Midwest Rendevous?

[mgoller]

June 18th weekend works well for me.  Days are long in the Carribean of the North that time of year around solstice.  White sandy beaches, teal colored water.  Days are 5am - 11 pm.  The water is still cool but warming up fast.  Its been a warm winter so maybe that bodes well for warmer water in June.
Thanks for the link to the Charts.  Hopefully we will be getting in contact with other sailors to let them know.

[TroyVB]

Doug, Marcus and group,

June 16-18 works for me.  Well at least the 16th and 17th.  I will have to go back to preach on the 18th.  I am looking forward to the sail with other Com-Pacs.

Have either of you been there before and if so from where should we base our sailing?

[sawyer]

My neighbor kept a group boat (South Coast 22) in the water at Elk Rapids marina, kind of a nice place, lots of boats anchored on balls, I don't remember a ramp there, but I'm sure there is one.  I recall putting our ski boat in on the East side of the Mission Penninsula just north of downtown a bit, was a public landing as I recall, many years back, another life, and another wife, and a stinkboat to boot.  There is a big parking lot with a boat launch on the SW corner of the West Bay, however I don't know how shallow that is now, there was a lot of beach showing the last time I was there, sometime last fall.  Beach 200-250 yds out.  I will take a look at the charts and the DNR site to check on somewhere to launch.  Does anyone plan on staying overnight on the boats, or camping somewhere or what???   We ususally like to pull the boat with the pickup and camper, but if I was going alone, I would just sleep in the boat, either on the water or the trailer.........                      

Doug/Merry
CP-16 II
"SISKIWIT"  

[TroyVB]

My family and I plan to camp (at least as of this moment).  Do you know of any campgrounds where we could leave the boats in the water or would you pull them at the end of the day?

I am hoping to get a tent of some sort rigged for Sanctuary, and if that happens we will sleep on the water.  Otherwise we will pitch a tent in a campground.  

Pam and Courtney are excited to sail with other boats.  I love to cruise alone but I believe they are more gregarious then I am.  There is something about journeying somewhere together that has an appeal for all of us though.

[mgoller]

Don't be fooled by looking at a map.  This is a big body of water.  It can turn ugly so it is nice there are many places to pull in and anchor if needed.  I have not sailed there but feel like I have.  I have been wanting to for two years and studied the area and have a lot of information.  Elk Rapids may be the best place based on the closest driving distance.  But for the extra thirty miles Suttons Bay might be a good alternate.  There is camping everywhere in several places, and around the penninsula especially.
I will look into the best harbor based on where we can store our trailers, cars campers etc...for a couple of days.  I have a book on all the ports, services, and contact numbers, VHF channels etc. for the area.
The winds come from soutwest - west so its best to have the last days sail with the wind.  That may rule out Sutton's bay.
A possible itinerary would be:
Elk Rapids, launch early, sail to Mission Point beach and campground.  It is south and east from the point and should offer good shelter.  Lots of hiking and beach.

Next day sail to Northport and tour around.  Stops at bird island (a 3 acre abandoned island home taken over by birds, kind of spooky)  or overland to points of interest by cab.  There is a lot to do there.

3rd day back to Elk Rapids which is a broad run or reach all the way.

Or-

Start at Suttons Bay, sail to Bowers harbor, camp on Ford Island state park,

2nd day back up to Northport /boat camp or Motel

3rd day back to Suttons Bay, with a stop at Mission point depending on time and weather.

All this depends on how much sailing vs. touring and sightseeing people want to do.  My preference is to get sailing when its cool in the morning after coffee and fog.  Finish sailing at around lunch to early afternoon, do some sightseeing, maybe an evening sailing circles and then have dinner and relax.  That means that at 3-4 knots, no sail should be more than 12 - 15 nautical miles.  Luckily this area has plenty of options within this range.  If we are doing 5-6 knots we could of course add a couple of stops.

The other thing I have learned is that because of weather the plan should be flexible with a lot of alternatives.   Deciding each morning what the plan is.

Staying together is a key part of a good cruise so perhaps any racing spirit should be coordinated as seperate from the passage making.  Evening runs around a bell or bouy or around a small island could be fun.

I will probably sleep on the boat.  I will cook on board.  Maybe a fish.  I would welcome one to two crew members, perhaps some ComPac sailors who don't want to drag their boat.  My wife and kids will join me after the rendevous.

[TroyVB]

I like your thinking Marcus.  That is the way I like to sail as well.  Both of the triangles that you have charted look good to me.  I prefer Elk Rapids as the starting point if possible because of the prevailing winds.  

I am curious about Bird Island.  It sounds like a lot of fun. Interesting  to say the least.

You mentioned fish for supper.  Do you troll while underway or fish at anchor?

