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| cruisingworld.com cruising are stolen bytherhapsody in of rock andpinefound The hearts of trailer sailors more accustomed to saltwater Lake Huron’s freshwater North Channel. by Pixie Haugh wout and Ral ph Folsom
courtesy of the trailer sailors association e were cruising New York’s Erie Canal one summer when the crews of two large sailboats, looking down at Ensemble, our humble 24-foot Dolphin sloop, said the same thing: “Your boat is trailerable, isn’t it? You ought to go to the North Channel. We’re coming up from the Caribbean because the North Channel is a better cruising destination.” Raised in New England and now living in San Diego, California, we were clueless as to what the North Channel was all about. The first time we heard these words, Pixie, my wife and captain, andI let them ride. But the second time they registered. So where is this North Channel, we asked? Lake Huron, they said. To which, scout’s honor, we actually said, “Lake Huron … is that the one with Chicago on it?”
April 2014 | cruisingworld.com 47 heaven on earth
Happily, these kind We called the Heils about cruisers from Michigan took winter storage in De Tour, pity on us, pulled out their which they made possible, charts and undertook some and have never left the remedial education. Not Lake cruising environment that Michigan, you dummies; the has brought us rapture. North Channel is above Lake Brazer’s guide had reeled us Huron in Ontario, Canada. in with remote, enchanting For cruisers, it’s heaven on island anchorages and Earth. Six years and a lot of charming village ports. homework later, we drove We called it “cruising with Ensemble from Cape Cod, Marjorie.” Long before Massachusetts, launched her GPS navigation, she was a in Traverse City, Michigan, pioneer cruiser. She was and left our truck and trailer also an exquisite storyteller. in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Her North Channel tales at the east end of Georgian remain delightful: “The Bay. Then we took a rental Great Sawmill Robbery,” car back to our little pocket “The Curse of the Bearwalk,” cruiser with eight weeks to “Captain Black Pete make our way back to its rig. Campbell” and more. After three sparkling editions Love at First Cruise of Well-Favored Passage, In Michigan, Suttons Bay, Marjorie left us in 1992. Heirs Beaver Island, Les Cheneaux to her legacy, ours is a love Islands and Mackinac Island story, and we’ve built a boat were all warmups for the as barn in De Tour Village where yet unknown magic of the Ensemble waits for us to come North Channel. Our last port back each summer. Not much of call in the States was De on headroom, Ensemble was Tour Village, Michigan, a designed by Sparkman & sleepy little town across from Stephens, draws 3 feet on her Drummond Island, the only full keel with centerboard up, U.S. island of size reasonably and loves a reach. considered part of the North Channel. There we met Cris The Well-Favored Passage and Paul Heil, genuinely Native Americans from good people, like so many Canada’s First Nations Midwesterners. They lent found the North Channel us a 1987 copy of Marjorie a well-favored passage Cahn Brazer’s classic North sheltered from mighty Lake Channel cruising guide, Huron. French fur trappers, Well-Favored Passage (first headed west out of Montreal, published in 1975). We didn’t followed in their wake by know it, but that guide would canoe. Annual gatherings Marie (one in Michigan, one extends 60 miles east from change our lives. for fish runs at the falls of across the St. Marys River in Blind River on the north Gypsies at heart, we’d been Sault Ste. Marie, and at Canada) approximately 120 shore to Killarney. trailer sailing for decades: the the Straits of Mackinac, nautical miles to Killarney “In the islands is the stuff Sea of Cortez, the entire U.S. generated substantial at the entrance to Georgian of dreams,” Brazer wrote. Eastern seaboard, the Pacific commerce. The building of Bay. Headed west to east Bays within bays embrace Northwest, the Florida Keys British and United States from the Saults, once past almost countless anchorages. and more. Four years hence, forts stabilized the region, St. Joseph Island, the North Little Current’s swing bridge our plan was to sail the despite several wars. Miners, Channel is sheltered from linking Manitoulin and the Bahamas. Three weeks later, loggers, homesteaders and Lake Huron on the south mainland is a choke point, in Little Current, Ontario, we buccaneers arrived in the age by Drummond, Cockburn effectively creating two sat in the Anchor Inn afraid of sail, then steam. and Manitoulin islands. Its distinct cruising grounds. to speak about falling in love Just exactly where is the north shore is mainland Little Current is also home to with the North Channel. North Channel? Sweeping Ontario. In between, 20- to Turners, longtime suppliers “Cruising will never get away definitional disputes, 30-mile crossings make for of North Channel charts and better than this in our we think of it as running exhilarating passages. Inside books. Pay heed: Despite the lifetimes,” Captain Pixie said from Lake Superior at the this modest-size channel, the town’s name, wind-driven
to her first mate. “Let’s stay.” twin cities of Sault Ste. Gold Coast for island cruising currents flowing past the charters d ian yacht of cana courtesy of the trailer sailors association; courtesy
48 April 2014 | cruisingworld.com heaven on earth
Ralph Folsom and Pixie Haughwout (right) hauled Ensemble, their Sparkman Stephens sloop (below, right), from Cape Cod, Massa- chusetts, to Traverse City, Michigan, where they launched her. Then they drove the truck and trailer to Penetanguishene, Ontario, rented a car back to the boat, and gave themselves eight weeks to explore (see map), though they’re the first to admit they could take the rest of their lives cruising this magical destination. Along the way they visited the Canadian Yacht Charter base at Gore Bay (above, left). and they made plenty of new friends, too (left).
