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I was up at 0700 to check the forecast and the choice was to cross today in favorable, moderate winds or tomorrow with stronger winds on the nose.  We left  at 0745 and navigated the narrow channel through the reefs out of Siskiwit Bay into the Lake . We had put up the main and jib soon after leaving the dock and were able to sail for most of the crossing. The day was partly cloudy and cool and we had only the very briefest of showers.  The wind was amazingly steady at 12-14 knots from the W for the first 5+ hours and the seas were light except for a swell from the SW . As we approached the south shore, the wind backed into the SW and started to increase  so we furled the jib and carried on with the main and engine until we entered the Upper Entry at 1435 and dropped the main.  At 1600 we caught the lift bridge that connects the Houghton and Hancock sides of the river and tied up at the fuel dock of the Houghton County Marina. We only needed 11 gallons of diesel and then moved to our slip.  We had hamburgers and potatoes and onions all done on the grill for dinner. Then things got interesting. I noticed the meters on my DC panel going crazy. I will not bore you with the details but we eventually determined that my starting battery was dead and somehow draining the system. I  lifted the cables from it and we were able to power the boat from the house bank with no further problem. I retrospect I cannot believe how lucky we were to have the starting battery crash when it did. It would have been much worse to have starting problems at Hay Bay or coming into the Upper Entry or even leaving the fuel dock.