Hi Fellow Cape Dorians,
I'm back from nearly three weeks on Lake Superior, aboard our 1983 Cape Dory 30 'DeLaMer'. What a gem she is. In summary, the trip went well, with challenges coming from different places than I expected, and a realization or two about our fragile little world.
A word to the time-challenged, this will probably groan on for some time, sorry. You might want to print it up for reading while at the barber possibly? heh..onwards:
This trip was originally scheduled to go for 24 days, but due to my wife getting very sick, and an employee embezzling almost $4500 from our restaurant and then leaving town (closing the restaurant until my daughter could get it back open again), we had to return a few days (5 days) earlier than planned, which necessited my singlehanding the boat for one 12 hr and one 16 hr. stretch. Boy do I get chatty with myself after 17 hrs! I was starting to hallucinate in fact..small things.. like where i put the pen or if we ate lunch yet. Who was that guy sitting on the spreaders?
We left Stockton Island's Presque' Isle Bay at 6 am, set a course of 009 deg. into the GPS (RayNav 300 WAAS GPS), and motored onwards in glassy smooth seas, and partly cloudy skies, with 65 deg. on the thermometer. Note on Log.."Larry, stop being a grump!" Must have been a bit tense getting underway.
>explanation 2044;
I installed a Balmar 9175 high output alternator in DLM, the week before departure. It charged, but had horrible noise and heat from the bearings dragging. So returned it overnight for a replacement that got here Thursday, and we left Friday. So the installation had to go perfectly, and it must work. It did after a bit of Jan's help. So the new 7180 alternator works perfectly, putting out 80 amps into a 40% discharged 225aH bank, the engine does not come off it's mounts, and there is very little heat buildup in the alt. case. So that problem is solved.
Our destination for leg one of this trip is Grand Marais, Minn. Located near the tip of Minesota's Arrowhead country, this is a fine harbor with decent protection of a spotty sort, and is meant to be a jumping off place for the movement across Superior's northern coastline east of Grand Marais, and into Canada. Distance to go is 58 Statute Miles (all Great Lakes mileage is SM rather than NM), and we cross 4 international shipping lanes in the process of getting our butts across.
Day 1
At 0800, we are at the outer extreme of the Apostle Islands..specificly, Outer Island. No winds yet, they make up around 9am if they are going to.
At 1000, No wind, large rollers..so there is wind SW of us for sure, but none reaches us..just their waves. Three Monarch Butterflies swoop in and out of the companionway, and salon, around the boat to the wind shadow (which they end up riding all the way across the lake. I take this as an extremely good omen of the trip.
At 1200, the wind finally fills in with a SW5-10 (pathetic..this is what we were waiting for?)..on with the engine Arrgh! Still, nivce and sunny..rolly though.
At 1300, spotted a 1000 ft. laker crossing behind us, upbound to Duluth, Minn for a load of Ore Pellets to make steel with.
At 1400, Thunderstorms are brewing on the NW horizon. THey are moving slowly towards us, and we just may make it to Grand Marais before they hit us..15.3 miles to go.
At 1510, TStorms closer, can hear the thunder now, and it is quite regular. NWS issued a Severe T. Storm warning for west of us about 20 miles. Storm is scheduled to end up at Grand MArais 30 minutes before our ETA. Ratz..ah well, we wil get ready to reef down if needed.
At 1630 we arrive at Grand Marais, Minn. amidst thunderstorm(s), 30 kt. of SW winds, and worst of all advection fog that limits us 25 ft. of vis. I have the RL72 Radar on and have been tracking the rain as it sweeps in like little cotton balls, across my radars LCD display. We pick up a huge buoy in the harbor, and dbl. tie the buoy to the bow anchor cleats. We were told that this particular buoy was available all summer long. It belongs to a converted 65 ft. ocean tug. Works for me!
We clean up and duck below out of the fog and now rain..heavy. Jan started a fire int he fireplace and we warm the boat a little as we realize that we aree truly on the way now. After this we will be a long ways from anywhere.
Day 2
Same as the first...fog, 45deg. windy, rolly..and the almightly G..D.. fog signal not 150 ft. from our boat. I declare it a lay day already, and we go about cooking up some bread, reading and tinkering.
