Voyage Plan - Part One (tentative)

VOYAGE PLAN – 1		s/v IHANA
Name	Bearing (True)	Distance (NM)	Time @ 5 kts	Lat.	Long.
001 Superior Light				46.72	-92.00
002 Sand Island light	69			47.01	-90.94
Anchorage in Apostle Islands		47.0	9.4
003 Between the Raspberries	115			46.96	-90.79
004 S of Oak Island	138			46.90	-90.71
005 Stockton Island	82			46.91	-90.57
Anchorage in Apostle Islands		17.4	3.5
006 N Michigan Island light	86			46.92	-90.43
007 Ontonagon Harbor	93			46.88	-89.32
Marina		51.3	10.2
008 Keweenaw NW Entrance	52			47.25	-88.64
Marina @ Keweenaw		35.5	7.1
Superior to Keweenaw TOTALS:		151.2	30.2
Marina @ Keweenaw

The Death Zone

It's now one month until our projected sailing date.  -- During this month: sailing this Memorial Day weekend, a week at a family reunion, the NLSC Weekend Pepin sailing trip, saying goodbye to friends and neighbors, and / of course / final boat preparation - AIS installation (again), loading non-perishable food and clothing, taking the mast down and stowing it (on deck?), taking down the radar pole and adding another VHF antenna, adding and subtracting items from the mast while it is down, having the movers and marinas load, haul, unload, and re-launch the boat, re-rigging and stepping the mast and radar pole, loading up the bikes, dinghy & motor, more lazyjack lines, fuel containers, getting some sort of non-emergency satellite communications, and lots of other things that we have ordered.  -- We heard that the last month before sailing is REALLY busy and stressful.  Can't wait to finally get on board and cast off the docklines. -- Here we go ...  {forgot to add:  prepare house, yard, garden for extended absence}

"It furthers one to cross the great water"

From the I Ching (the Chinese Book of Changes):

Hexagram # 26 - Ta Ch'u - THE TAMING POWER OF THE GREAT.

 Perseverance furthers.
 Not eating at home brings good fortune.
 It furthers one to cross the great water.

[The I Ching and its hexagrams were thought to pre-date recorded history, and based on traditional Chinese accounts, its origins trace back to the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC.]

[Also see associated interesting story from 1970-ish.]

I Ching story, interesting sideline

Back around 1970, we were living in Central Wisconsin. The Ilona was about to leave Grand Rapids, Michigan, driving home alone in a big car with a transmission that was on the endangered-species list. She was very concerned that the car would break down on her way back home. And she was going to drive around the south end of Lake Michigan, through Chicago of all places! She called me (at home) and asked what she should do. I told her I would check and call her right back. So, it being the 60s-70s era, I immediately consulted the I Ching for advice (yeah, I know, but things were strange in those days.) I used the appropriate random-hexagram generator, looked up my forecast, and read: "It furthers one to cross the great water." Shazam! Wowzer! Of course. Drive to Ludington (short drive), take the car ferry across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc (avoiding hundreds of miles, and Chicago), and then you are only a few hours from home (and I can come and get you if necessary!). True story. Happy ending - she and the car made it home. I since junked the car, kept the wife.

Friends along the way

Lining up friends to see while we travel.  Tentative list, dates really approximate:

June- Jim Kimmet (crew) & Peggy (Lake Superior)
June- Lou & Lyn Culbert (Apostle Islands, Lake Superior)
July- entire Trailer/sailors group (Annual North Channel / Lake Huron Regatta)
August- Naomi Catching (somewhere north of Toronto)
August- Kathy & Sean Blackwood (Petersborough, on the Trent-Severn Canal)
September- Nan & Di & Eric Rouda; also Samara, Eliana, and others?
       (New York / New Jersey) - for the High Holidays?
October- Brian & Dian Belanger (Annapolis)
November- Ken Roetzel & Julie O'brien (Charleston)
Fall- Mark & Diana Doyle (somewhere on the IntraCoastal Waterway)
December- Raline Paper (Dania, FL)
Winter- Laurence Wright (Florida & Bahamas)
Winter- various Trailer/sailors (Florida & Bahamas)

Winter- California Roudas (Bahamas)

Whenever- Others?

Projected timeline for June

It is getting close;  11 days in Cities which includes another weekend at Lake Pepin prepping (and sailing).

June 1-June 7 (leave at noon) in Green Bay with the family.  Yeah!

June 8 in Roseville doing home stuff and loading the van with much of last stuff for the boat.

June 9-10 hosting on Ihana: members of Northern Lights Sailing Club at Lake City.

June 11-13 take down most of the stuff on top side of boat including the mast, radar & pole, bimini, dodger, antennas, and tie it all down for lift out of water

June 14 MOVING DAY.  Boat goes from Lake City, MN, to Lake Superior. Travellift takes Ihana out of the water and onto a flatbed trailer. We drive and follow the boat on the mover's truck to Barker's Island at Superior, Wi.

June 14-15 Barker's Island marina steps the mast and puts it into the water.

June 15-17  Re-rig the boat; everything back on the top side. Tune the standing rigging; reconnect the antenna and other wires from the mast to the internal instruments and switches.

June 18-19 or so  Clean up house, final work on yard, dinner for Ilona by Sisterhood friends of MZ, hair + job with hairdresser.

June 20-23 ? Back up to Barker's Island to finish prep and then take off! Ben will be taking us up.  We have a friend with us for the weeks on the south shore of Lake Superior.  Giving ourselves 2 weeks to sail 350 miles to the Soo and its locks.  Then spend some time in North Channel with the Trailer-Sailers starting in mid-July.

Of course, this is the plan.  Let's see what happens ...

Boat Prep

Most of May was spent preparing the boat for the adventure.  Just about all the big jobs are done (except for the POS-AIS which still doesn't work).  We have everything (so far) organized, inventoried, and labeled.  Still have the final loadings:  food, clothing, dinghy, outboard, containers for extra fuel, materials for taking the mast down and storing it on deck, maybe another new anchor and rode, and more small stuff. But we are feeling MUCH BETTER - we might make it in time!
The forced-air diesel heating system is 95% installed; works great - just need the guy to hook up another air duct into the aft "stateroom".
Will try to get someone to get the Automatic Identification System to work.  So far I'm out about $800 and 3-4 days of hooking up the GPS and VHF antennas and NMEA connections to the chartplotter, and debugging; let's see if the manufacturer's or dealer's warranty means anything.  At worst, we can sail without it, but hope we get our money back. Hopefully they can replace the unit or get it to work in the next week or so; we're running out of time.
The big problem now is getting the house ready to be left alone for the next year.  Time crunch - see separate post about our projected June schedule.