CONTINUOUSWAVE

HOCKEY season has ended. Boating season can now begin, even in Minnesota.

I can report happily that my own Boston Whaler boat has reached the crystal clear, cold, fresh water of Lake Michigan for the first time this boating season. The REVENGE 22 W-T Whaler Drive boat survived a 280-mile journey by highway without any problems. It very gently came off its trailer at the launching ramp. Its Evinrude E-TEC 225-HP engine started immediately. We departed the Marsten Dame Marina for about two hours of cruising of Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan with a destination of Cathead Bay at the NW tip of the Leelanau Peninsula.

We had a relaxing lunch while adrift off the beautiful sand beach in about 8-feet of water. Some of the crew, the younger fellows, even took a very brief swim in the 59-degree (surface temperature) water.

I hope all of my fellow Boston Whaler Great Lakes Cruising Club boaters have their boats in the water and ready for a fine summer of boating.

The water level in Lake Michigan-Huron is presently very good, about 580.17-feet above sea level. Chart datum is 577.5-feet, so the lakes are about 32-inches above chart datum.

The harbor of refuge at Leland will need dredging as it has shoaled now to about 6-feet at the entrance bar. It was not dredged last year. This winter the lack of ice cover on the lake allowed wave action to add to the shoaling. The harbor has 67-slips. Last season the occupancy rate was quite high. About 1,500-boats visited the harbor and stayed a total of 3,500-boat-days.

The price of REC-90 (no ethanol) gasoline at the fuel dock is $3.85-per-gallon at Leland and $3.90-per-gallon at Northport. The local HOLIDAY fuel retailers on the highway also sell PREMIUM no-ethanol gasoline for about $3.10-per-gallon. HOLIDAY has several locations in northern Michigan, including Traverse City, Charlevoix, St. Ignace, and Cheboygan.

My first test run mission on BW1 today. Only thought about putting on gloves to hold the wheel, but didn't put them on.

Jim--you can tie up to the buoy in front of my house without the law coming after you.

Con

We did the same last Saturday June 11th. Put her in at South Haven municipal marina. No fee for launching and parking as it was free fishing weekend.

It was supposed to be a 90-degree-F day, but when we got onto Lake Michigan the wind across the water made it actually feel cold/ Surface temp of the water was 61.3-degree-F: too cold for this man to jump in and it wasn't even close to 80 air temp.

We drifted and had lunch and went back upstream on the Black River looking at the boats that were in the marinas. All and all, a nice couple of hours, but we would have been warmer picking an inland lake like we have done several times already.

Update on fuel prices: at the Northport fuel dock, REC-90 pure gasoline was $3.65-per-gallon, and at the Holiday fuel station on M22 in Traverse City 91-Octane Premium pure gasoline was $3.35-per-gallon. It is great to see that fuel at the fuel dock in the marina is only selling at a $0.30-per-gallon premium over the equivalent grade fuel on the highway.

Update on water temperature in Lake Michigan: we were out last week on Wednesday. Air temperatures on land were above 90-degrees-F. The water temperature in a cove in Grand Traverse Bay just north of Omena was 68-degrees. Two days later, a cold front came through and overnight low air temperatures were around 37-degrees in some area.

Update on Sheboygan pier drowning: this weekend the western shore of Lake Michigan experienced high waves. A number of people were swept into the water. Three persons who attempted to walk out on the south break wall at the harbor entrance in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, were swept into the water from the low-lying pier on Sunday about 4 p.m. The break wall pier is not very high, and it looks like waves of even moderate height break against the seaward side and keep the pier surface wet. Based on photographs on various news websites, the three men were swept into the harbor-side of the pier, as that is the area shown being searched. One of the three was rescued about thirty minutes later, but his two friends were still missing. While various agencies searched for the two missing men, two anglers fishing from the pier were swept off into the water around 5:30 p.m. Those two were then rescued by the many boats searching for the initial missing pair.

As of Monday evening, one body has been recovered. The other missing person is now presumed to have drowned.

On July 4th in 1976 a friend and two young ladies talked me into going water skiing near Nekoma, ND where I was stationed. The others decided I would be first up on the skis. I launched off a pier uneventfully. I knew I was making a big mistake as soon as the spray hit me. For the only time since learning to water ski I fell only one time. After that fall absolute caution was the name of the game. I won't get into any anatomical details.

I was in Nekoma for a few less days than a year. Thank goodness for the SALT agreements which caused our little station to close. The locals were very nice and kind but nothing could make up for the weather. We, at the station, all agreed; the 4th of July weekend constituted our summer of 1976.