Sailing on the Great Lakes first week of May?

[MSN-Travelers]

We brought our new-to-us boat south from Sturgeon Bay during the second week of May. I will echo all that has been said by others.

Call ahead and make sure fuel & pumpout services are available along your route. I didn't and ended up hauling jerry cans inland to a gas station that had diesel.

Do a shake-down cruise to verify all systems are functional. Carry a spare water pump impeller. Ours failed a couple hours out into Lake Michigan. I was lucky there was a spare aboard. And ... the fuel gage read full all the time. I'm glad I had brought five gallons of diesel with me.

Be ready for the COLD. Make sure you have some way to get hot food/drink into you & your crew.

Be safe!

[hard aground]

What's your level of sailiing experience? As a worse case scenario, ever done a man overboard drill? in almost freezing water? at night? If you go plan for the worst, and hope for the best.

[sailstoo]

Check that weather window for a few days out before you get offshore. And make sure you have proper motion sickness protection for all. The boat will have been in the water for a few days before you go, right? A friend with an E27 had a bad keel leak that had to be addressed quickly after launch. Dress warm/dry. Bon Voyage.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by timb7734

You are going to be in extremely cold water and anyone immersed will have only about 45 seconds before becoming impaired in normal clothing.

Indeed. Don't let anyone fall overboard! Make everyone wear life jackets on deck, clip on outside of the cockpit, and inside the cockpit in any kind of weather, no peeing over the rail, no one goes out of the cockpit if they are alone on deck. Do a MOB drill or two. Anyone who goes overboard will likely die even if you are well practiced in MOB procedures. This is not a joke.

[rognvald]

One thing no one mentioned so far was fog. This time of year when there is a great disparity between water and air temperatures, we have considerable fog on the Great Lakes. If you do not have radar, you must keep a well documented DR track on a paper chart in addition to your GPS so that you always know where you are at any given time. Shoaling, underwater obstructions, headlands, piers, breakwaters, etc. are serious areas of concern in limited visibility. If sailing non-stop, I would stay well offshore for your passage. Good luck and good sailing, Ron

[Joli]

Um, an Ericson 27 is not an ice breaker.

MODIS Imagery: t1.11087.1615.LakeHuron.143.250m.jpg

[sailerkid49]

Every word said has been good food for thought. Many have brought up some really good points. Thanks.

[Harbourage]

The Great Lakes are awesome. Do it. However, I suggest a plan to stop in port at night... Hammer the days and enjoy the commeradere in the evening. Leave early, hit port before sundown and research ALL ports along the way to know what is avaialable if the weather turns foul. Take care of your crew, Captain.

[SabreKai]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Indeed. Don't let anyone fall overboard! Make everyone wear life jackets on deck, clip on outside of the cockpit, and inside the cockpit in any kind of weather, no peeing over the rail, no one goes out of the cockpit if they are alone on deck. Do a MOB drill or two. Anyone who goes overboard will likely die even if you are well practiced in MOB procedures. This is not a joke.

I can verify that. I went for a swim in Toronto harbor on April 22, 1980. I managed to swim about 20 feet towards the life ring and snag it before every thing locked up. After that I was a spectator to the event, bobbing round like an ice cube in a mixed drink. I was lucky that the boat I fell off was under power at the time, and while the skipper was a complete idiot and had a panic attack, two of the others on board were competent and managed to get me aboard in about 4-5 minutes. I attribute my survival to the fact that I had on a hunters down parka at the time which slowed down the cooling of my core temp. But my arms n leg may as well have been made of wood. They swung the boat around in a hard 180 and pulled up right along side of me, then Judy reached down from the deck to snag me while her boyfriend manned the helm. She couldn't haul me out as I weighed a good 200-220 lbs, and she was a tiny lady. So she took the main halliard, two turns round my chest and up I came with the mast winch. By that time her boyfriend had come to the mast and cranked while she tailed.

Of course once you are out, its still a deadly situation. Air temp was about 50F and I'm soaked. I dove down into the cabin, peeled off my clothes and looked around for a blanket or something. No joy, only thing was an oily blanket shoved under the engine to soak up oil. So I wrung out my clothes and them back on. When we got to the Island Yacht Club, about 15 minutes later, I took off for the clubhouse and the showers as soon as we hit the dock. The owners sister saw what was going on and snagged some dry clothes for me while she tossed mine in the dryer.

Do Not Fall Overboard. It is no fun at all at these temperatures.


Sabre

[sailerkid49]

Thank you Sabre, I have always thought the Life Sling was the main instrument for getting fallen grew back on, but your words about the main halliard make since. I am very glad I posed this question. You all are bringing up excellent points. Thanks.

[Jon4399]

We used to do several MOB drills before leaving. Tied a bowline and 2' loop to the main halyard tail. Used it to lasso the guy in the drink, cus they are likely to be not much good. Maybe hook an arm through it on the way buy. You may not be able to stop completely. Worst case is someone has to go in after him/her. put loop around person and crank up or tie it off and use loop as ladder step.

[slowshoes]

Originally Posted by Southern Star

I agree with gettingthere - it can be done, but on a boat new to you (and I assume your crew) you are asking for trouble. I would imagine you are talking about the first week in May as that is the earliest that you can have her in the water. You really should take her out on some test sails first - check out the diesel, the transmission, the batteries, the electrical, the sails, ruuning rigging, lights, compass, head, stove, water system, instruments, VHF, the ground tackle etc., etc - in real world conditions. I would be suprised if you don't need some servicing, repairs or upgrades. If not, you have at least familiarized yourself with the boat - and learning how to anchor her, reef and heave-to, are all things that you must be familar with prior to setting out, in spring on the Great Lakes, for a 300 NM cruise.

Brad

The only way I'd do the trip on a new to me boat is to follow this advice first - if everthing checked out and you familiarized yourself with the boat as Brad suggested, I'd go for it.