DAY 3
Jan threatens mutiny if we don't get our arses away from that bleeding fog signal!! (Most frequent words spoken..'huh?'). We take our leave after refueling yesterday, heading eastward, about 3-5 miles off shore, and in 600 ft. of 49 deg. Superior water. It is still ver foggy out..in patches, so we motorsail into what has become a NorthEaster, battling large seas on the nose, and maybe 5 boatlengths visibility. This is slow going, but there is no alternative but the fog signal...onwards.
The destination is a little all-weather cove called Wauswogoning Bay. It is on the US/Canadian border at the checkpoint in fact. On the charts you will see Grand Portage, Minn. This is 1/8 mile west of the bay we chose for that nights thrills.
It was 8pm when we finaly pulled into Wauswogoning Bay, and we anchored in the furthest reaches of this Bay, in 7 ft. of water, and about 100 ft off the northern shore. And then it started to blow, and blow, and blow...35-45 kts. I have never heard our DLM howl at two frequencies simultaneously. It climbed right thru the first series of tones..and the second one started up in parallel with it. Down right eerie. I told Jan, "We do not belong here". That made it to the log in fact. Restless sleep..Jan says she is not feeling well. Very tired, sore throat and confused. Sleepy. So I bundle her off to bed with some aspirin and a comforter, while I kick the fireplace up to 400 deg. and warm the boat a bit more. Ratz! All we need is one crew getting sick up here. I'm ex-premed and an ER technician by previous life, and Jan is a nurse in a previous life, so we are prepared for most stuff.
DAY 4
It blew all freakin' night, but now the sun is baack out, fog has been banishd from our kingdom, and Jan is awake and kinda grumpy. Plan is to start entering Cruise Mode. *CM*, a patented concept where one relaxes and has fun! What a concept! We decide that Wauswogoning is not our favorite place..it's almost got a haunted feeling to us. We decide to push on to a fjord like anchorage in the Suzie Islands, about 5 miles away. They are tricky to get into due to rock shelves and reefs everywhere, but once in, they are perfect for all but a diretly eastern wind. We get intot he anchorage, and find maybe enough room for two boats maximum. Anchoring is easy with a CQR, and we set the anchor at 120 ft. then shorten up to 70 ft. for limiting the swing room. later that evening we are joined by a guy we know from Bayfield, but Jan is down and out of it, so she trundles off to bed, me to my charts. Jan reports a slight fever now, so Tylenol every 3 hrs.
DAY 5
We declare another sick day, for rest purposes. Besides the fog has returned in strength, and all movement would be via radar and depthsounder. Not fun singlehanded. Jan usually would be taking her fair share of hours at the wheel, and all other jobs, but she is pretty weak.
Listening to the ThunderBay, Ontario forecast, we learn that we can expect this trend to remain for the next 5 days.
So OK; Executive Decision time.
If we want, we could drop south about 25 miles to Isle Royale's Windigo Harbor, and begin the Isle Royale trip. leaving the rest of the Canadian islands for after we get to Isle Royales other end, 50 miles Northeast of here. This sounds good, Jan is holding her own with a slight fever of 100 deg. and mainly listlessness and sleepiness..she slept until 1pm, got up, ate, went to bed...what a life! so my co-captain says 'make it so'.
We reset the waypoints for Isle Royale, and take off under all sail, broadreaching. There are no obstructions between here and our first landfall. But the haziness makes the shoreline disappear quickly, and we are alone once again. DLM and I really get along well. She talks to me, now she says that the little bail that the main sheet blocks attach to needs some grease..a dab of vaseline, and the squeak disappears. I like the motion of the blue water. Our wave periods are about 1/2 the oceans, someplace in the 3 second range for most wavetrains. Occasionally, we will have the 15fters out there, and they lengthen out to about 4 sec. between crests. Right now though, we are broadreaching along at 5-7 kts. and having a blast. The motion is solid and predictable to some extent. DLM has about 1-2 spokes of weather helm since allowing the main to drift outwards a bit farther...making the telltails all flow back evenly. This loose-footed main is fun to trim for the best speed and weather helm.
At 1830, we arrive at Windigo, after navigating into the North Gap entrance. I nearly blew it and came pretty close to the wreck USS America. This is a 300 ft. wooden passenger boat that foundered in the 1920's and was driven ashore in order to get the passengers off safely. It sank in about 50-200 ft. of water, and the bow lies about 4 ft. under the water..and plainly visible from deck if you get that close which I apparently was intent on doing. Unfortunately there were divers down also..you know, that flag witht he red slash thru it? I came within 50 ft. of the dive boat when we realized that we better get some distance off. We motored down the fjord like and 5 mile long Chippewa Harbor, to the settlement of Windigo. this is a National Forest headquarters for this side of the island, and you have to check in here. Following this we rounded a bend, found a nice cove, and ducked into it to anchor for the evening.
