Hello All, Well I made it around Isle Royale again. 11 days and about 235 miles! It was terrific! The solitude was great. For those of you unfamiliar with Isle Royale, it is a 45 mile long by 9 mile wide island in Lake Superior about 12 or so miles off the Minnesota/Canada coast. I departed from Grand Portage on Saturday August 30th for the 23 mile crossing over to the Windigo located at the southern end of the island. Wind was light so I had to motor most of the way but every other day had plenty of wind.
From Windigo the next leg was about 26 miles up to McCargoe Cove. I was on a broad reach almost the entire way...glorious! The next several days were spent exploring the various coves and inlets that make up the northern end of the island. I even went up around Gull Islands which are about 10-15 miles north of Isle Royale -- kind of spooky getting that far out but it was still cool.
I had a new suit of sails made for me this winter which include a main with two reef points, a 130 working jib, a 160 genoa, and a 60 storm jib. With this combination I was able to keep moving safely through all the different weather. I had some very light air days 3-7 kts but still able to keep moving with the 160; and some 20-25 knot wind in which the reefed main and storm jib worked admirably. Even reefed down I was able to tack through 90 degrees when in calm water. Out in larger 5-6 foot waves I was getting more around 120 degrees through the tacks. Still working on this. I think that the wave action just pushes me around too much. I was also over canvased that day as I didn't want to go out on the foredeck to change the jib. I did several times on subsequent days however. On one day I did get some water over the combings -- kind of scary seeing 55 degree water pouring in...yikes! I was just coming out of a cove where I had been anchored on a close hauled course when a big gust caught me broadside. Over we went and in came the water. Not a huge amount but enough to cause me to keep my hand on the main sheet for the rest of the morning...the winds were very gusty. Usually about 10 knots but gusting to 25 or more knots. Had to keep playing the main like a dinghy. I had a single reef and the storm jib. I finally wised up and put the second reef in and we were fine after that. I felt quite safe with my boat and my gear. I found that the Montgomery 15 was equal to all the weather I encountered. Having a good set of sails was indespensible. Never again will I suffer through old sails! In addition to the new sails I had a good complement of safety gear -- oversized ground tackle, PFD with harness and tether, VHF radio, inflatable Kayak towed 50 feet astern, and EPIRB. I have posted some videos on youtube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46zhrxeh2CM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPLowIibBU If the link doesn't work then try looking up "Montgomery 15 coming at you" (me being silly), and "Rounding Blake Point" I will upload more videos and pictures later. Cheers, John Hippe M-15
Great videos, John. It looks like you had a wonderful trip! I look forward to seeing more of your videos and photos. Gordon Milwaukee On Sep 16, 2008, at 12:14 AM, John and DesAnne Hippe wrote:
Hello All,
Well I made it around Isle Royale again. 11 days and about 235 miles! It was terrific! The solitude was great.
For those of you unfamiliar with Isle Royale, it is a 45 mile long by 9 mile wide island in Lake Superior about 12 or so miles off the Minnesota/ Canada coast.
I departed from Grand Portage on Saturday August 30th for the 23 mile crossing over to the Windigo located at the southern end of the island. Wind was light so I had to motor most of the way but every other day had plenty of wind.
From Windigo the next leg was about 26 miles up to McCargoe Cove. I was on a broad reach almost the entire way...glorious! The next several days were spent exploring the various coves and inlets that make up the northern end of the island. I even went up around Gull Islands which are about 10-15 miles north of Isle Royale -- kind of spooky getting that far out but it was still cool.
I had a new suit of sails made for me this winter which include a main with two reef points, a 130 working jib, a 160 genoa, and a 60 storm jib. With this combination I was able to keep moving safely through all the different weather. I had some very light air days 3-7 kts but still able to keep moving with the 160; and some 20-25 knot wind in which the reefed main and storm jib worked admirably.
Even reefed down I was able to tack through 90 degrees when in calm water. Out in larger 5-6 foot waves I was getting more around 120 degrees through the tacks. Still working on this. I think that the wave action just pushes me around too much. I was also over canvased that day as I didn't want to go out on the foredeck to change the jib. I did several times on subsequent days however.
