Boatnerd Discussion Forum

by **MN Boater** » April 10, 2011, 2:20 pm

A little foggy in Duluth today.

by **MN Boater** » April 9, 2011, 10:43 pm

Speaking of Duluth, great NCAA Hockey Championship game tonight between the U of Mn. Duluth Bulldogs and the U of Mich. Wolverines. Almost too bad one team had to lose! First national title for the Bulldogs. They won it against a very tough MI. team. Nice they could win it at home in MN.

by **MN Boater** » April 6, 2011, 12:44 pm

After my experience on a Triumph many moons back, here is the only Harley I'd be riding now days!

by **Lady Pirate1** » April 4, 2011, 10:22 pm

They did blast the fog horns while we were at Split Rock, but I don't remember exactly what they sound like. However, the night we stayed at the Two Harbor Lighthouse, I fell asleep to the sound of either the Gott or Speer out there in the fog, and that is something I'll never forget! It was such a peaceful and relaxing sound to fall asleep by! :)

I took a lot of photos of the Edna G. But all were taken with 35 mm, before I started shooting digital. And yeah, the docks there at
Two Harbors are a great place to photograph the boats!

We went on the Harbor Cruise, and I asked the captain if he would take us over to the Stinson, which was in temporary layup in Superior. (figured there was no harm in asking, even though I already knew the answer!) He said *No! That is not part of the tour!*. But, he took us over right next to where the Arthur M. Anderson was loading, and I mean Right next to it. As we were exiting the boat, I thanked the captain for doing that and he said *I thought you would like that*! LOL. It was such a fun trip!

by **MN Boater** » April 4, 2011, 1:30 pm

Lady Pirate 1,
Yes, the ride along Superior is great. I used to do a lot of camping up there as a kid. I remember seeing, and hearing, the Split Rock Light when it was still an active aid to navigation. If you have ever heard the fog horns from there, you'll never forget them. Gooseberry State Park was a great place to camp. There were also other places close to there that were good camp grounds. Back then, there were more ships running the lake. You could tell which ones were going to Superior, Duluth and Two Harbors by how close they were to the north shore. Sometimes when one was going past that was heading to Two Harbors, we'd go and watch them come in. Great close up viewing at the ore docks there. Even saw the Edna G. tug boat working.
Sounds like a fun time staying at the Two Harbors Light!
Grandmas is always good. I'm more of a steak guy when there than a pizza eater, but when ya come through Duluth, ya have to stop at Grandmas!
Hope you make it back up along the lake someday. Touring on a Harley would be fun, just bring warm clothes!

by **Lady Pirate1** » April 3, 2011, 6:25 pm

Alas, all good things must come to an end, your story included. Thank you for taking the time to share your trip and wonderful photos with us! I really enjoyed it.

And yes, I took the UP route to Duluth, stopping in Superior, WI to see/photograph the American Spirit (who was still the George A Stinson back then) when it was in temporary layup there. We stayed at some lodge for a night (the name escapes me at the moment), and stayed at a cabin for a few days- but the best place of all was the night spent at the Two Harbors Lighthouse. Also visited the Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, and other local places including getting a pizza from *Grandmas* :) I'd sure love to return there, this time on the Harley. The scenic ride along Lake Superior is probably better than Route 66! :)

by **MN Boater** » April 3, 2011, 1:43 pm

Part 6 The second half.
We have hit the half way mark in our trip. As it turns out, all the exciting things happened in the first half of the trip. In the upper St. Mary’s River, we came across the down bound Roger Blough (see pics). Further along, in Whitefish Bay we saw one boat (see pic) that’s unidentified. As we rounded Whitefish Point and headed up the lake, it was beginning to get dark out. We made Grand Marais, MI. and pulled in for fuel. We tied up to the wall at the fuel pumps and a person came riding up to us on a bicycle and asked what we wanted. We told him fuel and he said OK and rode off. Shortly after, a person in a pick-up truck showed up with keys to the fuel pumps and filled the boats tanks with fuel. We headed out and got on a heading that would keep us south of the Stannard Rock light, but north of the Huron Island light. It was now dark out and we were heading for the Keweenaw Bay. Once in the bay, we found the Lower entrance light and headed into the Keweenaw Water Way that cuts the Keweenaw Peninsula in half. If you remember, when we were sitting out the weather in Lexington, MI., we worked on the boat. One thing we did was add a new remote controlled search light. Now that light was coming in handy roaming the Keweenaw Waterway in the dark. We made it to Hancock about 4:30 am and tied up right to the fuel dock at the marina and went to sleep. We figured when someone showed up to open the marina, they’d bang on the boat to see what we wanted, or to move the boat. We were right. A little before 9 am we heard a thump on the boat and the marina people were there. We fueled up and once again headed out. We slipped under the Houghton/Hancock lift bridge (see pic) and were on our way. Getting out into Lake Superior, we turned towards Devils Island, out next turning point. I don’t have any pictures of this part of the trip. There just isn’t a lot to take pictures of in the middle of
Lake Superior. We made Devils Island and turned towards Superior WI. We made the Superior entrance about 6:30 pm Sunday night. It would have been nice to finish the trip by coming in under the Duluth Lift Bridge, but the only place we could find to dump and leave a vehicle unattended for a week was at the Barkers Island Marina in Superior WI. We came into the Superior entrance, headed to Barkers Island, pulled in and just bumped a dock to let two guys off to fetch the vehicle and headed over to the slip he found to leave the boat at that was near the lift bridge (see pic). We tied up, off loaded our gear and headed towards the Twin Cites and home. One more safe trip behind us.
We met a lot of nice people along the way, saw a lot of cool things, and learned how people in MI don't need a map of their state, they just use their right hand palm side out and point to an area on their hand to indicate an area. The trip was fun, and I'd do it again.

