Great Loop Date: 09.12.2010 (Sunday): Rolling On…

Day 31: 655.4 miles (today: 66.3 miles in 8.5 hours at 9.0 mph)

Port #11 – Grand Haven Municipal Marina, Grand Haven, MI

 

I wish I was in the Southland sitting in a chair

With one arm around my old guitar

And the other one around my dear

I'm rolling on (I'm rolling on)

I'm rolling on (I'm rolling on)

I'm rolling on through life just rolling on…

(Bill Monroe I'm Rolling On)

This was the second day in a row we got up at 5AM to check on the weather and if we were going to move on. As I walked Charlie at 6AM, I could see there was quite a surge coming into the harbor and a big trail of fishing boats were coming back in, as well. We all know how fishermen are…they don’t give up unless it is bad…really bad! I spotted a 32 foot Carver coming into our side of the marina and caught up with him to check on lake conditions. He said they encountered 5 to 6 foot waves and decided to quit after they took two big ones over the bow. I took the report back to our Looper group.

Todd had started coming down with a grand cold. He was not in the best of spirits. His sleep was pretty broken. He would have been happy with another day lay over.  However, that was not to be.

By 8:30AM we could see the winds had died quite a bit. Fishing boats were heading out again. Sailors that had been on the dock with us decided to head out and catch the last bit of wind. They reported back by radio there were 2 to 3 foot waves with an occasional 4 footer. That was the news we were waiting for. We left the dock by 9:30AM hoping to make Grand Haven, MI.

As we headed down the river another radio report came from our sailor friends as well as N II Wishin and Sea Estate who were ahead of us. The waves were more like 3 to 4 footers, rollers (not choppy) and on the beam. Oh goody…we knew we’d be rocking and rolling. We hoped the lake would settle down as the day grew long.

Rollers they were. More like going down a mogel field on a ski slope! We spent all 8.5 hours rolling, rolling, rolling. It was nice to get into the Grand River and find a dock. All we wanted to do was stand for a good long time on a surface that was still!

The entrance to the Grand River. The Grand Haven Lighthouses were first built in 1839 on the south pier marking the channel into the river. The current lighthouses, painted red, were built in 1875 (outer light) and 1905 (inner). They are connected by a lighted catwalk which runs along the pier to the shore.

The Grand Haven Lighthouse.

We had a good dinner at a little Mexican restaurant (Tip A Few) where the food was reasonable. It was nice to sit at a table that wasn’t moving.

After dinner, we walked to a little ice cream place that was just down from our dock. Both Todd and I and Connie opted for their Turtle Sundae. It was just the right amount and set me up for a good night’s sleep. Todd had another rough night with his cold.

Grand Haven:

• The city was founded by French settlers who developed a fur-trading outpost called Gabagouache, the Pattawattamie Indian name for the area. The trading post was later taken over by business tycoon and first millionaire in the United States, John Jacob Astor and the American Fur Company and became a hub of economic activity in the area.
• The Pottawattamie and Ottawa Indians lived in the area much earlier as the river was a major Native American trade route into the interior of Michigan.
• The city was first called "Grand Haven" in 1835 and the community was incorporated as a city in 1867.
• In the mid to late 1800s, Grand Haven developed into a logging, lumber mill and shipping area, as well as a shipbuilding center.
• The former Grand Trunk Railway on the waterfront near the river is now a historical museum.
• The Story and Clark Piano Company built pianos in the city from 1900-1984.
• The Eagle-Ottawa Leather Co. which traces its origin back to the Sheldon Tannery founded in 1838, closed in 2006.