Gopher Broke is Headin' Home

[mncruiser]

The good news is it is hot as heck in Bayfield! Hope the A/C works, you will need it!

Hope to run into you this weekend!

Sean and Pam an kids!

 

[BDofMSP]

Well that's the thing. The minute we made the harbor it was high 80s and baking. I shed literally 7 layers between the entrance and the gas dock, and got sunburnt filling the tank. Amazing the difference.

Tomorrow is cold and fog offshore again, but this time we're not 20+ miles out so we'll have to take it slow. Or maybe route ourselves differently.

Either way we really hope to stop at Black River - one of my favorites.
BD

 

[BDofMSP]

Gopher Broke is HOME

I apologize that I've delayed posting our progress on our final day. We got distracted by celebration and (mostly) massive cleaning required after such an adventure.

The run from Copper Harbor to Bayfield was very uneventful, mostly because you couldn't see a THING for most of the way. We had very thick fog for the first 4.5 hours. This required us to slow to 7 knots until we got far enough offshore (into the shipping lane) to be less concerned about very small craft that wouldn't show on radar. We had numerous large ship escorts and we found our place in the mix and enjoyed the ride.

Once things cleared around 12:30 it was a glorious day. Shed a few layers and enjoyed the sunshine. At 1:15 we could see land approaching and decided we'd take a "victory lap" around the Apostle Islands before heading to the dock. We changed course towards Devils Island and curved around Raspberry before heading back to Bayfield and our marina.

We didn't fill up yet so I don't have fuel burn for the final day, but it appears to be consistent with the rest (about 31 gph @2250). I'll be pulling all the final numbers together, maybe this weekend.

Saturday (as I mentioned) was cleaning and repairs. We pulled the old damaged tube off the dinghy for replacement with the new one that had just been delivered at home. I'm heading back up Wednesday and I'll be replacing that this weekend. The weekend was topped off by a visit from another TF'er (mncruiser) who left a very generous celebratory gift for us! Much enjoyed and appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice, support and encouragement throughout this journey. While I'm glad it's behind me, it was an incredible learning experience, and has set me up with far more confidence and knowledge about my boat than I could have ever gotten by just tooling around the islands, and certainly far more than if I'd had the boat delivered just by others, or by truck. If there's anything I take away from this, it's that I could have never understood or priced that into the value proposition when making the decision on how to get her home. I'm just fortunate that I made the choices that I did.

BD

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: I have a question, not criticizing, but just asking. Why do you head out in such fog? Why not wait like one does for other weather conditions? I might get caught in such fog but have never intentionally taken off in it.

 

[Wayfarer]

Welcome home!

 

[BDofMSP]

Wifey B: I have a question, not criticizing, but just asking. Why do you head out in such fog? Why not wait like one does for other weather conditions? I might get caught in such fog but have never intentionally taken off in it.

It's a good, legitimate question.

It has everything to do with the area really. I would never dream of doing this in the PNW. There's just far too much stuff out there besides boats to worry about (pots, huge logs, flotsam, etc.). On Superior, and especially this part of Superior, there's really just not that much going on. Yes it's definitely POSSIBLE that there could be a log out there, but I've never seen anything of any size far off shore. Also towns are very few and far between up there, and most of the craft are smaller recreational fishing boats that aren't heading that far offshore, and even less likely in those conditions. Once you're miles out, they're just not there, because they're right in the path of the large ships that are cruising through. Another thing is that I'm both receiving and transmitting AIS, so I'm visible to those same large ships.

We kept our radar on all day on every leg regardless of conditions. I came to trust it because it picked up and displayed exactly what I saw all the time. It seemed to me that it would continue to do that, even if I couldn't see those things myself, which is of course why you have radar.

Finally, to be perfectly honest, because I wanted to get home and the forecast for fog was the same all day, and all the next day. I had crew that were expecting to return to work. I wouldn't have let that drive me to do so if I didn't feel it was a reasonable risk, but it was a factor in the decision.

I wouldn't recommend that everybody do it, and again I wouldn't do it other places. I wouldn't do it even there if I needed to be close to shore. It seemed like a reasonable choice for us at that spot and time though.
BD

 

[rgano]

Excellent reasoning re: the radar departure. Trained in the equipment with lots of recent experience and in known waters at safe speed.

 

[mncruiser]

I apologize that I've delayed posting our progress on our final day. We got distracted by celebration and (mostly) massive cleaning required after such an adventure.



The run from Copper Harbor to Bayfield was very uneventful, mostly because you couldn't see a THING for most of the way. We had very thick fog for the first 4.5 hours. This required us to slow to 7 knots until we got far enough offshore (into the shipping lane) to be less concerned about very small craft that wouldn't show on radar. We had numerous large ship escorts and we found our place in the mix and enjoyed the ride.



Once things cleared around 12:30 it was a glorious day. Shed a few layers and enjoyed the sunshine. At 1:15 we could see land approaching and decided we'd take a "victory lap" around the Apostle Islands before heading to the dock. We changed course towards Devils Island and curved around Raspberry before heading back to Bayfield and our marina.



We didn't fill up yet so I don't have fuel burn for the final day, but it appears to be consistent with the rest (about 31 gph @2250). I'll be pulling all the final numbers together, maybe this weekend.



Saturday (as I mentioned) was cleaning and repairs. We pulled the old damaged tube off the dinghy for replacement with the new one that had just been delivered at home. I'm heading back up Wednesday and I'll be replacing that this weekend. The weekend was topped off by a visit from another TF'er (mncruiser) who left a very generous celebratory gift for us! Much enjoyed and appreciated.



Thanks to everyone for all the advice, support and encouragement throughout this journey. While I'm glad it's behind me, it was an incredible learning experience, and has set me up with far more confidence and knowledge about my boat than I could have ever gotten by just tooling around the islands, and certainly far more than if I'd had the boat delivered just by others, or by truck. If there's anything I take away from this, it's that I could have never understood or priced that into the value proposition when making the decision on how to get her home. I'm just fortunate that I made the choices that I did.



BD

Glad you got the gift! Cheers to great adventures ahead!

 

[OldDan1943]

Glad you got the boat back in time for the "season."

 

[BDofMSP]

Glad you got the boat back in time for the "season."

Thanks! Hoping to make up for lost time.
BD

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

BD, welcome home. We will keep an eye out for you on the Big Lake. If you see two crazy sailors and a small white dog approaching you at anchor, don't be alarmed, we are not soliciting for the Old Salt Retirement Home, just looking for a spot of Rum.

 

[IRENE]

Great trip, I thoroughly enjoyed your very well done posts. Thanks very much for sharing the adventure. Have a GREAT summer.