A great time was had by all at this year’s annual PMYC 4th of July trip to New Buffalo! The first to arrive was Late Nights; their trip began a week earlier sailing from Chicago to South Haven. Nick & K2 said the weather conditions for the lake crossing were perfect and they sailed the entire way. They then sailed down the Michigan coast stopping at a few harbors along the way before arriving in New Buffalo on Thursday afternoon.
The Friday departure for Nordlyset & Weekend Retreat from Chicago was not as favorable. From the Harrison-Dever Crib, it showed 31 knot peak gusts and 28 knots @ 9am. The wave heights were predated at 5 to 7 feet with the occasional 9. We decided to postpone our departure until late afternoon. It would give the lake a chance to lay down a bit and for (some of) us to have a few afternoon PBR’s.
We left Monroe Harbor at 4:30pm. It was a close-hauled port tack straight to New Buffalo. The wind was blowing like stink and the seas were consistently 4 to 6 footers the entire time. There were a few 8.5 boat speed viewed, when anyone paid attention. Tom and Frank on Weekend Retreat were the first to arrive to the harbor around 11 pm, followed shortly after by Joe, Jen, Albert and Brandon on Nordlyset. If you have ever sailed with Tom you know he is always going to be first, (well, not always, I heard Late Nights beat them to a Harbor on a PMYC trip last year!) It’s always a race!
Saturday morning Bada-Bing and Toot-A-Loo, representing the powerboat fleet, headed over from Chicago. With flat waters and 30 knot boat speeds they were there in an hour and a half. Must be nice.
By midafternoon, our assigned docks were filled with those who arrived by land or sea. In all we had around 25 PYMC members and friends. Some of the friends were from Michigan. If you are wondering how you know someone is from Michigan, it’s because within the first 5 minutes of a conversation they will show you the spot on their hand where they grew up. You see, for the rest of us, when we were little our parents would put a note in our pocket with our name and address in case we got lost. But if you are born in Michigan, your hand is the only map you’ll ever need. I’m not sure what they do if they leave the state...
The weekend was a typical PMYC gathering...We all drank and ate and enjoyed the town. After a day of drinking on Saturday, Bob called out “Hey, let’s take a cruise on the Bing”! So, 20 of us jumped on the Bing and off we went. With the music turned up we cruised up and down docks lanes of the marina, admiring the other boats. As always we had everyone’s attention. Including the Counties Sheriff’s department. They took one look at the boat and it screamed SAFTEY CHECK.
First question, do you have enough life preservers for all those people? Everyone need to hold them up in their hands. It’s too bad that Bob couldn’t see the sheriffs’ faces when he went down below and started throwing life preservers up the companionway 4, 5 and sometimes 8 at a time... “Oh yea bubbles, I think I have like 40 of them down here”. So after 15 minutes, with Bob being in full safety compliance and with a warning to keep the ladies off the front deck, off they went. As is typical with Michiganders, they were pleasant & polite. So, with nothing more than a friendly warning, we returned to our dock & continued the party!
The rest of the weekend filled with more of the same – eating, drinking & enjoying the PMYC comradery! A special shout out to our very own grill master & mixologist extraordinaire ...Frank grilled some great steak and lobster for dinner while Bob was on the margarita machine making drinks. Like last year, we had the same VIP section in front of the crowd to watch the fireworks. We hope to have even more members join in the fun next year!