May 21, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
423 
namely, Vanenha, Minstrel, Siren, and Rosamund — had 
arrived at the Milwaukee anchorage, and we were all 
anxious to start for the north. 
At 6 o'clock, however, a bad thunder squall came up, 
and we decided to abandon our start until later. At 9:30 
P. M. everything looked promising, and the Minota, 
started on her trip, but a few miles out clouds gathered 
quickly, the northern sky darkened, and, as there was 
every indication of dirty weather, we deemed it prudent 
to put back to the safe anchorage of Milwaukee harbor, 
and arrived there about 11 o'clock. We were jeered at 
by our fellow yachtsmen, but agreed to start with them 
a.^ soon as the weather cleared at any time during the 
night, and at i o'clock were aroused from our slumbers 
by megaphone hails from the other boats. They were 
about to make sail, and we rapidly followed their example 
— Mistral, Siren, Vanenna, Charlotte R., and Minota all 
leaving the harbor between i and 2 o'clock in the morn- 
ing. The sky was perfectly clear, the stars were all 
twinkling, and the moon lightened up the horizon, and 
everything looked very promising for the northern trip. 
When we were about 4 miles on our course, and well 
away from the protecting influence of the land which 
runs out into the lake north of Milwaukee, and forms the 
southern arm of Whitefish Bay, the wind shifted around 
to the N., and in a very short time started up a vigorous 
head sea. We, fortunately, had in two reefs, but even 
that amount of sail was too much for comfort, and the 
prospect of bucking the head sea for 200 miles was not 
alluring, so we eased off our sheets and again started for 
Milwaukee, arriving there at about 3 o'clock. Shortly 
after dropping anchor, we noticed that the Charlotte R. 
had followed our example, and was coming in, and then 
the Vanenna followed suit. Mistral (as you will learn 
further) kept on, and Siren changed her course and ran 
before the wind to Grand Haven, Michigan, which place 
she safely reached the next afternoon, but after a wet 
and tempestuous voyage. After two attempts and dis- 
appointments, we determined to have a thoroughly good 
night's sleep, and wait until the wind was fair and every- 
thing more propitious than had so far been our luck. 
After brekfast we were visited by Vice-Commodore 
Burton, and discussed the weather and the prospects for 
the voyage down the lake. We agreed that we would 
leave between 10 ami 11 that morning. The wind was 
from the N.E. when we passed the gap in the break- 
water at 10:15, and we stood out on the lake for about 
4 miles E. by N. with a N. wind, closely following Mr. 
Wm. T. Starr's auxiliary yawl Rosamund. We came 
about shortly after she did, when fortunately the wind 
swung around to the E., which made a close reach for 
Sheboygan and Manitowoc. Before leaving, the various 
captains had decided that with a fair wind they would 
keep on up the coast as far as Manitowoc, 75 miles north 
of Milwaukee; and if, on arriving there, the wind was 
still right, would keep on for Charlevoix, cutting across 
the lake north of Manitowoc, where the distance to Point 
Betsey is about 85 miles. 
It certainly was a perfect Sunday; there was just 
enough sea running to give that easy motion that makes 
sailing so enjoyable, and we had a whole sail breeze. 
The two reefs in our mainsail and one in our jib which 
we had put in the night before were still in, and we soon 
saw that we had little hope of overhauling Rosamund 
unless we shook them out. Captain Starr evidently had 
his eye on us, for he very quickly unfurled his topsails 
and still kept away from us. At I o'clock we took the 
dinghy on board, and made better time, and at 3 in the 
afternoon were abreast Port Washington, which is 25 
miles north of Milwaukee. Away to the southward we 
could see Vanenna and Charlotte R. coming up. At 6 
in the evening we were nearing Sheboygan, still making 
good time, and after being busy for some time in the 
cabin with his charts, the Skipper came on deck and an- 
nounced that the barometer was steady, and that if we 
had a promising sunset and the weather kept fair, we 
would change our course after supper and head across 
the lake for Manistee. This was evidently the determina- 
tion of those on Vanenna, now well ahead, and to wind- 
ward of us, as we saw them haul in their sheets and head 
for the Michigan shore, 75 miles away. The sunset was 
all that could be expected, the moon rose early, and every- 
thing gave promise of fair weather and a fine run 
throughout the night. I shared the Skipper's watch from 
8 until midnight. With sheets just started, the lee rail 
vmder, and everything drawing finely, we ripped off 1 
and 8 knots every hour. The night was magnificent. Our 
course was E.N.E., the wind keeping steadily from, the 
S.E. and shortly before we went off watch we were cross- 
ing the course the steamers all take from Chicago to 
Point Betsey, and throughout the night we rarely had 
less than 4 or 5 steamers and 2 or 3 schooners in con- 
stant view. When midnight came and the other watch, 
consisting of Olaf, our sailorman, and Harris (who, on 
acount of his enormous appetite and love of sleep, had 
been promptly nicknamed the Boa Constrictor), came on 
deck, our log showed that we had reeled off 48 miles since 
6 o'clock. The moon made it almost as bright as day, and 
we lingered on deck for a while for a final pipe and glass 
of grog before we turned in to have a scant three hours 
of sleep. 
