2nd Annual Michigan Challenge 2003
Oscoda To Manistee
By Marty Sullivan (aka SaltyFrog)
Friday, August 29, 2003
Exactly one week ago, Lake Michigan was inflicting its last water torture as I
plodded into a moderate head wind and chop from Sleeping Bear Dunes to Betsie
Point and the last checkpoint before the finish. One objective stood out that
Friday, and seven hours of paddling later I reached Betsie Point light. Now, a
week later, my abrasions are almost healed, most of my feeling is back in my
hands, and my ravenous appetite has eased.
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Florida travelers, Brian
and Michael Collins,
Marty Sullivan
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My wooden Pygmy Osprey HP had gotten me through two prior successful attempts
and one failed attempt to complete WaterTribe challenges. The race format is an
unstaged, unsupported long-distance small boat race in which each challenger is
responsible for his or her food, shelter, and safety. The successful completion
rate of these long distance races is about 40 percent.
I had expected to finish the 300 miles on Thursday following a Saturday morning
start, but I was slowed by head winds and the infamous Great Lakes chop. Six
days after the start, on Friday, from atop the 400-foot high Sleeping Bear
dunes, Maura, my wife, was watching me a mile off shore. She said I looked like
a speck, even through the observation binoculars from the dune lookout, but I
had no feeling of being watched. I only felt a mixture of muscle tiredness,
various little aches, and the ever-present pleasure of feeling the water and
air as I approached the next point of land.
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Collins Underway
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Throughout the event, the general weather pattern was a north to northeast wind
during our northern journey up the Lake Huron shore, then a south to southwest
wind during our south to southwest leg down Lake Michigan. I am convinced that
Mother Nature has a weird sense of humor. The very last day, Saturday, a light
north wind, finally coming from my stern, turned rambunctious for the last hour
or so, as if Mother Nature was reminding me who was boss. I took down my Spirit
Sail downwind rig for the last hour just to deprive Mother Nature of any last-
minute tricks. Into the final stretch, rounding the Manistee breakwater was a
roller coaster experience as the mixed-up chop and boat wakes got my attention.
My overall time to finish the event was 2 1/2 days longer than the Everglades
Challenge in March 2003, a race of similar distance. I did, however, get plenty
of sleep as I awoke several mornings at 3 a.m. to start the day only to climb
back into the sleeping bag until the weather eased. I chose not to paddle at
night when winds exceeded 15 knots and seas exceeded 2 feet, as I was paddling
alone and did not want to compound with darkness any problems I might have.
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Rocky Landing
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Several nights I paddled into the evening and continued until the weather
picked up beyond my comfort level. The first night was just such an experience
as I paddled towards the Middle Island navigation light. Winds and chop
increased until I decided to quit for the night. Heading to shore, I landed on
the rocks, dragged/carried my boat up onto the rocks, then collected my
sleeping gear to find a suitable tent site. The wind picked up through the
night such that I had to check the security of the boat at my desired starting
time of 3 a.m. At my delayed start time of first light, winds were northeast
and chop was 3 to 5 feet. I forged ahead around Presque Island and on to
Checkpoint 1, by which time wind and weather had subsided to a gentle breeze.
Offshore paddling is boring for some. For me it's a Zen experience to see the
distant objective grow closer over the hours of paddling. I like to describe
the distance to shores and points in magnitudes; magnitude 3 is when the
shoreline is just barely in site, where the trees look like ghostly images just
visible across the water; at magnitude 2 some shore features such as buildings,
antennas, smokestacks become visible; magnitude 1 is when people and beaches
can be seen as specs along the shoreline.
