Photo of Windrider sailboat and Raenette Franklin

This is a photo of artist Raenette Franklin with her J100 sail boat on Little Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan in Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Little Traverse Bay is a great place to sail in the summer, The wind can usually be expected to come up out the West most every afternoon.

My J100, which I named "Courage" is really a perfect sail boat for me. It is 10 meters (33 feet) long with a beam of 9.5 feet and draws 6 feet. Because it has a Hoyt, boom which allows for a self tacking jib, I can single handle it with ease. It is amazingly responsive to the tiller and cuts through those big waves that can kick up on Lake Michigan. I have gotten it up to 10 knots and sailed it in 20 knot winds. I started racing "Courage" with The Little Traverse Yacht Club.