Today we sailed from Fairport to Conneaut.  We had a chilly but great sail with winds 8 to 10 knots early and then 10 to 15 knots gusting to 20 in the afternoon. We sailed on a broad reach the entire way, only tweaking the sail a couple of times. The cruising book that we have stated there were transient slips in the Conneaut harbor but with the water level being down, we could not utilize the slips because of Serenity’s 4 ½ foot draft. We were told we could check out the municipal pier but that it is very shallow getting to it. Shallow it is,with very little room to turn. On our second attempt Shirl threw a rope around a pier post, and we were able to muscle the boat in. The winds are blowing strongly out of the southwest …luckily. If the winds shift and blow out of the north or northeast we will have to leave here. The winds are not supposed to change until tomorrow night. We are directly in line with the opening of the harbor, and not protected from the waves at all. Tomorrow we will sail to Erie. The only issue I had today was with the auto pilot. For some reason it will not stay on course. I will have to trouble shoot that tomorrow. I can't post pictures tonight because of a very slow internet connection. I will post from Erie.

 Serenity at the municipal pier. You can see the harbor entrance in the background. Moored here there is no protection in a northeast wind. 

 You can see the channel makers...and on the left side of the picture is ground...very shallow.

 Luckily the wind stayed southwest and we were able to follow the same track out of the marine.