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Mackinac Bridge
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Monday at 4 a.m. I was on the water, and I looked up to see white curtains of
light in the northern sky with intermittent wide flashes of light, like cloud
lightning but spread over large portions of the sky. This was my first view of
northern lights. As daylight took over, the calm seas let me fully appreciate
the clear, Key West-green water of Lake Huron. I felt as if I could fall 30
feet down onto the rocks clearly visible below. I spotted the Mackinac Straits
bridge from a distance of 30 miles as I approached Bois Blanc Island. Four
miles from the bridge I pulled ashore to phone my check-in; then when I
returned to the water I ran into Michael and Brian Collins in their Kruger
sailing canoe. We approached the bridge and dodged the many ferries as we
passed under the bridge. As night fell, I looked behind me to see the bridge
span brightly lit; quite a sight.
Weather was predicted to build through the day Tuesday and continue with 15 to
20 knot winds and 4 to 6 foot seas into Tuesday afternoon and all of Wednesday.
Early Tuesday morning the winds and seas were already 15 knots and 2 to 3 feet,
so I hung with Michael and Brian Collins and we decided to wait out the weather
at Cross Village, just south of Waugoshance Point into Lake Michigan. We were
treated to the hospitality of Ray and Jan Meyer, who put us up in their travel
trailer. We had a very comfortable afternoon and night, except that the weather
eased, contrary to forecasts, and we lost 12 to 18 hours of good travel time. I
learned a tactical key to traveling the Great Lakes. The weather is
unpredictable and changes rapidly. In order to make the best time, one needs to
be always ready to take advantage of favorable weather. Our stay with the
Meyers, although very enjoyable and a nice break, cost us dearly.
The race course required three bay crossings; Thunder Bay on Lake Huron, Little
Traverse Bay and Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. I crossed the first two
under satisfactory, if not ideal, conditions. I started the Grand Traverse Bay
crossing Thursday morning after leaving Charlevoix Checkpoint 3 the day before.
My launch from Little Fisherman's Island had been delayed by a 5 a.m.
thunderstorm. As usual, I bucked a southerly headwind as I approached the
crossing. Around 9 a.m. I committed myself to the crossing in spite of the
headwinds and forecast for thunderstorms, as the western sky was perfectly
clear. Headwinds of 10 to 20 knots and spilling seas of 4 to 6 feet made for
slow, wet progress. My kayak crested the steep, high chops with half to 2/3 of
the boat length up in the air then slammed down on the other side of the waves.
About halfway across thunderstorms appeared to the northwest but past over
north of me. As I got within about 2 miles of land, another thunderstorm
appeared that was obviously heading directly for me. I picked up my pace and
landed at Leelanau Point light about 15 minutes before the storm hit. Matt
Layden was not so lucky and weathered the storm during his crossing. He
commented that it could have been worse because the storm winds, from the west,
did not reinforce the southerly seas. I passed the time in a picnic shelter
chatting with a touring bicyclist and eating a freeze-dried meal.
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Coming down the
finishing stretch,
Manistee River
Matt Layden on a
beam reach
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Matt Layden and I arrived Thursday evening at the last checkpoint, Frankfort,
around 9 p.m. within an hour of each other. With only 35 miles to go, I was
wondering whether I needed to continue to secure first-place paddler and second
overall or whether Matt and I could agree to a night's sleep then depart in the
morning. Since Matt had been paddling since Wednesday morning for about 36
hours, I thought he would rather sleep. I set up my tent then approached Matt
and asked if he was going to get some rest. He said he would set up his tent
and sleep. I said "I'll see you in the morning," and Matt concurred.
Nevertheless, I stuck my head out of my tent about 3 a.m to check, and I was
reassured to see Matt's tent and no activity. We both got up around 6 a.m. and
hit the water around 7:00. I figured I would safely arrive before Matt since
what I had lacked in long, overnight paddles I had made up for with speed. A
gently northeast wind started us on our way, and I arrived in Manistee around 2
p.m., the winds having picked up through the day. I had expected Matt about 2
hours later, but with his effective sail rig he arrived only an hour after I
landed at the finish. Excepting VanMan and Draco in their 21-foot Hobie, all
the paddler/sailors arrived surprisingly within 6 1/2 hours of each other on
Saturday, after 7 1/2 days of paddling and sailing.
