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Freighter Alley
by
Anne Westlund
Where I live and sail are ships – ships from all over the world ply DeTour Passage at the east end of Michigan’
s Upper Peninsula (da UP, folks). The season of open ice less water is March to December or January. During
those nine or ten months more than 4000 passages are made. Most of the freighter traffic is from only 200 or
so ore carriers, locally called lake “boats”. The other ships are the salties – ocean going freighters. They hail
from nearly everywhere and flags of all nations can be seen waving from the sterns.
There are so many that a new identification book comes out every year to help hobbyists and tourists find out
what boat is which company’s and what country they are from or registered in. (www.boatnerds.com)
Sailing in the shipping lanes is a challenge. In my town (De Tour Village) two car ferries run the mile wide
passage twice an hour, so one is moving every half hour. The busy times may mean the ferries are “running
wild” and may be underway any time 24/7/365. Extra runs are made for fuel trucks and ambulances. If you
have the money you can “buy” a special ride across all alone! The ferries hold many cars and trucks at one
time. Our launch ramp in De Tour Village is right near the ferry docks.
I used to live up the rise a couple of blocks from the ramp and marina. Today I live on Drummond Island and
ride the ferry every day to work (teaching Math to middle school age urchins and lovin’ it).
When I lived in De Tour Village I could hear the ferry come into dock or leave, crunching ice in winter and
jockeying into position to let the ramps down. I could even tell who was driving by how aggressive the noses
were when engines were revved up. Now on the Island I am far enough away from the docks at two miles that
I seldom hear the ferry but I can still hear the fog horn over five miles away at De Tour Point.
The water in the Passage is from the St. Mary’s River system that dumps water out of Lake Superior. The
Passage is over 125 feet deep and is carved out of limestone from the Niagara Escarpment over which it flows.
This natural passage makes for interesting wind conditions for small boats. Lake Huron is right there to the
south. To the north and west is Lake Superior. To the east is the North Channel of Lake Huron and over 50
small islands that are mostly owned by the State of Michigan, including Lime Island State Park, an old fueling
station for the freighters. Currents are strong in the Passage and ships affect the water levels as they pass up
and down the lakes. De Tour is the turn area where voyageurs made the turn toward Lake Michigan which is
about 40 miles west at the Straits of Mackinac (pronounced mack-in-aw).
I was anchored at Harbor Island with Peapod on my first real exploration of the region in my small West
Wight Potter when strange things happened. The boat was floating in about ten inches of water or less. I had
been on and off, stepping over the side and back on, many times. Sitting in the cockpit enjoying the fine
weather I noticed the boat was no longer floating. She was sitting on the bottom! What was going on?
Well, a 1000 ft. ore boat went through the Passage! Over time I got sort of used to the phenomenon. A boat that
draws 26 ft. of water pushing 1000 feet through the water displaces an enormous volume of water. The result is
that the lake levels in the immediate area, within six or so miles, go up and down. I was amazed. Several times
when the winds blew, Peapod would slide over the soft bottom. I’d hear crunches of small stones or clam
shells mixed in with the sand. That was often the first indication I noticed that told me that the boat was either
sinking or rising. From time-to-time at night I’d hear the thump, thump, thump of the huge freighter propellers
churning through the water.
Leaving the launch ramp area to sail over to Harbor Island some 8 miles away, I’d often have to wait for a
freighter to pass by before I could go across the Passage. Sometimes freighters were anchored north of
Drummond Island waiting for orders or for repairs or something else. I never knew what. The freighter traffic
is controlled and they must call in to the Soo Traffic for permissions, pilot loading and off loading, etc. But they
don’t tell us who listen on scanners or VHF radios why they anchor.
Sometimes traffic is backed up at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Sometimes high winds keep the
freighters at anchor. Over 75,000 gallons of water enter the St. Mary’s River every second from Lake Superior,
dropping some 21 feet from the lake’s level. Sometimes the gal./sec. exceed 90,000 in spring run-off when the
snow/ice melts.
