2008 trip to North Channel..Advise welcome Please

boltman

boltman

Active Member
Dec 28, 2005
1,507
Flint/Swartz Creek MI, Ported in Whitehall/Montagu
Boat Info
480 Sedan Bridge
"Sea Ray's Best Boat Ever Made"
Engines
700 hp MANS Diesels Thundering Cathedrals of Torque!!
Hello people, My wife and I are planning on a trip to the North Channel next summer for 10 days. we will be trailering to Cheyboygan and putting in there, then cruising to the Channel. We've never been there before, and I'm looking for advise as to where to Visit, what to look for other then Rocks and amybe some things to bring along...... Any advise is very Welcome......
 
First of all take your passports. Then go to Gore Bay. There is a great outfitter store there where you can buy the large paper charts which you will need so you do not run aground. Buy the book called "Ports." It has a series of trips you can take depending on your available time. It has pictures and routes for long week ends all the way up to weeks away from everyone. Have fun.
 
Tim,

That's a great log/website you have there. I've been wanting to do that with Four Suns but just never seem to get around to it.

I noticed that "Day 16" is missing where you stopped in East Tawas. That's my hometown! I grew up there and left in 1980 when I was 18 and have never been back. My parents owned a restaurant on the second block of Newman Street there on the left just past the Klenow's Market. It was a Coney Island place back in the 70's and my father built the restaruant himself in the early 70's on the weekends and during the week he worked down by Pontiac painting cars to pay for it. They sold the place in the early 80's and moved to FL. We had a 26' Owens cabin cruiser (mid 60's vintage) all wood boat and I had a few sailboats I bought during that time from washing dishes there. He used to keep his boat out at Jerry's Marina on the point. When I was in high school, I kept my Hobie Cat on the beach by the boat ramp/city dock.

You gave me some insperation to poke around and I found the place for sale!

http://www.neidx.com/idx/c21tawas/commercial/tawas.php?view=115257

WHAT A HOOT! Looks like the same place but 30 years later! Don't know if you ate there, but that's where I began working when I was 12 years old. I "worked my way up" and became a cook and used to serve breakfasts on the weekend. We would have a line of people/boaters out on the sidewalk waiting.

I always wanted to get back up there with my boat and see the place. It's a small scrappy town though so it's never been a priority. Besides, don't want my kids/wife to find out I grew up on a dirt road and washed dishes. She thinks I came from "money". :smt043

Again, great web site!
 
My father's boat was just like that except it was 26 feet. It even had the seat up front. My father sold it around 1980 and told me the new owner didn't use the bilge blowers after refueling and the boat burned to the water line shortly after he took possession.

We would run that thing in Lake Huron from Tawas Point to Presque Isle and the only thing it had was a compass and an old AM band 2 way marine radio. It was nuts in hind sight. That boat was like a cork on the water and when the water got rough, it was scary. Only time I have every been sea sick was on that old boat.

My father has long passed away and I don't have too many pictures from those days. I have a few old faded polaroids that I should scan and preserve like you did though.

Great job.
 
I meant to do it. It was on purpose. I'm not sure it was a hijack anyway. I pointed out you could buy a whole restaurant on your trip.

Need some dog food?

And stay away from the rocks. Better? :grin:
 
Don't get all upset... Gary...

You guys are killin me........ Just stick to the questions and brag about your trip to the North Channel, Gary you can teel me how you lost your 6 200 hp Honda Outboards off the back of your Sea Ray..... And No I don't want to buy a reataurant somewhere in Michigan, I already own a business in Michigan and one's enough...
Don't nobody be gettin No Attitudes here on Da Board....with me now...!!! :smt001

We all just need to get along!!!!
 
so where was I .....

as a young boy growing up in rural Michigan.....

oops, sorry, life story is "off topic"... :smt018
 
tim

enjoyed your north channel log. hope to run into to you at macray. will you be in water over the winter? i'll be in the first inwater slip in the first bldg on the left as you enter. Didnt know a thing about macray, and slw told me all about it. Knew Selfridge though as we left SANG base in 1963 when my dad retired from the usaf. anyway, if your in water over the winter, would love to hear more about your trip. I'll have my boat at the end of this building

IMG_0964.jpg
 
We did parts of the North Channel the week before Labor Day this year, but for just 5 days. We were in my brother-in-law's Formula 37ss. It was a great trip. We started and ended in Charlevoix, MI, where the boat is kept.

