Hello from Michigan

Many thanks to all who share their thoughts and experiences on this forum. I have learned enough to know how little we know! But also enough to encourage our dream of boating the Great Lakes.

In July we purchased a used Carver 450 Voyager Pilothouse. We hired a captain to assist us with the trip to our home port from the Saginaw River to Lake St. Clair. Our family (across Michigan, Arizona, California) were able to see us travel the St. Clair River via webcams at a few locations. The profile pic is from one of those cameras. It made an exciting trip even more amazing!

Since then we have been enjoying day cruises and learning her systems. It has been intimidating and exciting. Mostly exciting.

Friday she will come out of the water for indoor heated storage. Very sad about this but we have pushed the season as long as we can. All winter long I will be soaking up the cruising stories and other chit chat on this forum to feed our dream. Looking forward to some longer cruises along the Michigan coastline next year.

Estee

Congratulations and welcome, from a former “nautical mile” boater!

Welcome aboard from AuGres. Glad to have another Michigan boater here. We are hauling tomorrow.

JT and Estee, welcome to TF. Nice bunch of folks on here who have a tremendous amount of boating knowledge and are very willing to share it. Congrats on the new boat.


I grew up in Saginaw and boated on the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay, and my current boat came from MacRay marina on Lake St. Clair. There are some great waters available to you to explore.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Dragonfly was docked in Bay City. Prior to this boat purchase, we had never been to Bay City. It was lovely. We didn't make it as far up river as Saginaw but we enjoyed the sites from Bay City out to the Bay. We stopped in Port Austin to take on fuel and then continued around the thumb and down the coast. We made the full trip in one day. Our captain was only available for that day so we made it work. The boat handled beautifully. We were surprised once we were in the St. Clair River that the coast guard was issuing small craft advisories. Dragon fly was working hard but handled the wind and waves like a champ.

We haven't made it to MacRay harbor but we did have a couple day trips through the St. Clair flats using the South and North Channels. Beautiful area for scenic boating.

Estee

Wifey B: Good Morning, Michigan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome aboard but that whole thing about putting it away for winter makes me sad.

Thank you for the Empathy Wifey B.

While our boat is in storage we will be able to work on shining her gelcoat but it won't be the same as being able to take her for a cruise.

I so appreciate this forum to feed my cruising dreams especially during the long Michigan winter. It is wonderful to read about others cruise experiences when we are stuck on the hard. Blogs and youtube have also been great for learning and entertainment.

Estee

I grew up very near St Clair River. Sailed our International 110 out of the GPW Park near Jefferson Beach. Solo sailed to Canada and back. Checked into Canada to prove to my older brother I did it but, forgot to check back into the US. OOPS. This was back in the days when checking into and out of Canada was not required. And of course, checking back into the US. It was resolved the the CG called my mom.... Big OOPS
By the way, never try to cross the bow of a ore carrier. LOL It was fun to 'butter fly' or 'wing on wing' along the side of the ore carrier and then pass astern. Ah yes, the days of being an idiot. I tied down the tiller, went forward and changed the jib to a smaller size (the bow was being pulled down). If I had fallen overboard, I would not be here today. So it is true, "God protects drunks and fools." Sometimes I am just over qualified. LOL

JT and Estee said:

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Dragonfly was docked in Bay City. Prior to this boat purchase, we had never been to Bay City. It was lovely. We didn't make it as far up river as Saginaw but we enjoyed the sites from Bay City out to the Bay. We stopped in Port Austin to take on fuel and then continued around the thumb and down the coast. We made the full trip in one day. Our captain was only available for that day so we made it work. The boat handled beautifully. We were surprised once we were in the St. Clair River that the coast guard was issuing small craft advisories. Dragon fly was working hard but handled the wind and waves like a champ.

We haven't made it to MacRay harbor but we did have a couple day trips through the St. Clair flats using the South and North Channels. Beautiful area for scenic boating.

Estee

Click to expand...

We like Port Austin, nice little harbor. Bet that trip cost a bit of fuel...

Ouch! Yes, lots of fuel that day. It wasn't a very trawler-like voyage. Going forward we intend to only drive that fast if weather dictates it or we want to "clean out the carbon". Our intended cruising speed and the cruising speed we used for all our experience building day trips since then is closer to 9 kts. She provides a lovely ride at 9 kts. So happy to have this vessel and enjoy these adventures!

Estee

We usually cruise at 9 knots too. Well, actually 10 mph. It is fairly economical and it makes navigation calculations simple.

Welcome from Grosse Pointe!

Good to have another GL boater in the forum. I wish you many wonderful nautical miles in some of the most beautiful water in the world. Bill