Friday 071115– in Port Huron Michigan

Weather/Sea   Sunny, little wind, 75 to  85

Captain - John C. Kwak crew Chuck Livingston

Dutchess and crew are in Port Huron Michigan at the Port Huron Yacht Club. She is tied to the wall of the club on the Black River side with lots of boat traffic going by, very bouncy. This Club only charges $30.00 for the day with electric and other facilities. We will stay till Monday and see the City tomorrow.

 The Black River flows into the St Clair River which is the outlet from Lake Huron. The St Clair River is the international border between the USA and Canada, as you sail upriver you cross the border many times, but as long as you don’t anchor or touch the shore you do not need to check in with the Customs or the Border Patrol. Every harbor we have been in, there is a Border Patrol Boat keeping an eye on border crossing violations. Since 9-11 things have gotten a lot more rigorous along the border. The Chicago Mackinac Race started today and the Huron to Mackinac race starts next Saturday so this town is in race mode and very busy. We will need to leave before the crowd arrives.

We came here from Algonac MI and we were in the Algonac Harbor Club Marina They charged $55.00 per day and we stayed 2 days. Algonac is the birth place of CHRISCRAFT Boats and our marina is where they were made out of wood and all by hand no machinery. We saw a Chriscraft speed boat “MISS AMERICA X” which had set a speed record of 125 mph. This wooden boat has four Vee 12 PACKARD gas engines driving 2 props. Each Cylinder had a vertical exhaust pipe and the driver and mechanic sat directly behind those engines. They must have been deaf for a month after a run. Filled up with diesel took only 25.785 gallons at $2.989 per gallon cost $77.07 and finally got to pump out the holding tanks at a cost of 10.00 plus 5 tip. This was the best and most helpful pump out we have yet encountered. Most are very sad affairs that don’t work or barely work.