This happened on Raggedy Annie one time. I left the marina in De Tour making for Drummond Island Yacht
Haven the other side of Harbor Island on Drummond Island’s north side in Potaganising Bay. There was a
freighter viable on the horizon to the south, and apparently south of the lighthouse some four miles away.
I raised my red sails and proceeded on a nice beam reach (wind from the south). It occurred to me that I
couldn’t pass in front of the freighter comfortably. So I called the freighter on the VHF to make contact and ask
what they preferred I do. I spoke with, it turned out, the captain. He said he saw my red sails and that he’d
prefer I pass behind him, At that point he was four miles out and coming in fast with a wind behind him. In the
river system they have to maintain a speed no more than six knots so the controller can time the locks for the
boats going through. If they speed they get fined. It can take several miles to gently slow down and the captain
and I both knew I’d best not get in front of him.
I had had a bad experience the year before over in the North Channel when I almost got run down by a big
power boat going full blast with no one at the helm. Friends I was sailing in company with thought I was going
to die. During the following winter I bought the nice red sails. I did it so I’d be seen. It was nice to know that
the big ore boat’s captain saw my red sails that clear, sunny day from four miles or more away.
I thanked the captain and said I’d fall off and wait. I did, jigging along, and then thought, ‘How far away was
the boat when they saw me on radar?’ I grabbed the microphone and called the freighter again. The captain
said they picked me up on radar at the same time they saw the, “Lovely red sails.” I asked for his name,
telling him why. He was glad to tell me, I logged it with the ship’s name and what was said. Evidence if run
down by some non-helmsman again, heaven forbid!
The weather in the area is wonderful and weird by turns. The three big lakes and the smaller North Channel
region (over 100 miles by 30 miles or more) impact the Drummond Island and De Tour Village area by turns.
The lakes influence and land masses all contribute to fair winds (or stormy seas) or flat calms between frontal
systems. Winds can die in the Passage while it diddles around and then blows again hard up the River. NOAA
weather will indicate NW winds gusting to 22 knots at the Soo and SE at 8 knots in De Tour Passage. Meantime
a few miles east of the Village the wind will be SW at 4 knots.
One time I left to go west to Cedarville with a good North wind. When I got to the Lighthouse south of the
Passage the wind was howling from the West. I was using Peapod then and ended up on the south side of
Drummond Island holed up for three days in an absolute gagger of winds. I didn’t dare leave the anchorage in
Whitney Bay. I didn’t mind. The swimming was good. I had lots of books and critters to watch: herons, ducks,
deer, people and the weather, the anchor, the lines for chafe, and just to loaf it out.
I have never sailed the area around the Passage without keeping a really sharp weather eye, and especially
with the little Potter, Peapod.
All my senses are in force when I’m in the area of the shipping channels. Getting by the ferry runs is an
exercise in running a gauntlet. My normal procedure is to cross the up and down bound channels at 90 degree
angles to the flow of traffic, including ferries. Sometimes it means firing up the motor just to be sure and to
keep maximum speed when in the freighter channels. A ship on the horizon can be with you in 12 to 20
minutes or less.
The pilots on the ships can not see anything within 1000 feet or more because they are way aft and the ships
are often over 600 feet long, with many at or near 1000 feet long. They literally can’t see over their bows.
Some of the older ore boats have the steering stations far forward; the newer ones have stern steering stations.
Of course they can’t stop within a mile or turn sharply. They travel at six knots in the river. Peapod can’t go
that fast normally unless surfing. Big ships win always, and I give way. I’m not the least bit interested in getting
close to ships whose rivets’ heads are larger than my palms!
North of De Tour Village the ship’s channels up-bound (up to Lake Superior, Duluth, etc.) and down-bound
take a dog leg. You can’t always see the down bound ships until they are in the dog leg. That puts them very
close to the Village, within a mile or three.
Being in touch with the freighters helps me remember that launching from De Tour Village or Drummond
Island, I can go anywhere the boats will float! The waterway connects to the oceans of the world. The idea is
huge, too difficult to fully comprehend.
More on this idea later on in Part Two of Freighter Alley.
