posted 07-10-2009 10:18 AM ET (US)        

Mid-week a low pressure system blew in from the Northwest. That morning we were in Charlevoix. Winds were 15-knots and seas were predicted as two to four feet on Lake Michigan. We didn't want to stay put, and we decided to head for Elk Rapids, another harbor about 30 miles away.

We could see the approaching front by its cloud bank. We were enjoying the last of a very clear and sunny morning, soon to be replaced with the dark cumulous clouds of the approaching low pressure system

We were very lazy on this cruise, and we took a very leisurely morning. We left the marina and ran down on the south arm of Lake Charlevoix to have lunch in a little bay. After lunch we headed back north, stopping at WARD BROTHERS for some fuel. Finally, around 2 p.m., we were set to go.

At no-wake speed we headed out the channel to Lake Michigan. As soon as we turned into the inlet from Round Lake, we knew the seas were up on Lake Michigan as there were two-foot swells rolling down the inlet, more than half a mile from the lake. As we progressed toward the Lake, the waves in the inlet increased, finally to the point where a no-wake speed was ridiculously under-powered to keep the boat on course. I bumped the throttle up. We were the only boat in the whole length of the inlet, going in either direction.

A few minutes later we reached the lake. The seas were rolling in from the west-northwest, and there was an occasional four-footer. I turned to Chris and said, "The waves will be worse here at the inlet. The water is shallow and the out-flowing current is building them up." I said this to reassure myself that this was true, more than anything else.

The boat labored slowly against the seas. "Another hundred yards," I said, "and we will be into better conditions."

Finally we reached deeper water and got away from the out-flowing current of the inlet. The seas became less steep and more consistent in their orientation. I pushed the throttle forward more. The boat came up onto a bow-high slow plane, and we worked our way upwind at about 12-MPH.

Our course was due west for about a mile or so, until we reached a red Nun marking a shoal to our south. Once there, we could fall off the wind and turn to the Southwest. Five minutes later we passed the buoy, and fell off about 30-degrees to Port.

The next leg of our course was about four miles to another buoy marking a shoal off Fisherman's Island. We had passed it on the way inbound, and the cookie crumb trail was still showing on my chart plotter. I steered the boat through the waves on a general compass heading, and checked the plotter to make sure we were staying upwind of the buoy. With the seas now on our starboard quarter, the ride was much better and we moved the boat speed up to around 18 to 20-MPH. Our Whaler Drive 22-foot hull will maintain a nice plane at that speed, but the fuel consumption is not optimum. However, for a short leg, the fuel consumption can be high--we'll take the comfortable ride.

After another 15 minutes or so, I found the green can buoy well to port, and I turned left a bit more, further increasing our angle to the waves. The two to four footers were now on our starboard stern quarter. I pushed the throttle forward again, bringing the boat speed up to around 24-MPH. We began our 25-mile run down the Lake to Elk Rapids.

For running downwind and down seas, you cannot beat a Boston Whaler hull. The boat handled beautifully. We kept an eye out for really big waves, either driving around them or slowing down a bit, and for the next hour or so we flew south. We stayed offshore far enough to remain in deep water, sometimes several hundred feet deep. After a while Chris took the helm for a bit, and I relaxed in the stern seat.

The timing of our departure had coincided with the arrival of the front, and we had left just as the sun was obscured with clouds. But as we raced south, we pulled ahead of the clouds, and we broke back into sunny conditions. I sat in the stern of the boat, watching the spray flying off the bow as we powered over the backs of the waves. It was great run. I do not think a drop of water came aboard the boat. The stern seat was completely dry, and there was no water on the aft deck or gunwales. I get a laugh when people say a Boston Whaler is a wet-riding boat. They must have never been on one.

posted 07-10-2009 02:33 PM ET (US)            

81* and blowing 20 knots out of the SW. Must be getting lumpy on Lake Michigan.

Good to see ContinuousWave and crew in the area.

posted 07-10-2009 03:35 PM ET (US)            

Most, maybe even all, of the commercial operations are run by various Indian tribes. Another very delicate subject around here.

