Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Holy smokes Denny.........Not the answer I was hoping for. Sorry you have been dealing with all of that- It's certainly a lot

Glad things are looking up though ! Hoping you get to catch Big Paul heading through one of these days !

Be well my friend

Thanks Dawn as I’ll have to try and find and check it out. I did see Big Paul this morning in the web camera as he made his way down the St. Clair River this morning. Great to see and have Big Paul back and soon, Denny will be back as well. Thanks again Dawn and you stay and be well my friend.

I don't know if or how I can get the link to you but StreamTimeLive just posted a hr and 25 minute video of PRT at the Soo (4/24/2025) on YouTube. Hopefully, you can find and enjoy it as part of your "therapy"!

Thanks Dawn as always for your kind words, thoughts and prayers as they are always appreciated. You are right Dawn, when at times it seems that things are falling apart special blessings like last week seeing American Integrity out on the St. Clair River was indeed a special blessing and it was just the thing I needed to help in my recovery. I’m very much looking forward to getting well and better soon, returning home along with getting back out to the river again to see the ships. If we ever get both the LAT and PRT on the river at the same time, we’ll definitely have to try and meet one another as i would enjoy that and I’m sure you would also. Thanks Dawn. Stay Well also.

Ah, Denny,
Definitely not the news I was hoping for, but so thankful you have a medical team focused on helping you heal. Yes, even in times when things seem to be falling apart, unexpected blessings (seeing American Integrity) make things better. I'll be praying for you and your medical team for a complete recovery.

Hello to all my boatnerds and friends out there. A very Happy Easter as well to all of you. I know that it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this thread on my status however, as you might imagine and expect as well I’ve been very busy with doctors and this year has been no exception. My health though however has had a few setbacks and changes for me sorry to say and tell you everyone. For over a year I’ve been dealing with an ulcer and wound on the heel of my foot. Although I can still walk, it is at times very painful as well. The Doctor I’ve been seeing for the past year didn’t help at all as far as trying to treat the problem and now unfortunately it has led into an infection now! Luckily, thankfully and fortunately 🙏 I’m ok 👍 and have since gone, seen and talked to other doctors and specialists and gotten second opinions and much good advice on how to treat the infection and to get it to close up and to heal up and go away as fast and soon as possible before the infection gets any worse! Unfortunately for me though, I will miss some of the 2025 season as for 6 weeks I will be in Rehab taking meds in an IV at 3 times a day for up to 6 weeks then! I will be confined to the Rehab Center and will not be allowed to drive or return home during that time. It is best to get this infection taken care of now rather than put it off and prolong it any further. In 6 weeks, I should be back home then in early June hopefully 🙏 and I’ll still be able to enjoy the Summer and to make it out to the river then to see and photograph the ships then. It certainly has been a very hard, tough, rough and difficult year and a half for me for certain since all of this got started in October 2023 from the Pneumonia to being in the hospital and from an infection related to the pneumonia and later having a Seizure during my stay in Rehab in 2023. Indeed I’ve been through heel you might say in the past year and a half and how I’ve managed to cope and deal with it all though, I don’t have any answers! A bit of good news is that so far in 2025 I’ve made the river 3 times and just today I finally purchased the 2025 KYS books in St. Clair! As I was coming out of the store and walked to my car to put the books away, I just happen to glance at the river and you won’t ever believe it! My eyes were as big as my head as the American Integrity was right on my front door headed downbound! How cool and awesome is that? To get and buy the books and then see a 1,000 footer not even knowing that he was coming down the river! That was what I needed most and it certainly helped to brighten my day and spirit for sure! So, while I will miss the river and the ship traffic and seeing my all time favorite The Big Paul or the PRT and many others including the new Algoma Endeavour on the river. My health right now as I’m sure you all will agree is the most important thing right now for me to take care of first! And at least I’ll still have lots of time yet to get out to the river and enjoy Summer and the rest of the 2025 shipping season. The last 2 years at least has definitely been a challenge for me as there’s no doubt about that with my health. While I may be dealing with a bone infection in my heel and foot, thankfully, luckily and fortunately so far so good as everything else as far as my health goes has been ok. So, I just wanted to give you all an update on my status. I am and will always and forever be a boatnerd, contributor and help out here in anyway that I can! Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement as I’ll need them now for sure in this next 6 weeks. Once I’ve recovered and taken care of the infection in my heel and foot, I’ll be back as good as new again one day. Better, Stronger and more healthy hopefully than ever. Thanks again to all you boatnerds out there for your support as we are all like a family here and I appreciate and enjoy the friendships I’ve made here with many of you. So, Happy Easter to everyone and have a great and safe Spring, Summer and 2025 as well all boatnerds. I’ll be back one day and back at the river later this Summer and I’m looking forward to it and can’t wait to get it started! Calm Seas, Fair Winds and Sunny Skies to all of my boatnerd friends on here! May God Bless you all this Easter season. 3 Long and 2 Short and let me also thank the great volunteers and people and staff that help make this Boatnerd site awesome and what it is today. Thank You to everyone involved.