swing bridge can reach 6 rendezvous in the North knots. Channel. Trailer sailors June through August drive from the South, New is prime cruising time, England, all over the Midwest though the locals swear and, like us, from California by September. Just about to savor its bounty. The anytime, the North Channel convivial Trailer Sailors is addicting. Two small Association organizes annual Canadian charter companies North Channel cruises, offer well-maintained perfect for neophyte boaters. sailboats and trawlers (see After a season or two, some Charter Companies, page succumb to the addiction 52). Sailors from Great Lakes and winter their boats in ports regularly journey North Channel marinas and north to get there each boatyards. summer. Chicago-Mac Race participants linger with Embrace The Magic family and friends in a time- Lake Huron’s North honored tradition. Great Channel and adjacent Loop cruisers — the name Georgian Bay offer more than for those circumnavigating 32,000 freshwater islands. the eastern North American Though it may seem hard to continent — consider it the believe, the Bay of Islands, high point of their voyage. a large bay with hundreds ino; courtesy of the authors of the authors tu m ino; courtesy y shannon cain Members of the Great of islands inside the North m a p s b Lakes Cruising Club often Channel, was first charted in April 2014 | cruisingworld.com 49 heaven on earth
2002. There are even parts of the North Channel and Georgian Bay that remain uncharted. Nearly all of the islands are public, with more wild blueberries to pick than your crew can eat. Forgive us salties if we dwell on the ever so sweet fresh water of the North Channel. Your body, your engine, your boat will all adore the bliss of sweet- water sailing. The pristine water quality and clarity are phenomenal. This is also wilderness cruising, an idyll of anchorages and village ports of call. As Marjorie famously wrote: “The North Channel is a rhapsody in rock and pine, high bluff and deep bay, orchestrated in its own key. The elevations are dramatic, the daylight long and sharp, the northern lights brilliant against the night sky. The North Channel is a state of mind, a distant haunt of peace, of timelessness, of mystery, of tempest, of aching beauty.” To which we add: Monarch butterflies hang glide in your wind wake, and swing bridge. In the west, Benjamin has room for all. anchorage can take one the call of the loon resonates the Benjamin Islands, whose On the southern end of South boat captained with courage in your soul. rocks are as startlingly Benjamin, you can anchor through a gap in the rocks so Nearly all of the North pink as a brand-new baby, and tie up in gorgeous finger tight your heart will race. For Channel is in Canadian create secluded single-slot coves. The Benjamins are 12 years we waited our turn. waters. Its hospitable, gunkholes. Beware: Captain probably the North Channel’s Finally, in 2010, Porcupine generous people bid you most Pixie defines gunkholing most popular destination. was unoccupied. In we went, welcome. There are no tides as “going somewhere you For extraordinary seclusion, using a five-point shore tie to think of here. Swim every probably shouldn’t.” A large, blueberry-strewn Porcupine that still left a bit of bottom day in 10 feet or less, where readily accessible anchorage Island lies slightly east of paint behind. We stayed for the warm water has been between North and South South Benjamin. Its only days. baking all day on hot rose- colored granite. Put out a line, and reel in a northern pike, salmon, lake trout or walleye. Customs and Immigration Ste. Marie. Passports, U.S. passport cards or enhanced The sailing itself is a dream driver’s licenses (not just photo identification) are come true. Winds from the Skippers must check in with authorities of the Canada required. Boats over 30 feet must obtain a U.S. Customs west typically clock in about Border Service Agency by telephone. Some ports have and Border Protection user fee decal, which presently 11 a.m., peak at 15 knots dedicated phone lines for this purpose set up dockside. costs $27.50. You do not need to clear out of either around 3 p.m., and are gone After a few formalities regarding firearms, alcohol, pets, Canada or the States. by dinner at 6. The sun drops passengers and vessel