It could have been a Canadian vessel..... ??

CM

"katysails" wrote in message
...
| 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
| |
| |
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