GREAT LAKES SPRING 2014

[Nicholson58]

We are wondering if there is much point in launching before July. Link is fog we expect all summer with the excessively cold water following last winter's records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9jlBF00w4w

Below is the harbor at Marquette 22 MAY 2014.

Every time we head to the yard, we find the temperature at least 15 F lower than in town. It was 60 in Grand Rapids last Sunday but 47 at the yard - no bottom painting & no varnish.

[cpa]

Wow that fog looks pretty intense. I hope the weather warms up and you guys get to do some sailing soon.

[Dave Lochner]

Get the boat in the water. When that first good sailing day comes, you don't want to be watching your friends sailing while you are waxing the hull.

If it is too foggy to sail, enjoy sitting in the cockpit with an adult beverage and commiserating about the bad weather.

[Mike OReilly]

That's a beautiful fog bank Nicholson58. T'is this season for fog up here on the northern Great Lakes. With the cold winter I expect we'll be seeing significant fog well into the cruising season. Good thing I'm heading far south this year (to Lake Ontario ).

[Nicholson58]

We sail out of Muskegon. One advantage is that the weather is usually nice on Muskegon Lake even if Lake Michigan is a mess. We have run the channel to Lake Michigan and hit that fog wall. The bow can't be seen from the cockpit so we do the 180 and sail the small lake. If its calm on L Mich; probably a breeze on Muskegon. its just a lot of work turning the boat around on 3 mile legs.

We think we will get bottom paint on tomorrow.

[No Salt]

I'm on Sutton's Bay just North of Traverse City. Launched on the 15th of May out of Northport. Went sailing Sunday (the 25th) with SW winds and it was great. When the wind comes out of the North however, it gets cold out there on the water! Water temp was 44 degrees F. So even on Grand Traverse Bay it's still cold with North winds. The main body of Lake Michigan is going to take awhile. I'm not planning to go out there until July.

[bgallinger]

I launched my boat in Lake St. Clair on June 10. It was nippy on launch day to say the very least. Sadly, I had to leave the country and now I see global warming has finally arrived!

[Sondor]

Being born and raised in TC I feel for your deliberation...

That said, there should be some amazing days before the water fully warms up that will make for good sailing between now and July. Not like you're on a little hobie getting soaked all day long there Nicholson58

There's no fever like Spring Fever, and I'd hate to not be able to cure it should it strike before July (which of course it will)...

A big Traverse City hello to you fellow Michiganders anyhow!

Btw, notice "Yoopers" finally made the Merriam-Websters dictionary this year? It's aboot time eh?

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Sondor

Being born and raised in TC I feel for your deliberation...

That said, there should be some amazing days before the water fully warms up that will make for good sailing between now and July. Not like you're on a little hobie getting soaked all day long there Nicholson58

There's no fever like Spring Fever, and I'd hate to not be able to cure it should it strike before July (which of course it will)...

A big Traverse City hello to you fellow Michiganders anyhow!

Btw, notice "Yoopers" finally made the Merriam-Websters dictionary this year? It's aboot time eh?

Pretty lumpy when it from the north too. We sailed in there two years ago and anchored in Bowers just NW of the marina in the only sand we could find. We made 9 -10 under main alone near dead down.

YOOPERS - Ya der; holy wah! Ya sure, you betcha.

BTW- my little boat is a Tornado, not Hobie. Not likely to have it in the water soon. We finished scraping old dead VIVID from the Nicholson and applied new yellow. Ready to launch except for the block M on the keel. GO BLUE.

Heavy fog about every other day. Clear on Muskegon lake with the harbor horn blasting all day.

[Sondor]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Ready to launch except for the block M on the keel. GO BLUE.

- Right on and lol to the GO BLUE "M" on the keel

When I was a kid, I thought that the Wolverines went to the Rose Bowl every year, and the only competition was who got to play them. And of course I thought "The Victors" was the Rose Bowl anthem...

...always wondered why the game took place way out in CA ~

As for sailing in Grand Traverse Bay (I spent summers growing up at the beach around the Clinch Park area) the thing that always amazed me is just how damn fast the weather conditions could change. Everywhere I've lived since they claim that, but man, that part of the lake sure does mean it!

Your post made me a tad homesick. Can't even buy a Vernor's out here to assuage it!

/cheers!

PS - the ONE thing I do not miss about living there, hearing: "More lake effect snow is on the way"...

[campuscab]

I just got mine in the water on lake St. Clair. I guess we are lucky down here. I had to wade in waist deep because the wind caught it and was blowing into a cigarette boat. The water wasn't bad. 44° would have not been fun.

Sent from my Huawei Y301A1 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[No Salt]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Pretty lumpy when it from the north too. We sailed in there two years ago and anchored in Bowers just NW of the marina in the only sand we could find. We made 9 -10 under main alone near dead down.
...

Heavy fog about every other day. Clear on Muskegon lake with the harbor horn blasting all day.

It can be lumpy when the wind is out of the North and there is enough fetch but not as bad as the main lake. It offers some great sailing in the summer.

How far offshore is that fog bank? I was at Sleeping Bear Dunes last Saturday and the lake was clear as far as the eye could see. I would bet there will be some great sailing days before July. The water will be still be cold but if you stay closer to shore it will get you out there instead of staying home.

[mottseng]

Originally Posted by bgallinger

I launched my boat in Lake St. Clair on June 10. It was nippy on launch day to say the very least. Sadly, I had to leave the country and now I see global warming has finally arrived!

June 10th is 13 days away ??

[erobert]

I found this thread especially reassuring. I'm in Eastern Europe getting the summer time boating ich, feeling I've already missed the early start to the season. I'm Flying back to Michigan in a week to make an offer on a boat in TC and low and behold here's a thread full of my Laker countrymen corroborate the rumors I've heard from family but didn't entirely believe.

I wonder if the weather will have an effect on slip costs this season?

I've heard some college students in Marquette died of heart attacks when they jumped in to Lake Superior this last week. Horribly sad if true.

[No Salt]

Originally Posted by erobert

...
I wonder if the weather will have an effect on slip costs this season?
...

I doubt it. The marinas in Traverse City/Suttons Bay are filling up with the seasonal boats just like usual. I stayed a night at the municipal marina in Northport after launching and was charged the normal summer rate.