registration, typically you will be below the horizon about 10 given a clearance number good for the length of your For more details, consult the Canada Border p.m., a serene afterglow to cruise. Service Agency websites: your daily adventures. Clearing into the United States is more demanding. Here are some of the Pre-arranged and pre-paid programs called NEXUS and www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/canpass/ ultimate destinations in I-68 allow you to clear conveniently by phone. Otherwise, canpassprivateboat-eng.html#s1 the North Channel, east you must clear in person at an authorized center such as www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/nexus/menu-eng.html Drummond Island Yacht Haven, Mackinac Island or Sault and west of Little Current’s CANPASS phone number: 888-226-7277 of b ruce o’hare courtesy
50 April 2014 | cruisingworld.com heaven on earth
The Benjamins aren’t far winding entrance off Frazer The public docks at Little Current are always busy with boats, from the island-studded Bay actually has buoys, a rare mainly because the Little Current swing bridge passage divides Whalesback Channel, surely sight in the North Channel. North Channel cruising into two distinct destinations (top, left). The Benjamin Islands are protected by rocky shoals but there’s a safe one of the most beautiful For 9 miles the high-sided way in, as evidenced by the boats snugly anchored (above). Be aware: 15-mile passages in the fjord hosts gunkholes galore. Bears are known to visit here. world. Dark pines march Then a slip of a passage across steep granite slopes takes you into a mini-fjord of standing in bold relief against jewel-like quality with good hidden entrance, but can be generate the “aching beauty” a limitless blue sky. The anchoring. At the far end, readily avoided. Inside there of which Marjorie wrote. North Channel comes in called The Pool, where the is room for dozens of cruisers Without doubt it is the most layers; nearby Oak Bay is an Evinrude family of outboard- to anchor. Dazzling, even stunning spot we have ever inside passage of an inside engine fame own the only in a destination filled with set a hook anywhere in the passage of an inside passage. cabin, their mega-yacht, breath-takers, hardly seems world. Twice we have been Possessed of multiple Chanticleer, has been seen. sufficient to describe Covered forced to reluctantly depart majestic anchorages, you A hike up for a swim in the Portage Cove. Take your when rare, strong easterlies could spend a week here and unbelievably clear water camera up to the cliff top. pounded into Thomas Bay. just scratch the surface of its of Topaz Lake will get your Feel like anchoring alone, It’s not easy to see the rocks nooks and crannies. Hushed juices going. as we often do? You can when the surf’s up, but there forest, rocky hills, placid lily Also in the east, Covered in the North Channel, for is shelter only 2 miles away in pools, pike and bass await Portage Cove is a legendary summers on end. Thomas Collins Inlet. your pleasure. anchorage. Guarded by the Bay, just east of Killarney, is Manitoulin Island is East of Little Current’s massive Indian Head rock our favorite and a gem of a claimed to be the world’s swing bridge, Baie Fine is formation, “Portage Couvert,” hideaway. Tough to enter, and largest freshwater island, a true fjord set deep into as it was known to French open to winds off Georgian and is the location of some the La Cloche Mountains, voyageurs, is almost totally Bay, Thomas is surrounded of the North Channel’s a location immortalized by encircled by towering pine- by what we call Blueberry most enjoyable ports of call: the Group of Seven Canadian laden bluffs of chiseled white Heights. Red rocks, green Gore Bay, Kagawong, Little courtesy of the trailer sailors association courtesy landscape painters. A small, quartzite. A reef protects its pines and aquamarine water Current and Meldrum Bay. April 2014 | cruisingworld.com 51 heaven on earth