by **Guest** » April 3, 2011, 12:03 pm

Lady Pirate1 wrote:Nice shots of the Ogleby Norton!

I'm jealous. I was thrilled with my road trip from Detroit to Duluth, to make that trip by boat would be the icing on the cake! :)

I know you didn't take any photos of it, but, how close were you when you passed by the Whitefish Pt. Lighthouse? That would be such a beautiful view from a boat!

Lady Pirate 1,
What route did you take to get to Duluth, up through the U-P and run along the lake, or south under Lake MI and up through WI?

We saw the Whitefish Point light, but took no pics. We were a ways off shore. It was getting late in the day, and the sun was well behind the lighthouse so it wasn't lighting the place up very well.

by **Lady Pirate1** » April 3, 2011, 6:17 am

Nice shots of the Ogleby Norton!

I'm jealous. I was thrilled with my road trip from Detroit to Duluth, to make that trip by boat would be the icing on the cake! :)

I know you didn't take any photos of it, but, how close were you when you passed by the Whitefish Pt. Lighthouse? That would be such a beautiful view from a boat!

by **MN Boater** » April 1, 2011, 10:32 pm

Part 5 Locking up.
After watching the Norton get stuffed into the Poe Lock, we got the word to proceed to the MacArthur Lock. We followed a local tour boat into the lock and grabbed the lines on the wall right behind them (see pic). As they closed the doors and started filling the lock, I looked around and compared all the room we had in our lock chamber with the room the Norton had in theirs. We could have motored around in circles. The Norton had only 2½ feet of room on each side of their boat! As we came up, so did the Norton (see pics). When the lock was full, they opened the upper gates and we got the signal to proceed out.
After motoring a bit, we got even with the bow of the Norton. Their upper gates were open also and they were starting to exit the Poe Lock (see pic). As we headed up river, I got one last picture of the Norton powering up to come out of the lock. We then went under the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge and headed for White Fish Bay.

by **MN Boater** » April 1, 2011, 1:46 pm

Thank you for the kind words Lady Pirate 1 and ds Florida. Glad you and others are enjoying it. It was a fun trip, and it's fun reliving it again! Just think, if Lady Pirate 1 lived in St. Louis instead of Detroit, I probably wouldn't be writing about this trip! It would never have come up.
That shot of Split Rock light is a favorite of mine. Not many people get to view the lighthouse from that angle, compared to the millions of photos floating around showing the west side of the lighthouse that you can photograph from land.
Looking at the photo of the sail boat, I don't know what we were thinking there. You never sail with the hatches open, especially the ones forward of the mast. There is a good chance of getting water sprayed into the open hatches. That would suck finding that out at bedtime. Second, when you "come about" the jib sail, or the jib sheets could get get caught on one of the open hatches and damage it, or rip it clean off. When the wind pops the sail full, there is a lot of pressure there. Maybe we were airing the boat out and knew we'd be on that tack for a while, and the lake looks pretty flat, who knows. I know we have never damaged a boat, so things that day must have worked out OK!

by **Lady Pirate1** » April 1, 2011, 11:08 am

ds Florida wrote:I'm enjoying your story regarding the trip from Detroit to Duluth aboard the 40' yacht - thanks for posting.

ds Florida- you and me both! And by the number of views shown, others are enjoying it as well. Reminds me of those old *serials* that used to continue every week- that was before my time of course, (lol) but I have heard of them! :)

by **Lady Pirate1** » April 1, 2011, 11:04 am

Your photos of the Federal Rhine are absolutely outstanding! Love the one of the Split Rock Lighthouse too.

