Stony Island Sorcerer Cruise

Derelict barge in the Stony Island harbor 

We've been planning to take a 3-day Sorcerer cruise this weekend for a while. More of an "outing" than an "adventure." With Sorcerer, we sometimes keep our agenda open, and decide where to go based on weather. In southeast Michigan, within a 3-hour radius we can choose from Lake Michigan, Saginaw Bay and the thumb area of Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, or western Lake Erie. With thunderstorms and big winds forecast in all of those locations on Friday and Friday night, we opted for the couch until Saturday morning. On Saturday, things were looking up. Although there appeared to be a "chance of waterspouts", we learned that the waterspout forecasts are experimental and all other conditions looked good, so we decided for a Detroit River tour.

With a vigilant eye for waterspouts, we launched from Lake Erie Metropark, and headed south around Celeron Island before turning north up the Detroit River on the east side of Grosse Ile. The northwest winds were almost headwinds, and we were heading up against the strong current of the Detroit River, so we spent the afternoon tacking upriver toward our destination of Stony Island, at the north end of the Livingston Channel. The navigable channel is fairly narrow between Grosse Ile and the Livingston Channel, and weeds have taken over most of the shallower areas, making the tacking zone even narrower.

We made it to the north end of Stony Island, and it was only 2:30. Not ready to call it a day, we decided to continue sailing north in the deeper areas on the Canadian side of the shipping channel. Mark handed over the tiller, and I took over, wondering why every tack I made seemed to reduce our northerly progress. Luckily, we were not headed anywhere in particular. We realized soon that the south-bound current in the deeper areas was too strong for us to make progress, especially with the stiff northwest winds.

North end of the Livingston Channel

Canadian buoy at the norther end of Livingston Channel

At around 4:00, we decided to head in to anchor in the harbor of Stony Island. Stony Island is one of those special Detroit River places where natural beauty blends with industrial heritage and seasonal hunting, fishing, and party boating. On this fall day, we found only a couple of day fishing boats, so we tucked ourselves behind a derelict barge to shelter from the north wind. A grebe popped up from time to time to keep an eye on us while we prepared our Sorcerer Spaghetti dinner. There is a concrete island with some more derelict barges that is advertised as a prime marina for sale. We dreamed of owning the island and hosting small craft rendezvous.

Throughout the night, the wind howled in the rigging. I spent the first hour afraid that the wind might shift and send Sorcerer into the side of the rusty barge. I finally convinced myself that was not possible, because (a) we probably didn't have enough rode for that to happen, (b) the forecast called for nothing but north and northwest winds, and the barge was to our north, and (c) the north wind was so stiff that it seemed impossible for it to shift. I spent the next several hours waking to the various sounds of wind in the rigging, anchor light banging on the shroud (Mark gallantly woke up to tie that off), and the trees blowing all around us. The occasional freighter crept by on the other side of the wall of the Livingston Channel. Although we could barely hear their engines and propellers, we could see their lights towering over us on the other side of the trees, like looming multistory buildings gliding by. Eventually, I did fall into a good slumber, and we both slept until well after the sun came up.

The morning brought sunshine and more north winds. We boiled water for tea and ate crackers with Nutella (Krogella) and peanut butter while our grebe friend continued his vigilant watch.

Mark contemplating the sunny morning

We packed up the tent and motored out of the harbor to the entrance of the Livingston Channel. With the solid north wind, we were excited to have a quick trip down the channel, hoping for a close (but safe) encounter with a freighter. Instead, we saw only motor yachts and fishermen, but still enjoyed our speedy float down the channel in the 3 kt current. As it turned out, even the stiff north wind wasn't enough to add much southerly movement on top of the swift channel, so the sail barely filled until we were at the southern end.

Livingston Channel

Livingston Channel

When we reached the south end of the channel, we had a good reach to the south end of Celeron Island, back to where we started.

 We tacked back north to the boat launch and returned Sorcerer to her trailer. We had an audience of birdwatchers on our return, as Lake Erie Metropark is home to one of the premier places to watch hawks migrate south from Canada.

No waterspouts today. Maybe next time?