At a quarter to 2 in the morning the lookout sighted 
the Big Point Sable light bearing due E., as the Skipper 
had predicted. This is a fixed white light, visible 20 miles. 
In the daytime this lighthouse is one of the most con- 
spicuous landmarks on the east shore, as it stands 100 
feet high, and is painted with three broad bands, the 
upper and lower bemg white and the middle black.- 
When we came on deck at 4 o'clock we were abreast 
OT Manistee and steering N. up the coast. The wind had 
changed slightly and was now S.S.E., and the morning 
clouds gave every evidence of a good breeze through thr: 
day. We were having more wind than we cculd com- 
fortably use with full sail, so we shortened it and kept on 
up the coast under two reefs. 
About 8 o'clock, after breakfast, we noticed some dis- 
tance astern a large sized sloop yacht which we took to 
be Vanenna, assuming that she had taken a southerly 
course, and was now coming up the coast. Her hull 
seemed black like the "Van's" and the cut of her sails 
also made us feel quite confident that it was she, and we 
were very much elated at the idea of having steered a 
more northerly course, and that we had a prospect of 
reaching Charlevoix the first in the fleet after all — that 
uras, assuming Mistral had been overlookedi aud had 
been one of the "ships that pass in the night." We were 
close inshore when we passed Point Betsey, and the life- 
saving crew saluted us as we went by. 
"Point Betsey" is the mariners' method of pronouncing 
Pointe Aux Bees Scies, the name evidently given by some 
of the early French voyageurs to this point of land, which 
resembles very much a bird's beak. This light is placed 
on a yellow tower 34 feet high, and at night is a flashing 
Minota. 
white light, with an interval of 10 seconds between each 
flash. It marks the turning point for vessels bound to 
and from the south end of the lake, when headed for 
the Manitou passage, and is about 24 miles S. by W. of 
South Manitou Island. 
After passing Point Betsey, the next prominent land- 
mark we sighted was Sleeping Bear Point, which is op- 
posite the Manitou Islands. It is a freak of nature well 
Chart of Course Taken by Minota. 
named. The sand hills at this point rise to a height of 
500 feet, and, seen from the lake, it appears as if an army 
of engineers had carefully leveled off the sky-line for a 
distance of two miles and built in the center a huge monu- 
ment representing a sleeping bear. ' 
By 10 o'clock the wind had blown up some rain, and 
oilskins for all hands were the order of the day. Away 
to the W. it began to cloud up and look squally, and we 
watched with some anxiety a small trading schooner take 
in her topsails and reef; the rainfall over there was evi- 
dently much heavier than we were experiencing. We 
started through the Manitou passage about 11 o'clock, 
and at lunch-time the rain had stopped and we could see 
far astern of us a schooner following in our wake. As 
the wind was fair and she had no raffeys up, we assumed 
that she must be a yacht, and as she drew nearer to us 
we made her out to be Mistral, which left Milwaukee 
8 hours before we did. We learned later from Lawrence 
that he had kept on that night, notwithstanding the dirty 
weather that drove us back to Milwaukee, and had made 
an E. course for many miles before heading N. They had 
experienced some very bad weather, which, fortunately, 
we had missed by spending the night in the safe anchor- 
age of Milwaukee harbor. 
The water is wonderfully clear at this end of the lake, 
and it is somewhat startling to look down and see your- 
self passing over great rocks that seem close to your 
keel, but which a heave of the lead discloses are 4 fathoms 
below. 
The wind was now blowing E.S.E., which meant that 
when we crossed Grand Traverse Bay we should get the 
full force of the breeze now tempered by the protecting 
heights of the shore, and the Skipper prudently decided 
to stand in under the shelter of Cathead Point and put in 
two more reefs and a small jib. While we were busily 
engaged in doing this, I noticed Mistral's people were 
conning us anxiously through their glasses, wondering 
what had happened to us, but they evidently divined our 
reasons, and did some reefing on their own account. By 
the time we were snugged down under our four reefs and 
No. 3 jib, and wore away on our course, the Mistral had 
passed us; as we crossed the wide entrance to Grand 
Traverse Bay we got all we expected, but bowled along 
very comfortably with our shortened canvas at a 7-knot 
clip. 
