[Rhodes22-list] sailing in Grand Traverse Bay in Michigan

Mon Oct 19 08:12:58 EDT 2020

Hi Jesse,

I was just wondering if you were aware of the Michigan Harbors of Refuge program.  The 3 attached .jpg files are maps that give the locations of Michigan Harbors of Refuge on the east coast, west coast, and the upper peninsula.  You can get more info at www.michigan.gov/harbors<http://www.michigan.gov/harbors> .  The program was created in 1947 with the goal; that, there should be a public harbor of refuge with slips for transient boaters no more than every 15 miles of great lakes coastline apart.  There are still stretches of coastline, particularly in the upper peninsula, wherein they have not yet reached their separation distance goal.  However, the 3 attached maps show how extensive the Harbor of Refuge network has become.  The existence of these Harbors of Refuge makes it possible to do multiday cruising in much smaller boats than would otherwise be safe.  Since we own 22 ft LOA sailboats, this is obviously a useful program!  Even though it wasn’t an issue on your cruise, in the Grand Traverse Bay area, the following cities have Harbors of Refuge: Northport, Leland, Suttons Bay, Greilickville, Traverse City, Elk Rapids, and Charlevoix.  If you stayed at the “Municipal Marina” or “City Dock” in any of those places, you probably stayed in a Harbor of Refuge.  Of course, in Grand Traverse Bay, you can hardly throw a stick without hitting a privately owned marina.  But, many (most)  locations in Michigan are much more sparsely populated with marinas.

By the way, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources publishes a 3-ring binder called the “Michigan Harbors Guide”.  In this guide, each Harbor of Refuge has the front and back of a single page.  There is an aerial photo showing the safe approach, GPS coordinates of the harbor entrance, and any aids &/or hazards to navigation.  There is data like the number of transient slips available, water depth at the dock, services like fuel, septic pump out, repairs, water, contact phone numbers, etc.  Anyone can order a copy for free!  The guide is printed on water resistant paper.  The Michigan Harbors Guide is an essential resource at S/V dynamic Equilibrium’s nav station.  It also   makes great reading/dreaming material over the winter sitting in front of the fireplace!

I’ve sailed the great lakes in all the States that have great lakes coastline.  I’ve not found any state with a comparable Harbors of Refuge program.  It’s yet another thing that makes Michigan such a special place.

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Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10

From: Jesse Shumaker<mailto:jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2020 8:35 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] sailing in Grand Traverse Bay in Michigan

Roger, good to hear about the enjoyable fall camping trip.  As we're
heading into this time of the year, enjoyment outside has a lot to do with
gear and preparation.

Regarding the marinas, we just called the marina on our cell phone when we
were within sight to check on the availability of transient slips.  If no
one answered, then we would hail them on VHF channel 16 and they would have
us switch to another channel for communication.  That late in the season it
was easy to get a transient slip.  In the summer, we may have to reserve
early.  As you may know (but others on the list may not be aware), any of
the marinas that accept Michigan state funding have to keep a certain
percentage of slips available as transient slips and you can reserve those
online.  I think most of the marinas that are designated as harbors of
refuge are located in more exposed areas than Grand Traverse Bay, but I see
that Elk Rapids has that designation.  For those on the list that may not
be familiar, the harbor of refuge designation means that staff will not
turn you away in emergency situations and when conditions on the water are
rough.

I just found the following link to the list of harbors in Michigan and
added this to the travelogue.  There was a printed copy of this onboard the
charter boat that we would refer to before heading into a marina so we
would be familiar with the layout ahead of time.
https://www2.dnr.state.mi.us/Publications/PDFS/RecreationCamping/boating/harbor_guide_small.pdf

Jesse Shumaker
S/V Zephyr

On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 4:50 PM ROGER PIHLAJA <roger_pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:

> Hi Jesse,
>
> I’ve never sailed on Grand Traverse Bay; but, have visited all the ports
> of call in your story from land.  Did you make use of the Michigan Harbor
> of Refuge system?
>
> I’m just getting back from a weekend camping trip with my Boy Scout
> troop.  We camped at Trinity Lutheran Church Camp on what used to be Wixom
> Lake.  As a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, I have access to the camp.
> We had access to the lodge to use the bathrooms.  But, otherwise we stayed
> outside.  Friday night, we got sleet.  Saturday morning, the zipper on my
> tent was frozen!  Fortunately, a little pulling and working the zipper back
> and forth freed it up.  Saturday night was much warmer, it only got down to
> about 40 deg F.  We have several crossover Webelos and this was their first
> camping trip.  Everyone seemed to be prepared for the conditions and stayed
> warm.  I was very proud of them.  We did a lot of Tenderfoot and Second
> Class Scout rank advancement stuff.  After the older Scouts finished their
> basic classes in knife and axe use and campfire building, I took over and
> instructed them all in building a fire with soaking wet firewood.  I showed
> them how to find dry wood even though it had rained/sleeted the night
> before.  I showed them how to use the hatchet to cut into the dry heart
> wood on a piece of wet wood and chip off slivers of dry tinder and
> kindling.  Then, we had the new Scouts build a campfire with this wet
> wood.  Even my senior Scouts were impressed with how easy it was to get a
> fire going in these conditions.  I think they all learned a useful life
> skill.  Now, I’m back home and all my camping gear is drying in the
> basement.
>
> Life is good!
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Oct 18, 2020, at 10:49 AM, Jesse Shumaker <
> jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I put together a recap and some highlight photos of our sailing trip in
> > Grand Traverse Bay at the link below.
> > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-XPDLxAJcuzvKa_3MJ7rwJ9JBhtzb8L_/view
> >
> > I included links in that document to resources for anyone that might want
> > to plan a trip in the area.  After reading the accounts of the adventures
> > of others on this list, it inspired me to capture and share my trips.
> Even
> > if it's just me who looks at this in the future, I'll have something to
> > look back on later and relive the trip on cold winter days :)
> >
> > This trip was on a charter boat, but this area can be sailed by a R22 as
> > well.  If you make it to the end of the document, a R22 does make an
> > appearance.
> >
> > <
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-XPDLxAJcuzvKa_3MJ7rwJ9JBhtzb8L_/view?usp=sharing
> >
> > Jesse Shumaker
> > S/V Zephyr
> >
> >
> >> On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 6:05 PM Jesse Shumaker <
> >> jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> My wife and I had sailing plans out west, but that has been rescheduled
> >> due to the wildfires and resulting air quality.  I really feel bad for
> >> everyone affected by that on top of everything else delivered by this
> crazy
> >> year of 2020.
> >>
> >> We swiftly changed plans and will be chartering a sailboat out of
> Traverse
> >> City, Michigan
> >> later this month.  We're actually going to be up there again in the
> middle
> >> of next summer.  We have some family nearby that will be joining us on
> >> board for part of the trip.  For this round we plan on spending most of
> the
> >> time within Grand Traverse Bay and going as far North as Charlevoix or
> >> possibly Harbor Point in Little Traverse Bay.  Next summer we would
> like to
> >> make it over to Beaver Island if weather permits.
> >>
> >> For the first day, we're going to hire a captain and practice docking
> and
> >> other boat handling since this will be a bigger boat for us.  We had to
> go
> >> with what was available on short notice but end of season discounts
> help.
> >> It has IMF so it will be interesting to try that on a bigger boat.
> >>
> >> Tentative plan:
> >> Thursday  9/24 1 Captain - spend the night at Elmwood Marina in Traverse
> >> City
> >> Friday    9/25 2 Power Island & Sutton's Bay
> >> Saturday  9/26 3 Northport / Old Mission Bay
> >> Sunday    9/27 4 Charleviox / Harbor Point in Little Traverse Bay
> >> Monday    9/28 5 Omena Bay / Ingalls Bay
> >> Tuesday   9/29 6 Elk Rapids / Old Mission
> >> Wednesday 9/30 7 Return to Traverse City
> >>
> >> Would anyone on the list happen to be familiar with the area and have
> any
> >> recommendations?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Jesse Shumaker
> >> S/V Zephyr
> >>
>

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