Mishigami...great water indeed!

Having grown up boating and enjoying the waters of Lake Michigan, I can truly say that the great lake has played a major role in shaping who I am. I thought it would be appropriate to give the lake some press here in my blog and introduce her to those who aren't familiar.  What follows is my brief background of Lake Michigan.

Around 18,000 years ago, the Laurentide glacier dominated the lanscape of northern North America, covering most of Canada and a good portion of the United States.  The glacier was 2.5 miles thick at some points.  As the Earth's atmosphere began to warm, the Laurentide glacier started to melt and retreat northward.  The Earth's surface was scraped and scarred from the glacial movements, carving out the Great Lakes basin.  The meltwater from the retreating glacier slowly filled in the lakes. 

Perhaps the first people to enjoy the intrinsic values of Lake Michigan were the Hopwell Indians.  After the Hopwell tradition declined sometime after 800 A.D., the Late Woodland Indians called the upper midwest and the shores of Lake Michigan home.  Among the Late Woodland Indians were the Chippewa, sometimes referred to as the Ojibwa.  It is from the Ojibwa word "mishigami" meaning "great water" that the state and the Great Lake get their names.

Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake contained entirely within the United States.  Today Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume (1,180 cubic miles) and third largest by surface area (22,400 square miles).  The lake has an average depth of 279 feet and has a deepest depth of 925 feet.  Her length is 307 miles from north to south while her largest width is 118 miles from east to west.  If her massive size isn't enough to convince you that she is really an inland sea, consider that there have been more than 2,500 documented shipwrecks on Lake Michigan alone.  As placid and serene as her waters can be and often are, fierce storms with high winds and large, steep waves are not uncommon.

"The years thunder by"

Winter in the Great Lakes always brings plenty of time for self-reflection and deep thought.  I've been spending a lot of time contemplating our probable sailing voyage through upper Lake Michigan that is planned for the summer of 2010.  Of course, thinking of spending so much time on the boat cruising and all of the prep and planning that goes into such a cruise makes me also think about longer future voyages.

A lot of my winter thoughts are inspired by the many photos, paintings and quotes that adorn my home office in the basement.  I'd like to share a somewhat lengthy quote I have hanging above my desk.  The words go right to the heart of any wannabe cruiser (or should I say voyager? - read on).  The quote is from Sterling Hayden's autobiography titled "Wanderer".

Here's the quote:
"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest.  Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea..."Cruising" it is called.  Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanders of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in.  If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change.  Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it!"  What these men can't afforde is not to go.  They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security.  And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need -  really need?  A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.  That's all - in the material sense, and we know it.  But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, and preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by.  The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience.  Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.  Where, then, lies the answer?  In choice.  Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?"

An interesting side note: Sterling Hayden was a sailor, U.S. Marine and Hollywood actor.  He was in The Godfather and Dr. Strangelove, among many other movies.  At first glance one might assume a Hollywood actor shouldn't have to worry at all about "bankruptcy of purse", but I believe much of Sterling's sailing was done prior to his acting career. 

Sterlings words above are powerful statements, and perhaps too dramatic for some. But nonetheless, I read this quote from time to time and find my voyaging spirit stirred. What about you?

Lil' Coconut, the dinghy

I just realized that we never formally introduced our dinghy.  We actually purchased her in 2008 back when we had our first sailboat, s/v Hannabel.  She's a Sandpiper 8 rowing dinghy made of a plastic polymer.  The girls quickly christened her "Lil' Coconut", for what reason we do not know.  However, now that she serves as the tender for s/v Island Bound, the name somehow seems appropriate.

Lil' Coconut is small and tippy.  She barely has room for two adults, though we've rowed her with two adults and both kids aboard.  She looks a lot like a bathtub and quickly fills with rainwater.  However, she makes up for her faults with her snooty sheerline and shippy looks.  And she does row pretty well.

We haven't decided if Lil' Coconut will come with us on the summer cruise for 2010.  As mentioned above, she's a little too small for the four of us, particularly when we plan to be anchoring out the majority of the time and will likely need the services of a good, stable tender.  She also doesn't have a motor.  We may just leave her at the marina in favor of a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) with a small outboard.  In any case, don't think for one moment that we don't love her!  She'll even be the recipient of a new yellow cove stripe in the spring to match the mothership.

An early winter sailing movie

We just finished a long week and weekend of snowy weather.  The kids didn't complain, as they had 3 days of cancelled school piggy-backed onto a weekend.  However, the first big snow event of the year left me yearning for some Great Lakes sailing.  What did I do to warm my soul?  I watched this:

Fine tuning our GPS skills for sailing

Now that the Great Lakes sailing season has come to an end, we've been spending some time geocaching as a family.  If you don't know what geocaching is, read on.  If you do know what geocaching is, read on to find out how it's useful for sailors.

Geocaching is quite simply a world-wide treasure hunt using a handheld GPS unit to located treasures (caches) that random people have placed in hidden locations all over the earth.  You simply log in to the geocaching website and find the coordinates for caches that are near your location or near a location you plan to visit.  Then you plug the coordinates into your GPS and away you go!  The GPS will only get you so close.  You'll need the inquisitive mind of a child to find many of the treasures.  Sometimes they are buried, sometimes they're in a tree, sometimes they're disguised.  Most are held in watertight containers and have a logbook.  The general rule is that you should leave something better than you take from the container. 

On one of our geocaching excursions this fall to Pickeral Lake Park we saw a possum playing possum in its' den, bats in bat boxes high in the trees, and many trees that have fallen prey to the local beavers!  We've found that geocaching provides us with many benefits: family time outdoors, hikes to new locations, and fine tuning of our GPS and route finding skills.  Bonding, fitness and navigational competence are all great assets for the crew of a sailing vessel! 

Cozy and snug for winter

s/v Island Bound is now cozy and snug in her blue shrink wrap for the long winter in the Great Lakes. We simply used the boom for a tent from over the after section and the spinnaker pole (attached to the mast and bow pulpit) for a tent over the foredeck. I wish the marina would have made a couple of vents in the wrap for airflow, but I can always add them next time I'm over at the marina. Now that she's wrapped, the winter boating season has officially begun for the crew of Island Bound. We'll now commence with the dreaming, scheming and and planning for next year's cruising in the Great Lakes.