Welcome to the cruising blog of Wayne and Michele Sharp!

If you want to learn a little bit about cruising, satisfy your curiosity, live vicariously, or be entertained, I think you've come to the right place.

Feel free to ask questions or post comments in the comment section of each post; I will respond to all of them. You can also email us at reluctantsailor@me.com.

We've written a book based on the blog from our first journey in 2007 - Adventures of a Once Reluctant Sailor: A Journey of Guts, Growth, and Grace. It is available online from my website at reluctantsailor.net, and from Apostle Islands Booksellers, Copperfish Books, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Your local bookstore can also order it for you. We've included over 170 color and black and white photos.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Trolling for Wi-Fi

Yesterday we traveled about 105 nautical miles (or about 120 land miles) at an average speed of  seven knots, motoring for all but half an hour. It was a long day, having started shortly after 3 a.m., and we didn't anchor until 8 p.m. It will be another long one today; Wayne was up and going at about 3:15, I was up at 4:45. We have to stagger our sleep on these long days so that one of us is always alert. Wayne is sleeping right now and I’m on watch. Otto Pilot is driving, so I just check the instruments periodically to make sure there's nothing ominous on the radar and that we're still on course.

The instruments on this boat are awesome, but as with all things high tech, there is a learning curve. Wayne is in his glory playing around with them. Me? Well, I let him figure it all out and then show me what I need to know.

The coolest thing happened yesterday. We attempted to get wi-fi in Houghton, and although there were signals galore, we just couldn't connect to anything. Our main objective was to upload photos to Walgreens for Wayne's mom because she doesn't have a computer to follow our blog. After spending about half an hour anchored in Houghton trying to pick up a decent wi-fi signal, we finally gave up in frustration and continued on through Portage Lake. I had our last two blog posts in my email outbox and decided, what the heck, I'll leave my computer running and hooked up to the wi-fi booster antenna and maybe I'll get lucky - sort of like throwing a hook in the water while you're boating to see if you catch any fish. I checked my email after we anchored and lo and behold, I had new email and the posts had been sent! You can be sure we'll be "trolling for wi-fi" frequently.

That works for email, and it's great that I can email posts to the blog, but actually getting online to upload photos, add links, or do anything else with it is a lot more difficult. I might be able to do that this evening when we're anchored in Grand Marais, Michigan, but I'm not counting on it. I look forward to having an extended time to fix up the blog to make it look more interesting. I'm new at this blog stuff and there's a lot to learn. I had never even seen a blog until about six months ago.

Fortunately, I have the blog set up to email me comments from others that are posted at the site. THANK YOU! to Tracy, Mary D, Denise, and Alan for your comments! It's lonely out here and it’s such a treat to hear from people. We also appreciate knowing that someone is actually reading our blog, so stop in and say hi when you get a chance, or just send an email. Do you have questions for us? I'll do an FAQ page if I get some.

6 comments:

  1. Hey I think it's cool that you're doing the trip, and the blog is an added bonus. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of your pics! I don't know if you knew I was doing a photo-blog this year, a pic a day for 365 days, if you have spare time come visit! It's maryd365.blogspot.com

    Glad you are on the "road" -- or I guess I should say the open water??

    Hi to Wayne!

    Love to you both!

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  2. Thanks for your encouraging words, Mary. I LOVE your idea of a photo blog! I look forward to checking it out when I get more than a little while online.

    Wayne says hi too. Hi to Dave and love to you both.

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  3. Greetings
    I fixed Waynes mom's computer and she gave me this blog address. Fascinating!!!
    My father and stepmother live at Care Free Country Club in Big Lake.
    I will keep checking in on you.
    Todd

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  4. Hey, Todd - thanks so much for getting (Michele's) mom's computer back online so she can follow our blog. She told us about how much time you spent working on it and we are grateful. Hope you can follow us to Florida.

    Michele

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  5. Michele and Wayne, I just got back from Nipigon, a month with my two boys. When checking mail I found my sister, Karen Lynch, emailed your blog to me.
    Congratulations on your departure. I know how trying that can be for just a few hundred miles, and you-two are sailing two thousand-plus. Michele, your pleasing description of Stockton and your love of an anchorage is so right-on. Please keep up with those inspirational thoughts. I hope to sail your track in about 6 years once Joe, now twelve is settled in college.I have just started reading your blog and thought I would drop a line. I'll keep reading. Thank you.
    Brian Tjosvold

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  6. Hi Brian!

    I'm glad you checked in. Karen has often said how avid a sailor you are, so I hope you'll follow through and do your trip as planned.

    Michele

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