We lost much of the July sailing opportunities due to being home for three weeks taking care of things there. Once we returned to the boat we were ready for an adventure. Our plan included visits to Ludington and Frankfort which we'd stopped in during our Great Loop trip. Also, we hoped to make it to South Manitou Island and Charlevoix for our first time. Our return route included Beaver Island, Fayette and Door County. As often happens, that's not how our trip unfolded.
We left our dock expecting 5 to 10 mph winds from the northeast; perfect for sailing. Once on the bay we found the wind was coming from the east. We raised the main anyway but couldn't keep the sail full. It would be a motoring day. South of Green Island, a huge tug passed by, pushing ship parts to Fincantieri in Marinette.
Leaving Menominee for Ludington
Video by Dan Mooney
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| Fincantieri delivery |
After 2.5 hours of motoring we entered Sturgeon Bay and began navigating through the three lift bridges. The first two, Michigan Street and Oregon Street open on the half and quarter hour respectively. They are only about one block apart. We circled for a good 10 minutes between the two as we waited for the Oregon Street opening. After passing under the third bridge, the Bayview, we anchored just east in a mooring field. This should have been a good place to anchor. Instead, we found the bridge noises were louder than expected. Even worse, the fishing boat traffic made it a rough anchorage. They ignored the no wake signs after clearing the bridge, opening up to full throttle as they aimed for the big lake. Each one swamped us. This went on until after 10:00 pm and began all over again around 4:00 am. We were getting slammed in 8 ft of water, over and over!
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| Our anchorage on Maps |
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| Our anchorage on Open CPN |
We were up with the fishing boats, ready to pull anchor and set off toward the Sturgeon Bay canal by 6:15. As we entered Lake Michigan we realized it would be a LONG day crossing the 70 miles to Ludington. Once again, the wind was coming directly out of the east from the direction we were going. The lake was churning with two sets of four foot rollers coming from different directions. We battled those conditions one hour at a time. It was lonely out there; we didn't see anyone or anything until a cargo ship appeared in the distance at around 40 miles. The skies were very smoky from the Canadian fires. We were getting fried by the sun so we put our big rim sun hats on. By the end of the day, my lips were swollen, burned, and blistered from the sun and wind.
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| Sturgeon Bay Canal |
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| Approaching Lake Michigan |
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| Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Pierhead Light |
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Mystic in the middle of the Lake
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At about eight miles out, the sand dunes north of Ludington appeared behind a cargo ship. The Badger Ferry captain came over the radio, announcing his arrival to the Ludington breakwater. We heard it before we could see it, but watched it steam through the smoky skies and grow in size. It looked like we could beat it to the breakwater but Dave throttled down to get out of it's way. The Badger is notorious for not changing course when confronted by pleasure craft. The word on the water is to steer clear of it unless you want to become 'a bug on the windshield' of it's hull.
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Sand dunes north of Ludington
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| Slowing to let the Badger pass |
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| The Badger entering Ludington breakwater |
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| Badger passing Ludington Light |
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| Badger steaming into Ludington |
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| Approaching Ludington breakwater |
We followed the Badger into the breakwater then turned north into Ludington Marina, finding our slip at B17 easily. We had stayed at this very dock on our last visit in 2016. Our Looper friends, Bob and Sue keep their Monk 36, Mirror Image in slip B18 so we were right across from them. We'd booked two nights but decided to extend our stay. The marina moved us next to Bob and Sue in slip B16 on the 3rd night.
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Mystic beside Mirror Image
Ludington, Michigan
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The crossing was difficult. Lake Michigan is an inland sea that commands respect. We'd have to keep our eye on the weather so we could cross back again to get to Menominee. We settled in to enjoy our visit. We'd worry about our return trip when it was time to go west again.
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Charted course in Blue
Our course in Red |
