Leland Harbor Had Very Busy Summer

Accounts of trips taken in Boston Whaler boats; organization of rendezvous for Boston Whaler boats
jimh
Posts: 11673
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Leland Harbor Had Very Busy Summer

Postby jimh » Fri Sep 21, 2018 12:05 pm

The harbormaster at Leland has reported the "harbor was at capacity every night from mid-June through Labor Day." Leland is a harbor of refuge and does not have seasonal dockage leases. However, many boaters keep their boats there for long periods, paying the day rate. Despite that, there is generally always dock space available for transient boats. To learn the harbor was full every day this summer is quite an indication that recreational boating remains strong. The hot and mostly dry weather was also cited as contributing to the high level of boating activity.

Total revenue at the harbor through early September was said to be about $550,000.

jimh
Posts: 11673
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: Leland Harbor: GALE WARNING

Postby jimh » Wed Oct 17, 2018 3:51 pm

I stopped by Leland harbor today and found they were flying two red pennants from their signal mast: GALE WARNING. There was a northwest wind at about 30-knots, forecast to increase. There was spray flying over the big stone break wall. The floating docks were undulating to the swell coming into the harbor.

galeWarningLelandOctober2018.jpg
The flag signal two red pennants means "Gale Warning", that is, winds expected to be 35-knots to 49-knots.
galeWarningLelandOctober2018.jpg (52.13 KiB) Viewed 11963 times


Plenty of slips were available. The only transient boat was the 55-foot aluminum NOAA GLERL research vessel R5501. They had hauled one of the NOAA data buoys from central Lake Michigan and had it dogged down on the aft deck. I was going to take a picture, but there was so much wind and it was so cold that I was afraid I’d drop the iPhone camera.

The big waves breaking on the sandy bottom land created a milky-white-pale-blue color in the water. The storm probably moved a million pounds of sand into the just-dredged entrance channel. I need a storm like this to replenish all the sand on our beach on the other side of the peninsula.