[Rhodes22-list] Around The Tip Of The Mitt

[Steve]

Excellent story, Roger.  Sounds like a great trip.
Steve

--- Roger Pihlaja <cen09402@centurytel.net> wrote:
> As many of you know, I have a friend named, Dan who
> owns a 42' sailing catamaran.  For the last two
> seasons, Dan has kept his catamaran at Jerry's
> Marina on Tawas Bay, which is an arm of Lake Huron. 
> For winter storage this year & next summer's
> dockage, Dan has worked out a package deal over in
> Pentwater, MI.  Pentwater is a small inland lake
> connected to Lake Michigan by a very old (dredged
> out in 1883!) manmade channel.  Of course, the only
> way to get the cat from Tawas Bay to Pentwater was
> to sail it there.  This voyage involved a trip north
> up the west coast of Lake Huron, to the Straits of
> Mackinac, & then back down the east coast of Lake
> Michigan to Pentwater, a total distance of about 350
> nm.
> 
> Dan & I had talked about this trip about three weeks
> ago.  It was supposed to take about 4 - 5 days & we
> were going to double-hand it.  Fall is a much better
> time to make this voyage than spring because the
> water is still relatively warm as opposed to just
> barely above freezing in the spring!  Then, at the
> last minute, Dan's Father-In-Law & a friend from
> Tennessee showed up & wanted to help crew the boat. 
> Dan decided to turn the voyage into a "boy's night
> out" family-only outing & I was no longer on the
> crew roster.
> 
> They left Tawas Bay on Sunday Morning, 09/22/02.  On
> Monday afternoon, I got a desperate cell phone call
> from Dan.  They were still on Lake Huron, in between
> Cheboygan, MI and Mackinaw City.  His two crew were
> both seasick & hypothermic!  There was no way they
> wanted to continue.  We made plans to exchange crew
> in Mackinaw City.  I threw some gear together, had
> my wife take me over to Dan's house, & drove his
> Father-In-Law's Ford pickup up to Mackinaw City.  I
> got there about 22:30.  Dan's crew were all packed &
> ready to leave.  They were cordial enough around me,
> but the tension in the air was crackling like static
> electricity!  They didn't even drive back to
> Sanford. MI that night.  Instead, they took a motel
> right in Mackinaw City & drove back to Dan's house
> the next day.  I didn't want to embarrass my friend
> by asking any questions that night & we just went to
> bed.  The entire story came out over the next three
> days on the trip down Lake Michigan.  I will respect
> Dan's right to family privacy by not going into the
> details, but suffice it to say his in-laws probably
> won't be going sailing anymore!
> 
> Tuesday morning dawned with a 30 knot west wind & 6'
> - 8' waves roaring right up the Straits of Mackinac!
>  For a time, the State Police actually had to close
> the Mackinaw Bridge to traffic because of the wind. 
> Dan's cat only has two 10 bhp outboard engines. 
> There was no way we were going to make any progress
> dead to windward in these conditions.  Instead, we
> stayed put in Mackinaw City.  We made some repairs
> on the 150% genoa & the reef points on the mainsail.
> (Don't ask, it's the in-law thing!)
> 
> NOAA weather radio predicted the wind would die down
> overnight & shift to the south at 15 - 20 knots &
> waves 3' - 5' by Wednesday morning.  During the day
> on Wednesday, it was predicted to steadily build to
> 25 - 30 knots & waves 6' - 8'.  We departed Mackinaw
> City at 05:45 & hoisted the 100% working jib & full
> mainsail.  It was the 1st time I've ever sailed
> under the Mackinaw Bridge at night.  Only a few of
> the buoys marking the shipping channel are lit & we
> kept a sharp watch lest we hit one of them.  The
> Mackinaw bridge is awesome anytime, but a little
> frightening to approach at night.  The temperature
> was about 40 deg F as we departed & the air was damp
> with a light morning mist.  I was wearing
> polypropylene insulated underware under my foul
> weather gear, gloves, & woolen stocking cap.