The fish is very valuable and has a huge market in the bordering states. Salmon, Lake Trout, Whitefish, Yellow Perch are a few that I can think of this moment.

posted 07-10-2009 05:56 PM ET (US)            

We went to dinner at a local restaurant, Pearl's New Orleans Kitchen. It was about a mile away, and we did not feel like walking as the weather was iffy. The marina staff offered to drive us over in their shuttle van--Another nice feature of Elk Rapids Marina. We had a great dinner of some very spicy Cajun cooked pork and shrimp. The marina shuttle picked us up, and soon we were back on the boat.

The cold front was really blowing in by evening. The winds were 20-knots and the East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay had some good seas coming down from the north. About 9:30 p.m. I was sitting in the cockpit reading, when I took notice of the sound of the hull. Even though we were back in the most protected corner of the marina, there was enough wind blowing in from the Bay that little wavelets were being formed in the marina waters. We had a steady train of little one or two-inch wavelets, and our bow was pointed right into them.

As anyone who has ever tried to sleep overnight in the v-berth or bow deck of a classic Boston Whaler hull, the reverse chines of the outer runners or sponsons of the hull create quite a racket when even the smallest wave runs up and into their cavities The wave slap of the hull that night was amazing--and loud.

posted 07-10-2009 06:17 PM ET (US)            

We hiked into the town of Elk Rapids, and took a stroll down one side of main street. It had the usual northern Michigan resort town mixture of shops and businesses. We hiked back to the marina and went out to the harbormaster's office, which is near the entrance. Due to the lousy weather, we asked the harbormaster if we might stretch that Noon check-out time a bit, while we waited for the weather to improve. She kindly consented, and said there'd be no problem if we stayed later than Noon.

We enjoyed lunch on the boat from Chris's boat pantry of fine deli meats and cheeses. By 2 p.m. we were getting harbor bound, and it was time to go. The weather was still lousy, with dark skies and clouds, but far off to the Northwest it looked like some fair weather might be coming. The wind seemed to have slackened a bit, and the breeze was down to about 10-knots, gusting to 15-knots.

We made the boat ready to go to sea, and headed out. Even though the wind had decreased, the seas were still big. And we had to go upwind, directly into them. Again we worked our way out slowly, getting into some deeper water. Unfortunately the waves did not change much. Finally we got up on plane at around 14-MPH, but I drove with one hand on the throttle so I could cut the speed when needed to avoid slamming into a big head sea. Our Boston Whaler took us for a ride. We only had to go about five miles uphill against these seas to reach Old Mission Point. There we turned west, and worked our way around the rocky shoals. We then headed for Suttons Bay. The farther West we went, the more more shelter and lee we received from the Leelanau Peninsula, so soon were back up to 30-MPH and flying through the waves. As we turned southward at Stoney Point, I pushed the boat up to 35-MPH. The seas were down to little waves, and it was fun to make a high speed run.

Just as we pulled into the marina at Suttons Bay, the sun came out. Summer returned. The wind in the marina was down to just a nice cooling breeze. We had a fine afternoon. The skies to the east remained cloudy, and it looked like Elk Rapids, just ten miles or so East, might still be in shade.

We met Con and Martha for dinner, and had a good gam afterwards.

posted 07-10-2009 08:27 PM ET (US)            

If you have questions let me know. If you have not cruised Grand Traverse Bay before, my bet is you will like it.

posted 07-10-2009 10:36 PM ET (US)            

I will give you our cruise itinerary. We started at Northport. There is a fine boat launch there, and very handy trailer parking. We arrived on Friday, July 3, about 5 p.m. The marina was completely full. Boats filled all the sea wall space and several were rafted two abreast on the sea wall. The harbormaster had told me on the telephone on Monday that it would be crowded, but he said. "We'll find a place for you, so come on up."

After launching the boat we motored about 100 feet and tied off the end of the finger pier between two slips where we had been directed by the harbormaster. He seemed to know that these boats weren't going anywhere soon, so it was OK to block them into their slips. We tied to the pilings with our foredeck at the finger pier, and then we finished loading all of our gear aboard from the car. We relaxed for a while, then went to dinner at THE EAT SPOT, on recommendation from the assistant harbormaster. We had a nice meal, and returned to the boat to relax.

