R22 Discussion Group

Great Pictures Roger. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Tom,

What is IR?

In July, 2010, I did a long weekend cruise with my 2 sons and their wives in Door County, WI aboard S/V Dynamic Equilibrium.  On Friday afternoon, we launched from Gill’s Rock on the tip of the Door Peninsula.  We sailed out to Detroit Harbor on Washington Island.  We took a slip for the night at Cap’s Marina, arriving just ahead of a thunderstorm.  In fact, the rain started falling and lightening flashed just as we finished tying up the boat in its slip.  We grabbed our foul weather gear and ran into the marina’s restaurant.  Fortunately, by the time we’d finished dinner, the rain had let up.  We gave Gary & Marie the privacy of the cabin that night and the rest of us camped at Washington Island Campground.  The campground picked us up at the marina, drove the 3 of us to the campground, and drove us back to the boat the next morning.  On Saturday, there were small craft warnings, 15-20 knots out of the northwest and 4-6 ft waves.  Never the less, we suited up in our foul weather gear, PFD’s and safety harnesses and slogged up the west side of Washington Island.  We stayed about ¾ mile offshore as the west side of Washington Island is all shear cliffs, which would have made a very unforgiving lee shore.  Even from ¾ mile away, the waves breaking against the cliffs were an impressive and somewhat scary sight!  We were all pretty wet and tired by the time we cleared Boyer Bluff on the north end of the island.  In order for everyone to have a break and have a civilized lunch, we ducked into Washington Harbor in the wind shadow of Boyer Bluff, and hove to.  After lunch and about an hour’s rest, we continued east along the north shore of Washington Island to Jackson Harbor in the northeast corner.  We would have actually preferred to take a slip in a little marina on Rock Island which is run by the Rock Island State Park.  But, late on a Saturday afternoon in July, they were full up.  Sigh, that’s the reality of small sailboat cruising.  You often arrive late in the day and the powerboats have taken all the slips.  So, we took a slip in the public marina in Jackson Harbor.  Saturday night, we gave Daniel & Heather the boat cabin while Gary, Marie, and I again camped at Washington Island Campground.  Again, the campground offered us pickup and delivery service.  On Sunday morning, the wind had not let up and no boats had left the Rock Island Marina.  I could stand on the breakwater at Jackson Harbor and count boats and slips in Rock Island Marina about 7/8 mile away thru my binoculars.  So, we took the ferry from Jackson Harbor to Rock Island on Sunday morning.  We hiked over to the Pottwatomie light house, toured the restored guest and boat house at the state park marina, and went hiking in Rock Island State Park.  The wind was letting up by the time we took the ferry back to Jackson Harbor.  We decided we would sail back to Gill’s Rock that night.  We motor sailed all the way west along the north shore of Washington Island just to enable S/V Dynamic Equilibrium to sail a little closer to the dying breeze and punch into the left over chop from the morning.  As we rounded Boyer Bluff and headed southwest toward Gill’s Rock, we decided to try flying the triradial spinnaker and mainsail.  After a couple of frustrating miles of trying to keep the spinnaker inflated, we dropped the triradial spinnaker and flew the 150% genoa on a whisker pole and the mainsail.  At least this stopped the collapsing chute. But, after a few more miles we fired up the motor just to get the boat speed up.  I didn’t want to be putting the boat on the trailer and unrigging in the dark.  I left the sails up and maybe they added an extra knot of boat speed.  By the time we reached Gill’s Rock, the wind had gone almost dead calm, which made recovery onto the trailer nice and easy.  In Gill’s Rock, we recovered and unrigged the boat, finishing up just after sunset.  Then, we had a nice fish dinner at the Shoreline Restaurant in Gill’s Rock.  After dinner, we said our goodbyes and all went our separate ways.  I got home early Monday morning and took Monday off work to unpack and recover.

So, that’s my one experience with sailing in Door County and braving the Porte Des Morts Passage (Death’s Door Passage)!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

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From: Tom Van Heule<mailto:tom.vanheule at intrinsicprograms.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2020 4:51 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] High Adventure Pictured Rocks Sea Kayaking Trip

It will be an amazing trip if you get up there.
I did a week of backpacking for my arrow of light on IR.

Ill need more practice on our Rhodes in lake Michigan before I am conifient
try Superior.

Maybe we can do a door county run next year.

The Rhodes 22 Discussion Group

ROGER PIHLAJA

High Adventure Pictured Rocks Sea Kayaking Trip