The Sail through winter cold to get home After a long day of hiking we now had to regroup and shift gears to ready for the fifteen hour sail home. Again leaving in the late afternoon so we would roll into the Apostle Islands shortly after dawn. At least on the way back we knew what to expect as far as the freezing temps and cold winds. The original plan was to stay the whole week on Isle Royale but Mr. bigshot TV Producer Darren had to fly out early for a filming on the Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. We all gave him a good natured razing for cutting our trip in half. We didn’t work on a preset schedule for turns on watch on the way out but given the brutal nature of the cold Dale and I checked our readiness over the radio and when all was set we pulled the anchors and I lead us out of the cove into the big bay between us and the big water. Somewhere along the way as we were working the deck a halyard (line that hoists the sails up to the top of the mast) got loose and ran up to the top of the mast. We decided it was a line we might need before making land again so we broke out the bosun chair and picked Darren to hoist up the mast as he was the lightest person on board. Tied on to two lines we huff and puffed him up the mast while still in the protection of Siskiwit Bay. All went good and he got some cool pics while up there. Once we got all the lines where they belong I Set course for the break in the reef that would let us out into Lake Superior. Having learned the hard way how cold it gets at night sixty miles off shore on this lake didn’t help much since we still had the same amount of cold weather gear. No one was looking forward to the long night. We bundled up as we passed the bouys leaving the bay. It was the last land we would see for another hundred miles. Dave went below and made some sandwiches. He was finishing off the last of the sandwich stuff so He handed up the now empty pickle jar to have the juice poured over the side when Lisa got excited and decided she loves pickle juice and wanted to drink it. We all watched as she chugged a quart of the green concoction. Then right on cue things got interesting, hehe. When mixed with the short choppy waves the quart of that green pickly mess sloshing around in her bellied made for good entertainment. She turned the same color green and took a prolonged position hanging over the side of the boat while we finished our meals…She soon curled up in the V berth moaning and groaning and didn’t surface for over twelve hours. With Lisa safely tucked away we sailed on into a magnificent sunset. The beauty was only a fancy doorway We fired up one of the propane burners on the stove after dark to heat up the cabin. It worked well holding the main salon’s temps in the sixties. It felt great after sitting in the damp thirty degree cockpit for what seemed like forever waiting for your turn below. We didn’t have the fog on the way back but the thick cloud cover kept the moon light out and made for a real dark night. At least we could see the freighters as they cut across our bow this trip. Those big boats are lit up like a city out at sea. Watching the bright freighters shining like Vegas in the night made our sparsely lit little boats seem even smaller out in the middle of that big lake. The wind kicked up right off the bow. That meant a long cold night fighting the wind chill with no sails up running on the motor again. We still had no idea how much fuel we had left. My own boat would have run out a day earlier…We decided to keep chugging and if she ran dry we would deal with it then. It was a sharp nasty breeze that cut through the sleeping bag I was wrapped up in. We sent Darren down on the first break once the cold set in to check on Lisa. Dave and I passed the hours on autopilot watching for freighters and trying to stay awake. On long runs at night it’s easy to drift off. The trick after years of these runs is to half nod a few minutes at a time, sort of a combat nap. There is nothing in your way for hours to come so it isn’t as crazy as it sounds. I stayed behind the wheel for the whole time I was topside until just before my turn below. It seemed to make sense as I knew the GPS controls that I brought and the guys were more than happy to let me do my thing. When I did finally put one of the boys on the wheel I remember how warm the boat felt below when I finally took my watch. I was timing out the rounds so that I would be coming on watch when the Islands came over the horizon at dawn. It felt like I would never warm up as I climbed below. I gave the guys instruction that I had the GPS course set and the autopilot set to bring us right in between the first two islands of the Apostles. it’s a small target of only a mile across two or three hours in front of us so keep a check on our course. With a wake up call in for two hours or an island sighting, whichever comes first I crawled into that chilly ass bed to try and get all the sleep I could pack into two hours. In what seemed like five minutes Dave called below for me to get up! I asked what was wrong fearing the As we slide between the islands still on autopilot we caught an on-shore breeze and was able to throw up the shanty bark sails and kill the engine. The sun warmed everything up quickly and the coats peeled off. Lisa surfaced for air looking like she had a rough night and insisting the quart of pickle juice had nothing to do with her not feel good. Dale and I tacked our way around the twenty miles of islands to the mainland and shot South down the coast towards Bayfield and the home port. It was a fantastic adventure even with the cold weather runs on each end. Should I do it again I will be prepared with a snow suit. I always find that its the hard parts of an adventure that makes the whole trip even more exciting when I look back on it. I highly recommend anyone that wants to live the life they dream about contact Superior Charters and talk to them about chartering a boat so you can explore the Apostle Islands. It is all sheltered waters and awesome anchorages without the marathon sail out to the big island of Isle Royale. I spent a week on one of Dick and Cindy’s boats a few years ago sailing through the islands on a different TV shoot and was blown away at the raw beauty of it all!
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I opted to assign watches at the wheel in a round robin fashion for the trip back. The norm is a four hour watch but as we were splitting up the duties between the three guys I decided on two hour watches. That turns into four hours on deck freezing our ass off and two below to warm up and catch a nap.
they were getting loaded up pretty good.
into the soon to be freezing temps.
I found out why they where so happy to let me sit out in the wind! I moved up under the canvas of the dodger out of the wind it was like a blast of heat! Without the wind chill it wasn’t to bad.
worst when he calmly replied it had been over two hours and my islands were coming up right on schedule. Dave and I swapped places as I crawled out in time to watch a great sunrise and see the incredible scenery of the Famous Apostle Islands. Dale and crew were about two miles behind us soaking up the view from inside their enclosed cockpit drinking coffee and eating a hot breakfast.
The small town glittered in the sunlight welcoming us home. A short distance later we radioed into port and contacted Cindy of Superior Charters and as the norm for anyone chartering from them they sent Jim out in a runabout to escort us into harbor and show us to our slip. We were greeted by Dick and Cindy and all their crew as I eased the Golden Sun into her berth.