North Channel hasn't changed much since my first cruise there in 1968, but the spar buoys are a bit bigger now. That makes them much easier to see in the rain or at dusk.

It is a great cruise. We're likely to go next August, too.

Going in July is VERY crowded, I hear, but we didn't have to share our anchorages or the marinas with too many boats late in August. Weather was good without too much rain. Air temps in the 70s daytime, water temps in the upper 60s.

It's nearly mandatory to carry a couple of long lines to tie up to trees or rocks on the shoreline. Sometimes that's for bow and stern, as the bottom is all smooth rock in some places. In other anchorages a bow anchor and stern line ashore is the practice.

Entering Canada is no problem and is done by phone in specified entry ports. Those places will be covered by your cruising guides. The new wrinkle was upon getting back into the US. That's done in person, and was no problem really. But we didn't have a 'Customs Decal'. We still got back in, but need one for next time.

Here's the regulation and a link to apply for the decal online:
If you boat is over 30 feet* (9.14 metres) or you wish to enter the U.S. longer than 72 hours, you must buy a customs decal (about $25 U.S. each year) and display it on the outside of the boat. This applies to Canadian and U.S. boats. Every time you enter U.S. waters, you must go to a recognized Customs location - usually the same as the I.N.S. locations. The "up" side is that you get to stay longer and go anywhere beyond the border (you can't with an I-68). A customs decal allows you to stay in the U.S. for six months (every Canadian tourist entering the U.S. can stay 6months) https://tradelinks4.mellon.com/cbp/Dispatcher

We had 2 cruising guidebooks and one chartbook. "Ports" is probably the best guide. Not cheap, but shows photos of getting into the various anchorages that are very helpful. Another book is "A Well-Favored Passage." There is the old hard-cover version by Marjorie Kahn Brazier and a newer, updated spiral-bound version by Ralph Folsom and his wife Pixie. (You can get it on her website - Seafever.com)

I also recommend printing Google Earth photos of the harbors you'll be visiting to augment the photos, charts and 'sailing directions' from the guidebooks.

Our first night there was at Drummond Island. The next morning we officially entered Canada at Thessalon. That night we anchored in Bear Drop Harbour. The next night we anchored at Croker Island, after a rainy passage. Another rainy passage the next day got us to Gore Bay. From there we made it back to Charlevoix in a day, stopping in Drummond Island to clear US customs and immigration.

I'll try to post some photos as time allows.
 
Last edited:
Eric - Wow, you covered some ground (water) in those five days! I agree, the Ports Cruising Guide is probably the best reference material - it has the photos, routes, and information needed. And the Well Favored Passage makes for great reading and help with it's chart drawings.

Another great web-site is continouswave.com

http://continuouswave.com/north-channel/cruise.html

It has numerous first hand accounts of trips throughout the North Channel. In fact there are tons of websites where you can find information (I researched for a year to two before our first trip in 2004). If you just google some of the areas and places, you'll be surprised what you can find.


unklbuck> No, we won't be inside this year, but will be down often to visit SLW. I have watched the progress of the building and slip you'll be in - very nice. Will have to stop by to talk about our trip.
 
I want to thank all of you for the great stories and the grand advice...... We will take all of it with us on this voyage to the North Channel. It's Winter time here in Michigan and we're already getting our list ready to pack the neccesary gear, tools parts and best of all Food...

Robert
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,170
Messages
1,427,739
Members
61,079
Latest member
capeharj
Back
Top