Day 6 (I think)
Sunny morning, and not a ripple on the surface! The National Park Service boats come thru the fjord at full throttle, until they see us anchored, then literally cut back to an idle..no lie! They take 5 minutes to go by, then floor it and off they go...NO waves. Now that is something we appreciated.
We took off from this litle unnamed bay at 9am, and that was very late considering the winds we found after getting out of Grace Harbor, and onto the open lake. Our next anchorae is Hay Bay in Siskiwit Lake, a 10 x 30 mile lake that is landlocked by islands and reefs on 3 sides, and we will need to thred a needle to get thru a very rugged reef before gaining the protetion of Hay Bay. I set up waypoints for the markers and reef edges, then used the plotter on the GPS to navigate thru, as well as polaized lenses on our glasses (yup, Jan was up and watching for rocks and reefs. there are NO repair facilities for 50 + miles, and this is the place where many boats get keel rash from the bottom). We finaly arrived at 1830 hrs., and find Hay Bay to be a neat little gunkhole..literally. We motored at minimum speed and noise levels all over the bay..which is almost totally landlocked. Finally after seeing the amount of bottom growth, and trying to set the CQR..(it didn't), we decided to tie up to the little dock provided by the NPS. It's depths were around 6 ft., so we had lots of room,even packed to the eves as we were.
Later that eevening, as we gazed out over this boggy bay, 3 moose walked cautiously to the waters edge, then right on up past their ears, finally underwater, like a hippo would do. They walked all the bleedin' way across the bay!! Every now and then they would pop up and swing their huge heads, to shake loose the weeds gathered there. They were swimming right where we had tried to anchor a few minutes earlier. Kewl! So the day went, and Jan slept. Simply being up on deck steering while I anchored was more than she could take and was worn out. Not good.
DAY 7
Not feeling like much hard work, we sail 10 miles to Malone Island, and find a really protected nitch that is surrounded on all sides by islands and shoreline..in other words..landlocked from any waves really. I have been using an anchor rider of 15 lbs. to aid in anchoring. It allows us to reduce the swing radius to maybe 30 ft. during light winfd or waves, but if the big stuff comes along, you get the whole benefit of all the anchor rode with the catenary that the rider gaurantees. I am sold on it, and I built this from scratch, and on the cheap using a mushroom anchor and some caribbeaners (locking type). This rider comes in handy later in the trip, when we have 2 days of 3-5 seas and 35 kts, of Northeaster to weather, then sail.
DAY 8
Today we decided to sail to the prettiest place on the whole island..Chippewa Cove. We do so in under 3 hrs. with big rollers and fair winds. We enter the cove, and begin a serpentine trail to get into this ultrasecure harbor. There are literally huge chunks of bedrock sticking out of the water here and there. The shoreline is clearly visible as a jagged rock edge in 5-6 ft. of water..right on my starboard side. Easily touched with the ordinary oar. To our port we have a small islet with it's attendant reef and jagged precambian rock and shoreline. There is a distance of 12 ft. across the opening, and you have to bend gradually to the right then smoothly to the left, into about 18ft. of water. You enter the 'first alcove' which is beautiful. Pine trees line the shoreline, and bald rock outcropings are everywhere. The rock is totally different than any I have seen before. Glacial and volcanic it appears. I wish I knew more about geology, although my friend "The Guide Book" tries to teach me a little background.
Next we negotiate the narrow opening between the two shorelines..about 30 ft. wide, which opens into a glorious round lake, about 1 mi in diameter. Holding ground is perfect..sand and some clay..on all shores, and no rocks! We see several Bald Eagles nesting in the tree tops, and latert hat night, we hear wolves calling to each other, and then the climax..our favorite Loons. They went nuts calling to their friends and neighbors for 6 states around it seemed! All four of the calls that they make were being made by perhaps a half dozen individuals, and their calls echo'd off the hard rock surrounding us. Magnificent~!!