> 
> About 20 nm west of the Straits of Mackinac, there
> is a rocky shoal called Gray's Reef.  There is only
> one safe passage thru Gray's Reef & a 1/2 nm wide
> channel that's well marked by lighthouses on each
> end & intermediate channel marker buoys.  I was
> driving & we were averaging 10 knots, sometimes
> peaking at 12+ knots as we surfed down the bigger
> waves.  By this point, the waves were 4' - 6'. 
> Dan's cat actually handles 12+ knots quite nicely,
> throwing two big roostertails out behind it.  But,
> it does start to bounce a bit & catch a little air
> off the bigger waves.  We were both thoroughly
> enjoying the ride when we heard this "clunk -
> splash" sound.  "What was that?", I asked.  Dan
> answered, "Oh probably just the garbage sack of
> empty cans on the aft trampoline."  I replied, "OK,
> as long as it wasn't a hatch cover or something." 
> At this point, Dan looked at the transom on the port
> hull & noticed the hatch cover on the rudder post
> compartment was missing!  We looked astern & saw the
> 2' X 2' square white hatch cover still floating, but
> rapidly receding behind us.  We debated for what
> seemed like an eternity, but was probably only 15 -
> 20 seconds, whether we should attempt a recovery. 
> Finally, we looked around to see that there was no
> traffic all the way to the horizon from each end of
> Grey's Reed Passage, & executed a man overboard
> maneuver - an emergency gibe at 10 knots in 4' - 6'
> seas & 20 - 25 knots of wind, in the middle of a
> narrow shipping channel!  Roller coasters are going
> to seem tame from now on!  Dan's cat doesn't have
> roller furling, so we couldn't get the sails down in
> real time to have any hope of finding & recovering
> the tiny white hatch cover amongst the sea of white
> caps.  We got the engines started.  As we roared
> back to the spot where the GPS said the hatch cover
> went over, we both searched frantically.  Finally,
> we'd gone back about 200 yards past where it had
> fallen overboard & we turned back around.  As we
> were coming about, I spotted the hatch cover about
> 100 yards over to starboard.  But, with the sails
> still up, we couldn't get over there.  So, we had to
> get into position upwind of the hatch cover & make
> another run at it.  But, the seas were so heavy that
> Dan wasn't able to scoop it up in a big fishing net
> as we passed by.  We tried again & failed again.  By
> this time, Dan was getting pretty tired, so he took
> over the helm & handed me the fishing net.  On the
> 4th attempt, Dan brought us right down on the hatch
> cover.  I was laying on the front trampoline,
> hanging over the bow from my harness with the
> fishing net in both hands.  The bow was pitching up
> & down a good 3' on each wave & I was getting
> thoroughly sprayed down in my foul weather gear.  At
> the top of the cycle, I couldn't even reach the
> water with the fishing net.  I thought, "This is
> going to have to be perfectly timed because I'm only
> going to get one shot at it."  At the bottom of the
> next wave, I shoved the fishing net into the water
> in front of the hatch cover & let the next upward
> pitch of the bow carry the hatch cover into the net
> & out of the water.  At the top of the wave, the
> hatch cover shot upwards out of the net, but I
> scooped it out of the air like it was a big white
> butterfly!  As I made my way back to the safety of
> the cockpit, I yelled to Dan over the wind & waves,
> "You owe me a beer for that one!"  The rest of the
> trip over to St. James Harbor on Beaver Island was
> fast, but anticlimactic after that experience.  The
> wind was averaging 25 knots & gusting to 30 knots
> with waves 4' - 8' as we turned the corner to enter
> St. James Harbor.  We watched the storm build & pass
> thru the area thru the windows on the cat's
> bridgedeck cabin as we lay safely at anchor.  Then,
> after lunch on board, we both took a nap in the
> afternoon.  From anchor up in Mackinaw City to
> anchor down in St. James Harbor, including all the
> frogging around in Grey's Reef Passage & searching
> around St. James Harbor for a suitable spot to drop
> the hook required almost exactly 5 hours.  The rhumb
> line distance is 40 nm, so we averaged 8 knots!  I
> guess I should point out that Dan's cat is custom
> made, so you can't just order up a new hatch cover
> for it.  The transoms have a classic "sugar scoop"
> profile & the top surface also has a crown so it
> drains water both ways.  The hatch cover is molded
> to fit this compound 3-D curvature & would be a very
> difficult piece to duplicate at home.  Dan was
> extremely pleased we were able to recover it.  We
> celebrated our good fortune & teamwork that evening
> on shore with a fancy dinner at the Beaver Island
> Lodge.
