Cruising Isle Royale National Park - Part 1 “The Crossing”

Pocket-cruising Isle Royale national park in my Montgomery 17 sailboat ‘Thabo’ - solo single-handed in July 2022. This is part one of the series that involves crossing Lake Superior from Houghton / Hancock, Michigan to Caribou Island at IRNP.

[@RustyKnorr]

Entire video focused on his face, not a sailING video, just a sailOR video. I don’t care what you look like, I want to see sailing.

[@damkayaker]

lol thanks for saving me ... me me me me me me mee

[@lakesuperiorgirl17]

Awesome video

[@steveprasuhn9361]

Chris...Thanks for sharing! In Aug I'm making trip 5 to the Island. Taking the Queen IV. Have seen some wild waves on Superior. Kudos for you! Sailing is a mystery to me, so your videos help me to better understand! Keep sailing!

[@lakesuperiordownrigger1133]

As a resident of Hancock you crossing to the island in the boat is quite a feat. I have a 19' sailboat and building up my confidence for a 30 mile trip! Just bought a autopilot so hoping it works well this summer. Nice job and thanks for the video!

[@cjmelendy1978]

Thanks and wish you good luck. I don't think I'll be back this year but I'd love to do it again - check out my video on self steering gear if you want a backup for your auto pilot: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5Ccaa2ansqbmbc

[@sharonbraselton3135]

Weather. Fircaster weather stat I n on boat

[@Lollygagger-k4p]

If you get caught out in bad weather in a sub - 20 footer, there is no better boat than the Montgomery 17. I've had two of them. I compare them tothe old school CJ jeeps of the '70's. Absolutely brutal strong and safe. Fairly fast, too. Here on Puget Sound, I have been out in conditions where the only other boats I saw were in the range of 30+ feet, and there were very few. With full sails, it never even dipped the rails. ABout three inches shy , the boatsimply turns up ans stops. Just as designed. Lyle Hess was a god. He made them safe and dry. Jerry Montgomery made them fast. Probably the best collaboration of genious design ever.

[@cjmelendy1978]

It’s a great little sailing boat, with no gripe or overt weather helm. In just about any wind it’ll dip to 15 degrees and stick there. It’s fast for the size and takes little effort to reach boat speed. Dry too, the lapstrake and wide beam keep waves from breaking over in any point of sail. There are a few issues with the build I’m dealing with and it takes longer on the ramp than I’d like but I’ve never yet felt unsafe in it.

[@Lollygagger-k4p]

@@cjmelendy1978 Interested to know what issues you are having. As for the ramp, I never had any except for the two different trailers mine were on. Could have had better guides. I never had to use anything other than a line from the fore stsy to step the mast from the cockpit as it was so light. I've seen people use winches or a gin pole. Not needed for a 37lb mast. The M-17 can be rigged and ready in under 20 minutes. It was a huge improvement over the 78 Chrysler 20 I had, which I consider still to be one heck of a sail boat in that range. Signed off by the Herreshcoff firm. The C-20 was very heavily build, and used the same mast blank as their 22, and had triple shrouds. Hella stout boat. By far the roomiest 20 I have ever seen. Also another high freeboard, dry running boat.

[@RulgertGhostalker]

oh, it's a mast head rig....why do you have a running backstay tensioner? you can safely run dycron on a masthead rig....it's just the aluminum masted fractionals that really need the dyneema sails and low stretch halyard, to avoid the mast kinking.

[@sailingdiscipleship6295]

Nice job...thanks for sharing your trip. After about a 15 year absence we just bought a Catalina 25 in the fall. Now I'm trying to get it ready to go sailing. I've watched a couple of your videos so far and look forward to catching up with the rest. If you are taking suggestions, I would be interested in a boat tour...your particular boat, how you have it set up, and if you are planning any work/mods. Thanks again!

[@cjmelendy1978]

Great to hear you're taking the plunge again! I've had other requests for a boat tour and I'll do that once I get the snow off of her.

[@trentmeidinger6160]

Great video, @SailingThabo! What's your opinion on making a solo crossing in a 17' Boston Whaler from Grand Portage to Isle Royale? Good adventure or dangerous? I realize there are many variables such as wind, waves, air temperature, rain, etc. Engine is is good working order. I would have a handheld VHF/GPS with 8' antenna.

[@cjmelendy1978]

Thank you! A Whaler is pretty seaworthy for a stinkpot 😉 That’s a doable adventure. If I had to give advice I would say this… Superior can be pretty unforgiving. Choose your weather windows to and from carefully and make sure you know the dangers (fog, submerged rocks). Also, bring more fuel than you think you’ll need. Only Windigo and Rock Harbor have fuel (they sometimes run out) and it’s expensive. Make sure you have enough to get there, around, and back by a factor of at least 50%.

