Sail Far Live Free

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....

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 ...

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...

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:

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...

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.

Nothing is carved in stone yet, but we're very seriously contemplating a 2 or 3 month cruise of northern Lake Michigan and the Mackinac Straits for the summer of 2010.  Such a Great Lakes cruise would be a great way to "test the waters" and see how well our family adapts to living-aboard for an extended period while cruising. At this point in the planning/contemplating stages, the itinerary is wide open, but here's a sample of how the route could look: Grand Haven - White Lake - Pentwater - Ludington - Lake Crossing - Manitowoc - Two Rivers - Door County (multiple ports) - Washington Island - Fayette - Manistique - Beaver Island Archipeligo (Beaver/High/Garden Islands) - St. Helena Island - Mackinac City - Mackinac Island - Harbor Springs - Petoskey - Charlevoix (1+ week layover in Horton Bay) - Grand Traverse Bay (multiple ports) - Leland - Manitou Islands - Frankfort - Portage Lake - Pentwater - White Lake - Grand Haven. Wow...that's a lot o...

Have you ever been out for a lazy sail and wished you could step below for moment to grab a cold drink or perhaps a pair of sunglasses but you couldn't leave the tiller unattended? Davis Marine makes a product they call a " Tiller Tamer " that might help in such a situation. The Tiller Tamer is essentially a clamping device for a tiller control line. It is constructed of durable, hard plastic with stainless steel hardware (screw/hex nut). The Tiller Tamer mounts directly on top of the forward end of the tiller handle. If your tiller is made of anything other than wood, you may need to fabricate mounting hardware or forego the Tiller Tamer all together. The device is mounted via two wood screws. The control line (1/4" diameter provided) is then run from the stern corners of the cockpit to the Tiller Tamer. I personally used jam cleats mounted directly in the fiberglass of the cockpit's stern to anchor the control line. You could also use cam cleats or other me...

Now that the sailboat is out of the water and hibernating until spring, my mind has started to wander and wonder.  One of my passions is adventuring, which seems to have manifested itself in my life in the form of sailing and backpacking.  So I started to wonder, other than adventure, what the common theme is between sailing and backpacking.  Erin & I approaching the summit of Mt. Shasta Both activities require and reward self-sufficiency.  Cruising many miles from land on a sailboat, you have nothing except the wind, the waves and that which you brought oboard.  So it is with backpacking in the wilderness.  All you have is the trails, the trees and that which you have in your pack. Good offshore, bluewater sailors know that they must be competent in many skills.  On a long passage you need to be your own mechanic, navigator, doctor, chef and any number of other professions.  Again, when you're on a long wilderness ...

Just thought I'd make a quick post to share the stormy fall season on the Great Lakes and specifically Lake Michigan. Back on September 28, 2009 we had a major storm come ashore in Grand Haven. The NOAA forecast called for a storm warning with 50kt+ winds and 15-20 foot waves. I don't know the actual wave heights or the wind speeds that day, but I can say that I've never seen more wind or bigger waves on Lake Michigan than I did that day. Check these videos for a better description than words can provide: And lastly, 20 degrees of heel in the slip: