Lake Superior Grand Tour & Facts

[Rorzech]

Caution ! There is only two places more dangerous to sail than Lake Superior.
Cape Horn , and Tasmanian Sea.

[CFS Klopas]

I was going to disagree with you by pointing out that people only sail Lake Superior in the Summer when it's reasonable. Then I realized off season sailing isn't a thing because it's dangerous!!!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Rorzech

Caution ! There is only two places more dangerous to sail than Lake Superior.
Cape Horn , and Tasmanian Sea.

Oh I dunno. Lake Erie is the Great Lake that spooked me the most.

But the point is well taken. It’s not to be taken lightly. It is a Lake in name only.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by CFS Klopas

I was going to disagree with you by pointing out that people only sail Lake Superior in the Summer when it's reasonable. Then I realized off season sailing isn't a thing because it's dangerous!!!

Yes, it is. But lots of sports are!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch...tion-1.4953689

[Spot]

What would be considered adequate safety gear for a circle tour of a Great Lake, beyond the more obvious stuff like PFD's, VHF, paper charts, day and night signals/flares?

Boat in question would be a 21-footer trailer sailor with an outboard for any motoring.

She is currently non-instrumented other than a magnetic compass, lighted for 'steaming' (sides, stern, and mast) but not for 'anchoring'. Anchor is a light Danforth type, short chain and new rode.

I don't have the VHF yet either. I am considering getting that with GPS and AIS and then letting it talk to a tablet with OpenCPN for some basic chartplotting.

I was also thinking about a fish finder to get some depth sounding and a backup GPS.

Thanks!

[Mike OReilly]

Spot, my short response is, I would probably not do what you are planning. I might do it in a sea kayak, but not a small sailboat. Simple reason is that you could get out of harms way faster in a sea kayak vs a small sailboat.

Before addressing safety gear requirements, I would ask you how experienced you are travelling long distances with your boat? How much experience do you have travelling in truly remote areas? How much big wind and sea have you managed with this boat?

(Your post suggests to me you are inexperienced, but I don’t want to assume.)

A complete circumnavigation of Lake Superior would be around 1500 nm. In a boat your size this will take a minimum of many weeks, with a couple months being more realistic. There are 100s of nm along the east and north shores — the Canadian shore — with no habitation, and even longer stretches with very few services. The south and west shores (the American side) have long runs with little or no protection. And we haven’t even got into the challenges of the big seas and big winds that Lake Superior can throw up.

And don’t forget the water is always very cold, so hypothermia ever present. Immersion is extremely dangerous, but the wind-over-water will be cold most of the time.

I say all these things, not necessarily to dissuade you, but to ensure you understand the scale of the cruise you are suggesting to undertake. But again, let me stress, I would not lightly do as you suggest, and I spent over a decade sailing and paddling Lake Superior.

To your specific questions, there is a minimum set of safety gear all boats are required to carry. Get those. Also, make sure your vessel is properly and legally setup. This obviously includes a proper anchor light.

I would not sail off with only a Danforth. Danforth will be good for some areas, but piss-poor for others. If you want to keep this anchor, then also add a quality plow-style anchor (Bruce, CQR). Better still, get a new-gen style anchor like Spade, Mantis or Rocna. I would carry at least 40’ of chain, and 200’ of rope rode. I would add another 200’ of good line to be used for shoreline tie offs.

Yes, get a VHF and GPS/Chartplotter like Garmin GPSMAP 78 with Superior charts. Of course you need a good compass and charts. I consider a depth sounder to be near-essential equipment. A good fishfinder is great. An AIS transceiver may be somewhat useful in areas around Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, and Duluth, AIS will be pretty useless otherwise.

[Spot]

Thanks Mike OReilly for the detailed reply.

I am experienced on and under the water but not as a sailor and not in prolonged rough seas.

I am open to all forms of encouragement and warnings.

Maybe focus on some experience-building (classes / crewing) and then outfitting and rough weather clothing before planning a trip?

Trips would probably look more like a week at the Apostles on Superior or in Green Bay on Michigan at this point than weeks on end of touring.

Looks like I can shop and dream in the meantime...

Thanks again!

[Mike OReilly]

Glad to help. And don’t get me wrong, Lake Superior is an amazing cruising ground. It is immense and beautiful. Outside of a few areas like the Apostles and the few larger cities, is very lightly travelled by cruisers, or indeed anyone.

