Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial - Lake Erie Islands get together?

[Cevin c Taylor]

Some of us were discussing a get together to sail around the Lake Erie Islands off Sandusky, Ohio.  That discussion is buried in another thread, so I thought I would start another one devoted to the topic.  One thought for timing it is to coincide with the reenactment of the Battle of Lake Erie. It's scheduled for around Labor Day this year.  Wouldn't that be cool to have a front row seat to the tall ships blasting away at each other?  Here's a link to the info.

http://battleoflakeerie-bicentennial.com/

[Lafayette Bruce]

Sounds like it would be fun to see but won't everyone and their brother be out making transient docks rare or expensive?  Excessive boating traffic?
Lafayette Bruce

[EclipseGuy]

The Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial would be fun, but unfortunately my family has plans for me on Labor Day weekend. I would have been able to steer them back to the islands but we will have already been there for a week during the Fourth of July.

In regards to transient slips and such, yes the islands are busy during Labor Day, especially Put-In-Bay. There are mooring balls in the bay that are first come first serve and if you get there on Friday it usually isn't difficult to get one. In fact, they usually don't fill up until the following Saturday morning. The public docks are also first come first serve, but they get very busy and the boats raft up to 4 wide. I prefer the mooring balls myself.

I was there last year over Labor Day and it just wasn't as busy as it used to be. The mooring balls never did completely fill up, nor did the public docks. I don't know if there are fewer people because of the price of gas and the other issues with the economy?

In regards to the marina on Middle Bass Island, it is actually a nice marina. Middle Bass Island may seem a bit boring compared to South Bass Island and Put-In-Bay, but that is because Put-In-Bay has crowds of people and a town, whereas Middle Bass Island does not. Middle Bass Island is a nice, quite, safe place to have a slip for the night after sailing around the islands all day. There is also a ferry that goes between the islands if you want to visit Put-In-Bay for a while, then come back to the the comparative peace of Middle Bass.

The nice thing about the Middle Bass Island marina is that it is a part of the Ohio park system, so you can reserve a slip in advance and be assured that you will have a slip when you get there. The website is:

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/middlebass/tabid/766/Default.aspx

The Put-In-Bay website is here:

http://www.putinbay.com/index.html

- John

[Smier]

This sounds awesome!  Even my wife likes the idea of making the trip.  Of course, it helps that she is a history teacher, and she actually teaches about this battle.  Thanks for posting this!

[Cevin c Taylor]

Smier.  No problem.  I live close enough that I could do this as a day trip, though it would be a long one; we might try to camp also; I'll have to look into that.  I'm planning to go, weather permitting.  Let's keep in touch; it would be great to have some company.

[Smier]

Wolverine, looks like we will be going as well.  My wife is going to see if her school district will let her take a few days off before and after for travel time.  I am going to take some vacation days and we will make a long weekend/vacation out of it!  We will be their either with or without the boat, but really hoping to bring the Starwind 22.  Unfortunately, my CP16 is just too small for my family.  Yes, let's definitely keep in touch!  I would definitely appreciate the advice and company on an adventure like this.  We decided that this is one of those opportunities tht is too good to pass up!
  My son(9) and I spent the other evening watching the videos on the website about building the ships and the designing the cannons.  I'm really hoping that this would be an awesome adventure for my kids. 

[Cevin c Taylor]

Smier - where are you coming from? 

[Smier]

We live in Easton, Pa.  I live right next to the Delaware River on the Pa/NJ border.  I found this link today also, we are going to try and see them when they come thru Brockville Ontario.  It's only a short drive from my inlaws lake cottage.

http://tallshipschallenge.wordpress.com/tsc-2013-great-lakes/

[Cevin c Taylor]

Smier - that's a long drive.   I used to work with a company in Easton that made icemakers named Follet.  I had to visit Easton a couple of times over the years. 

[Smier]

   It's not too bad of a drive, but I used to be an over the road truck driver, so driving and towing doesn't phase me much.  We are definitely going, and it looks like my wife's family from Michigan is coming along as well.   We will drive out Thursday the 28th of August, and leave on Tuesday Sept. 3rd to drive home.  I'll know more in the next week, and will be making a decision on whether we will be bringing the Starwind 22 or the camper.  I am dying to bring the boat, but the wife's family puts us at about 11 people...  Too many for the boat, I'm hoping they will bring their open bow I/O motor boat. 
   I used to haul materials in and out of Follett when I had my trucking business.  I sold my truck and trailers in 2003 when my son was born.  It was time to change dreams, and it worked out for the best, my company probably wouldn't have survived the current fuel price situation.  It was hard to let years of hard work go, but it was a blessing in disguise.