On one day I did get some water over the combings -- kind of scary seeing 55 degree water pouring in...yikes! I was just coming out of a cove where I had been anchored on a close hauled course when a big gust caught me broadside. Over we went and in came the water. Not a huge amount but enough to cause me to keep my hand on the main sheet for the rest of the morning...the winds were very gusty. Usually about 10 knots but gusting to 25 or more knots. Had to keep playing the main like a dinghy. I had a single reef and the storm jib. I finally wised up and put the second reef in and we were fine after that.
I felt quite safe with my boat and my gear. I found that the Montgomery 15 was equal to all the weather I encountered. Having a good set of sails was indespensible. Never again will I suffer through old sails! In addition to the new sails I had a good complement of safety gear -- oversized ground tackle, PFD with harness and tether, VHF radio, inflatable Kayak towed 50 feet astern, and EPIRB.
I have posted some videos on youtube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46zhrxeh2CM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPLowIibBU
If the link doesn't work then try looking up "Montgomery 15 coming at you" (me being silly), and "Rounding Blake Point"
I will upload more videos and pictures later.
Cheers,
John Hippe M-15 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
John, Wonderful story. So glad to see the M's out there and doing well and being so seaworthy. It gives me a lot more confidence about sailing mine. When you said you got some oversized ground tackle, could you be more specific as to what type and size anchor, how much and what size chain rode, etc. Thanks, Joe Seafrog M'17 ----- Original Message ----- From: "John and DesAnne Hippe" <jdhippe@gmail.com> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 1:14 AM Subject: M_Boats: Isle Royale Trip
Hello All,
Well I made it around Isle Royale again. 11 days and about 235 miles! It was terrific! The solitude was great.
For those of you unfamiliar with Isle Royale, it is a 45 mile long by 9 mile wide island in Lake Superior about 12 or so miles off the Minnesota/Canada coast.
I departed from Grand Portage on Saturday August 30th for the 23 mile crossing over to the Windigo located at the southern end of the island. Wind was light so I had to motor most of the way but every other day had plenty of wind.
From Windigo the next leg was about 26 miles up to McCargoe Cove. I was on a broad reach almost the entire way...glorious! The next several days were spent exploring the various coves and inlets that make up the northern end of the island. I even went up around Gull Islands which are about 10-15 miles north of Isle Royale -- kind of spooky getting that far out but it was still cool.
I had a new suit of sails made for me this winter which include a main with two reef points, a 130 working jib, a 160 genoa, and a 60 storm jib. With this combination I was able to keep moving safely through all the different weather. I had some very light air days 3-7 kts but still able to keep moving with the 160; and some 20-25 knot wind in which the reefed main and storm jib worked admirably.
Even reefed down I was able to tack through 90 degrees when in calm water. Out in larger 5-6 foot waves I was getting more around 120 degrees through the tacks. Still working on this. I think that the wave action just pushes me around too much. I was also over canvased that day as I didn't want to go out on the foredeck to change the jib. I did several times on subsequent days however.
On one day I did get some water over the combings -- kind of scary seeing 55 degree water pouring in...yikes! I was just coming out of a cove where I had been anchored on a close hauled course when a big gust caught me broadside. Over we went and in came the water. Not a huge amount but enough to cause me to keep my hand on the main sheet for the rest of the morning...the winds were very gusty. Usually about 10 knots but gusting to 25 or more knots. Had to keep playing the main like a dinghy. I had a single reef and the storm jib. I finally wised up and put the second reef in and we were fine after that.
I felt quite safe with my boat and my gear. I found that the Montgomery 15 was equal to all the weather I encountered. Having a good set of sails was indespensible. Never again will I suffer through old sails! In addition to the new sails I had a good complement of safety gear -- oversized ground tackle, PFD with harness and tether, VHF radio, inflatable Kayak towed 50 feet astern, and EPIRB.
I have posted some videos on youtube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46zhrxeh2CM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPLowIibBU
If the link doesn't work then try looking up "Montgomery 15 coming at you" (me being silly), and "Rounding Blake Point"
I will upload more videos and pictures later.
Cheers,
John Hippe M-15 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
participants (3)
-
Gordon Gilbert -
Joe Murphy -
John and DesAnne Hippe