Lake Superior in the early fall

[Paul D.]

Lake Superior Fall Sailing Season only comes around once a year!

[ghockaday]

Beautiful blue fall sky. Starting to get a little cooler down here as well. Haven't seen 90s since last week. Dee

[John Stone]

Great pictures.

We just left the Michigan UP. We camped right on the shore of Lake Superior on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Stunning is all I can say. Camped on the shore of Lake Michigan too and it was equally beautiful. Both lakes looked almost tropical.

No sailing pictures since we are camping in our Jeep.

[John Danicic]

Ahh...... John Stone on the shores of the big lake, where the water won't eat your boat!

On the Keweenaw? You are just about 100 miles south east of the finest wilderness cruising to be found. Where is your boat when you need it?

[John Stone]

Ahh...... John Stone on the shores of the big lake, where the water won't eat your boat!

On the Keweenaw? You are just about 100 miles south east of the finest wilderness cruising to be found. Where is your boat when you need it?

Exactly!

[Paul D.]

In August I got to crew in the Trans Superior Race. Not a CD but we won our class and came in 10th overall in a 50 year old C&C with a average aged crew a bit north of that. Here is a shot just off the Keweenaw. We had two reefs in the main this past weekend on our CD33 in the Apostles. While I love sailing her in all conditions, that boat was some pretty fun sailing. The website for the race is below. The first rotating featured shots are all from our crew on Witness Protection (You don't know us). https://www.transsuperior.com

[John Stone]

In August I got to crew in the Trans Superior Race. Not a CD but we won our class and came in 10th overall in a 50 year old C&C with a average aged crew a bit north of that. Here is a shot just off the Keweenaw. We had two reefs in the main this past weekend on our CD33 in the Apostles. While I love sailing her in all conditions, that boat was some pretty fun sailing. The website for the race is below. The first rotating featured shots are all from our crew on Witness Protection (You don't know us). https://www.transsuperior.com

What a great picture. Is that you?

[fmueller]

Great pix everyone ! Love the shoreline shot!

[Paul D.]

Sorry John, just got to this.

Yes that's me manning the asymmetrical. We had three spinnakers, two asymetricals and two genoas and used them all in the four day race. We blew out a very old, very lightweight (I forget the oz) spinnaker affectionately called the "Mae West" after a period of very light winds that started increasing. That thing moved us along in almost nothing. I am a big fan of good light wind sails and that asymmetrical shown in the photo was my vote for MVP for this race as it could handle a wide range of wind speeds and wind angles. We used it a lot. It is a great solution for a boat like ours with limited sail stowage. (One big reason I installed a Harken genoa furler)

Our Cape Dories actually respond well to good, modern sails. Alberg was known for slippery hulls and SA/Disp ratios of over 15 so they move along. I made a main and jib from Sailrite kits for our previous CD, a Typhoon, and then got an opportunity to buy a custom Typhoon racing mylar genoa that really made her move surprisingly well in the light stuff - we even passed M Scows in the zephyrs. Same now with our 33. When I replaced the old genny she straight up noticeably had more speed, higher pointing angles and less heel. After two Trans Superiors now, experiencing the value of a good asymmetrical, that is my new planned Sailrite project to replace the old spinnaker that came with the boat which I currently fly like an asym anyway.

[Jim Walsh]

Very interesting observations. As you noted there’s nothing like a new set of “crispy” sails. I’ve avoided an asymmetrical so far but your experience, and those of many friends, is pushing me to the edge.

[Keith]

Jim,

I highly recommend going with an asymmetrical. MOONDANCE came with the original CD 1979 0.75 OZ radical head asymmetrical. I could only use it in very light wind (less than 10kts or I would shred a seam) so never got a good feel for it. Last year I had Squeteague make me a very large (640 sq ft) 1.5 OZ multipurpose triradial asymmetrical. The power that it generates is incredible. I flew it down wind poled out wing and wing in 12-18 kts from Osterville to Nantucket. I did the 23 Nm in ~3h 15m with an average over the ground speed of 7.2kts and a max of 8.7kts. It does great in light winds as well and is still efficient to about 75 deg off of true wind.

With the sock it is easy to handle single handed. With a little thought you can even rig the sock up/down haul to the cockpit. In very light winds I’ve even sailed onto my mooring with just the asymmetrical.

Go for it!

FDA22840-149E-4308-A17F-271AB117A30E.jpeg (1.63 MiB) Viewed 2586 times

[Jim Walsh]

That looks fantastic. Averaging over 7 knots is fast by any definition in one of our boats.

[Keith]

It was quite a ride. I contemplated dousing it several times but was glad that I didn’t. To be fair I was picking up a little vector component of the current which was running roughly East and was heading SSE.
I added a foot to the bow sprit length when I replaced it several years ago. The primary purpose was to get the asymmetrical tack out 18 inches in front of the yankee which allowed me to increase the luff and foot length on the asymmetrical.

Keith

[Paul D.]

Here's how I fly double headsails sometimes.

[John Stone]

That...is legendary. Kind of reminds me of the old bloopers we flew back in the IOR days. Well done.