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Draco and VanMan
tacking upwind the
first day
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VanMan and Draco (George Van Sickle and Stephanie White) exercised their
well-honed skills to arrive 2 days before the rest of us. Matt Layden sailed in
to the finish line on a beam reach, using his paddle for a lee board and
rudder. Steve Bailey, on his second attempt at the Michigan Challenge, paddled
his Nordkapp Jubilee to the finish in early evening, and Nick Hall
pedaled/paddled/sailed his Hobie Mirage to the finish after a harrowing bay
crossing and rescue.
What's next? Everglades Coastal Challenge, a 270-mile pleasure (?) paddle down
Florida's southwest coast, St. Petersburg to Key Largo. Watch out for Florida
Bay!
Log Entries:
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8/14/2003, Thursday: Arrived at Mark and Emily Przedwojewski after 26-hour
drive from Orlando, FL
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8/15/2003, Friday: Shuttled to Oscoda, MI for check-in
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8/16/2003, Saturday: Start 6:30 a.m. 5 - 10 kts N wind, crossed Thunder Bay,
met VanMan and Draco as they "Donkey Konged" their way north, crisscrossing my
course. Stopped 11 p.m. as N wind built.
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8/17/2003, Sunday: Got up and checked boat at 3 a.m. as winds built from NE.
Slept to 6 a.m., on water at 7 a.m., NE wind 5 - 15 kts, 2 - 4 ft chop. Arrived
Chkpt 1 around 6 p.m., left around 7 p.m., went until 9 p.m., camped on rocks
again.
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8/18/2003, Monday: Left 3:45 a.m., easy conditions, Lighthouse Pt (near
Cheboygin) at 1 p.m., crossed Mackinac Bridge at 6 p.m., camped at 9 p.m.
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8/19/2003, Tuesday: Launched at 3:45 a.m., met Michael, Brian at Waugoshance Pt
at 6:30 a.m., pulled off water at 1 p.m., 20 kts S wind, 2 - 4 ft seas, at
Cross Village beach. Stayed night with Ray, Jan Meyer.
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8/20/2003: Wednesday: Launched from Cross Village Beach 8 a.m., gentle S wind,
building to 15 kts by 10 a.m.., then dying to 5 kts for Little Traverse Bay
crossing. Into Charlevoix, Checkpoint 2, at 6 p.m.., Matt arrived 5 minutes
later. Launch at 7:30 p.m., camped on Little Fisherman=s Island (actually a
peninsula).
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8/21/2003, Thursday: Left at 6:30 a.m. after thunderstorm passed over. Snuck up
on and greeted Matt on the beach before leaving, surprising him so that he
alarmingly threatened me with his water bottle in hand. Grand Traverse Bay
crossing difficult; stopped at Leelanu State Park during thunderstorm, stopped
at Cathead Point until winds dropped about 7 p.m., proceeded until 11 p.m. when
winds and seas kicked up. Camped on beach.
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8/22/2003, Friday: Launched at 6 a.m., passed Leland, Pyramid Point, Sleeping
Bear Point (1 hour break for oatmeal and coffee), and Betsie Point, arriving at
Checkpoint 2 at 9 p.m. I took straight shots from point to point since seas
were satisfactory, with 5 - 10 kts SW wind and 1 - 2 foot chop. Overtook Matt
Layden about 7:30 p.m. heading into Checkpoint 3.
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8/23/2003 Saturday: Launched 7 a.m. with Matt, 5 kts N wind, building to 10 kts
at 12:00 then 15 kts at 1:00, at which time I took down Spirit Sail. Arrived
Manistee breakwater at 2 p.m., saw Maura at downtown Manistee, arrived finish
at 2:40 p.m.
© Marty Sullivan (aka SaltyFrog), 2003
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