The last time Michael and I sailed alone together was on a 23’ Hunter on the St. Croix River in 2015. Since then, we’ve been sailing with groups as crew or as captain (Michael) and admiral (me). We love sailing with others, but we were nearing the end of the 2018 sailing season with no further sailing plans. (Recall that we do not own a boat at this time.) I suggested that the two of us sail for a weekend on the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior.

If you’ve been reading our blog, you know that Michael and I have nearly identical sailing experience and training. Early on, we agreed that he would take the role of captain so that we could charter bigger and bigger boats. Having done that for the past three years (and achieving our goal of chartering the types of boats we want to sail in the places we want to go), we agreed that it was my turn.

So, we chartered a 34′ sailboat from Superior Charters and designated me as the captain. To be perfectly frank, this wasn’t a significant change for us. We’ve always reviewed the weather forecast; planned the route, docking, and anchoring; deployed and dropped/furled the sails; taken the helm; and adjusted sail trim in equal measure. The main difference was that I would be at the helm for docking and anchoring, and have the final say about . . . everything, roles we’d always reversed. (Note: Oddly enough, I was still the chef. To his credit, Michael washed the dishes.)

The wind was as dead as a proverbial door-nail the morning we were to set sail, so I asked Michael if he minded if I went for a run. He didn’t. I did. Note that I would never had done this if we had been sailing with friends. We would have left the dock as early as possible to show them as much of the Apostles as possible. We would have motored to Devils Island to visit the caves and the lighthouse while the lake was calm. Then we would have hoped for wind to sail to another island for the evening. That would have been marvelous! But, it was also marvelous to take it easy and leave when we wanted to leave.

Both options are wonderful and fulfilling, just in different ways.

We motored away from the marina in late morning and I set a course that I hoped would allow us to catch the predicted wind in a few hours. My plan was realized, and we sailed from the tip of Basswood Island to Oak Island in the afternoon. We anchored about 3:00 p.m., and took the dinghy to the dock. We chatted with a couple for quite a while until they notified us that the trail we planned to hike was seven miles round trip. Since we wanted to get back before sunset (7:30ish), we set off at about 3:45.

Long story short, the trail was lovely, we chatted the entire way to scare away bears (three hours of conversing – talk about a bonding experience!), and stopped to enjoy the view on the north side of the island.

We made it back in time to take the dinghy to the boat, motor to our overnight anchorage, and turn on the anchor light just as the sun set. My phone, which I’d had with me on my morning run and the trail, informed me that I’d covered 10.98 miles (25,762 steps) that day.

After a relaxing dinner on the boat, we read for a while and went to bed early. Had we been sailing with friends, I am certain we would have chatted, laughed and drank long into the evening. That would have been lovely, but it was also lovely to chill and go to bed early.

In an attempt to embrace our slovenly ways, we slept late, ate a leisurely breakfast, and pulled up the anchor in the late morning on Saturday. Mother Nature provided stellar winds. We sailed for almost four hours with the best winds we’d encountered in some time. We savored every minute, exclaiming all too frequently, “This is the best sailing ever!” . . . or something along those lines.

By the time we anchored at Stockton Island, we were in full-fledged couch potato mode. We had a couple of glasses of bubbly, ate dinner, read, and went to bed. My phone reported the following number of steps that day: 256. In my defense, I didn’t carry my phone everywhere with me on the boat.

Sunday’s wind mirrored Friday’s morning wind, only it never got better. We motored (motor sailed some) from Stockton Island to Madeline Island for our traditional Tom’s Burned Down Café beverage. We met a delightful family on Madeline Island. Maybe we will sail with them someday. This is how we meet people. We chat, we learn that they have an interest in sailing (even if they’ve never sailed), and a small percentage end up sailing with us. It is so fun to share something we love with folks who express interest! (We feel the same way about scuba diving.)

We found ourselves back home all too soon. Another weekend of sailing in the books. We are now looking forward to our next sailing adventure in the British Virgin Islands in March. Putting sailing plans on the calendar keeps us sane.