DAY 8
Jan is feeling worse, and her throat is on fire, so we decide to get to a pharmacy asap. AS we leave the protection of Isle Royale, I tried the Cell Phone, and for the first time in 8 days we are in range of the Upper Peninsula of Michigans antenna!.That is 59 miles away! We have 8 messages! Oh no..that can only mean disaster. So I try to keep the damn phone polarized vertically while I push buttons to retrieve the msgs. Bill, our lead cook and manager has dropped out of sight, and taken a weeks worth of receipts with him.The restaurant is closed and a disastrous mess inside. Sad hearts on top of Jan's already persistent sickness. I am cheered up though, as another monarch butterfly lands in the cockpit on the stern anchor, and falls asleep. I move it around a little, and even think it may have died..but it is gone in the morning.
We have a very long day ahead, perhaps 14 hours of sailing to the upper entrance to the Keeweenaw Peninsula of the "U.P.". The twin Cities of Houghton- Hancock, Mich. thrive midway down the Keewenaw Waterway, and that is where we will go for refueling, and medical help. So we arrive at the Upper Entrance, and find an anchorage on the south side of the entry, in fine shale rock and 15ft. of water. The Stars are out and beautiful!
DAY 9
Today we up-anchor and head to Houghton-Hancock Mich. This is a motor along a winding and beautiful waterway..about 10 miles. We arrived, contacted the bridge tender to raise the 2nd largest lift bridge in the Great Lakes, and then refueled at a handy marina nearby.
We planned to lay alongside one of the cities several quays, while I hiked to the nearest pharmacy and grocery store. Well, after a mile of uphill walking, I decided a cab was a lot smarter..hey it takes me awhile!
DAY 10
Jan takes the many preparations i bought her, and we motor out to the Upper Entrance once again, getting ready for the big crossing to The Apostle Islands, and the end of our trip. This is a 99 mile crossing, and about 50 miles of fetch on one side and 250 on the other. We anchor, and have a peaceful night, until 4:00am, when I have to try and awake Jan. Holy cow, can she sleep! I felt so bad waking her, but we had to get going to miss thunderstorms due later that day.
She grudginglouy gets up and we get off the hook, setup all sail, and then she returns to bed..not to be seen again until mid afternoon.
We have three wavetrains to contend with. A smaller chop from the SE, another larger one from the E, then this leftover hugemongous roller from the Northeaster that has been our companion for almost two weeks now. this thing comes in groups of three, about every 20-30 minutes. They are huge..about 7-9 ft. tall, and very long period..3 sec. +. When they come by, our Autohelm 3000 cannot compensate for it, so the boats slews 45 deg. off course, and then takes a good time to regain the course. So I decided to hand steer..and for the next 7 hours, that was what i did. Was able to get the speed up to 7.5-8.3 kts. with surfing at 10 kts. max. Boat tries to round up to starboard usually, so I counter this and gain speed.
We arrived in the Apostles with no further incidents or events. We chose a good safe anchorage, and I put Jan to bed. We stayed here for 2 days, while I puttered around on the boat, finished a couple books (reading..of course), and wrote a summary of the trip.
We covered 430 miles total, with 61.2 hrs. of engine use, and about 25 hrs. under sail. This is due to the winds on the nose, and also the rock strewn paths that we had to follow. Sailing was just not possible a large amount of time. With the addition to the exhaust system of the bent elbow exhaust extension (reinforced radiator hose), engine noise is about 1/3 what is was formerly. I do believe that the only down side is a slight amount of efficiency loss. I normnally burn .28-.35 gal./hr., and we were up to .42 gal/hr. for this trip. I will try allowing the hose to exhaust to the side of the boat more, reducing the backpressure by 50%. Oh yes..the black moustache is a thing of the past too. 400+ miles and we never cleaned it once. It is still clean.
The alternator? Worked like a champ and no problems once I learned the regualtors habits. Refrigeration? Perfect! Never a problem, always kept the freezer at <20 deg. and in fact, we hardly ate a dinner due to Jan having no apetite, and me being too tired to really dig out a pot roast dinners fixin's for 1. Seemed easier to make sloppy Joes, and have a beer. So we brought back a rediculous amount of food. Next week, we bring back the can goods, and there is nearly 300 lbs of them according to the bathroom scale. We planned for 30 days at the outside, and 24 according to my boss..but took only 18.
Jan is getting better now. The likeliest name we attach to the problem she had..and I now am trying to get, is strep-like throat. The Dr. did tests and will know in a couple days.
