Lake Superior Trip, Day 8, Monday, July 25

0640-Today is hump day. 60F/57F. Sun just came up, mostly clear.

0930-Coffee, study, and prayer time is over. Breakfast done. I'm trying to depart before the seiche goes out leaving me stranded on the rock shore.

1100-Day started out okay but timing of the seiche did not work out. Not only that the winds were whirling around NE than SW and back and forth.  I kept having to jump aboard to keep the boat straight while untying my shore lines.  After all the messing around when I finally got aboard I observed the depth sounder did not come on!  Too late to fix that now! I tried to get off the rock slab to no avail, the seiche had gone out and I was now stuck fast.

I moved the boat back and forth, but no go. Then I inadvertently turned the engine the wrong way and it came off when I went sideways, fortunately I cut power before the prop hit rock.  I had to use my push pole to get off the shallows. 

Heading SE To Swede Island
(Click To Enlarge)

Enroute to Swede Is. I stopped to check fuses but found nothing blown. Not sure what the problem is with the sounder. I will have to take off the wood back panel inside the head compartment to investigate the wiring further.

Leg 5, Day 8 - 3.1 Miles
(Click To Enlarge)

Arrived at Swede Island at 10:30, Leg 5 was only 3.1 miles.  I went in slow watching for bottom carefully since I had no depth information. I had Bonnie Dahl's Guide Book which helped some. The dock was still intact so I tied up on the south side.  No one around thankfully!  I made sure I was tied securely with good spring lines and fenders adjusted in case wind or wave action developed.

Swede Island Harbor - Dock, Cabin, and Sauna
(Click To Enlarge)

Harsh Winter Freezing Requires Ingenuity Using Existing Materials!
(Click To Enlarge)

I went ashore and initially thought the sauna had been converted into a cabin, but later found the sauna well hidden in the woods, not visible from the dock. Every thing is open, no locks on doors, which is normal for structures on Crown Lands. I will stay a couple of days if no one comes. 

Swede Island Cabin
(Click To Enlarge)

Well Hidden Sauna
(Click To Enlarge)

1330-Managed to gash myself good with a sharp knife while doing the dishes.  A pan with the knife and other implements started to fall from the cockpit table and I grabbed instinctively for it gashing myself with the knife.  Of course with a big gash on my left hand it makes it difficult to wash dishes.  It bled badly.  I put my hand in a bucket of cold lake water and it quickly turned red! I just wrapped it in a paper towel to slow the bleeding until I was done rinsing dishes.  While my wash water was heating on the stove I bandaged myself up.

Finished doing the dishes than began to work on the depth sounder problem.  I could find no fuses blown, no wires appeared loose, but I had no meter to check continuity. While I was working on the panel my hand started to bleed through the bandage and I dripped blood all over the floor and my only pair of shorts before I could get another paper towel around it to catch the blood.  Must have aggravated it while working on the wiring.  Got the bleeding under control again and went back to work on the sounder problem.

Finally I decided I may have a bad switch.  I have five circuits on the cockpit electrical panel and the light indicators would not come on for the two most critical switches.  Depth and bilge pump!  Three of the five switch indicator lights would come on, fore and aft deck lights, and the running lights.  So I robbed Peter to pay Paul moving the wires from the bad switches to the good switches and was able to get my depth and bilge pump working again. Thank the Lord!

Back Side Of Uncovered Electrical Panel In Head
(Click To Enlarge)

After cleaning up my work on the panel I had to once again attend to my knife wound. I cleaned the wound with some hydrogen peroxide and applied a new band aid.  So everything, including me is all fixed up! Or at least until I can get a panel replacement when I get home.  Now I'm hungry!

Swede Harbor Entrance Behind Me
(Click To Enlarge)

1300-I made a boat lunch of apples, cheese, crackers, and nuts with some wine.

Afterward I went ashore and started gathering firewood, cutting, and splitting but was about eaten alive by mosquitos.  I filled some sauna buckets with water from the lake to heat in the sun.

1600-Returned to the boat to make dinner of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, roll, and wine. Cleaned up after, then went ashore to light the sauna and get it heated up.  Went back and forth a couple of times to add wood.  Got it hot enough so I gathered my shower kit and went to the sauna.

Got it up to about 150 degrees inside the sauna and sweated a lot, then jumped in the lake to cool off (58F).  After repeating those steps three times I grabbed my towel and headed back to the boat to get dressed.

Sauna
(Click To Enlarge)

Looking Down Harbor From Sauna Beach
(Click To Enlarge)

My left ear was bloody from either a mosquito or sand fly crawling in and sucking blood for a while. I'm just oozing blood today!

Sauna was great! This is a great spot for those who built it up and share.  Thanks to all of you!

1910-Did some filming ashore and checked the sauna heater. Decided to leave one bucket of water in case I use it tomorrow.  Still a stiff breeze so no go on the drone today. Time for a Bailey's and some chocolates for dessert.

2000-While finishing my Baileys on the aft deck I watched a sailor come in from Silver Islet in a beat up and dirty 20' sailboat with no main sail, only a genoa.  A disappointment, since I wanted to be alone at least overnight.  

View NE From Dock At Swede Harbor Entrance
(Click To Enlarge)

He had a huge fridge in the cabin to hold his drinks and a large solar panel laying across the boat to keep it powered up. Apparently, his drinks were the priority, not sailing!    

He tied up on the north side of the dock adjacent to me and said he had lots of stories to tell. I helped him get tied up and then he asked me to join him for a beer by the fire later on. So I went ashore to be friendly and he proceeded to tell the stories he mentioned.  He was cordial but the stories began to wear me down.  

2230-It was cold and the fire wimpy and he didn't seem to care that it put out no heat.  So I finally told him I was turning in.  I expect he would have stayed up the better part of the night drinking beer and telling me his stories if I would have let him. He mentioned that he had a friend coming the next day in a power boat to join him for some fishing.  So I quickly changed plans to depart in the morning for Loon Harbor.  Too bad, I would have liked to have stayed another day.  But the crowd was going to enlarge and I did not think I would mix well.

YouTube Video 
(Click To Enlarge)