The Return Mackinac Island Trip

This was by far one of the toughest emotionally and physically vacations that I have had.  I’m bruised all up and down my legs, and I’m mentally exhausted.  I even caught a cold to top it all off.  I understand that extreme sailing is for some, but not for me!  I really believe a working toilet is mandatory!  Did I mention that the Island is 333 nautical miles from Chicago?  This was not going to be a short trip.  I was helping sail back the Tartan 10 (T-10) boat named Mutiny which is owned by Mike’s best friend, John.  Mutiny is a racing sailboat with no frills.  It is built strictly for speed and not comfort.  She’s 33 feet long with four sleeping bunks down below.  I was not really looking forward to the trip, but I knew that it was important to Mike that I do it.  As Gwen put it, sometimes you have to poop in a pail for love.

Tues, Arriving on the Island

I took half of Tuesday off work, so that I could drive the seven hours and still make it to the Mackinaw City in time for the last ferry to the island.  I noticed on the Mac website early in the day that Mike and the crew of Mutiny finished the race around 4 am, so I knew that he would be there.  I drove like a bat out of hell to get there in time.  I was totally stressed, and I hardly stopped at all.  I didn’t want to miss the damn ferry.

For those of you who don’t know.  Mike and I have been having some issues.  I really don’t want to go into details here, but suffice it to say that things have not been well for us.  In Kiersten’s fantasy world, he would be waiting for me at the dock with a bouquet of flowers telling me that everything was going to be OK.  In reality, he wasn’t anywhere to be found. 

I called him to let him know what time I would be arriving, and he sounded excited to meet me at the dock.  Everyone departed from the ship and took off for their destinations, and I was standing there waiting for him.  He never came.  I thought I was going to break down in tears right there when I noticed a sailing friend of Mike’s Kate.  She saw me standing there and wanted to know what was happening.  I called Mike.  He forgot about the hour time change.  He was about two miles away on an island with no cars and only horse drawn taxis that decided to stop running right before my ferry landed.  There were going to be fireworks for the 100^th Anniversary of the Mackinac Race, so the horses were headed back to the barn.  I couldn’t even hop in a taxi to meet him.  I had four heavy bags and no where to go.  After Mike talked to Kate, it was decided that she would help me take my bags to Mutiny and Mike would meet us there.

Kate crawled across four boats carrying my bags to the boat.  We ran into some friends of hers on one of the boats that she stepped over, and they invited us in for cocktails.  Mike finally showed up and I was pissed off.  Remember that the day before I left for this trip I was up in the middle of the night driving my sister to the airport.  I had family in town for Grandpa’s funeral that Friday.  Everyone stayed the weekend, and I had the job of entertaining everyone.  I had no breaks.  I was already emotionally exhausted before I began the trip. 

Mike had to leave this fancy dinner at the restaurant near the hotel, and I was starving.  We decided to go get some food and invited Scott along with us.  Scott was one of the guys that raced on Mutiny and was going to do the return trip with us.  No real restaurants were open because it was so late after watching the fireworks.  We ended up eating mybloggers bar food, and I was getting drunk fast.  I went to the bathroom, and I lost it.  I decided that this whole thing was a bad idea, and I was going to go home on the next ferry.  He could have at least showed up on time!!!!  I walked out of the bathroom, threw a ton of money on the table and announced that I needed some fresh air.  I took off out the door before either one of them had time to react.  I got about two blocks away before Mike caught up with me wanting to know what the hell I was doing.  He calmed me down.  He always seems to know the right things to say.  We decided to walk back to the hotel where I crawled into bed with a woman named Jodi and Mike slept with Marc.  I couldn’t believe that we weren’t even going to get to sleep in the same bed.  It was an incredibly long walk to the hotel.  We finally got there around 3 am.  I passed out hard core.

Wed, The Trip Begins

I expected that we would get up early and get going on the boat.  I was way wrong.  I had none of my clothes or toiletries because they were all on the boat.  The other ladies got ready, and we went down to the hotel for a lovely breakfast buffet.  We ate out on the porch with an incredible view of the grounds and lake.  It really was beautiful.  Mike didn’t join us because he wanted to eat his food from the restaurant last night.  He had ordered dinner but had to leave it to come get me.  After a leisurely meal, we started a game of croquet.  We had about an hour to kill before the taxi came to pick us all up with our belongings.  It was a lot of fun. 