So a shorter trip than planned, but still with lots of challenges and new places to see and navigate around. I tell you, the greatest improvement of all the work I did on the boat is the WASS GPS to RADAR and instruments linkup via NMEA0183 and SEATALK. With this linkup, navigating in the fog was easier than ever. I chose a destination, derived an accurate waypoint for it from either the chart or a guide book. Then assign the path a route and then track the progress on the radar screen, which displays the GPS information and a graphic that places a circle around your waypoint, and connects that circle to the ships position on the screen. What this does is allow you to waypoint a reef or sunken ship to avoid (they liter this area -100's of ships down over the years), and that feature is now circled, with 3 ft. accuracy, on the radar screen, whether the radar can actually see the feature or not. When it does see it, it will appear right dead center in the GPS drawn circle..kewl.'^). You then can see where the object is in relation to the shore features around it, and you get a perfect graphical picture of the boats relationship to the object and shore etc. Highly useful and quite cool.
Ok, if anyone is awake still..congratulations, you have reached the end..
Cheers, whew~
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~Next year, we go further east and north!~~~
demers@sgi.com
North Lake Superior Trip's Log
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Nautical Traditions Offic
Re: Sure, and it was the Pilot....
Captain DeMers,
I knew you and your crew would come through this without too many trials and tribulations, when you said at the start "Who was that guy sitting on the spreaders?" Captain Slocum saw him also, standing in his cockpit! Sir, you saw the Pilot of the Pinta! You just can't go wrong with assistance like that.
Sir, you related that on day 5 you broadreached to Isle Royale's Windigo Harbor. This Captain, many years ago, graduated from Alpena High School on the upper East side of the lower peninsula of Michigan. I remember as a child, sitting around campfires, hearing about the "Windigo". A forest spirit that had a firey touch and chased after a little ground squirrel and almost caught him! That little ground squirrel just barely escaped, and that is why, to this day, Chipmunks have stripes down their backs! The "Wingigo" did it!
It is Sir, a very interesting tale you weave. Sorry about Jan not feeling well. I imagine she was disappointed with the sickness. But, it sounds as if she had a Captain that was very prepared to go to sea, and in an area where so many have foundered! She is very lucky to have you Captain. Also, it sounds as if everything you did to DeLaMer was well worth the effort. A glass of wine with you, Sir, you should be proud!
I did print your log, and will re-read it again with coffee and donuts later this morning. Did ya ever get ahold of that scondrel of a manager. If you require assistance in keel hauling him (fore and aft, obviously!) just let us know. All necessary assistance will be provided....I remain your most humble servant....
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30C "1"
P.S. The "1" is explained in the log of Hanalei posted below.
I knew you and your crew would come through this without too many trials and tribulations, when you said at the start "Who was that guy sitting on the spreaders?" Captain Slocum saw him also, standing in his cockpit! Sir, you saw the Pilot of the Pinta! You just can't go wrong with assistance like that.
Sir, you related that on day 5 you broadreached to Isle Royale's Windigo Harbor. This Captain, many years ago, graduated from Alpena High School on the upper East side of the lower peninsula of Michigan. I remember as a child, sitting around campfires, hearing about the "Windigo". A forest spirit that had a firey touch and chased after a little ground squirrel and almost caught him! That little ground squirrel just barely escaped, and that is why, to this day, Chipmunks have stripes down their backs! The "Wingigo" did it!
It is Sir, a very interesting tale you weave. Sorry about Jan not feeling well. I imagine she was disappointed with the sickness. But, it sounds as if she had a Captain that was very prepared to go to sea, and in an area where so many have foundered! She is very lucky to have you Captain. Also, it sounds as if everything you did to DeLaMer was well worth the effort. A glass of wine with you, Sir, you should be proud!
I did print your log, and will re-read it again with coffee and donuts later this morning. Did ya ever get ahold of that scondrel of a manager. If you require assistance in keel hauling him (fore and aft, obviously!) just let us know. All necessary assistance will be provided....I remain your most humble servant....
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30C "1"
P.S. The "1" is explained in the log of Hanalei posted below.
-
Warren Kaplan
Re: North Lake Superior Trip's Log
Larry,
I printed your "trip log" out and read it this morning. Hey! There's not a yawn in it! Congratulations in displaying the seamanship we all know you have in bringing DLM and of course Jan through this trip safely under some trying conditions. I think a little bit of Murphy's Law accompanies us all (Jan's illness, the embezzlement) every once in a while, but you learn to deal with it, as you did. It sounds like you saw some incredibly beautiful natural sites. Remember those...not the other. I have to ask you one question. On your trip back to the Apostle Islands you mention, "we have three wavetrains to contend with..." Did an old salt like you with an "iron gut" suffer any seasickness then...or anytime with those "rollers" you often mentioned? Give Jan my best wishes. I don't know her but I almost feel I do through your writings.
