An exhilarating sail to Canada in a Catalina 30
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- čas přidán 22. 12. 2023
- Four boats from the Bark Shanty Sailing Club sailed from Port Sanilac MI to Bayfield Ontario under rough seas and a brisk wind. Lake Huron provided 15 to 20 knot winds, and about 4 ft waves giving us a wonderful sail.
The beautiful smell of an ocean with no salt. Your boat must have felt like a rocketship.
It was definitely a nice day for sailing. I do appreciate how easy the fresh-water is on the boat.
Looks like a pleasant group. I’d suggest a group effort on some sea shanties.
Great to watch you guys on the water and enjoying the other side of the lake. I put close to 50k NM under the keel, mostly Lake Huron and the North Channel. Too old to sail now, but lots of good memories. BTW, never underestimate the North Channel. The roughest water I ever encountered was on a run from John Island to Gore Bay. Waves 12 to 15 feet and breaking. No rudder control in broken wave crests. The boat survived better than the crew! Fair sailing and safe harbours to you.
Wow, I didn't even know the waves got that big in the North Channel. I hope to avoid that!!
MKIII Tall rig? That brings back some memories. I worked for a number of years at the Catalina dealer just east of Toronto, Ontario. I learned to sail on a Catalina 30 and I'm just looking at getting back into it. I've been out of sailing for too many years. Have a great summer of sailing!
It must have been a fun job selling sailboats. I hope you find just the right boat as you get back into it.
New subscriber & Catalina 34 owner from Sarnia. We'd like to sail to Port Sanilac this summer. Enjoyed your videos.
Excellent! We had a group from the Bark Shanty Sail Club sail to Sarnia last Summer. Hopefully we'll see you in Port Sanilac
Nice video of Great Lakes sailing. Thanks! Next time you get over-powered, try moving the traveler down, it makes a big difference. Maybe on this point of sail, loosening the boom-vang and giving the sail a little more twist at the top could help too. Miss the Great Lakes! Been gone almost 50 years.
Thank you for the good advice. Hopefully we'll get a chance to try that this summer.
There is a lot of water in Lake Huron. We motor sailed from Bayfield Ontario to Port Huron Michigan it took us 8 hours.
That sounds like a great trip. You made pretty good time.
Nice video, I sail out of PH love the water in Huron!
I bet you're really looking forward to the 100 year anniversary of the Huron to Mackinac race this year!
@@SVBlueLatitudes boat night is always a blast too. Should be fun!
Looked like great sailing. Nice dodger. Did you make that yourself?
Yes, I used the existing tubular supports to create plywood patterns. Then, I laid up 1/4" cedar and pine strips, and covered the top and bottom with fiberglass and West System epoxy. It basically follows the same shape as the canvas dodger it replaced. Now I just need to replace the eisenglass.
Wow! Enjoyed your video, but that crossing didn’t look like fun to me! Four foot waves, let alone six, would have kept me at the slip, especially without an autopilot.
I’ll be eager to see where you went from there. North Channel?
BTW. I sail one of the rare Catalina 28’s. I live further north, so crossed Lake Huron at Presque Isle; a much longer sail. Went from Meldrum Bay to The Turnbulls, to Long Point Cove, through the Whalebacks, Spanish, and finally The Benjamin’s! Returned same way.
Thank you. The group had a lot of discussion before deciding to strike out on the crossing! Your trip to the North Channel sounds fantastic. We did make it up to the North Channel this summer on a separate trip, but this time we stayed east of Little Current. I've always liked the lines on the Catalina 28. Your boat looks pretty nice in your videos.
@@SVBlueLatitudes
I was looking to buy a Catalina 30 originally, but I live within walking distance of Port Austin State Harbor. Their 30’ seasonal slips come available every year or two, while their larger slips never open up. A Catalina 30 with bow and stern pulpits would exceed the 30’ limit while my 28’ just squeaks in! So, that’s why I settled for a smaller boat. One great thing is that this boat comes with a sugar scoop which has been a godsend for swimming access and boarding kayaks.
I brought my boat around from Manistee Michigan. We stopped in Port Sanilac on the way to Cleveland. I was in the V berth. and I heard my crewmember say hey A sign here says they have great water here I said all right fill up the water tank next thing I heard him say was oh that filled up quick I said did you fill up the water tank he said oops I messed up. I filled up the holding tank it was 8:15 PM at this time. We were planning on leaving at 2 - 3 AM to be at the mouth of the St Clair to be on Lake Erie around 5ish was the plan. I said well now we are fu barred we can’t leave with a full holding tank ok not those exact words maybe a few 🤬thrown in 😂😂😂Anyway I found 4 phone numbers left a message like this on all voice mails.
Hello I don’t know if you can help me or not but I’m at your gas dock on my sailboat and my crew member has just filled my holding tank with your wonderful water that was meant for my water tank. Is there anyway that I can get somebody down here at this time to give me a pump out. I was planning on leaving at 2-3 AM to hit the mouth of the Saint Clair river at dawn Thank you in advance. About a half hour goes by and my phone rings and I say hello and the voice on the phone says is this captain with the dumb ass crew member that filled the holding tank instead of the water tank I said yes sir it is he says well I have sarah on the way down and I turned my head to the left this girl is walking right towards me. I said I think she is here thank you very much I said, are you sarah she said yes I am I said thank you so much for doing this she was just smiling from ear to ear so she proceeded to pump out the holding tank proceeded to let my buddy Dwight know that we were never going to let him live this down. Dwight handed her $25 said thank you very much for the rescue. I said thank you very much again asked her if she happened to have a space heater she did and let us borrow it which was awesome we had been freezing for 2 days. Was only 45 degrees during the day and very cold at night anyway We ordered a pizza ate showered went to sleep was out of there at about 3:30 in the morning and we did he hit Lake Erie at the approximate time we were there at 4:45 middle bass by 915. I got a good nights rest didn’t even hear the storm that hit us. I was so tired. Left middle bass around 8:30 in the morning and was at Lorain Harbor approximately 1 PM
Great trip took 3.5 days
Left Manistee Mi at 8:30 am Friday in Lorain at 1pm Monday
That’s a great story. I’m glad you had a good experience in Port Sanilac. That sounds like a great sail from Manistee.
the main looks awful, flatten and use the traveler,,
Why don’t you have your wife/girlfriend do some of the steering? If you want her to be excited about sailing, give her the opportunity to gain experience.
That's very good advice. She actually does spend a lot of time at the helm, and is getting quite good at it.