When we made it to the boat, I was already to go.  It was decided that we could take half an hour to go into town to get any goodies we wanted.  This turned into several hours.  We didn’t all get on the boat until way after noon.  We then ran the motor to get us back to Mac city where we dropped everyone off who was not making the return trip.  Returning with us was Mike, the owner of the boat John, his whatever Kiersa, Elli from Germany who came back to the states to visit, Scott an older family man and myself. It was decided that we would eat lunch before launching.  We ended up at this pizza parlor where Scott ordered pizza for us all which had every ingredient that I can’t stand on it.  Just looking at it made me sick.  I thought I was going to puke.  Then I realized that I was probably sea sick, dehydrated and exhausted.  I ate nothing there.  John and Mike walked me to a store where I bought some stuff to settle my stomach, Dramamine and lots of Pedialite.

Once we finally got going, it was late afternoon.  There was no way that we were going to make it to Beaver Island in time for dinner at the restaurant that Mike really wanted to visit.  He ate there once before and kept raving about the food.  I was so sick on the boat.  I was absolutely miserable.  Everyone else is enjoying the sail, and I’m trying hard not to toss my cookies.  The lake was really calm too.  I couldn’t wait to hit land.  Everyone was drinking and laughing, and I felt like the freak on the boat.  Did I mention that Mike was paying about as much attention to me as he was to everyone else on the boat.  I felt like such a fool.  I did have some time to observe everyone else though.  I decided that I really like Scott and John was not being so bad either.  I enjoyed Elli’s company, but I couldn’t stand Kiersa.  She’s the kind of person that insults other people for fun.  She is really mean and selfish.  I knew that I was really going to hate her by the end of the trip.  I have no time or energy in my life for mean people no matter how hot they look.

One hysterical highlight was when we decided it was time to fly the Macaw Parrot kite that we bought off the back of the boat.  Words can not describe the way the kite would dive into the water, completely disappear, and then raise again like a phoenix from the flames.  It was pure entertainment.

We finally made it to the island.  We jumped out of the boat and took off for the restaurant which was of course closed.  In fact, all the restaurants on the island were closed.  There was no food at all except what was on the boat.  So everyone decided that we should go drinking instead.  Did I mention that I was sick to my stomach and not drinking.  However, I’m trying to put on a happy face and fit in.  I really just wanted to go back to the boat and pass out.  Instead I had a soda while they drank and then followed them to another bar for more drinks.

The stars on Beaver Island were amazing.  I’ve never seen them look so beautiful.  You could actually see the Milky Way.

Thurs, Calm Seas and No Breeze

We got up really early this morning, and left on time.  It was going to be a long sail to Frankfort.  This is supposed to be one of the longest legs of our trip.  The wind was really light, so we ended up motoring the whole way.  I loved this.  I took some Dramamine in the morning, and I had no sea sickness.  I finally felt like one of the crew.  Mind you that I’m the only one of the boat that has no sailing experience what so ever.  I had only been on Mutiny once before and she was in the dock.  All of this sailing stuff was new to me, and I was trying to be a trooper!

After a couple hours, I headed down below for a nap.  The boat and the engine lulled me right to sleep.  I slept like a baby.  I woke up to board games and drinking.  I jumped right in.  No time to waste!  I had a ton of fun just hanging out on the boat and getting to know everyone better.  I think this was my favorite day on the boat.  When you sail the boat is heeled over at quite an angle.  When you are motoring, the boat is flat.  It’s really hard to move in a boat that is almost sideways and dancing on the waves!

We arrived in Frankfort in enough time to get dinner and have a few drinks.  Then back to the boat for a little party on the dock.  There was a lot of drinking and partying on this trip.  Much more then I’m really used to.  I was usually the first one to go to bed at night.  Getting drunk and loud is not my idea of a great night.  Kiersa would always give me a hard time for leaving the party early.  She was really getting on my nerves.  She was really mean to Scott.  She would say some horrible things to him.  And Scott was very laid back.  He was just happy to be relaxing on the boat and drinking beer.  Kiersa was the kind of sailor that only did things when John told what to do.  She would never volunteer help or think of a way to help other than mixing more booze.  I may not have known what I was doing, but I always jumped up to help.

Fri, Trouble Starts

We woke up pretty early the next morning and headed to town for a nice breakfast.  We ran into a couple other T-10 owners and enjoyed talking to them.  Everyone was headed down to Pentwater for the annual Mac Party.  Sailors sure do like to drink.  We ate breakfast in this beautiful garden and I taught them the name of the plants.  It was very peaceful. 

