Every year, Rovisys’s owner takes a couple dozen people out (whoever signs up) out on the Great Lakes for a multileg sailing trip on the Bum Boat. Every three days, a van full of 5-7 new crew members drives up to meet the boat to replace the existing crew.
This year, there were six legs. I was on leg five and had a blast. We drove up on a Friday and met the boat around 5pm. The previous crew lingered for a while but eventually headed home. We went out for the first of several fantastic dinners. After a huge meal and lots of drinking, we stopped by two bars before we made it back to the boat to bunk for the night.
The highlight of the first night would probably be a crazy old man we ran into at the last bar. His name was drinky or rinky or blinky or something like that. He never took a drink, though he went through the whole cheers thing over and over. He continuously tried to pick fights with each of us while muttering something unintelligible. Old people are funny.
Anyway, the next day we sailed from Detour, Michigan to Mackinac City. Total sail/motor time was about 8 hours. The best part of this day’s sailing was when we ran into a little rain and John (the owner, President, and Captain) stood unphased. It was light and we could see on the radar what we were getting ourselves into. The punch line occurred when he went below and came back up with his fowl-weather gear on. The crew exchanged glances and said, “uh oh.” Then the real rain came. It was still nothing too heavy with smooth seas but not three minutes after John came back, I got pretty damn wet.
We docked up and walked around Mackinac island for a good while then tempted fate with various raw sea creatures at dinner. After another great meal, we headed back to the boat for an evening of games and cards.
The next day we motored elsewhere and managed to get in a fair deal of actual sailing. The sailing part was great because it makes driving more fun, and it’s quiet.
Anyway, check out some random shots from my voyage and judge-selected photos from the other legs.
You can also read details from legs 1-4 in the Captain’s Log.
UPDATE 29SEP06: The Captain's Log has just been updated to include legs 5 (me) and 6.
