036 - Roller Coaster Haven

It seems an odd spot for so much investment, but at the western end of Lake Erie is the ultimate amusement park for those who love roller coasters, “Cedar Point Amusement Park.” Its investors can only get a return during the summer months. But somehow it works and it is world renowned as the place to go for roller coasters. It’s that old school Americana thing you don’t find a lot of anymore and fits hand-in-glove with Sara’s just up the road. This place will stretch your comfort zone.

This monster, “Top Thrill Dragster” accelerates to 120mph in 3.8 seconds and shoots straight up 400ft before spiraling you back down to earth all in under 13 seconds. It is literally over the top and Brian loved it. Brian said it all happened so fast you didn’t have time to be scared. I was too much a chicken to find out.

On a tamer note, was this massive wood structure for a more traditional ride. I think it was 400 ft vertical drop with a top speed of only 70mph. At least this lasted about 120 seconds. The line was almost two hours long. We watched the structure sway back and forth as the coaster moved along the track. It was noticeable to untrained eyes and made you a bit nervous that it would stay together for your journey. It didn’t for us and closed just a few minutes before our turn – oh well, a good reason to return.

Cedar Point is not Disney and they don’t want to be. It has an “on the edge” feel and I don’t think I saw a princess theme anywhere. Its clientele are looking for thrills so the crowd was a bit more tough than you’d find at Disney. I don’t get the love affair with tattoo’s but they were on full display this warm summer day.

Do you think our bathing suites are dated? Brian’s looking pretty sharp, must be the workout he’s getting hauling sails.

Comments

051 - Med Style Anchoring – It’s so European

It’s complicated but it really lets you pack them in. Having done it now 3 times now, I hope I’m done with it. For us it’s complicated by the tender hanging off the stern and our stern anchor rode being 300 ft long in the bottom of a lazarette under a pile of other items. All the rode has to come out into the cockpit for attaching to a tree on the shore. It makes for a messy operation. Let’s see if I can explain. To anchor med style, you have to be able to backup well, which being a sailboat puts us at a distinct disadvantage (can you hear me saying powerboat would be better here too, but I won’t say it). You also ignore the winds as you will back into a parking spot between other boats anchoring the same way. You “simply” pick a spot, throw out the bow anchor in front of it, back into the slot and tie a rope to something substantial on the shore, and put out bumpers for your neighbors. That’s all you have to do. So we pick...

032 - Bugs in the Middle of the Lake. Really?

Yup, bugs in the middle of the lake. Why the not the shoreline? How do the bugs get to the middle of the lake? Did they fly out here and if so for what, to find a boat? Or do they breed out there and if so, why don’t the fish eat the larvae or the insects themselves? It’s one of those questions in life that probably has an answer but it’s just to fun to be outraged over the unexpected. It all made me laugh at the “Breaking Bad” episode on “the fly” where he destroyed the lab for one fly. We didn’t destroy the boat, but then we had more than one as are documented in the photos above. We found out after the fact that the FAA had radar blips for the billions of mayflies that hatched while we were on lake. I believe it. I’d never seen anything like it. So thick we had to wash the deck of the dead and their green goo. It had a nauseating stench with it too. But it was just the beginning. We were inundated o...

049 - Currents

I admit the picture doesn’t show much, but this was 5.5kts underneath Peace Bridge near Port Huron. We were doing 1/2kt against the current. People on the shore were walking faster than us. It was impressive. I’m glad to be on Lake Huron where there are no currents. The lake does slosh around with wind but I can handle that, I really don’t want to fight 5.5kts of current again, it was taking the boat and tossing it all around like a cork. I was working the tiller harder than in a following sea. You can see a bit of an eddy in the lower right but you’ll have to trust me on this one. The dramatized blurry picture below shows the turbulence and terror of the experience. It also captures the Loch Huron monster in the middle left – it’s unexplained what that silver hump is. Yikes!

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