Here We Come, Lake Superior!

Dick and I preparing Salty Paws for our Lake Superior adventure.

Salty Paws in Newfoundland

I am fortunate that Molly allows me to continue having one or two cruising adventures each year with other willing adventurers.  I am not sure where I got this urge, but I do recall that the quote given me in my High School Yearbook was "When I rest, I rust."

I found a great boat mate in Dick Klain.  We last cruised together in 2023 when Molly departed Salty Paws in Quebec City, and Dick came aboard.   We then spent two months cruising from Quebec City to Maine, including a side trip to the Bras d'Or Lakes, Cape Breton and southwestern Newfoundland.

The OSV Bold

Our brief time in Newfoundland was a trip of a lifetime, but I was also ready for more.  Near the end of the trip, I suggested that we trailer Salty Paws to Alaska and cruise waters surrounded by glaciers and mountains. “Not interested,” Dick said. “I spent some years up there crewing on the OSV (Ocean Survey Vessel) Bold, and I don't need to go back."

Dick then offered, "I would do Lake Superior!"

Molly at Pictured Rock in 2005

I had never given much thought to Lake Superior. My only direct experience was in 2005, when our family returned from a five-week trip out West through Michigan's Upper Peninsula and stopped at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

A younger Dick on the OSV Bold

Now I am 76 years old and halfway through my 77th year on earth. Dick is 2 1/2 years older.  Yet, we will trailer Salty Paws from Maine to Spanish, Ontario, launch her and spend close to two months circumnavigating Lake Superior.  I am pleased that we will be joined by Ron Sanga on Betty Sue.  I need to ask Ron how old he is, but he may be the youngster of the group.

This raises a perfectly reasonable question - Why?

The Great Lakes with Lake Superior the northernmost.

Well, I started researching Lake Superior, and many might have quickly ended the thought right there.  Having cruised on three of the Great Lakes, I already know about the old adage that goes something like "The Great Lakes will help prepare you for cruising the world's oceans, but the oceans will not help prepare you for the Great Lakes." 

 Each lake is its own giant bathtub, where waves frequently come from multiple directions.  Waves can also be more challenging than those in the ocean because the waves waves tend to be sharper in shape and closer together.

 

Image of the Edmund Fitzgerald, split in two on the lake bottom.
While cruising, Dick and I will listen to the best seller -
 The Gales of November - The Untold Story of the
Edmund Fitzgerald by John Bacon.

 Estimates vary widely, but the number of shipwrecks lining the bottom of the Great Lakes is likely much greater than 10,000.  It's also the grave of over 30,000 sailors.  Thanks to Gordon Lightfoot, the 1975 sinking of the Edmund Firtzgerald on Lake Superior is the most well-known.

Lake Superior is the most challenging of all, and it is the largest freshwater lake in the entire world.  The lake is deep, cold, susceptible to fog and erratic weather. 

The lake has a reputation, and anyone operating a small boat on it would be foolish not to respect it. The Edmund Fitzgerald was 729 feet long. Salty Paws might be 29 feet from the tip of its motor to the anchor on the bow.  I am not sure that comparison is particularly reassuring, although the Fitzgerald may have buckled when its bow and stern were lifted by separate waves, leaving the middle of the ship unsupported. We don't need to worry about that on Salty Paws. 

My interest was growing!  I purchased a copy of Bonnie Dahl's Superior Way.  This may be the best cruising guide I have ever used, and one interesting place led to another and another.  There were Ojibwe pictographs painted on cliffs above the lake, mysterious Pukaskwa pits on its rocky beaches, and evidence that Indigenous people mined native copper thousands of years before Europeans arrived. There are abandoned lumber settlements, old mines, remote lighthouses, shipwrecks and enormous stretches of wild shoreline with cliffs and waterfalls best seen from the water.

Soon I had plotted a route of nearly 1,700 miles, with more anchorages and places to explore than Dick and I could possibly visit in two months.  

Lake Superior - Stars are marinas, Eyeglasses are can't miss sights, and Anchors are possible anchorages.

Those who know me probably will not be surprised by what happened next. I co-moderate two online groups for Rosborough owners and like bringing Rosborough boat owners together. 

This is one of my favorite pictures - the 2022 Rosborough Maine Cruising Rendezvous.

The Apostle Islands look very
interesting!

Once I knew Dick and I would be cruising through the Apostle Islands, I connected with Erik Scott, a Rosborough owner in Bayfield, Wisconsin. One thing led to another, and we organizedoo the Rosborough Apostle Islands Rendezvous, August 24–28. 11 Rosboroughs are signed up, and Molly and Dick's wife, Ellen, will fly to Bayfield and join us for four days.

Thank you, Dick, for suggesting Lake Superior.