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Exploring the Unknown Close to Home

The Logbook of Lake Erie cruiser and CW community member Murph reminds us that sometimes the best adventures lie right around the bend. "Community Spotlight" from our February 20, 2008, CW Reckonings

To experience the joys of cruising, you don’t need an exotic destination or a souped-up boat. Just point the bow towards open water and flip your switch to “cruise mode.” The richly detailed Logbook of CW community member Murph serves as a reminder that cruising is a state of mind, and you needn’t go far, or fast, to get there.

Murph gets his fix on Lake Erie, where his appetite for discovery never goes hungry. His Log Entries tell of freshwater surfers off Erie, Pennsylvania, and 19th-century warships on the horizon. In an entry documenting his final cruise aboard Kelly III, the predecessor to his Endeavour 32 Kelly IV, Murph meets a well-traveled Samaritan while squeezing into the dock in Barcelona, New York.

“The mud pulled us to a stop until the skipper on a moored sailboat gave us the local knowledge we needed to stay in deeper water and settle into a berth at the gas dock…

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“Turns out he’s originally from Titusville, [Pennsylvania], sold his fledgling cable business, bought the hull and built his boat in 1978. From his humble beginnings in Barcelona Harbor, he sailed around the world on the boat he was working on when he spoke up about where the deep water was. He sailed three times around the world, met his wife in the South Pacific, and continued sailing with her. It is truly amazing the terrific people we have met on our humble adventures around Lake Erie.”

To visit Murph’s Logbook, click here.

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