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
I printed your "trip log" out and read it this morning. Hey! There's not a yawn in it! Congratulations in displaying the seamanship we all know you have in bringing DLM and of course Jan through this trip safely under some trying conditions. I think a little bit of Murphy's Law accompanies us all (Jan's illness, the embezzlement) every once in a while, but you learn to deal with it, as you did. It sounds like you saw some incredibly beautiful natural sites. Remember those...not the other. I have to ask you one question. On your trip back to the Apostle Islands you mention, "we have three wavetrains to contend with..." Did an old salt like you with an "iron gut" suffer any seasickness then...or anytime with those "rollers" you often mentioned? Give Jan my best wishes. I don't know her but I almost feel I do through your writings.
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
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Larry DeMers
Re: North Lake Superior Trip's Log
Hi Warren,
Thanks for the good review. Sorry it is so long, as I seem to be unable to cut it back much without dropping out something that I felt worthwhile reporting about.
Good question about Seasickness too. I was especialy leary of Sea Sickness this time out, as with Jan sick and down below, she had no horizon to refer to, and that will cause seasickness in her and I both. We have spent so much of this year aboard DLM, I suspect that our sea legs are pretty well established. At any rate, neither of us felt a single bit of nausea. Especially with these large waves, and the constantly changing pitch of the boat etc..hey, I'm feeling kinda wuusie now..does that count? (I caught Jan's virus I suspect. Lucky I am here..but oh brother what a body ache).
Cheers!
Larry
demers@sgi.com
Thanks for the good review. Sorry it is so long, as I seem to be unable to cut it back much without dropping out something that I felt worthwhile reporting about.
Good question about Seasickness too. I was especialy leary of Sea Sickness this time out, as with Jan sick and down below, she had no horizon to refer to, and that will cause seasickness in her and I both. We have spent so much of this year aboard DLM, I suspect that our sea legs are pretty well established. At any rate, neither of us felt a single bit of nausea. Especially with these large waves, and the constantly changing pitch of the boat etc..hey, I'm feeling kinda wuusie now..does that count? (I caught Jan's virus I suspect. Lucky I am here..but oh brother what a body ache).
Cheers!
Larry
Warren Kaplan wrote: Larry,
I printed your "trip log" out and read it this morning. Hey! There's not a yawn in it! Congratulations in displaying the seamanship we all know you have in bringing DLM and of course Jan through this trip safely under some trying conditions. I think a little bit of Murphy's Law accompanies us all (Jan's illness, the embezzlement) every once in a while, but you learn to deal with it, as you did. It sounds like you saw some incredibly beautiful natural sites. Remember those...not the other. I have to ask you one question. On your trip back to the Apostle Islands you mention, "we have three wavetrains to contend with..." Did an old salt like you with an "iron gut" suffer any seasickness then...or anytime with those "rollers" you often mentioned? Give Jan my best wishes. I don't know her but I almost feel I do through your writings.
Warren
demers@sgi.com
-
Larry DeMers
Re: Sure, and it was the Pilot....
Captain David,
Then you are familiar with the area I speak of, and what a wild beauty it is. The "Windigo" spirit can be seen easily, by simply locating a larger scale chart of Isle Royale, and turning it upside down. If the chart shows the shoreline contours faithfully, you will see the island suddenly take on the shape of the Windigo's spirit, with the head and face being the islands NE end, and the rest of the island the Windigo's hair streaming from it's head. Try it if you have a chart..
Jan continues to improve, as I become sicker with her ailment. Timing is perfect though. My largest fear was both of us getting sick up there. That would have been a bit harder to work out.
Next year, we are going to repeat the first part, but continue across the northern shoreline of Canada as planned. The trip up and back is long and hard, but the time there is almost magical.
I am glad that you guys enjoyed this report.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
semiconscious with a strange flu/strep throat symptom
s/v DeLaMer
demers@sgi.com
Then you are familiar with the area I speak of, and what a wild beauty it is. The "Windigo" spirit can be seen easily, by simply locating a larger scale chart of Isle Royale, and turning it upside down. If the chart shows the shoreline contours faithfully, you will see the island suddenly take on the shape of the Windigo's spirit, with the head and face being the islands NE end, and the rest of the island the Windigo's hair streaming from it's head. Try it if you have a chart..
