Oh, also - I have had experience with the storm issue. Holy cow. A perfectly beautiful day with sun and low winds in the Apostle Islands turned into 85 degree heel on my father's 26ft. MacGregor in an hour or less... The green sailors got more than bit scared - of course, those of us with a bit more experience had a great time. Amazing how quickly the weather turns there. Chris On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 2:32 PM, Chris Smith <chris.r.smith@gmail.com>wrote:
John,
Fantastic. That gives me a much better picture of what I'm getting into. And an excuse to buy sailing books! :) Thanks!
Chris
On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 2:10 PM, John and DesAnne Hippe <jdhippe@gmail.com
wrote:
Hello Chris,
I take two weeks because I circumnavigate the island which takes about 8-9 days of sailing. I like to allow an extra day for every 3 or so days of sailing to allow for weather delays and for sight seeing. The distance for me is around 230 miles all told.
The 25 mile hop over to the island usually takes me about 7 hours. On some trips I have motored across because of no wind and on others I have sailed.
My longest legs on the trip around the island are around 32 miles. Depending on wind direction, I can be out on the water up to 10-12 hours. In my experience, expecting to make 50 miles in one day is pushing it. With the right winds it would be possible but given the fact that hull speed on an M-15 is somewhere around 5 knots, this would still necessitate 10 hours of perfect wind...
Winds seem to come mostly out of the west ( sw, w, nw) but can come from any direction. Storms are a bit of a risk. On my 2007 trip I had a storm come ripping through -- calm and placid one minute and winds blowing 25-30? a few minutes later. There are no currents to worry about.
A "must have" book is "Superior Way: A Cruising Guide to Lake Superior" by Bonnie Dahl. She covers the entire lake section by section with information on anchorages, weather, sights to see, etc. It is geared to the large boat crowd but is still an excellent resource. In addition, look into Marlin Bree's books "In the teeth of the Noreaster: A solo voyage on Lake Superior" and "Wake of the Green Storm: A Survivors Tale." These two books detail his trip around Lake Superior on his home built 20 foot boat. Great reading.
John
Great. Thanks for the information/advice. I'll have to start photodocumenting the changes I make as well. I'm quite excited about my Isle Royale trip - perhaps I'll have to give it 2 weeks instead of one... I've only day sailed on Superior, are there significant currents or changing prevailing winds? How long did it take to go the 25 miles (under sail or motor?)? Any advice on good places to get this information (or if it's terribly relevant)? I figure that if I can pull off 50mi. per day, I can everywhere I want to go - but perhaps this is too ambitious...
Thanks again!
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