Anne Westlund WWP-15 Peapod Again & Slipper 17 Raggedy Annie
westlund@lighthouse.net
DeTour State Dock
by
Anne Westlund
Where I live and sail are ships – ships from all over the world ply DeTour Passage at the east end of Michigan’
s Upper Peninsula (da UP, folks). The season of open ice less water is March to December or January. During
those nine or ten months more than 4000 passages are made. Most of the freighter traffic is from only 200 or
so ore carriers, locally called lake “boats”. The other ships are the salties – ocean going freighters. They hail
from nearly everywhere and flags of all nations can be seen waving from the sterns.
There are so many that a new identification book comes out every year to help hobbyists and tourists find out
what boat is which company’s and what country they are from or registered in. (www.boatnerds.com)
Sailing in the shipping lanes is a challenge. In my town (De Tour Village) two car ferries run the mile wide
passage twice an hour, so one is moving every half hour. The busy times may mean the ferries are “running
wild” and may be underway any time 24/7/365. Extra runs are made for fuel trucks and ambulances. If you
have the money you can “buy” a special ride across all alone! The ferries hold many cars and trucks at one
time. Our launch ramp in De Tour Village is right near the ferry docks.
I used to live up the rise a couple of blocks from the ramp and marina. Today I live on Drummond Island and
ride the ferry every day to work (teaching Math to middle school age urchins and lovin’ it).
When I lived in De Tour Village I could hear the ferry come into dock or leave, crunching ice in winter and
jockeying into position to let the ramps down. I could even tell who was driving by how aggressive the noses
were when engines were revved up. Now on the Island I am far enough away from the docks at two miles that
I seldom hear the ferry but I can still hear the fog horn over five miles away at De Tour Point.
The water in the Passage is from the St. Mary’s River system that dumps water out of Lake Superior. The
Passage is over 125 feet deep and is carved out of limestone from the Niagara Escarpment over which it flows.
This natural passage makes for interesting wind conditions for small boats. Lake Huron is right there to the
south. To the north and west is Lake Superior. To the east is the North Channel of Lake Huron and over 50
small islands that are mostly owned by the State of Michigan, including Lime Island State Park, an old fueling
station for the freighters. Currents are strong in the Passage and ships affect the water levels as they pass up
and down the lakes. De Tour is the turn area where voyageurs made the turn toward Lake Michigan which is
about 40 miles west at the Straits of Mackinac (pronounced mack-in-aw).
I was anchored at Harbor Island with Peapod on my first real exploration of the region in my small West
Wight Potter when strange things happened. The boat was floating in about ten inches of water or less. I had
been on and off, stepping over the side and back on, many times. Sitting in the cockpit enjoying the fine
weather I noticed the boat was no longer floating. She was sitting on the bottom! What was going on?
Well, a 1000 ft. ore boat went through the Passage! Over time I got sort of used to the phenomenon. A boat that
draws 26 ft. of water pushing 1000 feet through the water displaces an enormous volume of water. The result is
that the lake levels in the immediate area, within six or so miles, go up and down. I was amazed. Several times
when the winds blew, Peapod would slide over the soft bottom. I’d hear crunches of small stones or clam
shells mixed in with the sand. That was often the first indication I noticed that told me that the boat was either
sinking or rising. From time-to-time at night I’d hear the thump, thump, thump of the huge freighter propellers
churning through the water.
Leaving the launch ramp area to sail over to Harbor Island some 8 miles away, I’d often have to wait for a
freighter to pass by before I could go across the Passage. Sometimes freighters were anchored north of
Drummond Island waiting for orders or for repairs or something else. I never knew what. The freighter traffic
is controlled and they must call in to the Soo Traffic for permissions, pilot loading and off loading, etc. But they
don’t tell us who listen on scanners or VHF radios why they anchor.
Sometimes traffic is backed up at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Sometimes high winds keep the
freighters at anchor. Over 75,000 gallons of water enter the St. Mary’s River every second from Lake Superior,
dropping some 21 feet from the lake’s level. Sometimes the gal./sec. exceed 90,000 in spring run-off when the
snow/ice melts.
