Canada, Great
Britain
and the US and remembers those who died during the war of 1812 and to
commemorate the longest unmilitarized border in the world between the US
and
Canada. I went there because that is the only place on the island where my
Nextel cell phone will work. Had to make a couple of phone calls.

Then it was back to town for dinner. I decided to go to the Blue Iguana
for
dinner. I ordered a steak and received my appetizer (salad) then nothing.
After
awhile my server came and apologized. It seems that the kitchen lost my
order
ticket. No problem because one of my favorite Island bands was tuning up
to
play that evening. The Geeze Cats is the name of the band and they are
GREAT.
Finally my dinner arrived and I ate and listened to the band. Finally
about 10
PM I was finished and was headed off to The Boathouse to listen to my
favorite
Island entertainer John Salamon play the keys. I asked for my bill and my
waitperson said the dinner was on the house because it took so long. I
thought
that was nice so she got a very nice tip and I headed out. I walked
towards the
other end of town past the Roundhouse and their famous grilled chicken.
Some of
the island establishments are already closed. I arrived at the Boathouse
and
Mr. Salamon was banging away on the keys. I ordered a Michelob Light and
enjoyed the music. There was a good crowd there and they had the
Wisconsin/Ohio
State football game on the TV so I split my time between watching Mr.
Salamon
play and the game. It was a great way to end my season. Mr. Salamon played
nonstop from 9 PM to a little after 1 AM.

I watched a little TV and headed off to sleep. About 8:30 AM I was
awakened by
a knock on my boat. The inside boat on our raft wanted to leave so I had
to get
up and move my boat. I moved over to the outside of A-dock across from the
Boardwalk and reset my lines and then headed into town for breakfast at
Frosty's. The wind was really blowing, flags were standing straight out.
The
weather radio stated that winds were between 35 and 40 knots out of the
west.
About 11 AM I decided to pull out and head for home 34 miles away. A
couple of
other boats had headed out and came back telling me the waves were 8'. I
decided to go anyway because I had to be home for an important Board
meeting of
the Boat Club I am currently serving as Vice Commodore so off I went. It
was
rough but waves were only running about 5'. I was running directly into
the
waves and I made about 8.5 to 9 MPH. About half way I had to use the head
so I
pulled in behind West Sister Island where it was calm to use the facility
and
to take a break. I was there about a half hour and there were several
other
boats there fishing. I pulled back out into the lake and lo and behold the
lake
had calmed down a bit. Waves were only running a foot to a foot and a half
so I
got up on plane for the rest of the trip home arriving at the marina about
2:10
pm. It was a great last cruise for 2003.

Monday, which was bright and sunny was a beautiful day to winterize the
boat. I
launched her and went to the fuel dock, put in the stabilizer and filled
the
tank. I then headed out to the lake for one last 30 minute run then back
to the
dock. I then winterized the fresh water system, pumped out the holding
tank and
winterized that. Then I changed the oil in the engines and when my
daughter
arrived I winterized the AC system. Then it was time to say goodbye until
spring and they put the boat away. The marina will winterize the engines
and
service the drives. All in all the 2003 season was OK. I missed the first
2
months recovering from surgery but really did not miss out on that much
because
the weather from April 15th thru the middle of June was not that great. I
ended
up with 388.1 hours on the engines this being my 5th season with the boat.

So now begins my annual countdown to the start of the 2004 season and
January
1st when my year as Commodore of West River Yacht and Cruising Club
(WRYCC) for
short begins.

181 days to go...

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use
the
Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Don't worry, Bill. We on the swee****er seas consider ourselves pretty
lucky as well.

Bob Dimond

In article , "Bill
Kiene" wrote:

I guess in California we are pretty lucky because we boat and fish all
winter for trout and stripers in our lakes and Delta system.

--
Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA
www.kiene.com