[@trentmeidinger6160]

@@cjmelendy1978​​⁠Thank you. Yesterday I boated from Grand Portage to the most eastern tip of Minnesota and back. It was lovely. Once back in the GP bay, however, my motor shut down and kept blowing fuses. I paddled about an hour and got back to the dock. Lesson learned. Big time. It still scares me today to think of “what if” it had happened 8 miles away. I have a marine radio but did not see another boat the entire time.

[@cjmelendy1978]

@@trentmeidinger6160 Definitely get that sorted before making the Isle Royale trip. FWIW there was a young couple that was towed into Windigo (no wind, motor died) after calling for help on a handheld. HOWEVER there was a fishing tournament that weekend so there were more vessels around than normal. Might consider an aux “kicker” motor, or fit a sculling oar as a backup if you’re set on remote adventures. Pack your own parachute for these things - that’s my motto anyway.

[@trentmeidinger6160]

Glad they were able to get towed in! Yeah, boating to Isle Royale is off my list now. I considered getting a new motor altogether plus a kicker but I just don’t think l am cut out for that type of trip.

[@cjmelendy1978]

@@trentmeidinger6160 It’s important to know your limits. Don’t push beyond them unless you know your support system when you’re out there. Might consider finding a buddy-boat to go with to support each other if you do want to try it. Good luck out there!

[@christophermccann6529]

How do you like the little heater that runs off JetBoil fuel? What's it called?

[@cjmelendy1978]

It's the Campy Gear Lil Guy - around 50USD on Amazon. It's OK - takes the chill out of the air but I never run it long as their is a risk of carbon monoxide buildup - so I never get toasty. I don't think it's really 9000BTU. Just bought an old Origo Heat Pal (ethanol) and I will be trying that out as the output is carbon dioxide instead of carbon monoxide. Much lower risk of death and I HATE having pressurized gasses on board. I make an exception for the Jetboil for now, but if I can carry less that makes me happy. I think the propane heaters are probably the lowest cost/most efficient but I refuse to carry propane as I experienced a fire on another boat with it.

[@SCOTT-vm5nj]

Chris, great video. Thanks for sharing. I’m a M-17 owner and would appreciate, as I’m pretty sure other viewers might too, a tour of your great boat. Thanks for getting me psyched to get going on my boat. Fun times! PS while filming it might be nice to just point the camera at the beautiful scenery rather than at you. Thanks buddy!

[@cjmelendy1978]

Thanks for the suggestions, I am planning to record a boat tour when it warms back up. Also, I did get more footage of surroundings in later episodes, just getting my footing here.

[@kurtschreihart7424]

In future videos you could buy a drone so you can take pictures of your boat while sailing. Watch the Sailing Zatara videos to get some hints, totally different type of sailing but you can see how they edit the videos, etc. They have a 50 foot live aboard Catamaran and they sail around the world mostly in warm waters near the equator.

[@tsmith235]

Should take some pictures of your boat from shore while you're sailing we actually don't know what your boat looks like from this video

[@authormikemontie250]

Awesome video. Thirty-one dollars for an overnight slip is outrageous for a 17 foot boat. I'm not familiar with the Montgomery 17 or your skill set. I have 40 years experience on Lake Superior and I've been to Isle Royale 4 times. That said, making that trip in a 17 foot boat, in my opinion is foolhardy. Still, you did it. That says something about your seamanship and your courage. Thanks for sharing.

[@cjmelendy1978]

Thanks for the kind words. I’ve been sailing for about 35 years, mostly alone in small boats. This was my first time on Superior.

[@EB-xz1nq]

The Montgomery 17 is not your ordinary 17’ er. These boats have sailed Virginia to SoCal via the Panama Canal, Multiple south Florida to Bahama crossings (one by me) SoCal to Hawaii and SoCal to New Zealand. The boat is very seaworthy and more than up to the task he undertook on Lake Superior * * With the right skill set and seamanship. I plan to sail outside the Cape RI to Glouster with a Stop in Nantucket next summer in mine.

[@authormikemontie250]

@@EB-xz1nq I'm not a sailor. I appreciate your information.

[@tdgdbs1]

I've done similar trips on the Precision 18; not the best tool for the job but it's trailerable.

[@authormikemontie250]

@@tdgdbs1 For a boat like that my concern is speed. Making a crossing of 50+ miles, you need a good weather window for a boat that makes what, 7 mph tops under power? My experience on Lake Superior is, the marine forecasts, although better now, are still not always right. How does your boat handle 4-6 foot waves?

[@sharonbraselton3135]

Macgrorger. Piwrr sail 2 12 gslon tank 24 g a lons 112 mile range

[@sharonbraselton3135]

Cryse 40 hp 3 iur 20 knots 60 oe rabfe rsbge 2 thirs half tank usefa

[@sharonbraselton3135]

11 hours moter 4 too 5.5 knots 44 to 55 nm range smal ssil bost

[@sharonbraselton3135]

Fog. Weatger bnedd farruno 1621 radar. 16 nm range 18 mike 13 mies se kand

[@sharonbraselton3135]

Badcstorm. Make syee egbery thibg secure. Ti h t. Batn all hates ckse. Soo mo water fetsvkn