Winchester Harbor Chapter 13
| Winchester Harbor | |
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| Chapter 13 of 36 | |
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Locations
- On board the Mary Sue, a twenty-six-foot International Folkboat (a full keel fiberglass sailboat)
Characters
Summary
It was still totally dark but the 4 AM watch change went normally. The morning light woke Jake up around 7 AM, so he rolled out, used the head, and went topside. Fifteen minutes later Jake had a fresh thermos of coffee and a sandwich in hand, and Rachel was sound asleep.
A couple of hours later a breeze came up and soon it was pushing hard enough that Jake could kill the diesel. Around 11 AM Rachel woke up and joined him at the tiller.
Over the next few hours they chatted about her background growing up around boats, and about her mothers failing health, Nate's charter business, her mom;s doctor bills, and more. She was worried about both Nate and herself after her mom goes, and how both are going to react. She compares the situation to how Barb handled losing her husband Sam. They also discuss her future - how she wants to stay working with her dad, around the lake, as opposed to moving to some city where I won’t see any body of water larger than a bathtub.
They continued sailing for the rest of the day and into the night, running the four hour watches. They passed Harbor Beach, and changed course slightly to stay two or three miles offshore through the night.
Morning arrived and another couple hours out of Lake Huron and into the St. Clair River. They dropped sail at a marina and filled the diesel tank. By early afternoon they were out on Lake St. Clair. By evening they were into the Detroit River. When morning came they were just past Gross Ile and getting into Lake Erie.
They running ahead of schedule, and knew they'd be arriving at Sandusky during the day sometime. Later that day they rounded Marblehead Peninsula and headed into Sandusky Bay. As they approached the marina where they were to take the boat they finally dropped the sails and started the diesel, then as they pulled into the slip Rachel hopped up on the dock to deal with the mooring lines. It was hard for Jake to shut the motor off and know that the trip was over. They cleaned up the Mary Sue, put all of their stuff in their seabags and put them up on the dock.
As we stood there, a little disheartened by the trip being over with, Rachel put one arm around me, and I gave her little kiss on the lips, a “just between friends” kind of thing. “Hey, thanks Jake,” she smiled. “That was a great trip. Maybe we can do it again some time. I replied “You made a great boat buddy,” as I hugged her back. “Who knows? Maybe we will.”
Also Mentioned
- Debby Jeppsen
- Darryl
