Around the World of Sailing

17 October 2001

This weeks features:

Finish Line

Club Med's time in the Race= 62 days. Leg 1 of the
Volvo Ocean Race current ETA 33 days.

Water Level Update

Reference Point

Inches below Chart Datum -1
Difference from last month -0
Difference from last year -1
Difference from long term average for October -19
Difference from Record High -59
Difference from Record Low +12
Forecast for 12 November 2001 -2

Rowing Reporter

The Rowing Reporter is a weekly column of commentary and
observations by Ike Stephenson, Marine Informationist. It
concentrates on the home waters of Around the World of
Sailing, Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.

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Readers Write
From Maine comes the following Atlantic Record info,
"Another point of comparison to the record set by Playstation:
The SS United States first crossing of the Atlantic took 3 days,
10 hours and 40 minutes, 10 hours better than the Queen Mary's
best time. As the United States approached the finish line at
Bishop's Rock there was a 60 MPH gale blowing, not the kind of
weather that you want on a record breaking passage."
A little further research shows that the 990 feet
United States averaged 35.59 knots on this trip, with a max
speed of 38.32 knots. During this trip no more than 65% of
available horsepower was utilized.
A Northern Michigan reader chimes in with more information
on the Peterson One ton Pied Piper a Sydney Hobart record holder.
After this record, "Mike Fisher, of Leland, bought the boat from
Ted Turner and sailed it from the late 70s thru '83. I did my
first Chi-Mac with Mike in '83 and we got a very hard-earned
3rd in fleet..."
*********
VOR Decision
On Monday the Volvo leaders rounded Ilha da Trinidad.
illbruck led by 24 miles over Assa Abloy, with News Corp 4th/42
miles back and Amer Sports I 55 miles back in 5th.
For skippers and navigators it was decision time. The
massively experienced Grant Dalton made this call: "So we came
round Trinidad headed south." During The race at a similar part
of the ocean Dalton chose the southern option saying, "I wanted
the South like nothing I¹ve ever wanted before."
On Assa Abloy Mark Rudiger made a different choice. He
decided, the fastest highest percentage chance of success was
going east and catch the North Easterly to carry us South East
to better pressure."
For one position report Assa Abloy had better speed and
gained 3.2 miles. However, most recently they showed only 84 miles
in 24 hours, compared to Amer's fleet best 243 miles.
4 years ago Rudiger took EF Language to the South and
got around Dalton on Merit. Dalton won't do it again, "And,
to my cost, I have made the mistake before. Not this time."
He'll stick to a classic approach, "You have to go south, because
that's where the pressure it most of the time." News Corp's Nick
White agrees with Dalton saying, "we quickly realized that our
best option was to get to the low in the south quickly so we
headed south."
Rudiger hasn't give up on his option. He says, "We
still gave our chances a 60% success and were happy with that."
This strategic battle is a case of sailing a more rhumb
line course and maximizing the velocity towards your destination
versus sailing greater distance for the chance of greater speed.
Assa Abloy has optioned off the straight line holding a course
north of east. This while Cape Town lies to the SouthEast.
To me the chance to sail close to the mark and the pull
of the beginnings of Southern Ocean lows and their attendant
winds would have caused me to choose Dalton's option. However,
there's still over 2000 miles for the outcome to change.
*************
Lake Michigan Report
This article begins a 4 part series on the condition
of the waters of Lake Michigan. For the better the conditions
the better voyaging we can look forward to.
If you voyage along Lake Michigan, especially the south
and east coasts you quickly note the sand dunes and beaches.
This summer these beaches were closed a record 599 times.
Illinois had 339 closings with 152 in Chicago alone. Wisconsin
had 154, Indiana 92 and Michigan only 14.
Chicago monitors it's beaches daily. In Michigan the
checks are weekly. More monitoring could reveal even more closings.
Beaches are closed when bacteria levels exceed health
standards. One of the main sources of bacteria is sewage
discharged into the lake.
Recent reports state that 52 billion gallons of raw
or partly treated sewage went into Michigan waters in the past
18 months. Fortunately for Lake Michigan 95% of the overflows
occurred near Lake St. Clair. In other states, beach closings
are linked to these sewer overflows.
According to State Sen. Ken Sikkema of Michigan, "Aside
from the nonnative species invasion, I'd call this [sewage
overflows] the biggest problem facing the lakes."
Along with the health aspects of beach closings there
are economic ones. This will be the subject of next week's
Rowing Reporter Lake Michigan report.
***********
12 October on the Lake
This date found me on a delivery trip from Chicago to
Muskegon. Unlike a lot of other common Lake Michigan trips it's
not a coaster. It's NE/SW in orientation cutting a diagonal
across the lake.
You cross and simultaneously climb the lake to complete
the going to MKG trip. You make latitude north and longitude
east at the same time.
Once Chicago is behind you, so is the land. No sand
dunes, nuclear power plants or other sights. You are in
crossing mode.
This middle of the lake crossing gave the recent
trip a remarkable darkness. I saw a slim moon for mere minutes.
What stars there were shone in the upper part of the sky dome.
Even if you primped your night vision you didn't see much.
The bow was slightly there and not much else. It was an old
time, non urban, rural darkness not experienced much anymore.
Lake Michigan may get pollution but it's mid section is light
pollution free!
The visibility was good. Saw only the stern light of
an upbound freighter and the yellow flasher of the mid lake
weather buoy. That's your main hazard on this trip. It's a
reference I often use, this trip I passed it in real time.
In the end the trip was boring. For mid October
boring is not bad- no gales, no rain, and not below freezing!
For another boater that night it didn't go as well.
One of two powerboats crossing the lake suffered a power
failure. There was also the possibility of carbon monoxide
poisoning. In any event the boater became disoriented and
was 2 hours overdue.
In evaluating the two trips I note this. Sometimes
a power failure can be fixed by something as small as a fuse.
If it can't then $ 100, a handheld GPS, some spare batteries,
and the appropriate chart ($ 17.50)can convert your trip back
to boring.