A Hop, Skip, and Jump

It was a much calmer day when we left Grand Marais. After a few days of muggy, cold and windy weather, we were more than ready to get out on the water and open up the boat to dry everything. We had also finally gained confidence in our anchor. After holding perfectly in up to 20 m.p.h winds, it was a liberating feeling to know that we could opt out of docking whenever we felt like it. I have grown to appreciate the ingenuity of the danforth anchor. Growing up, I pictured anchors as being the standard kedge (U-shaped) style that held the boat purely by weight. But with a danforth, the strength is not in it's weight, but in the angle. It is important to provide a liberal amount of scope(anchor line) in order to let the anchor pull as near to parallel to the lake floor as the surroundings allow. Once we have anchored, we usually cleat part of the spare anchor through the opposite bow cleat with some extra slack. This extra slack is then use to connect back to the anchor line via a rolling hitch knot. We then readjust both parts to form a triangle between the bow stern and starboard cleats that merge just above the water. We've found that this stabilizes the boat and prevents quite a bit of jerkiness in high winds or choppy waves.

Question: Is "Danforth" a respectable name for a son? 

                                [Dan]forth Engelhart

     Feel free to comment!

Anyways, we left Grand Marais in route to Whitefish Point harbor of refuge. the trip was fairly uneventful. The wind was too calm to rely solely on our sails, so we traveled by a combination to motor and sail. This stretch of shore provided our first experience with ore boats up close and personal. The water between the shore and the Sault St. Marie to Marquette shipping lane is fairly shallow, we tried to stay as far from shore as possible. It was incredible to see those ore boats at full speed. We saw 5 or 6 on our way. I wonder if anybody as ever tried to surf the wake that forms in front of one of those ships? Imagine surfing from Whitefish point to Marquette!

As we came around Whitefish Point, Megan remembered reading somewhere how nearly 500 ships have sunk in the area. It was sobering coming around the lighthouse and realizing how many mariners had perished just under us. Fortunately, it was a calm day for us. But I can certainly imagine the treachery of that area in high winds.

We pulled into the Whitefish Bay harbor of refuge, around 5:30 in the evening. The wind had calmed down to just a breeze. The marina is unattended and exists solely as a place of protection. A few tribal fishing boats are docked, but other than that and a porta-potti, the place was empty. When we were just about to go for a little evening walk, a beautiful 39' sailboat came into the marina. We ended up talking with these two retired men from Lake Erie- Frank and Dave. They showed us their boat and invited us for dinner and an early breakfast. We gladly accepted. Their boat was impeccable. I believe the interior was mahogany. She running water, a freezer, radar, and an oven, not to mention a fully stocked wine cabinet and cigars. We had a very pleasant evening and morning with them. We agreed that since both parties appreciated the company that we would sail to the Sault and lock down the locks together. When we arrived at the locks, Frank and Dave called ahead to the lock master. He had us state our vessel name, number of people aboard, and our MC numbers (boat registration). We had to wait for an enormous ship to lock up. It was amazing to see it pass by us. I could easily have hit the bow with a stone...with my opposite hand. 27' of fiberglass seems so tiny compared to a a piece of steel 1,000' by 100' by 100'! When we got into the locks, it was weird to look up and see a crowd of people watching us and taking pictured from the viewing tower. I felt as it we were freaks, putting on a show for a group of "land-lubbers".

Just after the locks is the very nice George Kemp Marina. we docked, biked into town, and ended the evening with t-bone steaks with guacamole, corn on the cob, and a bottle of wine...We had officially begun another leg of our journey. Although I love Lake Superior, I was glad to be out of it. Hopefully Huron and Michigan will show us less bad weather and more good swimming and summer conditions. 

Everything is looking up. The boat is running well, we are making good time, and we are are schedule to make Mackinac island for the 4th of July!

Tomorrow we plan to stop in at Larry and Sharon's home about half way between the Sault and the mouth of Lake Huron.
-Corey