[Rhodes22-list] Crossing lake Michigan

[Roger Pihlaja]

Ron,

The enclosed link is a story about an offshore voyage on Lake Michigan in a
Rhodes 22.  In the summer of 1998, we sailed our Rhodes 22 from Charlevoix,
MI to Beaver Island, MI & then on to Garden Island, MI.  Both islands are
about 30 nm offshore out in the middle of northern Lake Michigan.

http://www.geocities.com/blew_skies/gardeni.html

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rafe" <rafe00 at ameritech.net>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 3:17 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Crossing lake Michigan (was Rhodes22 spotting)


> Ron,
>
> If possible, let me know what day you are sailing in,
> and I will see if we can sail out to meet you.  I have
> never been able to find another boat via radio yet,
> but maybe with the radio and GPS we could keep an eye
> out for you on this side.  We could agree on an open
> channel ahead of time.  It would depend on our
> schedules here.  After 10 hours of sailing I bet you
> start to look like a sailor - that is a lot of wind
> and sun!
>
> I hope to find a lot of time for the boating this
> summer - so we should be able to meet up at least some
> time.  We sailed down to the Indian dunes one day -
> that was a long day of sailing, but a lot of fun.
> This summer I want to see how far north we can sail
> and still get back the same day.  We sail up by Monroe
> all the time.  Great views of the city up there.  Down
> South we have an ancient industrial park in the back
> ground.  So we often go North for short trips.
>
> Sounds like you hit a lot of wind the last time you
> sailed in.  Sometimes the weather for the shore line
> and 5 miles out is completely different.  So I am sure
> the weather from one side of the lake to the other is
> often quite different.
>
> The second time we were out in strong winds things got
> a little out of control.  At first it was a lot of
> fun, but then these nasty gusts starting hitting us
> every few minutes.  I am not certain for sure what the
> conditions were, but it felt like a steady low 20s
> with gusts over 35 - probably just me.  When the gusts
> hit at first the boat would start to go over and then
> whip up hard into the wind.  We ended up with hardly
> any sail out just riding the gusts in.  I've since
> learned that it is better to keep the boat flat anyway
> - so maybe we did the right thing that day.  We had a
> lot of sail in - both main and Genoa.  We also headed
> in after a couple of those hard round ups.  The
> weather felt like it was only getting worse.
>
> A couple times we started motoring out of the harbor
> only to turn right around and go back in - not so much
> from wind but from waves.  When the waves are bad
> things get real scary.  One time I got thrown hard
> under the seat - for a second there I didn't know what
> happened.  The wind was not that bad that day and it
> did not feel like a knock down I think a wave just
> spun us around into another wave and we got tossed
> back and forth a bit rough.  Amy got slammed against
> the seat hard, but managed to stay off the floor.
> Anyway when looking for you a nice weather day for
> your crossing, try to pick a day with small waves
> predicted for that day and the day after.  Maybe you
> should buy a couple harnesses just in case.  If it
> picks up, you could be stuck in it for hours.
>
> Hopefully your trip will be windy and flat - 6.5 knots
> the whole way in.  Just tied the tiller off and enjoy
> the view.
>
> Rafe
>
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