037 - Put-In-Bay’s Real Name Is Party Central

It doesn’t fit the “Don’t Give Up the Ship” history or its dangerous anchorage but it is clearly the place where Ohioans go to cut loose. The town’s main street is one bar next to another. Flyers were advertising pub crawls, festivals, dancing, all the festivities you’d expect for a party happening place. At night it was “free” music for us on the water, I guess it was setting the beat for the revelry ashore. And the ferries shuttle hordes to and from the mainland all day long, even into the first hours of the night. For those with a boat it is an easy ride from Sandusky, a great weekend “get away.” We were there on a Thursday and you felt the preparations for the coming throng. They even limit the use of automobiles; tourist can’t rent or bring one. Golf carts are for the tourist to get around the island. It’s all set up to cut loose.

We took this picture atop the Perry monument. The bay is completely open to the east, although it is excellent protection from the prevailing westerly. The charts indicate the area in the foreground is for anchoring, the upper part of the bay is a mooring field. What the charts don’t tell you is the anchorage is flat rock at about a 15ft depth with 2 to 3 ft of sawdust on top. In a moderate breeze your anchor will drag through the sawdust and skip off the continuous surface rock. The saw dust came from saw mills that worked the island 100 to 150 years ago from lumber floated down the Detroit River. Guess I would have designated a different spot for an anchorage and maybe even put a warning sign suggesting the moorings. It highlights the risk of new waters; these things just aren’t documented for you to do your “homework.”

Comments

034 - USS Niagara

What a beautiful working replica of this historic ship. It is used today as a training ship and offers 10day expeditions for youth to learn the ways of sailing a Brigg. It is about as exact as you can expect. I loved their use manila rope, linseed oil, and other items that gives it the smell of an old ship – I don’t know what it is but it’s very familiar. Below decks were tight, it only had a 5ft ceiling in the galley area – how anyone could operate in that space long term was beyond me but the professional crew does. Galley stove and 5ft ceiling - how do they do it? Watching it sail was like stepping back it time. It passed us on the breakwater silently, tall, and majestic. It was easy to imagine the awe seeing this come into an isolated harbor like Presque Island 200 years ago. Something so big and complicated carrying so many men and cannon would change the balance of power with its arrival. It would intimidate the strongest and lure the wondering spirit t

049 - Currents

I admit the picture doesn’t show much, but this was 5.5kts underneath Peace Bridge near Port Huron. We were doing 1/2kt against the current. People on the shore were walking faster than us. It was impressive. I’m glad to be on Lake Huron where there are no currents. The lake does slosh around with wind but I can handle that, I really don’t want to fight 5.5kts of current again, it was taking the boat and tossing it all around like a cork. I was working the tiller harder than in a following sea. You can see a bit of an eddy in the lower right but you’ll have to trust me on this one. The dramatized blurry picture below shows the turbulence and terror of the experience. It also captures the Loch Huron monster in the middle left – it’s unexplained what that silver hump is. Yikes!

038 - Avoiding Customs

The waterway from Lake Erie to Lake Huron is a bit confusing. The Detroit River is more like a fast-moving delta region with “the river” breaking up into 3 channels at one point with multiple islands. The USA/Canadian border winds its way around these waters and it is very difficult to keep track of what country you are in at any one time. Lake St. Clair is straight forward enough, but the St. Clair River which is the outflow from Huron to St. Clair is similar the Detroit River, more a flooded delta region that makes it difficult again to know what country you are in. The basic rule is you can transit each other’s waters as long as you don’t anchor, transfer people or cargo to another boat, or touch each other’s shore or facilities. If any of the three occur you must report to customs within 24 hrs. The Canadian’s make this relatively easy with a phone call, the American’s not so much, they require a face-to-face in one of their “conveniently” located offices. I’m not sure w

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