Coast Guard Festival - 2015

Stee6043

Stee6043

Well-Known Member
Jun 1, 2015
6,777
West Michigan
Boat Info
1997 Sundancer 400
Engines
7.4L Gassers
Greetings, CSR. I’m curious if the CSR masses will flock to Grand Haven next week to participate in the Coast Guard Festival madness? It’s been 10+ years since I’ve been on a boat during the CG week/weekend. Now that I’m back on the water this year I’m looking forward to making the most of it.

I fear, however, we’re wasting a perfect week of Michigan weather this week. I do wish it could have waited a week.
 
We will watch the fireworks. They always put on a nice show.
 
Guarantee there will NOT be a flock of CSR members there on the water most of the time. A wiser group here knows better. Boat during the day, put boat away early evening, and enjoy festivities from land. Too many bad boaters in that channel during the festival.
 
KnotEasy said:
Guarantee there will NOT be a flock of CSR members there on the water most of the time. A wiser group here knows better. Boat during the day, put boat away early evening, and enjoy festivities from land. Too many bad boaters in that channel during the festival.
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Ding ding ding...we have a winner folks!!!
 
KnotEasy said:
Guarantee there will NOT be a flock of CSR members there on the water most of the time. A wiser group here knows better. Boat during the day, put boat away early evening, and enjoy festivities from land. Too many bad boaters in that channel during the festival.
Click to expand...
Exactly why we try to leave town for the weekend they have the fireworks, planning to go down to South Haven. I've been in the mass of drunk'n boaters trying be the first back to the dock, at night, to many times. :smt021
 
Well then...it sounds like I'll be in the minority. It seems like it takes just a bit of planning to avoid the problem areas, to each their own though. Hard to beat the fireworks from the water but I'm also not looking to be right under them like I would have in a past life.

Enjoy your weekends on land and thanks for leaving a little more room for the "less wise" amoung us.
 
It sounds like that festival is much like the Water Follies Festival we have here when the Unlimited Hydros run. It's coming up this weekend. No fireworks unless you count the fights between some of the drunks on the boats. We always just hand on the anchor for an extra 20-30 minutes after the races are over to let all the drunks beat us back to the docks.

I like watching the races and like watching the drunks and the bikini clad babes. Makes for a fun day!
 
Gofirstclass said:
It sounds like that festival is much like the Water Follies Festival we have here when the Unlimited Hydros run. It's coming up this weekend. No fireworks unless you count the fights between some of the drunks on the boats. We always just hand on the anchor for an extra 20-30 minutes after the races are over to let all the drunks beat us back to the docks.

I like watching the races and like watching the drunks and the bikini clad babes. Makes for a fun day!
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That's what I did for the 4th of July fireworks. Stayed anchored until well after the crowd fought their way upriver. Seemed to work rather well. It also gives the plethora of USCG/Sheriffs/DNR boats plenty to keep them busy.
 
We had a grand haven sheriff tell us one year , that there's at least 200 boating accidents per year
We won't be going at all it's crazy !!!

Boltman
 
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boltman said:
We had a grand haven sheriff tell us one year , that there's at least 200 boating accidents per year
We won't be going at all it's crazy !!!

Boltman
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Are you saying that the 200 occurred during this one festival? I find that extremely difficult to believe.
 
200 accidents? I don't see how that's possible. I've been in the channel 5 or 6 times for the entire day on CG Saturday and have never witnessed anything more than close calls.

The crowds keep you honest...and sober. Safer than the real crazies that take their kids tubing on spring lake on any given Saturday. At least the channel is no-wake.

Where have you guys that have had bad experiences tied up? On the wall? I've never met a boater that didn't want to be out on their boat on one of the biggest boating weekends around this area. This thread is borderline shocking to me. Quite entertaining though!
 
Hate the wall. We have anchored out of the channel and also rafted up to others to watch the fireworks. Never again, too many inexperienced boaters on the water. They have zero clue and have witnessed a few "fender benders" and a few bad close calls. It's just not worth putting my boat and family at risk. It may keep you sober, but the masses are drinking quite heavily. You are questioning why people would want to stay away and most of us here, me included don't understand why you would even want to consider being in the middle of that chaos. It only takes one drunk idiot who has no clue and no business being behind the helm to change my life forever as I know it.
 
I can surely agree that the wall is less than stellar. I took a group out in early July and we tied up on the wall on a Thursday to have dinner at Snug. During the week it didn’t seem too terribly bad but I think this was an exception, we got lucky. We happened to have Tom Izzo stop in while we were there so that made certain members of our group quite happy with the arrangement. I was more interested with how well my bumpers would do on the wall.

I was considered anchoring just off the pier in the big lake, on the south side, for this year’s fireworks just for a change of venue. I’ve never watched the fireworks from that far out and wonder what the view would be like? Even the crowd-averse could survive outside the channel I suspect. But I wonder if it’s too far or too obstructed to be enjoyable.
 
Stee6043 said:
200 accidents? I've never met a boater that didn't want to be out on their boat on one of the biggest boating weekends around this area.
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Sure, we always are on our boat that weekend, but the difference is sensible boaters will not spend their day of boating in the GH channel.
 
Stee6043 said:
I can surely agree that the wall is less than stellar. I took a group out in early July and we tied up on the wall on a Thursday to have dinner at Snug. During the week it didn’t seem too terribly bad but I think this was an exception, we got lucky. We happened to have Tom Izzo stop in while we were there so that made certain members of our group quite happy with the arrangement. I was more interested with how well my bumpers would do on the wall.

I was considered anchoring just off the pier in the big lake, on the south side, for this year’s fireworks just for a change of venue. I’ve never watched the fireworks from that far out and wonder what the view would be like? Even the crowd-averse could survive outside the channel I suspect. But I wonder if it’s too far or too obstructed to be enjoyable.
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We have anchored a few hundred yards north of the chanel a few times, the view is good with the higher fireworks. With the loud bangs there is a very weird eco that crosses over the lake. Wait about a half hour before entering the chanel and most of the crazies are gone.
 
Stee6043 said:
I was more interested with how well my bumpers would do on the wall.

I was considered anchoring just off the pier in the big lake, on the south side, for this year’s fireworks just for a change of venue.
Click to expand...

Firstly, any Saturday or Sunday throughout the summer the channel in Grand Haven can become busy. For example, two weekends ago. Sure there are plenty of boaters that shouldn't be out there but as long as you're not just holding on at the helm like the rest of them you should be completely fine. You are in control of your boat and should be able to keep a great enough distance for comfort on any weekend.

Secondly, we've anchored on the south side close to the state park beach and the view is decent. You may not see some lower ones but in that position you're almost a straight shot as the bird flies from the fire works. Plus, the echo created as previously stated is definitely different. You might have to wait a bit as everyone unties and starts moving about in the channel. It'll be a sea of lights and sometimes it's hard to discern which nav lights go with each other.
 
Looks like we will be in town for the festival and all it's craziness, tried to get a slip in South Haven but they are all booked. Not only does the waterways get busy but the marina is overwhelmed with party animals also.
Oh well, if you can't leave them, join them:smt038
 
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