Where WhimSea Takes Us

Posted by Troy A. Brown

Karen and I received an “invitation” to a fundraising dinner to be held aboard the SS Meteor whaleback museum on Barker’s Island in Superior, Wisconsin a couple of weeks before it was to be held, the 16th of September. It seemed like a most excellent opportunity to invite my mom and her friend Charlie out for a sail. A nice easy sail, a buffet dinner prepared by the Boathouse (of which we have not heard a bad thing yet) and a silent auction, how could we beat it?

Friday night we arrived at the marina about 9:30. Al and Michelle from Draggin’ Fly were up for the weekend to do some fishing (they brought their boat home for the season for some maintenance and improvements). It was awesome to see them again.

When we boarded our boat to take on supplies, we noticed there were pirate banners strung around – a very cool touch – and a hearld to the pirate treasure chest that made it’s away aboard!! It was spectacular! There was all kinds of pirate booty, everything a pirate could need or want to outfit themselves and even have breakfast in the morning! Karen and I were absolutely flabbergasted, it was such a treat! We were kind of wondering why Rain or Shine was so dark since when they’re up they are usually all lit up. It was such a treat! Royale really outdid themselves! In addition to the pirate booty we amazed by a Piratology book from Rain or Shine and a great Witch & Toad plaque for Karen.

Saturday morning dawned overcast, rainy and a bit cool. After having breakfast at Judy’s in Two Harbors, we dropped the docklines and began our voyage. When we left we had no wind but a few miles out in the lake we were able to find some and sail for a bit. A few miles outside of Duluth we lost our wind and so decided to motorsail (having the main up and the motor pushing us along) until we either get there or get some wind.

A few miles from Duluth we heard the security call of the American Fortitude, a self-unloading Laker, broadcasting they would be leaving via the Duluth canal – just when we would be approaching the canal ourselves. When we were within a couple miles of the Duluth entrance, we saw the bridge go up and the American Fortitude start her approach. The RV Blue Huron (RV – Research Vessel) passed us to starboard and parked just off the north pier until she could enter the canal, we ended up astern of her and the Vista King astern of us. After the American Fortitude left Duluth, we all began our transit of the canal and saw not only lots of people there to watch the laker head out, but also some of our marina mates! It was the second time I passed under the bridge while motor sailing. (Click on the title for this blog to see pictures of the Ships we’ve seen underway).

The wind was out the SE so once in the harbor we dropped the main and motored for Barker’s Island. We heard another security call from the Joseph L. Block who was just passing Rice Point – again just a head of us. We overheard a bit of conversation between the Block and the bridge, there was a vessel in the middle of the canal which if it didn’t get out of the way would have met the bow of the Block. I presume they were able to avoid any issue since we didn’t hear any calls to the Coast Guard or anything.

Because one of the events for the Meteor was a sail regatta, the transient dock was crowded. We were able to tie off and were really in just enough to time to walk down and join the cocktail hour before dinner. We watched an interesting presentation on the efforts at preservation and restoration with a slide show which reinforced the worthiness of the cause. After the presentation I bid on a number of items, a life ring from the Kinsman Independent – one of the last straight deck Lakers – who has been renamed the Voyager Independent, along with a numbered print of the vessel, a numbered print of the Stewart J. Cort – the only 1,000 footer with her pilot house forward (a vessel we have seen a number of times at the docks in Superior) and some shipwreck videos and book.

After the party ended, about 8:00, we retired to the boat to enjoy some more wine. While we were enjoying a nice pinot noir, who should happen by but some more of our marina mates, Dave and Deb from Rain or Shine and Mark and Janet from Royal. We had a great time! We ended the evening with a desert wine, a French sauternes that was a perfect cap to the evening.

The next morning my aunt Jackie came by to have breakfast with us. It was great seeing her again, it had been a long time. After breakfast we slipped the dock lines in about 15 knots of a SW breeze, raised our sails just outside the marina and sailed out the Superior Entry. We were sailing along great but lost our wind about 5 miles from the entrance so pulled out the genny and dropped the main and motor sailed for Knife River.

About five miles from Knife River the wind picked back up again and we were flying. Just a couple miles from the marina we saw Nauttier Hobbits bashing their way through the waves (which had built to about 2-4 feet) towards Duluth and looking spectacular. We both took pictures of the other.

We tied off to the dock about 2:30 that afternoon. It was a fantastic weekend!

Posted by Troy A. Brown

Superior Public Museums is holding the second annual fund raising event to preserve the SS Meteor Whaleback on Saturday, September 16th.

http://www.superiorpublicmuseums.org/

Being familiar with the Lake Superior Marine Museum's work (http://www.lsmma.com/) it makes sense to also familiarize ourselves with similar happenings on the other side of the St. Louis bay.

"The dinner and silent auction is on-board the SS Meteor and includes; Optional 5 pm tour, entertainment, silent auction, cash bar, gourmet buffet featuring a variety of savory canapes and fresh summer salads, along with pan seared bistro steak, grilled pork tenderloin, pan fried whitefish and assorted deserts prepared by Kirk Batrud of the Boathouse Restaurant."

Karen and I have invited my mom along to sail with us from Knife River to Barker's Island Marina to spend the night and attend the event. We've toured the SS Meteor a few times and thought this would be a lot of fun to have dinner aboard and help preserve this interesting ship development sidebar.

Troy