No....the lake is 80 miles across at its' widest (if that) and is ringed
around with ports that are from 15 miles to 45 miles apart...everything is
well marked...you would have to be an absolute dunderhead to not know what
the next port is (unless you ran over from Wisconsin...but then you'd have
charts...or at least a GPS)...and a 36 ft motorboat is shallow draft enough
to run way in even if they didn't know how to navigate....I think Max's
scenario about seeing a lone woman cruising is probably the correct
one...and I find that scary...I do think Max should inform the CG that this
happened...just in case....

"Capt. Mooron" wrote in message
...
You assume they had charts... ;-)

"katysails" wrote in message
...
| John...you cannot get lost on Lake Michigan. For Pete's sake, the ports
are
| marked on road maps. From what Max posted, I'm assuming he was coming
home
| from Pen****er to his home port...all the channels are clearly marked
and
| easily seen. The only difficult channels to find are farther north at
| Arcadia and Portage Lake, and even then, you always know Portage lake by
the
| cloud that hangs over it (it's a weird anomaly).
| "John Cairns" wrote in message
| . ..
| I think they were lost and didn't have the nerve to admit it. I never
| realized it until recently, but there are powerboaters out there that
hold
| sailors in some high regard. Several weeks ago I was distributing
| literature
| for our sail club at a marina about 25 miles south of here, pretty
small
| place with maybe about 40 slips, but there were 28 sailboats there. I
was
| walking to the sailboats and dropping the envelopes in the cockpits, a
| fisherman asked me what I was doing and I told him about the club, he
| asked
| me about the weather out on the lake! I was on foot, no indication
that
I
| had been out on the lake(Erie) or that I could possibly have any more
| information than he did on the subject. He asked me about the waves
that
| day, it was blowing maybe about 15kts. out of the west, he wanted to
know
| what I thought the waves might be like, he was on a smaller runabout,
| maybe
| 16'. I told him that the waves shouldn't be very big on this end of
the
| lake, the western end, without explaining that this is something he
should
| have been able to figure out. I really wouldn't be surprised if they
were
| lost and thought that you, as a sailor, would be able to help them
with
| directions, but in the end were to embarrassed to admit it.
|
| John Cairns
|
|
| Last Saturday, while returning home from a nearby port (35nm to the
| north)
| on Lake Michigan this happened to us when we were about 8nm from our
| port.
| I'll report the incident and let you all make your own judgments.
|
| It was a sunny day, 10kts. from the west, and we were making roughly
| 6kts.
| southbound, my wife at the helm. I'd just lain down on one of the
| cockpit
| seats when I heard the rumble of a couple of large gas engines
| throttling
| down. I peeked over the coaming to discover a go fast boat,
approaching
| from the rear, had slowed and nearly stopped about 30 yards off our
| starboard beam. I grabbed the binocs and took a look. The skipper
was
| a
| shaggy-looking middle-aged man dressed in a muscle shirt and his
three
| passengers were all younger men dressed in heavy, dark
| clothing--sweaters,
| dark pants, etc. Not exactly what one would expect for an afternoon
| outing
| on the old go-fast. All were standing in their boat, the Panama
Jeanne,
| about 38' long. They turned toward us and approached at slow speed,
| came
| up
| behind us, and stalked us for about 5 minutes. Then they pulled up
| along
| the port side. During this time I went below and obtained our 25mm
| flare
| gun, loaded it, and stuck two additional flares in my pocket. A lot
of
| good
| it would have done, but it made me feel that I was at least doing
| something.
| The skipper then yelled something to us. We asked him to repeat and
he
| inquired as to the distance and direction to our home port. We told
him
| 6
| miles (a lie, but we could see the breakwalls of the channel in the
| distance). He then conferred with the other young men, and finally
| said,
| "You have a beautiful boat." I said, "Thanks." After stalking us
for
a
| while longer they finally drifted off to port (toward shore), idled
| along
| for another five minutes, then sped off to the south.
|
| The experience was unnerving, to say the least. It certainly makes
one
| feel
| vulnerable when traveling at 6kts. My take on this is that they
thought
| a
| single woman was traveling alone, and when they saw me they decided
to
| check
| things out further before reacting. It is possible they might have
| thought
| me armed, as my arm and hand were extended into the cabin, holding
the
| flare
| gun, while I was standing in the cockpit.
|
| OTOH it could have been innocent, but such behavior is certainly
| suspicious.
|
| What's your take?
|
| Max
|
|
|
|
|
|