Manitou Islands trip report

[Cevin c Taylor]

Hello all.  The weekend of 8/16-19 I sailed my '83 CP16 from in Lake Michigan from Glen Arbor, Michigan, to South and North Manitou Islands, off Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore (NW Michigan).  My wife isn't interested in such a trip, and so I went with a friend who likes sailing.  We left Glen Arbor about 1:00 PM or so, with a great forecast for the three days.  As the crow flies, it's about 9 miles to South Manitou Island, and about 4 from S. Manitou to the closest point on N. Manitou.  The plan was to sleep on the boat on S. Manitou because it has a good bay that would protect us from all but a wind from due east.  There are a couple of Nat'l Park Service campgrounds on S. Manitou, but you can't reserve in advance, and you have to buy a pass at a spot at a place on the mainland that would not have worked for us.  N. Manitou allows wilderness camping, but there are no protected anchorages on the island.  I've camped twice on N. Manitou by taking the ferry over. 
The trip from Glen Arbor to S. Manitou on Friday was great.  We had to tack several times but had good wind almost the entire way.  We made first for a shipwreck off the south shore of the island – a Great Lakes freighter that ran aground in 1961.  A large part of the superstructure sticks up out of the water.  We had to fire up the "iron wind" the last couple of miles to the wreck, since the wind died.  After that we headed into the bay on S. Manitou and settled in for the night.  We rigged a boom tent with a tarp, and put two air mattresses in the cockpit across slats I had cut.  All in all we slept pretty well, despite a wind that kicked up around 3:00 a.m.  There were several large boats, sail and power, anchored out in the bay as well. 
On Saturday we sailed with a south wind from S. to N. Manitou.  It was a very relaxing sail with the wind dead astern.  We rigged the boat pole as a whisker pole and it worked well.  I'm going to modify it a bit for future use.  The chart showed shallow water off the s. coast of N. Manitou, and so we kept a lookout as we drew near.  I've camped in the S. Bear Dunes area each year for about 13 years, and I guess I've grown accustomed to assuming it's just sand everywhere.  However, we were a bit alarmed to see numerous rocks on the lakebed, including some Wolkswagen sized ones sticking up out of the water.  We anchored out in chest deep water and waded ashore to explore the beach a bit.  We then sailed back to S. Manitou, hoping to circumnavigate it if possible.  However, the wind had died, and we had to cross back over with the motor (4.5 hp).  About ¾ of the way across, we noticed the wind had picked up again, and we shut off the motor and sailed around a bit off the west shore of South Manitou, and then had a fast reach parallel to the north coast of the island as we headed back for the bay.  I think that stretch was where we hit the fastest speed of the trip, about 6.2 mph if I recall correctly.  We talked to the park rangers, and they let us take a campsite that was vacant, so we had a good night on land on Saturday.  Sunday, we left about 10:30 or so to return to Glen Arbor.  That was probably the best sailing of the trip.  We had gained a lot of confidence in the boat and our skills; the wind was steady and relatively strong – 10-15 knots, producing 2-3 swells, occasionally larger ones.  Due to a navigational error, we ended up taking longer than required, but I'm glad it worked out that way. 
A few things, for what they're worth:  we rigged the dock lines as lifelines – tying them to the pulpit, running them around the shrouds, and then cleating them off at the stern (see second pic below).  They were handy that way.  I need to work on tie down points in the cabin, since stuff shifted quite a bit as we sailed.  I'm also looking at more cockpit storage ideas, since that's where we spent most of our time.  Having two anchors was great, since on S. Manitou, the water is deep in the bay, and it slopes off steeply from the beach.  We put one anchor out in the water, and then ran one from the stern to the shore to pull her in and keep her from drifting out.
All in all, we traveled over 60 miles - about 25 mi on Friday, 22 on Saturday, and 14.25 on Sunday (probably 10 of the total miles were with the motor).  We practiced heaving to on the way back on Sunday until we had it down and can now do it quickly.  It was a great trip, and I would highly recommend it.  Sailing around a lake is fun, but sailing to a particular destination adds something to the trip.  Thanks to everyone who gave input on the preparations; they served us well.
Here are a few pics from the trip:
Map of our trip (yellow = Friday; red = Saturday; blue = Sunday):

Wreck of the freighter Francisco Marazon:

Anchored in the bay in South Manitou:

Gary on the passage from South to North Manitou, sailing wing and wing, with the boat pole as a whisker pole.

Sailing back to Glen Arbor, 2-3 ft swells:

[nies]

Thanks for sharing your weekend with us............nies

[Smier]

Thanks for sharing!  I'll add this to my list of my someday trips.  Here's some info on the wreck you visited.  The history is quite interesting! 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Francisco_Morazan_(1922)

[Cevin c Taylor]

Smier - thanks for the info - very interesting!  Did you decide to come to the Battle of Lake Erie bicentennial?  It looks like we're not going to be able to make a weekend of it because of my son's high school football commitment, but we might go see the tall ships as a day trip.  It's doable from where we live - 2 hour drive.  Also, I found out that the battle reenactment will be at the actual site of the historical battle.  I don't think it will be visible from shore, and the family isn't interested in s trip of several miles out into the lake.

[Smier]

We had to cancel our plans to come out this weekend, I injured my back in June and had to take a lot of time off from work.  We did get to see the Tall Ships in Brockville, Ontario back in June!  It was well worth it!!!  I'm really bummed a out missing the reenactment, its a once in a lifetime event in my mind...