The lake was not so peaceful.   We made it out of the harbor mouth and realized that the wind was blowing hard and not in the right direction.  We all had to suit up and put on foul weather gear.  You are basically covered head to toe in special gear designed to keep you dry.  It is not that uncomfortable, but you feel like you are drowning in rubber clothes.  The waves were pretty big too.  It was going to be a tough sail.

We made it a couple miles out, and we heard a strange snapping noise.  We thought something must have fell down below because we were so heeled over.  We were also getting splashed from the waves hitting the boat.  The skipper decided that in this weather we should all be wearing life jackets and tethered into the boat.  This meant that we were literally attached by a line to the boat.  If you end up going overboard, everyone else can pull you up and back into the boat by your tether.  Then Mike screamed at John.  One of the shrouds was broken and swinging in the wind.  The shrouds hold down the mast of the boat and support the weight of the sails.  Mike, John and Scott immediately jumped into action while us girls tried to stay out of the way or waited for directions.  This was a very serious situation.  If we had tacked (turned the sails to the other side) we could have broken the mast in half which is extremely scary and dangerous considering the wind and waves.  We were very lucky.  They immediately dropped the front sail and reefed the main sail down two notches.  That means that the sail is no only about a third of the size it normally is.  They were trying to reduce the amount of pressure on the rigging to keep the mast from breaking.  We tried to start the engine to no luck.  It was full of water due to being heeled over.  Apparently the guys knew that the engine was taking in water after the race, but they didn’t do anything about it.   I was pissed.  I would never have gotten on a boat with engine issues.  That’s just stupid.  Now we are basically dead in the water trying to nurse a sick engine 15 miles to the next port in high winds and seas.  I was very worried.  Elli got very seasick.

In the middle of all of this Mike throws an orange at me and told me to talk to the lake.  This is the first time that he has ever asked me to practice any Ifa religion.  I knew then that we were really in trouble.  I called Roy to ask for advice.  He told me what to offer the lake goddess, and I did.  I prayed for us to get in safe.  After about hour, a sense of calm came over me.  I knew that we would get into port safe. 

John had looked up the number for the coast guard and explained to all of us how to hail them on the radio.  There was a coast guard station at Manistee which was the next port big enough for us to dock. 

After several hours of nursing the engine and the sails, we finally made into dock exhausted.  Mike had spent several hours below the deck breathing in diesel fuel while bleeding air and water from the engine.  He looked green.  He blamed himself for the piece breaking.  He couldn’t remember if he tied the piece down so if it came off we wouldn’t lose it.  Who knows what really happened.  Personally I believe that this happened to keep us from something worse.  The world works in mysterious ways.

We docked around five and no area marinas had the piece.  The closest marina that might have it was more than fifty miles away.  We were stuck for the night.  Mike and John disappeared for a while and then came back with big smiles on their faces.  They found someone who was selling boats that had the exact same piece that we needed.  He gave us the old one and was going to charge us to replace it with the new piece.  We could sail in the morning!  Yeah!!!!!

That night we paid way too much for a mediocre dinner, but what are you going to do when you are stuck in a small town?  The little town was nice, but Beaver Island and Frankfort were much cuter.  That night we drank heavily and played the card game Apples to Apples which is way too much fun.  I was really on edge though.  After dinner that night, Mike was walking arm in arm with Elli and not even talking to me.  I was walking with Scott.  This really pissed me off.  Then during the card game, Elli put her head in his lap, and I snapped.  I finished the round, went to the bathroom and was so pissed off that I could hardly stand it.  Why is he showing her this affection and not me?  I came all the way out here on this trip to show him I care and he can’t even hold me hand when we walk down the street.  He’s giving her the affection that he should be giving me.  Mike followed me to the bathrooms, and I laid in on him that we were over, and I was pissed over.  We are done, done.  Crawled into the bunk to try and sleep.

