Great Lakes History

According to the journal of David Wingfield (officer of the RN in the War of 1812,) there used to be ice on Lake Huron as late as mid-June.  I know the air on Superior can be in the 40's into mid-July (when I was out on the Hjordis,) but can't imagine ice that late.

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Years-Great-Lakes-1813-1816/dp/1554883938/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335532457&sr=8-2

Heavy Weather

Weather like this makes a storm sail a solid investment.
Made two attempts to circle Gooseberry Island, both in gusty winds that swirled from the NW to W. The lower part of the circle was fine, even comfortable. Once we attempted to head back to the W we had to tack from NNW to almost straight S. Could bear SW by loosenign up the sheets and spilling wind, but the boat was overpressed with canvas when gusts hit, carrying the head to S or even SE despite the tiller being hard-over. Our only options were to run back around the island and shoot straight N through the channel between Gooseberry and Breezy Point, or complete a long series of NW to S legs.

This is what age-of-sail sailors called "over-presssed," and is why much larger vessels would only carry only staysails in heavy winds. These scraps of heavy canvas were more than enough to keep the ship going at top speed, but not enough to overload the boat, causing it to heel dangerously. A storm jib would be an excellent investment in this case, allowing us to travel much closer to a heavy wind.

Bower Anchor

Many modern boats carry two anchors; a bower and a kedge. A bower, like the one seen above, is typically the meatier of the two, while the kedge is often an anchor used for stability or maneuvering. In the case of maneuvering or as 'kedging' or 'warping' as it was sometimes called, a boat would be lowered from the main vessel with the anchor, which was dropped some distance away. The crew aboard the main vessel would then ply the capstan, and the rode (cable attached to the anchor) would be haulled in, pulling the vessel in the direction of the anchor. This technique could be used to safely manuever through crowded harbors, progress through doldrums, angle the vessel to gain some tactical advantage in combat, or to dislodge a vessel that has run aground.

Kedging is still used in modern times; though with the advent of the engine for manuevering, it is normally only used to dislodge smaller vessels that have run aground. Boats too small to carry a dinghy (like ours) would usually do this by having one of its crew jump out and pull the anchor (usually floated on a life vest) far enough out to drop. Our kedge is a slightly smaller anchor I used to use on our rowboat.

The anchor seen above is a fluke or danforth design weighing about 40 lbs. The hinged flukes at the crown of the anchor dig into the seabed, and once imbeded can provide an enormous amount of resistance. They're also fairly compact and easy to stow.