For August, it's been hot by Northern Michigan standards, and lake temperatures are a few degrees above normal.
During the 'dog dayz' from August 6 to August 15 - hot, humid and windless - I pretty much gave up sailing and went to the beach instead to do some open water swimming and cool off in Lake Michigan. The 72 F. or so water does wonders in cooling the body core temperature!
This is the wind/weather situation at the Mackinac Island Airport for the month so far
(from:
http://www.wunderground.com):
Notice the streak of very light wind days. I prefer to sail the 'wind peaks' - so I sailed August 5 and August 16, 17 & 18. The three-day stretch of wild winds this week was very unusual for August. A series of cold fronts blew through Northern Michigan as a strong Low passed through Canada north of Lake Superior - weather that is more typical of late September really.
These temperatures recorded at NOAA's MACM4 weather station in Mackinaw City are definitely 'fall-like':
Some photos from August 17.
This is my 'recon' point at the Fort to check wind and wave conditions west of the bridge:
And my sailing approach to the bridge:
The daysail on August 5 was interesting. I sailed during a SCA and knew that late afternoon would be a 'blowout' with a cold front moving through ... actually the NWS guys call them 'cool fronts' in the summer.
Here's my log for that sail:
Quote:
I decided to head out to the Straits despite the all-day small craft advisory.
Turns out I made a good decision ... especially going early (I sailed 8:45am -
12:25pm).
A big 'energy pulse' moved through here around 3pm with high winds, some
boomers, heavy rain - all preceded and followed by very gusty SCA stuff.
It was breezy and wavy enough in the early morning. Some videos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4864315094/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4863708729/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4864343712/The T-storms that swept through the Straits - from West to East - popped up out of nowhere ("new cells") with about 15 minutes between the appearance of the dark, ominous clouds and the wild winds, torrential rain and boomers. I could see them from my backyard. Glad I finished my sail at noon instead of 3pm!
The Doppler radar image (from:
http://www.9and10news.com):
This week's 3-day high-wind daysailing marathon began with a Gale Warning on Monday, August 16, followed by Small Craft Advisory conditions on August 17 & 18.
On August 16, I knew it had been blowing strong on N. Lake Michigan and the Straits for many hours already - and I could expect fully developed wind waves - but I went out onto the water to see for myself. I fully expected to hightail it back to the marina after about a mile, and shy of the bridge.
My observations - boy, was I geeked
Quote:
Just sailed 5.4 nm in gale conditions. Wow!
My goal was to sail west under the bridge - into the weather.
I sailed a short-reach under the main span and fought my way about a half mile
west - almost to the NW channel buoy.
But as I approached the buoy my speed started dropping from the 5s down
to 4 knots, so I tacked home. Otherwise, I might have been vulnerable to washing
up on the rocks if I lost my rig ...
Maximum waves - after about 30 hours of blowing with a 60-70 mile fetch: 6 to 7
feet! Fortunately, the wind stayed around 20-25 knots, and I only got about
three 30-knot blasts. Mainsail reefed to 2nd points, and a storm-size roller
reef on the jib.
The water takes on a different color - chalky green - in these conditions - an effect of the
churning seas!
A good dose of lake effect rain rolled through Monday night due to the "lake instability" (NWS) - warm, moist air at the lake surface rising and mixing with cold air aloft then falling as precipitation.
I just wore a light jacket on Monday's sail. There was plenty of spray, and a few blasts of spray soaked me right through. But I was still comfortable - the water was relatively warm, and the air temperatures were still in the upper 60s with sunshine. And the wind dried my upper body quickly!
Up on the bridge I could see the 'wind convoys' being guided across. One of the convoys was stopped at the South Tower. Later, my sailing neighbor who works on the bridge told me that they were stopped because a camper had its awning blown off onto the roadway.
The wave prediction for August 16 was 5-7 feet on the Straits, and I experienced some fully developed and steep 6 footers right at the center span of the bridge. I was able to take these waves at about a 50-60 degree angle - on a 'relaxed' short reach, almost a beam reach - so I would smoothly climb these big waves then slip smoothly into the troughs. No boat slamming.
