Michigan City with Cruisers

The captain's meeting was at 0800 where there was a brief discussion
of the weather for the next few days over sips of coffee. A front was
moving in and a storm predicted for Monday with 30 knot winds, gusts,
and thunderstorms.

The sail over to Michigan City was beautiful--a steady wind of 10-15
knots and blue sky. It was cold. We kept going below to find another
layer to add to our heads, body, and feet.

We had never docked Speakeasy in a slip and had only done the maneuver
once before. I mention this to Paul, the cruiser chief, before we left
the Club Ship. Since we were the last ones in, we had 2 dozen hands at
the ready--and watching every move.

There was chaos. Beth had the fenders on port as we were told. Paul
shouted that they should be on starboard, so Beth change them. Then it
became clear that the port side was correct after all. During the double switch, one of the
fenders went in the drink. A boat pole was called for and I abandoned
the approach with a hard reverse. We tried again with lots of advice
from shore. The approach was better and I learned much. The next day,
with the wind at our bow, the docking went very smoothly and there
were only a dozen hands to assist.