posted 07-31-2006 10:05 PM ET (US)        

Buckda came into town last weekend and it turned into a fun impromptu,on Saturday, we went and looked at and I put the deposit on my new to me 1985 Revenge 22 WT. Of course we arrived for the viewing via water on board Gambler.

After taking care of business, we boarded Gambler and went cruising Lake St. Clair, where in the middle of the lake we run in to Paul Mott and Suzanne aboard Paul's Outrage 18 "Cicada". We visited a while and then we went on for a cruise around Harsen's Island, and Paul headed home.

Buckda stayed at my place Saturday night, we got up Sunday and headed for Lake Erie, we met Paul & Cicada at the ramp and off we went out on Lake Erie, Paul radioed us and let us know this was the first time he had been on Lake Erie and that he had now had Cicada on all five Great Lakes. Buckda revealed that this was his first time on Lake Erie and that now Gambler had only to hit Lake Ontario to have the Great Lakes Grand Slam.

We went out to the Detroit Light for a while and then over to the Canadian side and headed into the Detroit River stopping at Bob-lo Island Marina, checking in with Canadian Customs and then had lunch lunch. After Lunch Paul had to head home, his son was waiting for the Cicada to go wake boarding with friends.

Buckda and I then headed across to the American side and ran up the Detroit River on the west side of Grosse Isle and ended up circumnavigating the whole Island. in the Process we ran across a Prosecutor friend of mine aboard his Outrage 20. A while later we saw a Coast Guard Auxillary crew on Board a nice Revenge 22 WT with Whaler
drive sporting a Honda 225. We got around the island and back to the ramp just as the wind and rain kicked up, I guided Buckda back to the freeway and he off and running back to Chicago and I to home......A Nice Michigan Impromptu

here are a few photo's
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v368/HomeAside/ Lake%20Erie%20July%202006/?action=view¤t=DSCN0480.jpg&refPage=& imgAnch=imgAnch5

I hope they turn out, I've been having some problems with my linking abilities lately.

posted 08-01-2006 09:46 AM ET (US)            

Yeah - that was probably me!

As we were reaching the second bridge (northernmost) on the West side of Grosse Isle, we heard radio traffic regarding the inbound weather so we kicked it into high gear and headed around the island for the ramp.

We timed it perfectly, it turns out, since we got a few droplets of rain and cool wind with ominious clouds as we tied the boat down and it began raining in earnest as we left the entrance to the Metropark.

It dropped from the mid/upper 90's to the mid 70's with that front, but by the time I reached Kalamazoo, it was 90 degrees again.

That front capsized several sailboats on Lake Michigan off Chicago when it came through, although there were no casualties.

It was a great weekend. We traveled around 80 miles aboard the boat, and I had the chance to boat on two new lakes (St. Clair and Erie).

Lake St. Clair seems to be a bit of a madhouse with boat traffic. The confused chop is not conducive to a nice boat ride....

...so we're making headway to the river to round Harsens Island on Saturday evening and I see a nice 18 coming our way. He has a Johnson motor on the back and I say to Pat "hey - that looks like Paul!" As they cruise by, I start turning Gambler toward them and catch sight of the green Mills canvas (stowed) on the bow. "It's Paul!" I say and give it a little throttle toward them.

He looked at us like "who is this crazy guy heading right for me?"

Then the look of recognition hit him and Suzanne. What a great chance encounter!

posted 08-01-2006 10:17 AM ET (US)            

I am glad someone ran into Paul. I was actually beginning to worry about him....

posted 08-01-2006 09:42 PM ET (US)            

I haven't been doing much boating this year with the new house, new job and family stuff. Free time is at a premium and hard to come by. When the opportunity came up to meet Pat and Dave at Lake Erie Sunday I gladly jumped on it. I think I felt a little guilty for about three minutes but it passed and I was able to forget about all the humdrum stuff I seemed to have found myself bound to for a while. It's funny how that stuff messes with priorities!

Jeff, not to worry, it's a temporary condition that shoud be cured with a good dose of whaleritis.

Suzanne and I were both happy to see Dave, Pat and his son. We often speak of the trips we've had with the people from the site and it gave my daughter the chance to put some characters with the people she's heard about and the pictures we've shown her.

Sunday was fun. Great lunch at Bob-Lo. I couldn't think of a better way to go about getting the Outrage into Lake Erie than with a couple of people from this site. Nice area of islands down there and Pat's familiarity with the water made it very enjoyable.

I'm happy for and a bit envious of Pat with the new Revenge. I'm sure he's going to love the boat and I look forward to a little demonstration run.

A little Detroit gathering would be nice.

posted 08-03-2006 09:47 AM ET (US)            

Did you buy the boat from a guy who has a house on the back side basin at Metro?