Glad it was a good year. Enjoy following you. Attached is my Christmas present to you. I remember you saying you missed a lot of the ships from years ago. Attached is a picture of the Judith M. Pierson down bound with grain in Hay Lake in December 1980. I took this from the St. Clair. Merry Christmas!

Thanks to both my good, dear and loyal friends EJB and Bookworm as well for your beautiful comments and also words of encouragement as I always value them and also appreciate them very much! Indeed, my 2024 year at the river was a Big and Huge Success and even bigger along with better than I could’ve ever imagined and dreamed of especially with all I had to endure and go through in this past year with my health issues and doctors and medical stuff. It definitely as anyone can imagine, was NOT a very easy year for me with my health issues. Thankfully my return to the river and the 11 trips I made were a bright spot for me this year as I needed it! My late Mother would often tell me “You’re never going to see all the ships on the river you want to see!” This would always cause and would make me very mad and upset over her comments like that. However, after she departed and passed away then now over 7 years ago, I finally figured out what she meant by telling me this! Her message to me was like this for it is great and good NOT to see every single ship on the river then. For IF I did see them all, then what fun along with enjoyment and surprises would there be for me then at the River, going up to the Soo someday again maybe or anyplace for that matter? Yeah there were lots that I did not see in 2024 at the river. However, that’s the beauty of it and the best and greatest thing. Because now it gives me more and something to look forward to come Spring when I make my return to the river then! I really enjoyed this year at the river everyone and as a cousin once told me “This will open up a new page and chapter now in your life to which it has!” Words cannot begin to express how I feel about this year at the river and my gratitude, thanks and appreciation for giving me the opportunities to be able to go out there in the first place this year and to see what I did see this year. I have so many people to thank for everything this year including the Big Man & Boatnerd that stands watch over all of us up above! I wouldn’t be where I am today nor could I have done what I did this year without the help of so many people. As you have said Dawn, bigger, better and brighter days indeed lie ahead and the good times and better health for me will keep on getting better over time and in time. I’ve told myself this many times “To Be Patient, Hang In There and To Take It Slow and Easy!” One Day and One Step At A Time as that’s all we can do. Thanks for your comments and for reading everyone. Please feel free to add anymore comments as I appreciate them. Happy Holidays everyone as well and all of my best Wishes for a great year and good health then in the year 2025 to you all as well. God Bless you my friends.

Great news, Denny! I could feel your joy as you listed the November sightings. So glad your health is improving and I'm sure there's more good things ahead for you!

Oh my! Great news, Denny! I can feel your excitement as you related the names of the ships you saw in November! Your return to improved health is especially encouraging. Wishing you the very best at Christmas and through the New Year! Dawn

Just to add to my previous post and comments, another big highlight from my 2024 year on the St. Clair River was on November 23. In Marysville I got to see something a very rare sight that you don’t see happen very often on the St. Clair River. The Upbound CSL Welland passed its twin and sister ship the CSL St-Laurent which was coming downbound at the time. That was simply amazing seeing those two ships pass along with meet and greet each other then. It made for a very rare sight and unique photo opp with both ships having murals still painted on them as far as the CSL Welland with the Runner’s Mural while its twin and sister ship the CSL St-Laurent still has the Sea Keeper Mural painted on them. I’m glad I got to see and watch the two ships pass then. Very neat to see and something that don’t happen on the river very often.

The news we've been waiting to hear Denny ! Very cool !

Hello to all of my boatnerd friends out there along with all of my fans, supporters and followers and also a very special hello and salute to EJB, Bookworm, Steamboater, Mn Bob and Howard Spragge as well. Howard I hope I’ve spelled your last name correctly and if not I’m very sorry for that error and mistake. Well everyone, if you recall that back in October I was struggling very badly out at the St. Clair River and I even said on this forum that I was also giving up on my “Autumn Thunder theme” which of course was created by me from my great and successful year of 2017 back then. In October this year I said then at that time “Autumn Thunder hasn’t lived up to its reputation and I was retiring it!” You’ll all be happy to know that it was a grave mistake, error and mis-judgement on my end and part. Autumn Thunder is still alive and well and just like in 2017, this fall it once again was reborn and it lived up to its expectations. After a good September with 4 trips to the river, I made only one in October. However, it was then that something magical finally happened as all the right parts and pieces finally came together once we got into November. It was in November 2017 that I set a record then of 9 river trips in a single month and this still holds to this very day. Just when you all thought and were ready to write me off for dead, then came November of 2024. Last month believe it or not I made the river 6 times in my second best November ever! A few highlights were seeing Big Paul finally not once but 3 times during last month and one was down fully loaded at St. Clair which was what I was hoping for! Even better than that was on my 10th trip, I saw 10 ships on the river one of which was the new Algoma Bear as I was hoping to see her badly this year and I did! Just when 10 boats weren’t enough, then last week Tuesday it got even better! Does 11 ships to you all sound any better? Highlights from that trip was to see the American Integrity for the first time along with both the American Courage & Hon. James L. Oberstar as well. The Oberstar would be my last one for the 2024 season. But that’s not all folks. Two classics the Jackson and the Oberstar were up 30 minutes apart from each other then. And also Oh and BTW, I saw Big Paul one final and last time in 2024! My last trip last week was my 11th for the year and seeing 11 ships what a way to go out and end the 2024 season especially after all that I’ve been and gone through with my health issues. It truly was an amazing year this year at the river and a great story and also a comeback as well. I’ll be back in 2025 and now I live by the slogan & saying “Don’t Give Up the Ship!” Hope you all enjoy reading my post here and thanks for all of your support throughout my whole ordeal this past year as it wasn’t easy and at times I struggled and was about to just give up, but I never did give up as I kept on fighting and hanging in there as best as I could. Thanks again all!

