So I've gotten most of my stuff sqaured away for the summer. Haven't accomplished nearly as much as I've wanted with the album or website and such, but then I've had a lot of computer issues which have made it more difficult and it was already difficult enough.
Anyway, Saturday morning I'll start sailing and I'll be out on the water more than not for the next 3 months, getting back ashore for awhile sometime around the middle of August. The first part will be aboard our school Training Ship (T/S State of Michigan), which will go on a two week Great Lakes mini-cruise. Heres the schedule.
13MAY Depart GLMA 0600
14MAY Arrive Sault (Lock Through upbd 1300)
15MAY Arrive Marquette 0900 depart 1900 (cinder pond marina dock)
16MAY arrive Houghton 0900 depart 1800 (West municpal dock)
17MAY Arrive Duluth/Superior 1600 (Dee CC Dock)
18May Depart Duluth 1800
20May Arrive Sault 1300 (lock thru dbd)
22May Arrive Port Huron (just passing thru) Saint Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, anchorage in Lake Erie
23MAY Arrive Port Huron 1630 (Seaway Terminal)
24May Depart Port Huron 1200
26MAY Arrive Traverse City GLMA
So its a pretty cool trip since I get to see a lot of my favorite haunts on the Lakes. After that I'll be sailing for Interlake, hopefully on the Lee Tregurtha. I requested the Lee because she's been completely repowered over the layup from a steam plant to medium speed heavy fuel Bergen Diesels. I like this for several reasons:
1) Heavy fuel boats generally have a lot more work to do, as Bunker fuel (a tarry substance much less refined than the No. 2 Diesel you get out of the pumps at a gas station) eats up filters and everything else, and requires lots of heating, purifying and filtering. This means that I'll learn a lot more.
2) This is a brand new engine in the boat, which means its operation will be new to everyone on board, and so there will be lots of "start-up" issues to work through. This means I'll learn a lot more.
3) These new engines represent where a lot of the technology is going, so it will be good to have experience with them.
4) The Lee itself is quite an old boat, so i'll get exposure to both brand new as well as much older technology.
So time will tell if this was a smart or foolish choice, but its done now. There is some debate as to whether they will be out of layup in time, but I'm going to talk to Interlake tomorrow, so here's hoping.
Posted by ktismael at May 11, 2006 7:12 PM