Lake Erie In July

 

Don't be confused by the picture above, Huron is a town on the southern shore of Lake Erie; it was our first stop after my friend Doug picked me up from the Cleveland airport. Why did I fly to Cleveland? Because Doug invited me to go sailing in Lake Erie and see the Key West of the North; more details to come on that.

You may recall that I met Doug in Florida over the winter, but he didn't sail here, he keeps his summer boat at Port Clinton, Ohio. He used to trailer his Florida boat here each summer but three years ago he happened upon a good deal on a 32 foot Endeavor sailboat and now lives on it six months of the year while it is too hot in Florida. 

On 23 July 2026, Doug and I set out on his boat, Lady Love, bound for Sandusky, Ohio to see a Journey cover band called Escape. The city put on a great show as part of their summer concert series in the city park right on the water front, and it was free. This location also allowed us to sail to the venue and tie up to the sea-wall and watch the show. It was excellent!

Besides the concert, we spent some time in Sandusky shopping at West Marine and the hardware store to get items to repair Doug's autopilot. I am happy to report that we were able to successfully repair the autopilot which relieved us of the tyranny of the tiller, as they say. With the autopilot working we made haste for Kelly Island about ten miles north of Sandusky. We made it in fine time but found out that we were too late to get a slip for the boat as it was Friday afternoon and they fill up quick for the weekend. 

We punted. As seen above, we tied the boat up at The Casino and had lunch while we discussed our options. Doug didn't have to think to long to decide that, it's Friday, we should go to Put-In-Bay, Key West of the North. It was settled, and as soon as we finished our amazingly delicious walleye lunch, we sailed for the mooring field at Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island. 

Key West of the North, really? Well, I have to say, yes, Put-In-Bay delivers all the fun you expect from an island town, sights to see, good restaurants, and more bars with live music than you can shake a stick at. It's a really good time! They even have a navigation marker done up just like the one in Key West, what's not to like?

There is even a history lesson to learn here, you know how I like that! I'll try to not go on too long about it. Behind me in the picture above, is the memorial to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, commemorating his victorious battle in the War of 1812 which occurred near South Bass Island. Why was this important? For a few reasons, notably it was the second time in 36 years we declared war on England, the most powerful country in the world, and our new Nation was again victorious. Americans at the time called it the second war for independence. 

The interesting thing about the monument is that it is actually called the Perry's Victory and International Peace Monument. It was commissioned on the 100th anniversary of the battle here and it's noteworthy for it's size and conspicuousness. It is a 352 foot tall granite Doric column! Beneath the monument, six officers are buried, three American and three British. A true testament of our lasting peace with Canada and the English.

Enough history, back to party town. Above is one of five swim up bars that can be found in Put-In-Bay, incredible! 

 

 

 I was kind of wishing that I had a kayak to paddle around some of the rocky shores of the American Islands in lake Erie. In the above picture people are enjoying some cliff jumping and swimming in the lake. I did lose a bet with Doug, I estimated the late would be about 70 degrees, but it was in fact about 80 degrees and quite lovely for swimming. 

 

After a couple of nights on South Bass we set sail again, this time for Canada! Above we can can be seen at Scudder Marina on the north shore of Pelee Island. Pelee is as bigger as all the other Lake Erie islands put together, so this seems like Canada got the better deal when they drew the border defining line down the middle of the lake; but it isn't that simple. Most of the roads on Pelee are on dykes and the farm land needs to be pumped after it rains, as we learned from some locals. Nevertheless it is an interesting place that seems to be used by Canadians at a vacation spot to get away from the hustle and bustle of Canada, LOL. We enjoyed our one night stay, had a refreshing swim in the morning from a nice sandy beach, and then made like trees.

We set sail for America and of course the wind was right on the nose. Our strategy was to motor west as far as we could so that we could sail southeast and miss the south end of Pelee. That worked but we ran out of fetch as we approached Middle Island, the second Canadian island. We tacked and headed for Middle Bass island and a couple hours later we motored for the South Bass island moorings. Yeah, back to Put-In-Bay, what can I say, we like to party. 

I'm happy to report the autopilot worked marvelously all day so we were able to relax and enjoy the sailing. Once we arrived at South Bass we called the water taxi for immediate extract and headed to town. 

The Round House Bar, shown above, is Doug's favorite so we hit it up again. We were on a mission to find some live music but since it was Monday we were kind of striking out. The previous picture is from the Beer Barrel which holds the title of the worlds longest bar at over 600 feet. It has many convolutions to allow it to fit in the building but the place is huge and they also have about 100 tables as well at the bar, incredible! Even better, they did have live music. Put-In-Bay delivers on entertainment, I'll be back!

Monday night on a mooring ball, a little lonely today but just wait for the weekend, it's always a party. Also to note, the sunset is a little orange due to the wildfire smoke in Canada, luckily it was never more than a little haze and I never smelled smoke in the air during my trip.

Tuesday morning, time to sail back to Port Clinton so we can then drive back to Cleveland. It's a short 2-3 hour sail from South Bass to Port Clinton and as we passed the west side of the island we got a good view of the Benson Ford Ship-house, seen above. This is not a house built to look like a ship, it the actual fore castle of the Benson Ford ore ship now transplanted onto a rock on South Bass Island and built as a four story, 7000 square foot summer home to the Sullivan family; and subsequently sold to the Kasper family.

 

Once back to Port Clinton, we put Lady Love to bed in her slip and hit the highway for Cleveland. I wasn't flying out till Wednesday but Doug had an early dentist appointment so there wasn't time to drop me off Wednesday. We made the best of it and saw some sights. Cleveland is a small city of about 350,000, but has three professional sports teams and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, there is a lot going on here. The picture above is the iconic 1930 Terminal Tower which was the tallest building outside New York city for decades. We also went out to a nice dinner and I treated Doug to celebrate his birthday, just a couple days away. It was a great way to cap off the trip!

 

A week later, back in Annapolis; Marcia's mom passed away on August 4th; Marcia and her family are busy making arrangements. Mary Romer lived to 91 years old and leaves behind her loving family of three children and seven grand children, all whom were able to come see her before her passing.

 

As luck would have it, Kismet is almost back together, I expect the new water tank to arrive in the coming days. It will be time for the next sailing adventure soon enough.

 

Until next time dear readers,