Some of you have heard the story of "wrong way Rob" and "wrong way Ron" and others of you have not. I thought that it might be interesting for people who use their autopilots all the time and don't check how it's doing often enough. This story tells just such a tale.

September 21, 2004

We, Mallory, Ron Faulhaber, and myself, left Chicago in almost perfect conditions for a transport to put the boat away for the winter. The first leg of the trip which in all was 175 nm from Chicago to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin virtually due North. The wind was warm for late September, almost 80 degrees. The light breeze varied from 8 to 15 knots from Southeast to Southwest.

Preparing for the boat for the transport we stopped by the pump out at a little after 8:30am and where fully underway by 9. Early winds were light and produced almost no apparent wind as we motored up to Milwaukee, our first nights destination. We motored cleanly at 8 knots in little or no seas. With our autopilot, it was effortless to watch the boat make way. By late morning the wind had filled in Southeast and we rolled out the sails. This added to our base boat motoring speed by more than a knot.

Unfortunately, the wind did not hold and swung South and lightened causing the sails to go limp to the rigging. We decided to roll the sails back up again and hope for some more wind. By this time it was late morning and time for a snack. Mallory brought up some munchies as we watched the towns of Evanston, Wilmette, and Highland Park go by.

As the sun made the day that much warmer, the shore warmed up and a slight on shore breeze added to light South breeze producing a quartering 5 to 6 knot of apparent. We decided to roll the sails back out again. Unfortunately, our straight line course to Milwaukee brought us 6 or 7 nm off shore and as we approached Waukegan what small amount of shore breeze faded away. Once again the sails went limp and we decided to roll the sails back up again.

By this time, it was just after noon and time for lunch. Mallory made some lovely sandwiches and frosty beverages on the now quite warm day with little or no apparent wind were very welcome. Auto was doing a fine job as Ron and I settled into reading our respective sailing magazines, and Mallory decided to take a nap. Since the engine noise is fairly loud in the aft cabin, she decided it would be best to sleep in the V birth forward.

After a little while, occasionally checking for traffic by scanning the horizon and checking the radar, I noticed that the wind seemed to be picking up again. It had risen to nearly 9 knots apparent and almost abeam. Great, maybe it would be enough to sail the rest of the way to Milwaukee and we could turn off the engine. So, I suggested to Ron that we roll out the sails. He was all for it and we proceeded to roll the sails out.

As we were rolling out the sails, the wind was producing a little chop, and I hoped that the wind would continue to build. By this point, we had the mizzen out and most of the main unfurled. Just then Mallory got up, woken by the change in sea state. She looked out the starboard porthole and saw land. She poked her head up through the companion way as we were just about finished rolling out the main.

She said, "Hey guys, did you notice we are going the wrong way?"

I looked around and sure enough we are heading South, directly into the wind now with 15 knots of apparent wind on our nose. I turned to Ron and said, "You know we are never going to live this one down." He came up with a quick but lame excuse, "We were just checking to see if you'd notice, Mallory."

I sat down at the helm to turn the boat back North again and looked over at the autopilot which was off. I figured that when Ron had was leaning back to read his magazine that his elbow accidentally turned the autopilot "off". After turning the boat back to North and putting the autopilot back on, the sails were slack again and all the excitement about gathering breeze was nothing more than our own mistake. Ron and I started to roll the sails back in again.

Mallory muttered as she went back below, "Oh, great, now I'll never get a nap knowing you guys are 'watching' where we are going."

Another beer seemed in order as we passed uneventfully by the Illinois/Wisconsin boarder. The rest of the trip I put the autopilot cover over the controls to prevent a repeat of our silliness. Maybe where we mounted the autopilot controls was not as good a location as we thought. I think I need to rethink that and maybe move it.

Finally as we turned the corner into Milwaukee with only 10 nm to go the wind freshened to 20 knots (12 knots apparent) but we were so close to docking we decided to motor our way to the dock. As we coasted the way into the dock, the sun fading behind the buildings of Milwuakee, the wind dissipated. A lovely warm sail had come to a conclusion.

Of course that weekend when I got back to the dock back in Montrose, Ron had already told the story of our 180 degree wanderings. I was greeted with friendly jeers of, "Wrong way Rob." I guess Ron's telling of the story was done to dissipate mine or Mallory's telling of the trip. Teaches me right to fully depend on automation and not pay attention to the other signals around us.