[sawyer]

I am new at sailing with a group, so I will take the advice of those that have gone before.  I have sailed enough to know when to reef and take shelter however.  I like to drag a line and see what I can catch, there are supposed to be Whitefish, Perch and lots of Smallmouth bass, but that is not my favorite eater though a great fighter.  I will probably take a tent but sleep on the boat if is calm enough. At this time I'm not sure that my wife Merry will go, she just does not like sailing at all if it has a chance to get windy or rough, and she is really into the "three hour tour".  I've done a lot of backpacking and canoe packing, so I am pretty game for this. I have never raced but that could be fun around the cones too.  There is a campground somewhere up the hill from the Grand Traverse resort kind of an open field type of thing, if the weather gets too rough to do the Bays we could try Torch Lake or Elk lake, they could be a bit more protected and there is some kind of a park and camp on the south end of Elk Lake, "Whitewater Twp Park and Camp".  I'm itching to go, and may drag our 16 out to Kansas in 2 weeks and sail near Lawrence on Clinton Lake. Friends of mine tell me that there is no ice and it has been 57 deg during the day and about freezing at night.  I will be vacationing for sunshine, fuel costs too much to drag down to the Gulf for the warm weather too.
I'm rambling..............but, count me in............

Doug/Merry
CP-16 II
"SISKIWIT"

[mgoller]

Hi Gang,
Here is a proposed itinerary for the "Midwest Roundup"

June 15 Thurs eve or June 16th Fri morning  - Arrive Elk Rapids MI, M-31  
Launch and take a slip for the night, motel or boat camp
Launch in the morning / park and provision the boats,
June 16th - go over passage check weather, sail at 10 am - 23 miles to Northport, stop for lunch along Old Mission penninsula, short hike to the old Mission light House.  
This is a broad reach all the way to Northport with the typical south - west winds.  Should manage 4 knots maybe better.  Arrival at Northport @7pm, sundown at 10pm.   Alternate harbors - Old Mission Harbor, or Omena Bay.

June 17th - breakfast, optional excursion to Dunes, North point lighthouse or wineries by bus or cab. Set sail at 2pm, for the 17 miles south to Sutton's Bay.  Sail past Gull island. We may need to swing out farther from shore to stay away from ground shadowing of south westerly winds.  Arrive at port around 7 pm, might take longer if winds are from the south so we'll check and ajust the day before fooling around.

June 18th - breakfast, fool around, check weather, 23 miles to Elk rapids with a swing around Old Mission shoals.  This is a broad run (bring your wisker pole or your spinnaker), and then a turn to starboard which will be a broad reach to Elk Rapids.  We should make 4 knots all the way at least.  So there could be a stop along the way for lunch and fishing, or if people are anxious to make port and get home we could just get there mid-day.  

There are many other places to see, to ditch in bad weather and if any one wants to extend the trip we can.  The above itinerary doesn't really offer the easy camping opportunities of a visit to Marion (Power) island which is farther south on the west arm.  I haven't found too much shoreside camping along the abouve itinerary.  This itinerary does provide for comfortable sailing, avoiding lots of tacking and close reaches.  If weather gets bad a safe harbor is usually just 5 miles away.

Bay Breeze rents boats in Traverse city and the Traverse City airport is a nice regional hub.  So if anyone wants to join but doesn't want to bring their boat this is an option.  

Call me at 734 355 0960 if you have questions, Also I have all the phone numbers for every restaraunt, motel, and harbor in the area.  I have a Chart, and a guide book for the harbors with detailed charts of each harbor, waypoints etc...

[TroyVB]

Looks good to me Marcus.  We plan to arrive on Thursday evening.  I am really looking forward to the cruise.  Thanks for all the hard work.

My family is planning to go along so there will be three of us.  Myself, Pam and Courtney our fourth grader.  I am in the process of outfitting the boat so we will be able to sleep aboard.  It will be cramped but we will manage for three nights.

[mgoller]

Great,  I thought laying down some definite plans might solidify our group's enthusiasm.  Also it gives something concrete to critique.
If you want I can get a list of B&B's , motels and such for one of the Harbors if your family would like to stretch out and cleanup one night.  Northport or Sutton's would be logical since they are half way through the weekend.

Once sailors sign off on the itinerary I can reserve slips in each Harbor so the harbor master's know we're coming.  We can always modify plans as we go, and just radio the harbors.  It would be good to get a real count of attendees by say end of April, but the harbor masters seem pretty flexible.

Troy can you work on getting the list of attendees?  There are a few places on the site where the thread shows interest and I have lost track of whose who.
What else do we need?

[TroyVB]

Marcus,

I will work on getting a list of those who would be interested in attending.  I will use the itinerary that is in this post thread if that is OK.  If you have got a list of hotels and b&bs that are close to the Suttons Bay Marina I would love to have them.  I am not sure if we will need the room but it may be a neccesity by that point on the cruise.

Looks like the water is soft at most of the area lakes.  I need some spreader boots and if I can round them up by this weekend I am going to try to splash Sanctuary for an afternoon.  I will be committing a slight faux pas because she won't have her coats of wax.  I think she'll understand

[mgoller]

Hi Troy,
Yes, go ahead and use that Itinerary.  Each morning we will likely tweak it but it works as a basis for knowing where we want to be each night and when we can get back to trailers.  My Wife and kids are going to meet me after our sail and we will do some touring together.  They want some short day sails and more touring.
Here is a link to B&B's in Sutton's Bay.
<www.suttonsbayarea.com/lodging.shtml>
Looks like a lot of choices most within walking distance.