Jan continues to improve, as I become sicker with her ailment. Timing is perfect though. My largest fear was both of us getting sick up there. That would have been a bit harder to work out.
Next year, we are going to repeat the first part, but continue across the northern shoreline of Canada as planned. The trip up and back is long and hard, but the time there is almost magical.
I am glad that you guys enjoyed this report.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
semiconscious with a strange flu/strep throat symptom
s/v DeLaMer
Nautical Traditions Officer wrote: Captain DeMers,
I knew you and your crew would come through this without too many trials and tribulations, when you said at the start "Who was that guy sitting on the spreaders?" Captain Slocum saw him also, standing in his cockpit! Sir, you saw the Pilot of the Pinta! You just can't go wrong with assistance like that.
Sir, you related that on day 5 you broadreached to Isle Royale's Windigo Harbor. This Captain, many years ago, graduated from Alpena High School on the upper East side of the lower peninsula of Michigan. I remember as a child, sitting around campfires, hearing about the "Windigo". A forest spirit that had a firey touch and chased after a little ground squirrel and almost caught him! That little ground squirrel just barely escaped, and that is why, to this day, Chipmunks have stripes down their backs! The "Wingigo" did it!
It is Sir, a very interesting tale you weave. Sorry about Jan not feeling well. I imagine she was disappointed with the sickness. But, it sounds as if she had a Captain that was very prepared to go to sea, and in an area where so many have foundered! She is very lucky to have you Captain. Also, it sounds as if everything you did to DeLaMer was well worth the effort. A glass of wine with you, Sir, you should be proud!
I did print your log, and will re-read it again with coffee and donuts later this morning. Did ya ever get ahold of that scondrel of a manager. If you require assistance in keel hauling him (fore and aft, obviously!) just let us know. All necessary assistance will be provided....I remain your most humble servant....
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30C "1"
P.S. The "1" is explained in the log of Hanalei posted below.
demers@sgi.com
-
D. Stump. Hanalei
Re: maptech.com
Captain DeMers,
Sure, and I just printed a MapTech chart of Isle Royale, turned it over and there it was. Is the face actually on the Western end of the Island?(Eastern if you turn the chart upside down?) Looks like Washington Harbor defines the paws of the critter and Sisikiwit Bay defines the back of the critters head with the hair above. Amazing, what you learn on this site....
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30C "1"
p.s. Now, where is that Blue Ox anyway? ? ?
Sure, and I just printed a MapTech chart of Isle Royale, turned it over and there it was. Is the face actually on the Western end of the Island?(Eastern if you turn the chart upside down?) Looks like Washington Harbor defines the paws of the critter and Sisikiwit Bay defines the back of the critters head with the hair above. Amazing, what you learn on this site....
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30C "1"
p.s. Now, where is that Blue Ox anyway? ? ?
-
Larry DeMers
Re: maptech.com
Captain Stump,
Hey, you found it! great! 'Babe' the Blue Ox is reputed to be Paul Bunyan's faithful pal or significant other? I know that in Bimidji, Minn., home of Paul Bunyan, they have a huge 'Babe' in the middle of town. Up here in Norske' country, we seem to like bigger than life effigies of things..why we have a 100 ft. long Northern Pike in Hayward, Wisc. (actually it's a Muskie..a family member of the Northern), and a 50 ft. tall Pelican in my home town of Pelican Rapids, Mn. Never mind that they never saw a real live Pelican in town or even in the 5 state area!
Cheers!
Larry DeMers
demers@sgi.com
Hey, you found it! great! 'Babe' the Blue Ox is reputed to be Paul Bunyan's faithful pal or significant other? I know that in Bimidji, Minn., home of Paul Bunyan, they have a huge 'Babe' in the middle of town. Up here in Norske' country, we seem to like bigger than life effigies of things..why we have a 100 ft. long Northern Pike in Hayward, Wisc. (actually it's a Muskie..a family member of the Northern), and a 50 ft. tall Pelican in my home town of Pelican Rapids, Mn. Never mind that they never saw a real live Pelican in town or even in the 5 state area!
Cheers!
Larry DeMers
D. Stump. Hanalei wrote: Captain DeMers,
Sure, and I just printed a MapTech chart of Isle Royale, turned it over and there it was. Is the face actually on the Western end of the Island?(Eastern if you turn the chart upside down?) Looks like Washington Harbor defines the paws of the critter and Sisikiwit Bay defines the back of the critters head with the hair above. Amazing, what you learn on this site....
