Yippee, our excitingest day yet! The forecast was for 18-22 knot winds which for us would be a broad reach, so we set off expecting a fast exciting sail towards Erie, PA, 42° 08’.16N 80° 05’.43W. Wow, were we in for a surprise. The winds were between 22 and 28 knots all day with many gusts into the 30s and max wind speed recorded 35.6 knots. We broke all previous speed records many times and maxed out at 16.1 knots with a double reefed main and ½ Genoa. All the time it was fun – we were sailing on a broad reach after all. (It wouldn’t have been too much fun sailing upwind.) She handled beautifully !
We arrived at Erie harbor and had to sail under the Sheraton’s Skywalk to get to our chosen marina - see photo below. It looked intimidating, but we had plenty of head room, and this was the first time we’d sailed under a hotel! The marina is very nice and reasonably priced.
Erie is in a huge natural harbor, bordered by Presque Isle which is now joined to the mainland so is not actually an island. The peninsula is 7 miles long and 2 miles wide at its widest point. We’re planning to cycle it tomorrow and may not have time to explore the city so we’re thinking of spending three nights here. Today’s log: 46.3 nm, season total: 1144.3
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