Between Fishermen's Island and Charlevoix we wit- 
nessed a grand battle of the elements. The clouds which 
we had noticed earlier in the day to the W. had now 
banked up in large numbers, their colors were constantly 
changing from black to green and red and back to black 
again, and the lightning flashed throughout the western 
sky. The wind had been blowing steadily for 24 hours 
from the E. and S.E., and had now become sufficiently 
strong to make a very good fight against any W. wind 
that should attempt to gain the mastery, and as we 
watched this contest between the E. and the W. we all 
agreed that the W. wind would finally have to give in, 
but no sooner had this decision been reached than the E. 
wind received a knockout blow from somewhere or other, 
and instantly a fierce squall broke, the wind switched 
round to the W., and before you could say "knife," down 
came our jib, the strong iron snap-hook at its head part- 
ing as if it had been a piece of stopping twine. It was 
fortunate that this happened, as it made the bringing up 
of the boat into the wind a very easy matter, and under 
a 4-reefed sail Minota rode out the blow, which lasted 
10 minutes, as nicely and more comfortably than we 
should have done if we had doused our mainsail. The 
rain poured down in torrents, so that it was impossible 
to see the length of the vessel. As soon as it had passed 
over, the jib was again hoisted up, and we saw Mistral 
about a mile to the N. E. ; she had dropped every rag of 
canvas, and was waiting for a tug that was then steaming 
out to her from the mouth of the Charlevoix harbor. We 
headed for the piers, and arrived there just as Mistral 
was towed in. They very kindly threw us a line, so we 
swung in behind them, and cast off when we got into 
Round Lake, which is the small lake between the entrance 
to Charlevoix harbor and Pine Lake. Here, very much 
to our astonishment, we found Vanenna at anchor, and 
also the schooner Hawthorne. Normandia. (Mr. N. W. 
Harris's power boat), was anchored in Pine Lake, so we 
found quite a gathering of Chicago Y. C. craft. Captain 
Cameron and his crew, of Vanenna, were very much sur- 
prised to see us there so soon, as they had arrived them- 
selves only a few minutes before, having been becalmed 
5 or 6 hours between Sleeping Bear Point and Traverse 
Bay. We anchored alongside Vanenna, and, looking up 
our log, found our actual sailing time from Chicago to 
Charlevoix had been 44 hours, and the distance covered 
333 miles, being an average of 7^ miles an hour. We 
were elated over this, as we all felt, and still feel, that it 
will be a record hard to beat for a 40ft. boat cruising on 
Lake Michigan. The wind had been favorable and kind 
to us throughout the trip, and the success of the run was 
in a great measure due to the fact that we started out 
from Chicago with the determination to carry out the old 
saying: "Never make a port when your sheets are 
started." 
We visited the Vanenna and talked over the run, and 
then called on Hawthorne. 
Mistral was to start the next day for Harbor Springs, 
and Hawthorne was awaiting her owners, Messrs. Mc- 
Connell. Fox and Clinch, who were expected to ar- 
rive on Thursday and take her up to the North Channel. 
Charlevoix is an ideal place for a yacht club fleet to 
rendezvous. The piers run out into the lake a distance of 
about 1,000 feet, giving a deep channel about 250 feet 
wide, croFsed at the shore end by a swing bridge for 
road traffic. With a fair wind it is unnecessary to hire a 
tug, as the tug men here are like the rest of seafaring 
people and have the impression that a yacht owner bal- 
lasts his boat with silver dollars, and the tariff rate for 
towing in and towing out is $5. The bridge tender will 
swing the bridge in response to three blasts from your 
horn as you go up the channel, and as soon as the bridge 
is passed the river widens to form Round Lake. Here 
the anchorage is good throughout, but the best course to 
pursue is to sail to the further end of the lake and 
round up on the starboard hand and anchor. You are 
then within easy reach of the shopping districtyiand latet 
on you can do as we did — drop down the stream into Pine 
Lake, which is connected with Round Lake by a short 
channel crossed by a railroad bridge which is only closed 
at train time, occasionally during the day. Pine Lake is 
very beautifully located, and runs up into the country 
about 20 miles, and is divided into two arms, the E. one 
being much wider and giving more room for sailing. 
There is a good depth of water throughout ; in fact, 
steamers with their tows go to the extreme end of the 
lake for lumber cargoes ; but care should be taken not to 
go too close to the shore points jutting out in the lake 
where the water is shoal. _ 
We stayed at Charlevoix for the balance of the week, 
each day having a sail on Pine Lake. 
[to BS OBNXimm] _ 
