When Bad Weather is Expected You Wait it Out in Ludington
22 June 2015 | Harborview Marina, Ludington MI
Captain Kurt - Stormy
We're working our way up the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and are picking our destinations based how we feel, where we are and how safe is it to move to the next destination. We've decided to day hop until we're proficient at the sailing aspects and the systems lest we find our self in a situation and not know how to handle the piece of gear or system to keep us safe. I finally did an old fashioned line depth sounding to determine the water depth and set the offset on our depth meter on-board so we know exactly how deep it is. It was not set and was off, by my calculations 2 feet. The whisker pole is also on this list.
So today we're in Ludington MI waiting out some nasty weather - here's the marine forecast:
PENTWATER TO MANISTEE MI- 143 PM EDT MON JUN 22 2015- SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING
REST OF TODAY- SOUTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS BACKING SOUTH TO 30 KNOTS LATE IN THE DAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE. WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FEET LATE IN THE DAY.
TONIGHT- SOUTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS VEERING WEST 15 TO 25 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY IN THE EVENING. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE. WAVES 4 TO 6 FEET.
The picture is of our wind instrument pinging a 29.9 knots - remember a knot is faster than mile in terms of speed so 30 knots is 34.5 MPH. Its honking.
We did some boat work yesterday before leaving Pentwater, took some sun and made a short hop up to Ludington. As we were coming into the Ludington channel Pamela said, "oh I wonder if we'll see the car ferry from Green Bay?" We had seen a fast ferry after we came in Muskegon's entrance channel a few days ago and it was like 3 stories tall and maybe 250 feet. It was a catamaran and was moving and I thought I was glad to be out of the channel when it came through. Well about an hour after we docked in Ludington two young sheriffs officers headed out in a boat and 'said to us "gotta get the Badger in"
This from the Steam Ship Badger's website- http://www.ssbadger.com/about/facts.html
The SS Badger is the largest car ferry ever to sail Lake Michigan, and has provided a safe, fun, and reliable shortcut across the huge inland sea for more than 60 years. The S.S. Badger is a national treasure, offering a cruise experience that links us to an earlier time when a sea voyage was the ultimate travel and vacation adventure.
Those of you who know what a couple of know-it-alls the two us are will appreciate the audio on this short video as the 7 story, 400 feet long 6,650 ton SS (this thing is still coal fired) Badger came into the channel right next to where we were docked and did a complete pivot to back into the dock.
http://youtu.be/H_geNQ4Q_3M