Went "up north" for the week, just got back tonight. Beautiful weather, got out four times, wished I could have done more but drafting williing crew and all... I read John's post on tackling Traverse Bay! Sounds like fun, but I have found on bigger bodies of water, it can be very difficult to predict conditions from one area of a lake to another. Black Lake is 10,000 acres, certainly not Traverse Bay, but I have been able to sail 45 minutes on a single tack without having to adjust my heading. Anyway, I have been surprised sometimes by leaving in apparent low wind conditions, then finding myself in white caps and 1-2 ft waves on the other side of the lake, only to return home to find conditions still calm on my cabin's side of the lake. A few days ago I went out with my wife in about 12 knots, gusting to 15. Had fun practicing technique, specifically man-overboard and heaving to. Did about 20 man-overboards (not intentional, my wife kept having trouble grabbing the handle of the milk jug I had thrown over), each time I was able to come right up to the jug (I confess, a couple of times I did run over it). I have only recently learned how to heave to (hove to?), and it was on a different boat. What a great technique! Even in a couple of stiff gusts, the boat held steady!
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Sounds like fun
David - Sounds like a good time. I can sympathize with you on your MOB drills. You think you have pretty good control of the boat until trying to line the boat up and grab something out of the water. I practiced that a few weeks ago when I got knocked down and then had to collect all my floating stuff.
Yesterday I had my wind taken away by a passing para-sailer being towed by a powerboat. The para-sailer was about 100ft in the air and they crossed about 100ft in front of me. The wind just died and all the ripples on the water disappeared. It left a trail of calm water/air... it was pretty weird. Not exactly jet wash, but it was weird. I'd like to here about your Traverse Bay sail when you go. Is Bear Lake one of those super clear lakes in Northern Michigan? JerryA
David - Sounds like a good time. I can sympathize with you on your MOB drills. You think you have pretty good control of the boat until trying to line the boat up and grab something out of the water. I practiced that a few weeks ago when I got knocked down and then had to collect all my floating stuff.
Yesterday I had my wind taken away by a passing para-sailer being towed by a powerboat. The para-sailer was about 100ft in the air and they crossed about 100ft in front of me. The wind just died and all the ripples on the water disappeared. It left a trail of calm water/air... it was pretty weird. Not exactly jet wash, but it was weird. I'd like to here about your Traverse Bay sail when you go. Is Bear Lake one of those super clear lakes in Northern Michigan? JerryA10,000 acres is big
Portage Lake is something like 800 acres. The big trick here is that the wind blows in different directions within a short distance. It is not uncommon to see flags on shore a few hundred feet apart blowing in different directions!! The racers on this lake love it when folks from Lake St Clair or something come to race here, talk about your home feild advantage. Anyway we were on the Traverse Bay a few years ago, we never left the East Arm, but we sailed from the Old Mission Peninsula over to Elk Rapids. It was a really nice sail, the wind was quite a bit stronger in the middle than it was near shore, but it was fine. When the wind was strong we stayed home and let the guys with the big boats have a turn. John
Portage Lake is something like 800 acres. The big trick here is that the wind blows in different directions within a short distance. It is not uncommon to see flags on shore a few hundred feet apart blowing in different directions!! The racers on this lake love it when folks from Lake St Clair or something come to race here, talk about your home feild advantage. Anyway we were on the Traverse Bay a few years ago, we never left the East Arm, but we sailed from the Old Mission Peninsula over to Elk Rapids. It was a really nice sail, the wind was quite a bit stronger in the middle than it was near shore, but it was fine. When the wind was strong we stayed home and let the guys with the big boats have a turn. John
baseline lake
John - I used to sail on Baseline lake near you, it is 500 acres, so I know exactly what you mean with the wind shifts. Great way to develop responsive handling skills! When I am up north I sail on Black Lake, but locally it used to be Baseline. Now I sail on Kent Lake near Novi, not sure how big it is, I am guessing about 700 - plus it has several islands and pennisulas - you can imagine the wind shifts. I changed from the UM sailing club on Baseline to ASI on Kent this year, to sail on bigger boats (the club uses Interlakes which are 18' as opposed to the JY15's at UMSC).
John - I used to sail on Baseline lake near you, it is 500 acres, so I know exactly what you mean with the wind shifts. Great way to develop responsive handling skills! When I am up north I sail on Black Lake, but locally it used to be Baseline. Now I sail on Kent Lake near Novi, not sure how big it is, I am guessing about 700 - plus it has several islands and pennisulas - you can imagine the wind shifts. I changed from the UM sailing club on Baseline to ASI on Kent this year, to sail on bigger boats (the club uses Interlakes which are 18' as opposed to the JY15's at UMSC).
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