2021 Crooked River Run
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:17 am
For many years we have been getting together in late September or early October with other Boston Whaler owners in the northern Michigan area for what often tends to be the last cruise of the boating season, in which we embark on Mullet Lake, travel through the Indian River to Burt Lake, and thence to the Crooked River to the village of Alanson, and then return.
We used to call this the "Fall Color Tour", but because the trees on the water shoreline are often the last to change color, we realized that we'd end up boating in very late October if we wanted to see the peak color. And waiting for peak color often resulted in boating in 40-degree weather. Now, perhaps because we are all 15-years older (and wiser) from when this tradition was started, this rendezvous has been moved up to late September.
The Crooked River has some very interesting stretches which are not no-wake zones, and generally, because the weather is usually not particular encouraging for boating, other boats on the waterway are very few to none. This allows our group--this year only five boats--to have the opportunity to make some high-speed runs in the river.
Aerial motion picture recordings were made by Dave (aka BUCKDA) with his very professional drone and high resolution digital camera. At the end of each movie you see a white MISCHIEF 15, where Don was piloting the boat and Dave was piloting the drone. They conceived the idea of using the drone to record the boat runs. Dave was very skilled in piloting the drone as the boats maneuvered through this twisting course.
I have down-sized the recording so it is more reasonable to see on-line. If you have an Apple browser (SAFARI) this link should play the movie directly in the browser.
First run was by a DAUNTLESS 17 powered by an E-TEC 115-HP G2 three-cylinder engine (which was manufactured on the last day of production of that model) running through a stretch of the Crooked River that ends at Burt Lake. The pilot was yours truly, jimh. It was my first time running this boat, and my first chance to run the new E-TEC three-cylinder engine.
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/movie ... less17.mov
If you use Chrome or on another OS, the link may result in downloading the movie and opening it with a player.
I discovered that the hull of the DAUNTLESS 17 likes to slide a bit in turns, which resulted in me getting a bit closer to the outer shoreline in the first turn seen on this run than I intended to be. Because it was not my boat and I was not familiar with its handling, I kept the speed down to a moderate 25-MPH through the turns. In the final straightaway to the finish I moved up the throttle; you can see the boat accelerate and then outrun the drone, as its gets up to about 35-MPH rather quickly.
We used to call this the "Fall Color Tour", but because the trees on the water shoreline are often the last to change color, we realized that we'd end up boating in very late October if we wanted to see the peak color. And waiting for peak color often resulted in boating in 40-degree weather. Now, perhaps because we are all 15-years older (and wiser) from when this tradition was started, this rendezvous has been moved up to late September.
The Crooked River has some very interesting stretches which are not no-wake zones, and generally, because the weather is usually not particular encouraging for boating, other boats on the waterway are very few to none. This allows our group--this year only five boats--to have the opportunity to make some high-speed runs in the river.
Aerial motion picture recordings were made by Dave (aka BUCKDA) with his very professional drone and high resolution digital camera. At the end of each movie you see a white MISCHIEF 15, where Don was piloting the boat and Dave was piloting the drone. They conceived the idea of using the drone to record the boat runs. Dave was very skilled in piloting the drone as the boats maneuvered through this twisting course.
I have down-sized the recording so it is more reasonable to see on-line. If you have an Apple browser (SAFARI) this link should play the movie directly in the browser.
First run was by a DAUNTLESS 17 powered by an E-TEC 115-HP G2 three-cylinder engine (which was manufactured on the last day of production of that model) running through a stretch of the Crooked River that ends at Burt Lake. The pilot was yours truly, jimh. It was my first time running this boat, and my first chance to run the new E-TEC three-cylinder engine.
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/movie ... less17.mov
If you use Chrome or on another OS, the link may result in downloading the movie and opening it with a player.
I discovered that the hull of the DAUNTLESS 17 likes to slide a bit in turns, which resulted in me getting a bit closer to the outer shoreline in the first turn seen on this run than I intended to be. Because it was not my boat and I was not familiar with its handling, I kept the speed down to a moderate 25-MPH through the turns. In the final straightaway to the finish I moved up the throttle; you can see the boat accelerate and then outrun the drone, as its gets up to about 35-MPH rather quickly.