I think your plan of getting some experience in the Apostles or Green Bay is excellent. Another option, and one I was going to suggest, is to trailer your boat up to Rossport, ON and explore the islands around that area.

https://www.waterwayguide.com/explor...11&mode=marina

This area is a collection of islands and peninsulas. It is fairly well protected from the Big Lake, and there are dozens of great anchorages and islands to explore. If I had a small, trailerable boat, this is where I would want to be.

It’s also part of the Lake Superior Marine Conservation area, which is the largest fresh water marine preserve in the world.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

... I think your plan of getting some experience in the Apostles or Green Bay is excellent. Another option, and one I was going to suggest, is to trailer your boat up to Rossport, ON and explore the islands around that area.

https://www.waterwayguide.com/explor...11&mode=marina

This area is a collection of islands and peninsulas. It is fairly well protected from the Big Lake, and there are dozens of great anchorages and islands to explore. If I had a small, trailerable boat, this is where I would want to be.

It’s also part of the Lake Superior Marine Conservation area, which is the largest fresh water marine preserve in the world.

From my immages CF photo album:

[Lost Horizons]

Originally Posted by Spot

What would be considered adequate safety gear for a circle tour of a Great Lake, beyond the more obvious stuff like PFD's, VHF, paper charts, day and night signals/flares?

For Lake Superior you would need a “blue water” boat, or at least a Category A rated one. Your biggest concern is probably with summer freak storms that come out of nowhere and can produce 60 knot winds for up to an hour. In a shallow water near shore you may anchor one out, but in a deep water it will blow you away in a trailerable 21 footer, literally.

[CFS Klopas]

Category A (40+ knots, 13'+ seas) seems excessive unless you want to travel without worrying about weather windows.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Lost Horizons

For Lake Superior you would need a “blue water” boat, or at least a Category A rated one. Your biggest concern is probably with summer freak storms that come out of nowhere and can produce 60 knot winds for up to an hour. In a shallow water near shore you may anchor one out, but in a deep water it will blow you away in a trailerable 21 footer, literally.

Superior can toss up some mighty storms and squalls. And sometimes they can come up fast. That said, there is typically far more light airs during the peak sailing months (June-Sept) than heavy.

One nice thing about a small boat like Spot’s is he/she can get into some pretty small nooks that larger boats must avoid. But I still wouldn’t try to circumnavigate in something that small.

Actually, the first boat I really sailed was a 22’ O’Day. Sailed small sections of the north shore in that boat, up around Pukaskwa and Pic Island. Fun boat, but was much happier in my Rafiki.

[AKA-None]

Problem is that many of those little nooks are boulder filled. People rent to think of superior as a lake .

[GordMay]

This study* outlines how a small temperature increase can dramatically change a community's use of lakes. It's estimated that a 1 C annual increase in air temperature could cause millions of people worldwide to lose access to frozen lakes. The study was published last month in the journal Nature Climate Change, assessing 514 lakes for ice loss during winters. Twenty eight of these freshwater lakes, including Lake Superior, stood out to researchers, as their historical data points to a growing number of winters without the presence of ice since the 1970s.

* "Widespread loss of lake ice around the Northern Hemisphere in a warming world"
➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...rer=www.cbc.ca

"We discovered that Lake Superior is the second fastest warming lake in the world of all the lakes that we studied. We were able to link its high summer temperatures to its reduced ice coverage in the winter," Sharma said.
A previous study done by Sharma's team in 2015, notes that over a 25 year span, Superior's summer water surface temperatures rose by more than twice the rate of oceans, averaging about 0.34 C per decade.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by GordMay

This study* outlines how a small temperature increase can dramatically change a community's use of lakes. It's estimated that a 1 C annual increase in air temperature could cause millions of people worldwide to lose access to frozen lakes. The study was published last month in the journal Nature Climate Change, assessing 514 lakes for ice loss during winters. Twenty eight of these freshwater lakes, including Lake Superior, stood out to researchers, as their historical data points to a growing number of winters without the presence of ice since the 1970s.

* "Widespread loss of lake ice around the Northern Hemisphere in a warming world"
➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...rer=www.cbc.ca

"We discovered that Lake Superior is the second fastest warming lake in the world of all the lakes that we studied. We were able to link its high summer temperatures to its reduced ice coverage in the winter," Sharma said.
A previous study done by Sharma's team in 2015, notes that over a 25 year span, Superior's summer water surface temperatures rose by more than twice the rate of oceans, averaging about 0.34 C per decade.

That's very sobering. More extreme weather will probably result. Thanks Gord.