I was surprised by the high GPS boat speeds (5 - 5.5 knots) on my bridge approach - despite the waves. My neighbor tells me that there are circular currents near the bridge. So, when the boat slowed near the NW channel buoy, that was probably due to some 'back-current' on the north side of the Straits.
No photos from this 'Gale Warning' sail - couldn't find the camera!
I got a few 'high-5s' from my fellow sailors when I returned to the marina
Tuesday, August 17, was SCA material - felt a lot 'milder'.
A video I took - on a new camera (Canon Powershot I bought for $159 ... and I taped some foam over the microphone to handle the 'wind squeal'):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4903976669/Winds were way up on Wednesday, August 18 - fewer violent gusts than Monday, but a steady SW 25+ knots and some wild wave action
I went out on two 'sorties'. After my experience on the first 7.5 mile sail west of the bridge, I came back in, ate some lunch and reefed the mainsail to the third reefing points. Then I headed out for another 7 miles of sailing. It was an adrenaline rush - a real blast
A special challenge: Winds were out of the SW, but waves were being channeled out of the West on the Straits. So, a port tack took me almost directly into the waves. I had to sail a fairly 'deep' short reach to get good motion over the waves.
Reflections at the concrete bridge anchorage were bad too. Standing waves would appear out of nowhere - flat water, then a 3 foot standing wave pops up! Waves moving in both directions simultaneously too
Here are the videos.
Some of the more 'controlled' moments:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4908498989/More videos and comments:
Quote:
I've sailed 3 days in a row now - all Small Craft Advisory or 'better'. So, I've
had my fill of sailing for the week
Some videos from today's sail (marine forecast was SW 15-25 knots, waves 4-6
feet):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4906229866/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4906366226/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4905683569/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/4905732239/Monday had the biggest waves, many of them steep (forecast was 5-7 ft. for the
Straits) and knock-down type gusts near the bridge: 30-35 knots. I think the
biggest wave I encountered was 6 feet.
Tuesday was a lot milder, but still 'SCA' material.
Today, it was surprisingly wild out there. Surprising, because it was like day
and night east of the bridge and west of the bridge. West, there were
wind-whipped seas, steep wave sets and a generally high wind speed. On my 2nd
trip out, after some lunch, I reefed to the 3rd reef points, and that wasn't
extreme!
Wave-wise, there are often periods lasting for minutes with just 2-3 foot waves,
sometimes with 3-4 ft. rollers off the lake mixed in. But then there are areas -
like within 1 mile west of the bridge, especially from the center span south -
where you can get hit by sets of very steep 4 footers and even 5+ footers.
There were definitely some 6 footers at the bridge on Monday. I could feel the
boat lift high up them.
It's fun out there. And I don't feel any sense of panic - just a little
extra adrenaline and focus - since the T-storms held off until nighttime.
I did wear the Mustang suit yesterday and today to
protect better from the soaking spray.
What a week - after those 'dog dayz'
*************************
Tech notes:
(1) The shortened vang control line was rather effective at avoiding tangles with jib sheets. It wrapped around the starboard sheet once, but unwrapped before tacking. Best of course is routing this vang line through deck organizers to a cabintop cleat.
(2) When I raise the mainsail, there's too much pressure on the sail slugs in the mast track, and they get jammed just above the mast gates. Then I have to tie off the tiller and go up to the mast to press them in and up. The reason for this is outhaul tension. I suppose I could tighten the outhaul after raising the mainsail, but there's one problem: the wire slips off the 'bulletproof' roller at the boom end. I need either a guide for the wire or a new and improved roller.
(3) I was impressed by the heavily reefed sail plan. It kept the boat within 'stable sailing parameters' the whole time. The triple reef of the mainsail on day 3 (Aug. 18) was extreme, but the conditions were extreme too. On most days, this would be excessive reefing - resulting in loss of power in driving through waves. But on Wednesday it worked just fine, since winds stayed strong the whole time.
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