> 
> NOAA weather radio predicted that a fast moving cold
> front was going to pass over northern Lake Michigan
> late Wednesday night.  Behind the cold front, the
> wind was supposed to shift to the north - northeast
> at 15 - 20 knots with waves 3' - 5' on Thursday
> morning.  We departed St. James Harbor at 06:00. 
> Apparently, the cold front stalled out over Lake
> Michigan because the wind was still out of the
> southwest at only 10 - 15 knots with waves 1' - 3'. 
> At about 08:30, the repaired 150% genoa ripped out
> in a different spot & this time the tear was nearly
> 10' long!  I told Dan the problem was not really
> with his in-laws, the sailcloth had simply reached
> the end of its useful service life & it was time for
> a new sail.  We put the 150% genoa away, put up the
> 100% working jib, & started the engines in order to
> keep our speed up around 5 - 6 knots.  We putted
> along at 5 - 6 knots all day until about 16:00. 
> Then, the wind suddenly shifted around to the
> northeast & the temperature dropped about 10 F deg
> in a matter of about 20 minutes.  We both said,
> "YES!"  We quickly hoisted the spinnaker, shut down
> the engines, & our speed increased to 8 - 9 knots. 
> We broad reached like this until about 20:30.  After
> dark, the wind died down to 5 -10 knots & got sort
> of flukey.  Although we were about 2 nm offshore, I
> think we were getting wind shadow effects from the
> high sand dunes along this part of the Lake Michigan
> shoreline.  Anyway, we were both too tired & it was
> too mentally taxing to keep the spinnaker inflated
> in the dark under these conditions.  So, we put the
> 100% working jib back up.  Our speed dropped back
> down to around 5 knots.  At around 00:00 on Friday
> morning, the wind dropped even more & we had to fire
> up one engine in order to maintain 5 knots.  We tied
> up to the State Harbor of Refuge dock in Pentwater
> at 04:00 Friday morning, after about 22 hours at
> sea.  The rhumb line distance from St. James Harbor
> to Pentwater is about 125 nm, so we averaged about
> 5.2 knots.  After we hoisted the spinnaker, Dan & I
> each single-handed the boat in 2 hour shifts while
> the other rested, cooked, ate a meal, used the head,
> etc.  The autopilot did a reasonable job with the
> 100% working jib & mainsail as well as under power,
> but couldn't react quickly enough & with the proper
> technique to keep the spinnaker inflated.  I tried
> fiddling with the tuning parameters on the autopilot
> (Hey, I'm a chemical engineer - we can never leave a
> controller alone!), but I couldn't get it to
> reliably steer with the spinnaker.  So, in the end,
> we had to manually steer while flying the spinnaker.
> 
> After tying up in Pentwater, we both crashed until
> about 09:00 Friday morning.  Then, we got up, made
> breakfast on board, cleaned up the boat, & used the
> shower facilities on shore.  Dan's wife, Mary,
> picked me up in their car about 12:00 & drove me
> back to Sanford.  We left Dan at the cat in
> Pentwater so he could make arrangements to have the
> mast unstepped & get the boat prepped for winter
> storage.  Hopefully, he'll be home Sunday evening.
> 
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>               
> 


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