Well, you don't have to be a *writer* per se, to keep a journal! This kind of adventure should be written down (or in this case, posted, lol) for others to read, especially your own family members. It'd be something for them to cherish for years to come. This is just too cool a story to not be told, and the photos are the icing on the cake! :)

by **ds Florida** » April 1, 2011, 8:31 am

I'm enjoying your story regarding the trip from Detroit to Duluth aboard the 40' yacht - thanks for posting.

by **MN Boater** » April 1, 2011, 3:12 am

I found a couple of other pictures I'll post.
One is the Federal Rhine as we passed it out on Huron as the sun was coming up on Saturday morning. It later passed us back as we waited for the fuel dock to open in the marina at Presque Island, MI.
The other picture is a view from the bridge on our boat of the Federal Rhine as we caught it again in the Lower St. Marys River.

by **MN Boater** » April 1, 2011, 2:36 am

Lady Pirate1 wrote:Wow, what an adventure so far! That would be so nice, to head out at midnight, have the lake to yourself, how peaceful that would be! (well, in smooth water anyway :)

I've always loved the O. Norton, bet that was cool seeing it lock through.

Are you writing from a journal you wrote at the time, or writing as you go along here?

Did you take any photos of the lighthouses you passed along the way?

Lady Pirate 1, yes, it was a great adventure. I am writing this from memory. As you can tell from my sentence structures and rambling ons that I am no writer, so no journals. I remember the trip like it was last weekend.
Being up next to the O. Norton, a ship 960 feet longer than we were, sure made you feel like a speck in the water!!
I didn't get any lighthouse pictures on that trip. We had planned to take 4 days to run the trip so we could do more looking around, and run more in the daylight hours, but it didn't work out that way (weather). It was run around the clock so we could make it home by Sunday night. I have lighthouse pics from my sailing trips around Lake Superior. (see below). I have others, but I'd have to scan them in. I should do that someday. They were taken in the days before I had a digital camera.

by **Lady Pirate1** » March 31, 2011, 9:17 pm

Wow, what an adventure so far! That would be so nice, to head out at midnight, have the lake to yourself, how peaceful that would be! (well, in smooth water anyway :)

I've always loved the O. Norton, bet that was cool seeing it lock through.

Are you writing from a journal you wrote at the time, or writing as you go along here?

Did you take any photos of the lighthouses you passed along the way?

by **MN Boater** » March 31, 2011, 4:39 pm

Part Four.
Here we are in the marina at Presque Isle, MI. (see pic) The picture of the 5 of us on the boat was taken by a nice young lady that worked on the fuel dock. The run up Huron during the night was uneventful (that’s a good thing). We always have 2 people on the bridge, one on the helm, and one for lookout duty. When you put your heading into the auto helm, and set the throttles there isn’t much to do but keep a look-out, watch the gauges and make sure each other stays awake! When we slid into Lower St. Mary’s, everyone was on the bridge. None of us had even been through there before, so looking around, helping keep an eye on markers, buoys, and charts was our mission. The water was like glass. We only ran across one boat in the lower river, a saltie named Federal Rhine (see pics). When we got to the Soo Locks, we waited beside the wall that separates the Poe Lock and Davis Lock for our lock, the MacArthur to become available.
While waiting, we watched them squeeze the Oglebay Norton (now the American Integrity) Into the Poe Lock (see pic).

by **MN Boater** » March 31, 2011, 11:12 am

Part Three.
After we got done talking to the harbormaster about why he sent us to an area where our draft exceeded the depth, we headed up to a restaurant near the marina to eat. After the meal we went back to the boat to have a drink, and BS. It was an early night for all, and getting a good nights sleep in a boat that wasn’t slamming you around felt pretty good. The next morning, Friday the wind was still blowing and the lake was still looking ugly. We used the time to thoroughly check out the boat, mount a new light and move some radio gear around to the new boat owners liking. It was a very nice boat. Twin CAT 3208s, a 3 cyl maybe 12-15KW diesel generator, heat pump for A/C and heat (in the cabin only) freezer, refrigerator, microwave, TV galley oven and stove top. On the bridge there was radar, auto helm, plotter, computerized engine sync, marine radio, AM/FM, haler, horns, everything but heat! The water in the marina was very low, hence the dredging, and it was early in the season so not many boats in the marina at this time. (See photo below).
We talked to the harbormaster and found out the name of a diver to come out and inspect the rudders, shafts and props after grounding out. Thankfully all was well and there was no damage. So now we wait. Later that evening, we noticed the flags that were sticking out like 4 X 8 foot sheets of plywood were starting to luff. The wind was letting up
About midnight or so, the lake had laid down and the winds let up so we headed out. Being out on the lake at night that early in the season it was cold. Inside the boat was fine, but the bridge was cold. We saw only one boat out on Huron, and that was as the sun was coming up. We hit a marina after daybreak in Presque Isle, MI., north of Alpena, MI. Time to top off the fuel tanks for the trip up the St. Marys River.

by **MN Boater** » March 31, 2011, 2:35 am

Lady Pirate 1,
There were 5 of us on the boat.
We knew what the weather was like. We went out into it twice.
The owner/captain is used to running in weather on Superior, so it didn't bother him being out there. The boat was taking a slamming pretty bad, so we decided to tuck in out of the weather and wait it out. I don't know what was past Lexington for a marina.

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