Great Lakes Sailing

Vessel Name: Charrette
Vessel Make/Model: Beneteau First 38
Hailing Port: Sister Bay, WI
About: We are an experienced Great Lakes cruising family of 4 (boys 16 and 12) who live aboard during the summer months. In addition to cruising, we also enjoy JAM racing as well as Flying Scot one design racing at the Ephraim Yacht Club where both boys are accomplished racers.
Extra:
Charrette is a 1983 Beneteau First 38 auxilary sloop with a fast modern hull shape, a deep fin keel and spade rudder configuration. She is fast, stable, roomy and does not look dated despite being over 25 years old. She is a sister ship to the S/V Bagheera, a First 38 that circumnavigated the [...]
19 August 2008 | Sault Ste. Marie, MI
19 August 2008 | Sault Ste. Marie, MI
19 August 2008 | Whitefish Point, MI
19 August 2008 | Grand Marais, MI
14 August 2008 | Murray Bay, Grand Island (Munising)
14 August 2008 | Marquette, MI
14 August 2008 | Marquette, MI
09 August 2008 | Lower Keewanaw Waterway Indent
09 August 2008 | Lower Keewanaw Waterway Indent
06 August 2008 | Lilly Pond Kewaunaw Waterway Upper Entry
06 August 2008 | Black River, MI
06 August 2008 | Black River, MI
06 August 2008 | La Pointe Harbor
06 August 2008 | La Pointe Harbor Via Bayfield
01 August 2008 | Raspberry Island Sand Spit
01 August 2008 | Rocky Island
01 August 2008 | Rocky Island Via Devils Island
01 August 2008 | Stockton Island
01 August 2008 | Village of La Point, Madeline Island, WI
01 August 2008 | Bayfield WI
Recent Blog Posts
19 August 2008 | Sault Ste. Marie, MI

Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise

8/14/08

19 August 2008 | Sault Ste. Marie, MI

Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise

8/13/08

19 August 2008 | Whitefish Point, MI

Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise

8/12/08

19 August 2008 | Grand Marais, MI

Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise

8/11/08

14 August 2008 | Murray Bay, Grand Island (Munising)

Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise

8/10/08

14 August 2008 | Marquette, MI

Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise

8/9/08

Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise

14 July 2008 | Pulpwood Harbor
John
7/8/08

Pulpwood Harbor

After a brief rain delay and a breakfast of Swedish pancakes, we set off in the dinghy to the south end of Playter Harbor where it is possible to catch the coastal hiking trail which starts at Hattie's Cove and continues 60 km south to the other end of Pukaskwa National Park. Our destination, however, was the pedestrian suspension bridge over the White River gorge to view the falls that we'd previously hoped to see by dinghy yesterday but couldn't due to the high river levels that we had witnessed. The dinghy passage to Playter Harbor from Pulpwood would require us to cross 2 NM of open water, so I was definitely keeping an eye to the weather as we made the passage especially since Environment Canada had issued a strong wind warning for later in the evening. Whenever we go out in our dinghy, we always carry a "ditch bag" consisting of a patch kit, a pump, flares, a hand held compass, a handheld VHF and a handheld GPS. This equipment isn't required by law but it seems to make since to us to be prepared in case the weather turns unexpectedly foul.

We arrived at the suspension bridge after about an hour of rugged hiking through a spectacularly beautiful but dense Boreal forest trail with many mosquitoes in hot pursuit. The roar of the falls was almost deafening as we soon discovered the reason for our inability to navigate the river the previous day. Of course we have nothing to compare it to, but there were numerous trees underwater upstream of the falls and there was a small island that was being formed by the excess water that traveled around it. Hiking across the suspension bridge was a real thrill, but each of us managed to conquer it according to our own comfort levels. After eating the lunch that we had packed in, we returned to the dinghy to discover that a moderate SW wind had brought in a rather thick layer of cold fog as well as a bit of a chop. The fog made it rather difficult to navigate by landmarks so needless to say, we were glad to have the handheld GPS along. We returned to the boat cold and wet, but all of us agreed that this was a definite highlight of our trip. Later in the day, we returned to Hattie's Cove for more hot showers. While there, I took advantage of the unlimited hot shower water by carrying my dirty clothes in a bucket with some laundry detergent and hand washing them in the shower.
Comments

About & Links