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30C "1"
p.s. Now, where is that Blue Ox anyway? ? ?
demers@sgi.com
-
Warren Kaplan
Re: North Lake Superior Trip's Log
Larry,
Sorry to hear you're sick but every cloud has a silver lining I suppose. Imagine if both you and Jan fell ill at the same time on the northern reaches of Superior...miles from civilization! Ugh.
I wanted to ask another question. When are the "happiest" times during a voyage like yours. When you weigh anchor and set out on a new leg of your voyage, knowing you have a whole day of sailing ahead of you...or...when you finally sight your landfall. Enter the harbor or anchorage, drop anchor and settle in. I suppose there's more excitement at weighing anchor and more relaxation when dropping it at the end of the day. Which did you like most!!
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
Sorry to hear you're sick but every cloud has a silver lining I suppose. Imagine if both you and Jan fell ill at the same time on the northern reaches of Superior...miles from civilization! Ugh.
I wanted to ask another question. When are the "happiest" times during a voyage like yours. When you weigh anchor and set out on a new leg of your voyage, knowing you have a whole day of sailing ahead of you...or...when you finally sight your landfall. Enter the harbor or anchorage, drop anchor and settle in. I suppose there's more excitement at weighing anchor and more relaxation when dropping it at the end of the day. Which did you like most!!
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
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Larry DeMers
Re: North Lake Superior Trip's Log
Warren,
The danger of the two of us being sick together is why we turned south from Canada to Isle Royale, then the second turn south from Isle Royale to The Upper Peninsula of Michigan..it had a great danger associated with it. You can die up there if you are not careful. We were in no danger, but the weather was setting off alarms in my head, as the wind had such a weight to it..angry almost. 45 deg. F and heavy advection fog and wind and rain, occasional thunder..heck, all we missed was snow!
Most fun for me was the first sighting of Isle Royale. Something I have read about for 30 years, and heard countless stories about all my life, and we were finally visiting it. To us in the Apostles, the trip to Isle Royale is a right of passage, and is looked at as a step upwards in experience, so to us,this was a high priority trip. Seeing the island gave me a feeling that is quite rare in my life. Completion of a circle, if you understand that concept.
The trip beginnings were loaded with adrenalin. Especially so because we could not see the sea conditions where we were anchored, so we had to wait until we got out into the lake to decide what sails to use..or how loud the motor was going to need to be. ;^)
I miss the routine that we ended up developing. It was fun to have some new scenery every day. I like the rythum of the boat life. sigh..
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~Sailing Lake Superior~~~
demers@sgi.com
The danger of the two of us being sick together is why we turned south from Canada to Isle Royale, then the second turn south from Isle Royale to The Upper Peninsula of Michigan..it had a great danger associated with it. You can die up there if you are not careful. We were in no danger, but the weather was setting off alarms in my head, as the wind had such a weight to it..angry almost. 45 deg. F and heavy advection fog and wind and rain, occasional thunder..heck, all we missed was snow!
Most fun for me was the first sighting of Isle Royale. Something I have read about for 30 years, and heard countless stories about all my life, and we were finally visiting it. To us in the Apostles, the trip to Isle Royale is a right of passage, and is looked at as a step upwards in experience, so to us,this was a high priority trip. Seeing the island gave me a feeling that is quite rare in my life. Completion of a circle, if you understand that concept.
The trip beginnings were loaded with adrenalin. Especially so because we could not see the sea conditions where we were anchored, so we had to wait until we got out into the lake to decide what sails to use..or how loud the motor was going to need to be. ;^)
I miss the routine that we ended up developing. It was fun to have some new scenery every day. I like the rythum of the boat life. sigh..
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~Sailing Lake Superior~~~
Warren Kaplan wrote: Larry,
Sorry to hear you're sick but every cloud has a silver lining I suppose. Imagine if both you and Jan fell ill at the same time on the northern reaches of Superior...miles from civilization! Ugh.
I wanted to ask another question. When are the "happiest" times during a voyage like yours. When you weigh anchor and set out on a new leg of your voyage, knowing you have a whole day of sailing ahead of you...or...when you finally sight your landfall. Enter the harbor or anchorage, drop anchor and settle in. I suppose there's more excitement at weighing anchor and more relaxation when dropping it at the end of the day. Which did you like most!!
Warren
demers@sgi.com