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Mad Island Sailing – Adventures of the S/V Egress

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A big decision. Anchoring our roots to the rock.

A place to call Home.

Hello B-16!

I debated whether to write and publish this post. It may interest some of you and others it may elicit a “meh”.

We had been contemplating becoming members of the Madeline Island Yacht Club (MIYC) since we had purchased the Egress back in late 2014.

There were many pros and we couldn’t think of one con when contemplating the decision to become members.

Pro

  • Saves money
  • Limited amount of memberships given.
  • Guaranteed slip
  • Can put slip into rental poll when not using it.
  • Equity in the Club

We had been paying by the week when renting a slip for three weeks every summer. For our size boat it was darn near the price that a member pays for an annual slip fee. In addition, we payed separately for launch, haul out, and a monthly fee for storage. Normally other than a storage fee for members, the launch and haul out are included in the annual slip fee. Additionally, the price for shop work was about 30% higher for non-members. Becoming members would save us money, and more importantly guarantee us a slip. But most importantly for us, it would solidify our ties to the Madeline Island boating community, and make us feel like part of the family.

We are indeed Anchoring our roots to the rock.

For more information on the Madeline Island Yacht Club please click here.

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Meeting new Sailing friends

Meeting the crew of Sailing Wandering Toes.

The crew of the SV Egress meets the crew of Sailing Wandering Toes

We had been in contact with the crew of Sailing Wandering Toes since we discovered them whilst searching Sailing videos on you tube. We enjoyed watching their videos and reading their blog posts. We had commented on their videos and blog posts and quickly struck up a friendship with them. We had learned that they were preparing to leave Lake Superior next year and sail on down the ICW to warmer climes. Exactly what Barb and I plan to do in a few short years. We were especially excited that they would be documenting the journey.

We had become fascinated with finding others who sail in our area and document their sailing via blogging or YouTube. We tend to watch our YouTube sailing video subscriptions during the winter months to catch up on everyone. Comparably speaking, not many on the Great Lakes blog or upload videos compared to the Ocean sailors and certainly very few on Lake Superior do. Not sure the reasons why that is. I don’t think it is the lack of sailboats. Maybe because the sailing season is short and it therefore limits the amount of good material to use? Maybe an older sailing crowd who isn’t interested in blogging or uploading videos? I know it is especially tough for us, as our sailing season is only three weeks long, coupled with the fact that we only can visit our boat only two times a year. It does make it hard to come up with relevant material, especially the videos.

Anyhow we had planned on getting together with David and Marge the crew from Wandering Toes in August when we were up in May and again attempted in August but it just didn’t work out. We were finally able to get together in November and they were nice enough to come over to the Island for lunch and drinks at the beach club.

We had a very nice time meeting them and talked about their big adventure, selling their house, buying an RV, and prepping the Wandering Toes for the trip to the Caribbean. It was fascinating listening to them and how they have made the transition to soon become full time live-aboards. We also talked about other sailing videos we follow. We found out we had followed many of the same. It was a fun time and a great afternoon. We made plans to drive up to Cornicopia (Corny) in May of 2018 to get together with them before they push off in July of 2018.

I highly recommend following and checking out Sailing Wandering Toes.

Fair Winds to them and to all of you who follow us.

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Oh sing to me sands of Stockton

One day before pulling the Egress out for the year we finally made landfall on our first Island of the 22 Apostle Islands Archipelago besides our home port on Madeline Island.

You can see our You Tube Video Below.

Stockton Island


Stockton Island is the second largest of the Apostle Islands. Madeline Island being the largest. Stockton Island is the largest island included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The Apostle Island National Lakeshore encompasses 21 of the 22 Apostle Islands.The island chain is located off of Northern Wisconsin’s Bayfield peninsula in Lake Superior. Continue reading “Oh sing to me sands of Stockton” →

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A slow roll to Chequamegon Point Light House

After returning from the Duluth Tall Ships festival we needed to take the Egress out for test run.

We decided to head for Chequamegon Point Light House, we hoisted the sails but the wind was so light and variable that we quickly doused them and motored slowly to get a good view of the Chequamegon Point Light House. We put together a brief video of our slow roll. You can view it below.

Three lighthouses have graced Long Island. Though once an Island, Long Island is now part of a peninsula that stretches nearly eight miles out into Lake Superior, creating a natural breakwater for Chequamegon Bay.

Continue reading “A slow roll to Chequamegon Point Light House” →

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Splash… She fought the entire way

When I inspected the good ship Egress upon arrival, she didn’t look to bad, though, she had several “hangovers” from the flooding when we first saw her in August.

The Bilge pump needed replacing as the existing pump shorted out, and would need replacing. She certainly needed a good thorough cleaning after having all that water. We also found that all electrical connections that run through the bilge areas never used marine grade connectors. They would have to all be replaced. Also the work on the mast that we thought would be completed upon our arrival was not completed yet. We didn’t have as much time as we thought to splash her as we were to leave for Duluth for the TALL SHIPS festival shortly after splashing her and we had family coming so we had things to do around the house. So we left it up to the marina to finish the mast work and install a new bilge pump, while Barb and I cleaned out the boat and replaced all electrical connections that ran through the bilge pump. 

In preparation for launch I removed the blanking plug for the triducer and installed the triducer according to the printed instructions. The insert instructions told me to install the thick yellow o-ring if we had a flapper type plastic housing rather then the thinner black o-ring. I followed the instructions, but it was tough to get the treads started on the cap nut. I wasn’t sure that this was right but the only way to tell if it leaked was to splash her.

Launch day arrived and I brought some bottom paint down to apply some paint to the areas we could reach because she was in the cradle when we painted her. The marina hoisted her up into the travel lift and I quickly applied some paint and they left her hang while the paint dried. Then the guys lowered into her into the water and sure as rattled goaltender the triducer leaked like a sieve. The crew at the marina fiddled with the triducer but she just wouldn’t seal. They then lifted the boat back out of the water and replaced the yellow o-ring with the black one, and then lowered her back into the water and the triducer didn’t leak. The instructions were wrong!  Being that it was late in the day, steeping the mast would have to wait until the next day.

Steeping the mast and the value of coins. Continue reading “Splash… She fought the entire way” →

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