As passage mileage increases, so too does the level of boat and crew preparation. Let the adventure begin.

Three years ago I purchased the 22-Bristol Little Wing aiming to sail it along the southeast shore of Lake Michigan. During this time my longest sail to date has been a 20-mile day sail, and four miles of that were motoring in and out of the two-mile river entrance to and from the marina. The only destination I’ve sailed to is the next river and city about six miles north, and this I’ve only done a handful of times. It seems this sailboat just doesn’t have the range I thought it would have. My goal for a good day sail now is to get far enough to windward to be able to have a return trip under a spinnaker that is long enough to warrant getting out all the equipment and gear.

Still, the dream of going ‘some place’ is there. Now that I have some experience and a few nautical miles under my belt, I’ve come to the realization that traversing Lake Michigan to get to all its neat bays, islands, and bridges in my little boat is not practical except by transporting the boat over the road by trailer. I still think, however, it is within my capabilities to cross the lake to the west shore, which lies about 70 miles from my home port and an extended sail is taking shape.

Seventy miles down wind is one thing, but if the prevailing west winds are present, this distance could be significantly more, because the winds would be blowing straight from my destination and make for a lot of tacking. The one point of interest on this voyage that I really want to see is the NOAA buoy, which lies about 35 miles due west of my home port. I’m pretty familiar with this particular buoy, and use its information before every sail, checking the latest reports via the Internet for Lake Michigan’s real-time wind and wave conditions. It’s invaluable information. Not only can you check the present conditions, but you can view the past 24-hour observations for insight into whether winds and seas are building or receding. If I am going across the lake and this is in my path, I plan on taking a snap shot of it for the scrap book or website. And just getting to this point upwind would assure me of a great spinnaker run home, well worth getting all the equipment out for.

Prior knowledge of channel markers, breakwaters, and hazards keeps the last minute scrambling when approaching a harbor to a minimum.

Now’s its time to work out the details. Detail one: picking a destination port. Through my electronic chart program I located Racine, Wisconsin, due west of my homeport. Racine has a neat island a couple miles out from the harbor entrance complete with a light house on it. The detail of my chart program reveals that the port has an easy entrance. A search on the Internet reveals a number of sites, including one for Racine’s Chamber of Commerce. I clicked on that link and in less than two minutes filled out a form--and no kidding--two days later held a thick Racine visitors’ guide in my hands. This thing is great, it has everything you need to know - like where to eat, marinas, water way rules, night life, trolleys, activities, beaches, golf courses, and more, all very nicely done. So, Racine it is.

Detail two: Who to take? I need a crew of one or two like-minded able bodies. My wife isn’t quite up to that long of a sail, and the kids get bored with sailing after a few miles. I decide to ask Allen, a friend and co-worker who has sailed a few local club races with me, and who immediately jumped at the chance. I showed him the charts and visitor’s guide and we both got excited--morale is everything when facing extended time on the water.

Detail Three: When to go? Work and weather made this the easy part. The arrangement at work is that we both can’t take vacation time at the same time, so that leaves long holiday weekends as the only viable option. Typically, July has the most benign weather, and by then the lake is usually warm enough to swim in. So Fourth of July weekend it is! We decide to observe the longstanding nautical tradition of not departing on Friday, so will leave just after midnight Saturday morning and with luck, hope to arrive at Racine some 17 hours later around 5:00 p.m. That’s a conservative estimate for the trip, but if it ends up taking another four hours, there will still be daylight. With the commercial traffic on that side of the lake we want to arrive during daylight hours.

Detail four: Using the visitor’s guide, Allen calls Reefpoint Marina and reserves a transient slip for Saturday night. We plan on showering there and getting some food and refreshments and celebrating our crossing! The plan for the return trip is less important at this writing--all we know is that we both have to be back to work Tuesday at 6 a.m. We will probably leave Sunday morning sometime before noon and arrive in the wee hours of Monday morning, hopefully borne by a long and steady downwind breeze.

Detail five: Provisioning and equipment. We plan on eating well on our voyage. Allen is the lemon pepper shrimp barbeque king and promises to make triple portions of the scrumptious finger food prior to leaving. Deli potato salad, coleslaw, a big bag of chips, and a bag of pistachios will round out the menu. Pistachios are great in that cracking all the shells gives us something to do on watch. Two bags of ice and the cooler is good for 24 hours, assuring cold pop on the way, and beer on our arrival. Little Wing is almost ready. The one thing lacking that we hope to have before departing is a functional tillerpilot. Measurements have been taken and the unit and all its accessories will be ordered shortly. A tillerpilot should almost eliminate the burden of manning the helm for most of the trip. We will be taking along lots of extras: extra fuel, an extra house battery, an extra GPS, and extra VHF (Allen has a GPS and VHF - see how my attention to detail paid off!), as well as a laptop with a chart program and GPS connection, and a small TV to watch the weather.

Detail six: This whole trip is dependent on the weather. We both agreed that the weather window must be decent, which means no gale warnings or 7-to-10-foot wave forecasts, and no strong fronts or electrical storms. So now we pray for good weather, with wind out of the south, and we wait, and the dream grows ever closer to realization.