Its said she never gives up her dead.

[riser4]

Lake. Big lake.

[RootSkier]

Lake. Best lake.

And with one of the very best golf courses in the state (MN) perched above it.

[EWG]

They have one of those ships docked at the science center between the RnR HOF and Browns’ stadium. I got a private tour of it once cause we had a client that was thinking of doing something pretty nutty and awesome with it that didn't work out. Thing is like a dungeon. It's also almost unimaginably long.

Going down in that is difficult to get your head around. What a tough, tough way to go. True American legends.

Pour one out indeed.

[snowaddict91]

They have one of those ships docked at the science center between the RnR HOF and Brown's stadium. I got a private tour of it once cause we had a client that was thinking of doing something pretty nutty and awesome with it that didn't work out. Thing is like a dungeon. It's also almost unimaginably long.

Shitty pic, but I was there last week and happened to snap one so thought I'd share. It was quite the pleasant day for CLE in November.

[Core Shot]

Lake. Big lake.

It’s a great lake
So is Michigan

===
The fact that there can be 33-foot waves on a “lake” will surprise some readers. I use quotation marks because Lake Michigan, like two other Great Lakes, Superior and Huron, is a lake only by arcane definition. It is in every other way a sea.

Confusion about this body of water abounds. Over the course of SAILING’s nearly half century of life, many people have asked why a national magazine that covers sailing all over the world is based far inland. The answer is that our home is not inland. It’s on the coast, a freshwater sea coast that, at more than 1,600 miles, is longer than the entire West Coast of the United States.

The uninitiated often have trouble comprehending the behavior of this sea. Lake Michigan sailors tend to be touchy on this subject, especially when visitors assume that sailing here amounts to idyllic meandering in gentle breezes on pondlike water. Which accounts for the popularity of the story of “Ted’s Excellent Adventure in the Chicago Mackinac Race.”

The story delivers its lesson so perfectly that some might suspect the tale is apocryphal or at least enhanced as manytimes- told sailors’ yarns tend to be. But not so. Its veracity is confirmed by reliable witnesses, including Bruce Kirby, former Olympic sailor, designer of the Laser and other admirable sailing craft and one-time newspaper reporter.

Kirby was a member of the crew of Ted Turner’s 12-Meter American Eagle in the 1970 Chicago Mackinac race. Turner, the reigning celebrity sailor of the era, was the center of attention in Chicago before the race and, as was his wont, had a lot to say, including, “Yeah, I’m really scared.” This, according to Kirby, was his mocking response to a local sailor’s warning that Lake Michigan could turn nasty in a hurry.

It was Turner’s first Chicago Mackinac race and it would prove to be one of the roughest in history. Halfway up the course, Eagle collided with a ferocious weather front with conditions not unlike today’s forecast (though with somewhat smaller waves). Sustained north winds recorded at more than 60 knots shredded Eagle’s sail inventory (she was down to one usable sail) and steep seas abused the crew and the wooden boat mercilessly.

In the midst of the mayhem, Kirby shouted to Turner, “What do you think of lake sailing now?” Turner shouted back, “I hereby publicly retract anything and everything I have ever said about inland sailing.”

It turned out that in spite of the comeuppance, Turner and his crew acquitted themselves rather well. Eagle managed to finish the race and took second place, while 88 other boats dropped out, some dismasted, some taking on water, others disabled by crew injuries and rampant seasickness.

[BmillsSkier]

Shitty pic, but I was there last week and happened to snap one so thought I'd share. It was quite the pleasant day for CLE in November.

The William H. Mather!

Massive ship at 618’. The Fitz was even bigger at 729’!

Super cool you got a private tour EWG! They say it’s haunted.

[BmillsSkier]

It’s a great lake
So is Michigan

===
The fact that there can be 33-foot waves on a “lake” will surprise some readers. I use quotation marks because Lake Michigan, like two other Great Lakes, Superior and Huron, is a lake only by arcane definition. It is in every other way a sea.

Confusion about this body of water abounds. Over the course of SAILING’s nearly half century of life, many people have asked why a national magazine that covers sailing all over the world is based far inland. The answer is that our home is not inland. It’s on the coast, a freshwater sea coast that, at more than 1,600 miles, is longer than the entire West Coast of the United States.

The uninitiated often have trouble comprehending the behavior of this sea. Lake Michigan sailors tend to be touchy on this subject, especially when visitors assume that sailing here amounts to idyllic meandering in gentle breezes on pondlike water. Which accounts for the popularity of the story of “Ted’s Excellent Adventure in the Chicago Mackinac Race.”