This happened on Raggedy Annie one time. I left the marina in De Tour making for Drummond Island Yacht
Haven the other side of Harbor Island on Drummond Island’s north side in Potaganising Bay. There was a
freighter viable on the horizon to the south, and apparently south of the lighthouse some four miles away.
I raised my red sails and proceeded on a nice beam reach (wind from the south). It occurred to me that I
couldn’t pass in front of the freighter comfortably. So I called the freighter on the VHF to make contact and ask
what they preferred I do. I spoke with, it turned out, the captain. He said he saw my red sails and that he’d
prefer I pass behind him, At that point he was four miles out and coming in fast with a wind behind him. In the
river system they have to maintain a speed no more than six knots so the controller can time the locks for the
boats going through. If they speed they get fined. It can take several miles to gently slow down and the captain
and I both knew I’d best not get in front of him.
I had had a bad experience the year before over in the North Channel when I almost got run down by a big
power boat going full blast with no one at the helm. Friends I was sailing in company with thought I was going
to die. During the following winter I bought the nice red sails. I did it so I’d be seen. It was nice to know that
the big ore boat’s captain saw my red sails that clear, sunny day from four miles or more away.
I thanked the captain and said I’d fall off and wait. I did, jigging along, and then thought, ‘How far away was
the boat when they saw me on radar?’ I grabbed the microphone and called the freighter again. The captain
said they picked me up on radar at the same time they saw the, “Lovely red sails.” I asked for his name,
telling him why. He was glad to tell me, I logged it with the ship’s name and what was said. Evidence if run
down by some non-helmsman again, heaven forbid!
The weather in the area is wonderful and weird by turns. The three big lakes and the smaller North Channel
region (over 100 miles by 30 miles or more) impact the Drummond Island and De Tour Village area by turns.
The lakes influence and land masses all contribute to fair winds (or stormy seas) or flat calms between frontal
systems. Winds can die in the Passage while it diddles around and then blows again hard up the River. NOAA
weather will indicate NW winds gusting to 22 knots at the Soo and SE at 8 knots in De Tour Passage. Meantime
a few miles east of the Village the wind will be SW at 4 knots.
One time I left to go west to Cedarville with a good North wind. When I got to the Lighthouse south of the
Passage the wind was howling from the West. I was using Peapod then and ended up on the south side of
Drummond Island holed up for three days in an absolute gagger of winds. I didn’t dare leave the anchorage in
Whitney Bay. I didn’t mind. The swimming was good. I had lots of books and critters to watch: herons, ducks,
deer, people and the weather, the anchor, the lines for chafe, and just to loaf it out.
I have never sailed the area around the Passage without keeping a really sharp weather eye, and especially
with the little Potter, Peapod.
All my senses are in force when I’m in the area of the shipping channels. Getting by the ferry runs is an
exercise in running a gauntlet. My normal procedure is to cross the up and down bound channels at 90 degree
angles to the flow of traffic, including ferries. Sometimes it means firing up the motor just to be sure and to
keep maximum speed when in the freighter channels. A ship on the horizon can be with you in 12 to 20
minutes or less.
The pilots on the ships can not see anything within 1000 feet or more because they are way aft and the ships
are often over 600 feet long, with many at or near 1000 feet long. They literally can’t see over their bows.
Some of the older ore boats have the steering stations far forward; the newer ones have stern steering stations.
Of course they can’t stop within a mile or turn sharply. They travel at six knots in the river. Peapod can’t go
that fast normally unless surfing. Big ships win always, and I give way. I’m not the least bit interested in getting
close to ships whose rivets’ heads are larger than my palms!
North of De Tour Village the ship’s channels up-bound (up to Lake Superior, Duluth, etc.) and down-bound
take a dog leg. You can’t always see the down bound ships until they are in the dog leg. That puts them very
close to the Village, within a mile or three.
Being in touch with the freighters helps me remember that launching from De Tour Village or Drummond
Island, I can go anywhere the boats will float! The waterway connects to the oceans of the world. The idea is
huge, too difficult to fully comprehend.
More on this idea later on in Part Two of Freighter Alley.
Anne Westlund WWP-15 Peapod Again & Slipper 17 Raggedy Annie
westlund@lighthouse.net
DeTour State Dock