About 8 p.m. a young fellow wearing a red shirt with the marina's name on it bicycled over to our spot. "We have a slip for you now, if you'd like to move over to it." It seemed it was our good fortune that someone decided to leave for the evening to go to Leland, having heard that Leland had just opened their harbor after being closed all year for reconstruction. The slip he abandoned was perfect for our boat, so we promptly cast off and motored around the end of D-DOCK and took up residence in Slip 78. I discovered the marina has free Wi-Fi access, and the antenna was just a few slips away. We broke out the computer and checked our email.

On Saturday the weather was fine and fair, so we took off for a boat ride. We went down to Suttons Bay, ate lunch aboard, cruised to Omena, found a calm spot on the sand bar, and drifted for an hour or two, enjoying being out in the boat and on the water. Then we packed up and went back to Northport, putting about 30 miles under the keel. We had such good food at THE EAT SPOT, we went back again for dinner. This time we got take out and brought it back to the boat.

Saturday evening Chris's cousin and her family came up to join us, and we watched the fireworks from the cockpit of our boat, our slip location being absolutely perfect for seeing them.

On Sunday morning we went to the fuel dock and took on 18 gallons of pure gasoline--no ethanol just pure 89-Octane gasoline, and only $3.18/gallon. We took off late in the morning and ran across to Charlevoix. This is a run of about 25 miles. By the time we left the breeze had come up from the Southwest, and we had a nice following sea all the way there. As the British say, "Gentlemen only sail downwind."

There are new city docks in downtown Charlevoix on Round Lake, but that location is just not for us. Actually, Chris says, "It's hideous." Charlevoix spent a lot of money upgrading their marina, but now it is full of younger people who all seemed to cruise on 60-foot Sea Ray Sundancers or similarly large yachts. The tourists in town all come down to the docks to look at the big yachts. There are just too many nouveaux riches there, if you ask me. I don't mind big yachts, but I like them to be classic yachts, not some Sea Ray on steroids, and I like the people on them to be old blue bloods, not some 27-year-old with his hair slicked back and lots of gold chains.

We called Irish Boat Shop and arranged for a slip. We stayed at the Stover Street Boat Yard, and I think we were the only people staying overnight on the boat. We had the place to ourselves. It is a real working boat yard and has some charm. Also free Wi-Fi.

On Monday we left Charlevoix and headed for Elk Rapids. We had a great run, and again it was mainly down wind. We took on more fuel before leaving. In keeping with the neighborhood, WARD BROTHERS charged us $3.60 a gallon, but again we got pure gasoline. I gave some details of the run and the marina earlier.

On Tuesday we left Elk Rapids and went to Suttons Bay. The town of Suttons Bay is attractive, has plenty of shops, restaurants, and galleries, and in the past twenty years has really grown into a tourist mecca. Unfortunately, they left the marina behind, and it is stuck in the late 1970's. The marina at Suttons Bay is small, and the shower facilities are old and in need of a facelift.

On Wednesday the winds were very light in the morning. We were underway early and left about 10:30 a.m. We ran up the Bay to Northport, cruising at 30-MPH and getting there in a jiffy. We went to the fuel dock to take on some more gasoline. The marina had just received a new delivery of fuel, this time a new special no-ethanol marine blend of 90-Octane which will now be their new standard marine gasoline. The price also dropped to $2.99 a gallon. We took on 10 gallons more. We also made arrangements for another overnight stay; we got Slip 78 again. Perfect!

We then ran north to the top of the Leelanau Peninsula and the Grand Traverse Light. We traversed the shoal at the tip and headed south along the western shore to Cathead Bay. We meandered around Cathead Bay for a while, having lunch. I though we'd find it calm, but there were the remains of the big Northwesterly from the day before still rolling in, even though the winds were now Northeast. We idled along the shore heading south, past Cathead Point, and into the next bight in the shoreline. Then we decided we had better turn around or our next stop would be all the way to Leland. We headed back, and by the time we were tied up in the slip we had 50 miles underway. We burned up all the new fuel we added, and were down to about 3/8-FULL tank.