Rhumb Line

a course that keeps a constant bearing

2. The Complete Log Book For Cruising Sailors

3. Toronto International Boat Show

4. Port Clinton OH Waterfront Park Grant

5. Lake Huron Water Level Study

6. A King on Lake Michigan

7. Update on Nuclear Waste Dump Beside Lake Huron

(a) St. Ignace, MI is the northern anchor of the Mackinac Bridge and a gateway down into Lake Michigan or out into Lake Huron and the North Channel. It a place full of history and beauty. A French jesuit mission and fur trading fort from the mid 1600's, its museums (Ojibwe Culture and Fort de Baude) and historical interpretation of the Marquette Mission offer hours of pleasure for a visiting sailor. Click here to visit St Ignace, MI.

(b) Menominee, MI and Marinette WI face each other across the Menominee River where it flows into the beautiful Green Bay. An important shipping port on the Great Lakes, these twin cities offer a cruising sailor lots to experience in this corner of lake Michigan. Click here to visit Menominee MI and Marinette WI.


2. The Complete Log Book For Cruising Sailors

Last week, I sent out an announcement that The Complete Log Book For Sailors was finally available. The response has been quite

Forms to record owner information, insurance details and vessel specifications

Detailed log forms to record state of boats systems and progress of a passage

Easy-to-use weather planning worksheets

Radio log forms to record important radio traffic

Comprehensive passage planning forms to enable you to plan out a journey with confidence

Multiple checklists to address major issues such as pre-departure, arrival, medical/first aid kit and ditch bag contents as well as multi-purpose blank checklists

Forms to plan out storage locations and contents on board – both on deck and below deck

Logs for engine and vessel service records

Multiple resource references

Memory Aids for proper distress calls

Float Plan forms that are US and Canadian Coast Guard compliant

A reasonable price of only US$20.00

Immediate delivery as a simple pdf download.

Mon Jan 11 1800

Tues Jan 12 1200

Wed Jan 13 1530

Thurs Jan 14 1230

Sun Jan 17 1400

You can also find it here.

If you are in the area at those times, drop by and say 'hello'. I'd love to chat with you.


4. Port Clinton OH Waterfront Park Grant

The town of Port Clinton, OH has received a grant to begin the plan for a new Waterworks Park. The proposed plan includes boardwalks along the waterfront and additional docking facilities for transient sailors – something that is always of interest to us. Port Clinton has long been a magnet for cruising sailors in part because of its close proximity to the Bass Islands. To learn a little more about this area, visit Port Clinton here.


5. Lake Huron Water Level Study

Its hard to believe that it was just 2 years ago that people were very worried about the record low water levels on Lake Huron. In fact, they were the lowest on about a century. What a difference 2 years can make.

Today, the water level is at a record high and creating a host of new problems. From docks left high and dry, people and communities are now dealing with submerged docks and piers, erosion and more. Some have suggested that what is occurring in Lake Huron could serve as a proxy for the entire Great Lakes.

Huron County lies in Ontario, along the Lake Huron coast and includes the lovely harbour of Goderich, ON.

The University of Michigan and the Rural Ontario Institute (a not-for-profit foundation) are currently examining funding a detailed study of the impacts of this change, including impacts of boating and marinas along the lakes.


6. A King on Lake Michigan

From Napoleon on Lake Ontario (see here) to pirates like Dan Seavey on Lake Michigan (see here), there is no end of unique and strange stories about our fabulous inland seas. In that vein, let me introduce you to a crowned king who lived on Lake Michigan – James Jesse Strang.

Over the next decade, they built a solid, thriving community numbering some 2,600 that prospered from selling fish and timber to the many passing trading ships that plied the Great Lakes. Records of the day also report that he led a pirate crew that preyed on small defenseless villages on the coastlines. Along the way, in 1850, he was crowned king of Beaver Island. Needless-to-say, this did not go over well with the US government and a USN warship was dispatched to arrest him for treason.

He was duly arrested and transported to Detroit for trial. A powerful speaker, Strang was acquitted and returned to rule Beaver Island. As King, he also sat for two terms in the Michigan state legislature. He was very authoritarian and more than one man was flogged for various transgressions.

In 1856, a US naval ship docked at Beaver Island. Invited to dine with the Captain, Strang was shot in the back as he walked to the ship. Although it was watched, no-one said a word to warn him. The ship departed shortly thereafter carrying the murderers and their families to parts unknown. No charges were ever laid.

Upon his death, hundreds of Mormons left for Wisconsin. Some 2,000 who remained were set upon by mobs from the mainland, burnt out and forced to flee for their lives.

The kingdom died with Strang.


7. Update on Plan to Build Nuclear Waste Dump Beside Lake Huron

Some months ago, I wrote about Ontario's public hydro utility Ontario Power Generation (OPG)'s plan to bury 7 million cubic feet of nuclear waste right beside lake Ontario near the village of Kincardine ON.

If this is such a good idea (as if burying nuclear waste right beside the drinking water of 40,000,000 people could ever be considered a good idea), it would survive another review.

What can you do? If you are a Canadian, write to your Federal Member of Parliament at this address:

Name of Member of Parliament
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0A6

Mail can be sent postage free. Or send an email. – their name and email address can be found under each members profile here.

Write to your Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament. Contact information is here.

If you are an American citizen, write to you congressional representatives in the US Senate and the House of Representatives.

The contact information for Senators is here

The contact information for members of the House of Representatives can be found here.

Write to your state representatives as well.

Lest you think these sorts of ideas are unique or one-offs, there is currently a dispute in Wisconsin about the City of Waukesha's goal to divert millions of gallons of water daily out of Lake Michigan and in fact right out of the Great Lakes basin. Next stop is California I guess.

If a friend DID forward this to you and if you like what you read, please subscribe. You will find a subscribe button on most pages of the site.


Fair winds and following seas.

Michael Leahy, Publisher