Sat, Day One of a Very Long Sail

I could hardly sleep the night before.  I was pissed off.  How dare he.  I decide that I’m going to find some way to get to a rental car and drive the rest of the way to Chicago.  Mike keeps following me around the docks and I want nothing to do with him.  He starts to make small talk with me when no one is around and I told him that I had no desire to talk to him and that I was going to get a car and go home.  I then sat there and scratched out the rest of his sailing schedule in my datebook.  He asked if I was going to talk to him at all, and I said fine but we needed to go for a walk.  I couldn’t get him to understand why I was so upset.  It’s not that I suspect anything with Elli, but he’s freely showing her affection and I put out all this effort and money and was basically being treated like one of the guys.  Somehow he managed to calm me down again.  I still have no idea how he does it.  I told him how this was not the trip that I expected.  That some kind of little affection every once in a while would be nice.  I didn’t expect things to be like they were, but I didn’t expect to be treated like one of the guys either.  In retrospect, I had no idea what to expect, but this wasn’t it.  Other people came and sat at our table oblivious to the fact that we really wanted to be alone, like we didn’t get enough of them on the boat. 

We hung out in the docks for several more hours because precious Kiersa wasn’t feeling well.  Her stomach was upset from the fish and she refused to get on the boat until she was sure that nothing else was going to happen.  At this point, I was really done with everyone, but still trying to put on a smiling face.

We finally left, and we knew that we had a very long sail ahead of us.  We were going to sail through the night.  The wind was in an OK place, and the boat was doing really well.  At least they fixed the engine when we were in dock this morning.  I never knew that you could consistently be so cold on a summer day.  We were still in full foul weather gear.  I think I was freezing the majority of the time we were on the boat.  I couldn’t put a hat on because it would blow right off.  My hair was one big knot. 

We were sailing at an angle through the middle of the lake.  It was going to be at least a 36 hour sail when we started if the wind stayed with us.  If the wind died, we would have to find a port, dock the boat, and drive home.  We all needed to be back to work on Monday.

We sailed into the night and watched the sunset.  It really was beautiful from the water.  Mike and John made us some wonderful turkey sandwiches with avocado and cucumbers for dinner.  The stars were out but not as bright as they were on Beaver Island.  When the sun went down, it was time to be tethered into the boat again.  We were already wearing life vests, but we needed to be strapped into the boat at all times at night.  Mike and John ran through the man overboard procedure.  It was decided that if all the guys went into the water that we would set off the coast guard beacon.

I was exhausted and not feeling well, so I went down below.  I slept fitfully though out the night.  We were going to take shifts so everyone had a chance to sleep.  I guess I didn’t wake up though.  Mike woke me up a couple hours before dawn.  It was still cold, but the wind help up though the night.  The GPS unit showed that we would arrive in Belmont Harbor around 11am.  I couldn’t wait.  So far, I had managed not to go poo in the bucket.  I was reluctant to even pee this morning because I didn’t want to take any chances.

We watched the sun rise, and it really was spectacular.  I had never seen the sun rise over the lake before.  Truly stunning.

The whole morning was rough for me.  I refused to eat or drink until I could use a real bathroom.  I was so uncomfortable.  We finally made it close to the harbor, and surprise the batteries on the engine died.  This meant that we had to sail into the harbor which adds more time.  I thought I was going to explode.  We finally docked, I threw myself at Mike and took off for the bathroom.  I had held it in for eight hours.  Super bladder!!!!

We unloaded the boat which took forever, and I thought the nightmare was over.  Wrong.  We had to go have drinks at the bar to celebrate our return.  I was dehydrated, hungry, tired, and now had Mike’s head cold.  I really just wanted to go home and go to bed.  Instead we ended up hanging out drinking again.  I drank water.  I told Mike that I was really hungry and wanted to leave.  Two and half hours later, we were finally on our way.  We of course had to invite everyone else to join us to go out to eat.  I was so done with these people.

Mike’s car was in the shop so we took a tax to his place, took a quick shower and out the door for lunch.  I could hardly make nice with Kiersa, but I tried.  I didn’t do a great job.  And then I also had to be sad to see Elli go back to Germany.  I even had to find something nice to write on a t-shirt.  I don’t dislike Elli, but I don’t really like her either.  And by now, I was really done with all of them.  Everyone left which left Mike and I alone.  Finally we started talking.  He was upset that I broke up with him, and I said you dumped me first.

I took the el and bus home to get my car, and returned to Mike’s to finish our talk.  Did I mention that when we were walking back towards the el he wanted to talk about Elli.

After a long talk, we are no longer a couple.  He couldn’t forgive, forget and move on.  I don’t fault him for this because I was pretty sure he wasn’t capable of it.  This is by far the most amicable break up that I have ever had.  When walking me to my car with my luggage he told me that he can’t help but think that this may be the worst decision he’s ever made in his life.  I told him that I couldn’t help him with that.  We’re now returning each other’s belongings, and I’m heartbroken.