Hey there Iron Wind
I am in Northern Michigan about 50 miles from the top end of Lake Michigan, I live in Boyne City. Boyne City is on the inland end of Lake Charlevoix which opens into Lake Michigan.
In October of "77" I went down the Ole Miss on a Morgan Out Island 41. It is the kind of thing that we all look forward to doing. I am glad I did it, but once is enough, unless I was to get paid pretty well for the second trip. That river is no joke and is no play ground. There are tons of flotsam going down the river all the time all around you. Combine that with all the barge traffic and it can be a bitch at times. I remember counting the barges tied togather on one push & it was bigger than a football field. Those big tugs pushing the barges do not put out a wake---they tear the hell out of the river. Like the other fella said they are like hay stacks 8-10-12 stacks in a row. The tug Captains will do all they can for you but they can only do so much.
Other than the fact that when we did get to a town and could tie up and spend 2 or 3 days, I am sure that we spent more nights on the hook in the "river wilderness" than we did off the river at a dock. AND----that can be kind of spooky too. You have to get out of the sailing lane, that the Army Corpes of Enginneers is dredeging all the time to keep it deep enough, to drop the the
anchor. Usually we would try to get off in a curve in the river, as the water flowing into & out of a curve will tend to keep it a bit deeper. Unless it happens to drop more sand in there---you never know, so you have to be careful going in. AND, you will spend more nights on the river going up than you will going down.
I don''t remember the speed of the river at various places but I still have the river
charts in the attic and will dig them out if you like & will be able to give you more info. One thing for sure---I would not plan to start up in the spring, after or during the snow melt up in this end of the country. I would plan to leave New Orleans mid to late July, after the river has calmed down.
In short----I would love to sail with you after you pop out at Chicago but I don''t think I want to make the North Bound River Trip with you. For sure , you want to explore the "Thomas Bixby" ,or Bigsby {not sure how they spell it} it did not exist when I went down.
You will see my e-maill address above,and I would be happy to hear from you.
Walt Ward
Linear Mode
