Monday August 20, 2012

Today was a grueling grind across the lake.  We had a west wind and we were going west so we had little opportunity to sail with the wind dead on.  We started about 8:30 and of course our GPS was out again.  That is definitely going back to the manufacturer.  Sometime later in the day it began working again.  Fortunately we had the electronic charts on our other computer.  I think I like paper myself or a combination of all three.  About an hour after our departure I saw a freighter in the distance in the freighter channel.  We passed Crisp point about 11AM.  Crisp Point is an old abandoned lighthouse and lifesaving station.  Recently the historical society in the area has been working on it and offer volunteer light keeper programs.  Bob became ill shortly after this and needed to lay down for quite some time.  He was sicker than I have ever seen him in the last ten years.  It was very difficult for me to take pictures today because of the waves, they were at least 2-4 footers.  Surprisingly I did not get sick.  At times it seemed we were climbing mountains with the boat.   About noon we passed Little Lake harbor which would have been a stop except the entrance was too shallow again.  It was beautiful to see all the sand beaches and all the sand cliffs.    The entire shoreline is beach.  We arrived in Grand Marais at 4:30 PM but we were both tired like it was much later.

I just spoke with onother sailor in front of us who has been circumnavigating Lake Superior for some 20 years.  They just recently came back from Copper harbor since they like us got a late start on the lake due to health issues.  She was quite informative about the lake and where to take harbor and how to manage the locks.