Great videos, John. It looks like you had a wonderful trip! I look forward to seeing more of your videos and photos.
Gordon Milwaukee On Sep 16, 2008, at 12:14 AM, John and DesAnne Hippe wrote: > Hello All, > > Well I made it around Isle Royale again. 11 days and about 235 > miles! It > was terrific! The solitude was great. > > For those of you unfamiliar with Isle Royale, it is a 45 mile long > by 9 mile > wide island in Lake Superior about 12 or so miles off the Minnesota/ > Canada > coast. > > I departed from Grand Portage on Saturday August 30th for the 23 mile > crossing over to the Windigo located at the southern end of the > island. > Wind was light so I had to motor most of the way but every other > day had > plenty of wind. > >> From Windigo the next leg was about 26 miles up to McCargoe Cove. >> I was on > a broad reach almost the entire way...glorious! The next several > days were > spent exploring the various coves and inlets that make up the > northern end > of the island. I even went up around Gull Islands which are about > 10-15 > miles north of Isle Royale -- kind of spooky getting that far out > but it was > still cool. > > I had a new suit of sails made for me this winter which include a > main with > two reef points, a 130 working jib, a 160 genoa, and a 60 storm > jib. With > this combination I was able to keep moving safely through all the > different > weather. I had some very light air days 3-7 kts but still able to > keep > moving with the 160; and some 20-25 knot wind in which the reefed > main and > storm jib worked admirably. > > Even reefed down I was able to tack through 90 degrees when in calm > water. > Out in larger 5-6 foot waves I was getting more around 120 degrees > through > the tacks. Still working on this. I think that the wave action > just pushes > me around too much. I was also over canvased that day as I didn't > want to > go out on the foredeck to change the jib. I did several times on > subsequent > days however. > > On one day I did get some water over the combings -- kind of scary > seeing 55 > degree water pouring in...yikes! I was just coming out of a cove > where I > had been anchored on a close hauled course when a big gust caught me > broadside. Over we went and in came the water. Not a huge amount but > enough to cause me to keep my hand on the main sheet for the rest > of the > morning...the winds were very gusty. Usually about 10 knots but > gusting to > 25 or more knots. Had to keep playing the main like a dinghy. I > had a > single reef and the storm jib. I finally wised up and put the > second reef > in and we were fine after that. > > I felt quite safe with my boat and my gear. I found that the > Montgomery 15 > was equal to all the weather I encountered. Having a good set of > sails was > indespensible. Never again will I suffer through old sails! In > addition to > the new sails I had a good complement of safety gear -- oversized > ground > tackle, PFD with harness and tether, VHF radio, inflatable Kayak > towed 50 > feet astern, and EPIRB. > > I have posted some videos on youtube -- > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46zhrxeh2CM and > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPLowIibBU > > If the link doesn't work then try looking up "Montgomery 15 coming > at you" > (me being silly), and "Rounding Blake Point" > > I will upload more videos and pictures later. > > Cheers, > > John Hippe > M-15 > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