Nope --- I'll settle for postpone Autumn Thunder...... but don't put the idea up on blocks permanently Denny. Things will pick up, Big Paul will put in a guest appearance during daylight, and you'll be percolating around better too. Just a few minor setbacks is all.

Besides, your enthusiasm is infectious, and I believe it makes everybody here happy knowing that you are out doing what you enjoy most ! Hang in there buddy things will change.

Oh Denny, I can hear the disappointment you're feeling at the way things have turned out but also agree it was the best decision for you to make. Your health and safety are what matters most.
You know I totally understand having to give up going to the river for a "TREGURTHA FIX." I can't even walk there any more to hear Lee A pushing through the water, or the sound of her pulsing Bergens (although sometimes the Marine City webcam picks up the engines).
As I've shared before, without the webcams following the ships, I'd likely just put that delightful pastime in the past -- and become a recluse!

Hello all of my boatnerd friends and followers as I figure that it’s time to put another update on this post as it has been a while since my last report. It is with great regret and sadness along with bitter disappointment that I must tell you that I am now officially “retiring Autumn Thunder from now on and for good period!” I was hoping beyond all hope that after waiting patiently to start up at the river this fall season that things would be great for me and busy and that I would have fun and enjoy myself out there! This is definitely NO longer the case and after I had ended September with only four river trips which was not bad however, I could have and should have ended with more than that total. Thus far, October has been not so very nice and kind to me. Believe it or not I have yet to do or make a single visit yet in October. Why you may ask me is this and for what reasons? Several, among a few are it’s been very slow IMO at least for vessels moving along the St. Clair River as I don’t recall ever a time in over my 30 years of travels up there have I seen things so slow right now. Secondly, NOT seeing the Paul R. Tregurtha enough has really gotten me down lately as it seems he’s coming in always either early mornings or late at night at the DTE Plant in St. Clair. Third, much shorter days now to spend time on the river! Now I have to leave at 6 PM or sooner to be home by 7 PM and before dark since I do not drive at night nor do I have any experiences with driving at night! Lastly, the lack of 1,000 footer traffic sailing through the St. Clair River has also caused quite a bit of frustrations for me lately as well. With many of them taking cargoes over to Lake Michigan Steel Mills and NOT sailing down to the Lower Lakes as much, this has also gotten me to feel down quite a bit also. So, thanks for all your support on my Autumn Thunder theme but it’s been 7 years now that it was created and it’s NEVER going to live up to what it was like when it was first created in 2017! So, I hereby say that Autumn Thunder is no more boatnerds and has since been retired and decommissioned permanently along with for good and forever as well! It was nice while it lasted.

Well boatnerds and everyone that follow and read this post and thread. I guess you can say now that as of today September 7, “Autumn Thunder 2024” is now officially underway for me! Was up on the St. Clair River today and saw the USCG Sequoia upbound on their first ever trip on the St. Clair River. Got two salutes from Sequoia one from Marine City, the other at St. Clair. Later, saw them again in Marysville where they passed the Sam Laud as they were headed downriver. Got the Sam Laud to blow a salute as well at Marysville! The day soon ended for me as I wrapped it up seeing the Evans Spirit upbound on the river as well. I could have stayed for more traffic coming but it was getting late and I needed to eat and get back home. So, Autumn Thunder everyone has officially begun and Denny is back better and stronger than ever so be on the lookout for me at the St. Clair River sometime folks as you may see me out there this fall. Hope to see some of you all while I’m up on the St. Clair River this fall season!

An update on my river trips and the start up of my theme and favorite phrase Autumn Thunder! Was hoping for a startup this week however, the boats played chicken with me and knew I was coming thus they stayed away from me and played hide and seek. I may look into sometime then next week for getting it started officially and once and for all. This week, I had two doctor visits both back to back days in a row thus that would’ve really taken its toll on me both physically and mentally and really draining down my energy level. Next week there’s no appointments so far and I figure on getting myself rested up, refreshed and recharged this weekend so that next week I’ll be fired up then and ready to roll and start up. Autumn Thunder is just about to ascend upon you boatnerds! Can you hear and feel the Thunder? I know that I sure can now for sure!

Indeed Guest and it’s coming to everyone in the next week or two. I’ve listened to two key songs on my list of songs on my ITune stuff. Have you heard of these songs by chance anyone, Thunder and Garth Brooks Thunder Rolls! Can you hear and feel the Thunder and the Lightning as I know I can. The Thunder is crackling and getting louder and stronger along with ear deafening and shattering now.

Autumn Thunder is back, baby!! It’s back!!