• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Pride of Baltimore

America's Star-Spangled Ambassador

Header Right

Main navigation

  • Come Aboard
    • Deck Tours & Day Sails
    • Guest Crew
    • Charters & Receptions
    • Special Events
  • Pride of Baltimore II
    • History of Pride
    • Original Pride
    • Comparing the Ships
    • Ports of Call
    • Where is Pride II?
    • Captain’s Log
  • Education
    • What Is a Tall Ship?
    • Baltimore Clippers
    • War of 1812 History
    • Privateer History
    • STEM+H Education
    • The Port of Baltimore
  • About Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Captain & Crew
    • Staff
    • Sponsors/Partners
    • Community
  • Donate

Keewinaw Penninsula

Mystique of the Greatest Lake

12 July 2011 1735 EDT
Pos: 47 39.7’N x 087 14.5’W
Sailing under all plain sail, plus T’gallant, making 7.5 knots, Wind WNW F4, Mostly Sunny

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II has finished her vertical climbing for the summer. Yesterday at 1315 she cleared the MacArthur Lock in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan and in doing so made the final 21 foot “step” into Lake Superior. But this doesn’t mean everything else is downhill. We are currently beating our way to the West end of the world’s largest body of fresh water, working against the prevailing winds and trying to round the tip of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. If you remember last year’s blogs about Superior, or have heard locals talk about the Lake, the Keweenaw forms the “mouth” of the giant wolf’s head the Lake resembles.

We’d thought the sailing was about to start last night at 1900, when we started seeing 20 knots from the West as we left Whitefish Bay, but once we had sail on the wind dropped to a mere 5 knots and we motorsailed through the night toward Michipicoten Island. Since tacking off of the island’s interestingly named Quebec Harbor (it is roughly 600 nautical miles West by North of Quebec City), we have been in powered up going to weather mode for PRIDE II. The angle of heel is something new for many of PRIDE II’s crew, as the vessel hasn’t been going to weather in winds over 15 knots very often this season. But they all find it exciting. The ship charges happily along, the decks dry except for an occasional rolling spurt through the lee scuppers.

The scale of the Lakes has been a constant topic of conversation for those in the crew who had never seen them before. As you might imagine, the fascination has only grown with PRIDE II now on the largest of them all. There is a different quality of light, some have remarked; the scale doesn’t seem to match, say others, noting that Michipicoten Island, so large on the chart, seemed to go by so quickly when we actually saw it. Even for someone who grew up on the Great Lakes, there is a mystique about this one. It’s bigger, deeper, higher, as if truly “superior” and seated on a throne above the “lower” Lakes. Its size and its location – a massive sea over 300 nautical miles from East to West, yet nearly at the heart of North America – give mind-boggling juxtaposition.

Our current longitude is west of the Florida Panhandle. By tomorrow we will near 90 degrees West, half way between Greenwich England and the International Date Line. All while six hundred feet above sea level. It almost requires a diorama to capture the extremes of this inland sailing we are doing.

And what sailing it is. Seven knots, sometimes 8 – start with the lowers and the tops’l as the onset of fresh winds spurs PRIDE II to life, then crack on and crack on as things moderate until we are all out of sail to set. At least sail that will carry to weather. The stuns’l is still in its bag, as is the fabled and rarely used ringtail. These “kites” only work when PRIDE II is not closehauled. But the forecast is calling for a shift, so we’ll see.

All best,
Jamie Trost and the Superior sailing crew aboard PRIDE of BALTIMORE II

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Pride of Baltimore and National Park Service Partnership Will Bring Pride of Baltimore II to More Families Around the Chesapeake Bay
  • Honoring a Cornerstone of Pride of Baltimore
  • An Agent of Change: A Letter from Our Board Chair
  • Long-term “Pandemic 2020” Layup
  • To Sail Another Day

Recent Comments

  • Pride of Baltimore In Ordinary October 31, 2020 – Baltimore Shipspotting on Long-term “Pandemic 2020” Layup
  • Steve Lossing on Captain's Day Off
  • Bob Little on CBMM: Home Away from Home
  • Lynell Fleming on Homeward Bound
  • hans lorek on Paradise Near and Far

Archives

  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • March 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009

Categories

  • Captain's Log
  • Featured
  • General
  • Press Releases

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Read the Book

Support PRIDE! Purchase Pride of the Sea using the button below and Pride of Baltimore will receive a portion of the proceeds. Your purchase price will not be affected.

Amazon Button (via NiftyButtons.com)

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.