The story delivers its lesson so perfectly that some might suspect the tale is apocryphal or at least enhanced as manytimes- told sailors’ yarns tend to be. But not so. Its veracity is confirmed by reliable witnesses, including Bruce Kirby, former Olympic sailor, designer of the Laser and other admirable sailing craft and one-time newspaper reporter.

Kirby was a member of the crew of Ted Turner’s 12-Meter American Eagle in the 1970 Chicago Mackinac race. Turner, the reigning celebrity sailor of the era, was the center of attention in Chicago before the race and, as was his wont, had a lot to say, including, “Yeah, I’m really scared.” This, according to Kirby, was his mocking response to a local sailor’s warning that Lake Michigan could turn nasty in a hurry.

It was Turner’s first Chicago Mackinac race and it would prove to be one of the roughest in history. Halfway up the course, Eagle collided with a ferocious weather front with conditions not unlike today’s forecast (though with somewhat smaller waves). Sustained north winds recorded at more than 60 knots shredded Eagle’s sail inventory (she was down to one usable sail) and steep seas abused the crew and the wooden boat mercilessly.

In the midst of the mayhem, Kirby shouted to Turner, “What do you think of lake sailing now?” Turner shouted back, “I hereby publicly retract anything and everything I have ever said about inland sailing.”

It turned out that in spite of the comeuppance, Turner and his crew acquitted themselves rather well. Eagle managed to finish the race and took second place, while 88 other boats dropped out, some dismasted, some taking on water, others disabled by crew injuries and rampant seasickness.

Lake waves frequency is insane when it’s blowing and they stack up on you and beat the shit out of you and everything in their path.

[Mustonen]

Lake waves frequency is insane when it’s blowing and they stack up on you and beat the shit out of you and everything in their path.

That and they’re fucking steep. Rollers are rare.

[BmillsSkier]

That and they’re fucking steep. Rollers are rare.

Right? I was crewing for my BiL a few years ago in a race and we caught some big rolling seas as we were running downwind and it was fantastic - surfing a J-30 on the Great Lakes! Much hooting and hollering was had that day and even more Labatt Blues crushed back at the dock.

[J. Barron DeJong]

My cousin lived on Lake Ontario and was a windsurfer. Waves sometimes got big enough that he could do flips and shit off them - stuff you’d only think you could do at the ocean.

[jummo]

Some folks say, they'd have made Whitefish Bay, if they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.

Port de le Morte in Northern Wisco, a place I know from my kidhood. All kinds of shipwrecks.
Pretty easy to underestimate the big lakes.
Nice to see that this is anniversary recognized on a place almost as unforgiving as the big lake they call Gitchigoomee.

[Mustonen]

Good size waves today. Not even that windy.

I’m not driving the 15 minutes to the lake to see ‘em though. Fuck that, it’s too cold outside.

[BmillsSkier]

25 to 32 foot waves on Lake Erie today. That’s fucking nuts.

[old goat]

Big Wave contest alerts must be going off. Top surfers from all over the world flying in, except no one's flying.

[Mustonen]

Similar forecasts for 34 feet on superior. Nutty. Don’t wanna be out there.

[BmillsSkier]

Similar forecasts for 34 feet on superior. Nutty. Don’t wanna be out there.

It honestly sounds like the most terrifying place on earth to be. No thank you.

How much you wanna bet that this:



Led to some guy coming out of a bar in Buffalo this morning after pounding Labatt Blues all night to find his car like this:

[huckbucket]

Maine was getting it pretty good yesterday. From my Twit feed;

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video...YVB.mp4?tag=12

[Mustonen]

Xpost from Wagon Stoke thread.

[axebiker]

Superior amazes me every time I visit her. Hard to believe there is something so vast and unforgiving that isn't an ocean or sea. It's long overdue for me to pay her a visit...

[m2711c]

goodbye gordon…




https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainmen...dead-1.6828991

[BmillsSkier]

Oh wow. RIP Mr. Lightfoot.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[Core Shot]

Sundown

RIP

[Mustonen]

Well shit. That’s almost spooky…. 12”-24” of wet heavy snow and high winds, 14-20 foot waves at the shore. Schools are all closed. Began Sunday night and not letting up until later today.

[Harry]

On the day he died, the Mariner’s Church in Michigan, the “musty old hall” in the song, rang its bell 30 times. 29 times for the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald and once for Gordon Lightfoot.

I think that’s cool.

[BmillsSkier]

On the day he died, the Mariner’s Church in Michigan, the “musty old hall” in the song, rang its bell 30 times. 29 times for the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald and once for Gordon Lightfoot.

I think that’s cool.

Cool indeed.