There you can refuel, pump Roy Eaton (left) of the Little out the holding tank, stock Current Yacht Club runs the up at stores and farmers’ Chartering In The very well trafficked cruisers VHF net on channel 71. markets, go to summer North Channel theaters, and gorge on ice cream that does not come in • Canadian Yacht Charters, measured scoops. Shirin and Gore Bay (www.cycnorth.com) Elena at the remote Meldrum • Discovery Yacht Charters, year, more than 1,000 boats Bay Inn bake to-die-for Little Current (www. checked in with Roy on bumbleberry pie. Herbert’s discoveryyachtcharters.com) channel 71. Roy also covers deliciously fresh fish ’n’ chips, news, sports and local events, sold out of a red school bus are well done, but it’s not to mention his fish-fry in Killarney, make this town essential to post a lookout potluck. The Cruisers Net can another memorable landfall. at the bow when entering be a lifeline in an emergency. Cruisers have been known to an anchorage. Stay alert in Our favorite person in the plan their summer itinerary curves resembling an S or Z North Channel is Carmen around repeat visits to through narrow passages. Cotnoir. She and her patient Herbert’s. Bruce and plow anchors they meant 3 feet below chart husband, Charles, converted For the finest dining in work well in the generally datum. Finally, a professional a convent into a bed-and- the North Channel, dock muddy bottoms of the skipper told us that the water breakfast called Le Bel Abri overnight for free at the North Channel. You can tie level was at chart datum, about a half-mile from the Bayside Restaurant on directly to shore or even rock down 3 feet from the year marina in the town of Spanish Drummond Island, off pretty edges, then step ashore and before. In chart datum years, on the North Shore. Carmen, Potogannising Bay. Thursday smile. Not to worry — with what you see on the water a French Canadian, is a life evenings in July and August, planning, time and attention, corresponds to what you force. She bakes, she fishes, Bayside does fabulous four- you can do all this. read on your charts. If not, she paints, she traps; she throws off positive energy like gamma rays. Carmen serves One of the great enticements of the north yummy breakfasts daily to boaters who fall within her channel is the warmhearted people you radiance. Call ahead, and meet on water and on land. don’t be late. course meals with excellent Water levels matter in the when navigating, you need Longtime cruisers and wines. North Channel. Throughout to constantly “correct” your seminar presenters Pixie the Great Lakes they chart depths to the reality of Haughwout and Ralph Navigation and Anchoring fluctuate yearly in irregular the water level. Folsom are the authors of Navigating the North cycles. Mariners need to be a new edition of Marjorie Channel is challenging and aware of how the level stands Welcoming People Cahn Brazer’s Well-Favored fun, and with all those islands in relation to the mean low- One of the great Passage: The Magic of Lake there’s always a place to hide water depths recorded on enticements of the North Huron’s North Channel, and if the weather turns against charts. This information is Channel is the warmhearted Canal Cruising in the South you. Buoys are small, and few broadcast daily on Canadian people you meet on water and of France: The Romantic and far between. Milk-jug VHF weather channels. Don’t on land. With a long twilight, Canal du Midi (Sea Fever markers indicate a hazard, make the mistake we did dinghies create a gregarious Gear Publications, www. but leave you wondering on on our first North Channel paseo at happy hour in seafevergear.com). which side of the hazard they cruise. People kept telling us popular anchorages. With have been placed? Canadian the water level was down 3 San Diego on her transom, paper and electronic charts feet. For weeks we assumed Ensemble provokes questions: Just exactly how did you get here? Depending on our rum level, we might start with Cape Horn or the Panama Resources Canal before confessing to Route I-95. Little Current Yacht Club (www.lcyc.ca) On land, Roy Eaton of the North Channel Yacht Club (www.ncyc.ca) Little Current Yacht Club Great Lakes Cruising Club (www.glcclub.com) expertly runs a VHF Cruisers Trailer Sailors Association (www.trailersailors.org) Net filled with useful weather Lake Huron’s North Channel (www.thenorthchannel.ca) and navigation information Turners of Little Current (www.turners.ca) at 9 a.m. every morning in America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (www.greatloop.org)
July and August. One recent eaton of roy courtesy
52 April 2014 | cruisingworld.com