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Saving The Best For Last: Sailor’s Superior Loop Caps Off Challenging Great Lakes Circumnavigation
Trailer Sailor Does it All!
By Cyndi Perkins
On a sunny
afternoon in late June, Paul Johnson trailered his
23-foot Precision Albion into the Houghton County
Marina parking lot, where he cheerfully and
efficiently went about the business of raising the
mast and making other preparations to launch at the
boat ramp. The Pennsylvania license plate and boat
registration numbers piqued my interest. Obviously
this sailor was a long way from home. So what drew
him to a Lake Superior port on Michigan’s Keweenaw
Peninsula?
Come to find
out it was the start of a 981-mile circumnavigation
of Lake Superior and the “grand finale” to an
adventure Paul began in 2002. His goal is to travel
around all five Great Lakes. “Mother Superior is my
grand finale,” he says. If all goes well, Paul will
complete his loop in late August back at Houghton
County Marina.
 Johnson
began his challenge on Lake Erie, the Great Lake
handiest to his Pittsburgh-area home. “Erie took me
two years to finish,” he says. “Since then I’ve been
able to complete each lake in one year.” The Erie
loop was followed by complete circles of Great Lakes
Michigan, Ontario and Huron, the latter of which
included a wondrous detour on the heralded North
Channel and Georgian Bay. “Killarney was one of my
favorite spots,” Paul says. “I also loved the
Michigan shore of Lake Michigan: Petoskey,
Charlevoix, all the little towns and the sand dunes
… in some ways that is an undiscovered resource for
many Americans.”
Lake
Michigan also presented some of the most dramatic
situations Paul has faced during his journey. “I was
offshore on Lake Michigan, the winds were blowing me
out when I was trying to go into the harbor, I lost
a shear pin — whatever. I made it in all right.
That’s sailing. You can’t panic, just catch your
breath and figure it out. I’ve seen some storms. But
I look at the weather, listen to the weather reports
and I’ve learned a lot about fetch, wind direction
and waves. I’ll take four-footers on the stern but
not the bow.”
If weather
conditions don’t meet his criteria, Paul doesn’t
venture out into open water. Retired from the
computer/software industry, the 57-year-old has
meticulously plotted his itinerary for the Superior
loop on a spreadsheet, factoring in down time,
weather days and where he will anchor or tie up each
night. The logistics aren’t all that complicated, he
explains. The most difficult variable is timing crew
pick-ups and departures, particularly when the
weather is not being cooperative.
Paul
attended sailing school in Annapolis, Maryland, as
well as taking courses in offshore cruising and
doing some bareboat chartering in tropical locales.
He says Albion has performed well. Her swing keel is
a plus; with centerboard up she drafts a mere 1'11"
that allows for tucking in out of bad weather or
getting up close to the action ashore. “The
disadvantage is being a lighter boat, but my draft
is shallow enough that I can sneak in pretty much
anywhere,” he notes. The 6.5 horsepower Honda
outboard has come in handy and he has no scruples
about using it as necessary. “The beauty of sail is
the options to sail and/or motor,” he says, while
noting that “getting fuel will be a challenge up on
the North Shore.” I also predicted that Superior’s
notorious August fog will be a factor. Albion is not
equipped with radar. Paul says he’ll simply sit it
out if it’s too soupy too see where he’s going.
Paul has
done some big sections of his traveling
single-handed, most notably crossings of Lake Erie
and Michigan. “I won’t do any long legs alone on
Superior, though,” he says. Enlisting crew hasn’t
been a problem. “As the years go by I have more
people volunteering than I can take,” he says. “My
wife Shirley usually does at least one leg a
season.” Shirley was scheduled for the jaunt from
Grand Marais, Minnesota to Thunder Bay, Ontario,
including stops at Grand Portage and Isle Royale’s
Washington Harbor. Like many sailors, Paul has had
many enjoyable encounters with Ontario boaters. “The
little private yacht clubs on the Canadian side are
great, lots of camaraderie,” he says. I assured him
he will find the same courtesy and hospitality among
Canadian sailors on “Mother Superior.”
From Thunder
Bay he will point Albion’s bow to the Lake’s upper
reaches in Rossport and Marathon and then along the
Canadian shore to Otter Island. Scheduled stops
include Michipicoten, Wawa and Sinclair islands,
Brimley, Sault Ste. Marie, Whitefish Point, Grand
Marais, Michigan, Munising, Marquette, Big Bay, and
Huron Bay before returning to Houghton.
“It’s been a
learning experience —it’s been a wonderful
experience,” Paul says. He has no regrets or bad
experiences to relate about any portion of his
odyssey. “I am an adventurous person and I end up at
all kinds of places off the beaten track seeing
great places and meeting great people.”
So what’s
next for the intrepid adventurer? “I’m not sure what
I’ll do as far as sailing. But I also set a goal to
ride a bike across the U.S. — I started in Delaware
but haven’t finished. So I will probably pick up
again where I ended in Pueblo, Colorado.”
You can
follow Paul Johnson’s Lake Superior journey at
www.travelwithalbion.blogspot.com And if you spot
him at a port near you, be sure to say ahoy!
Freelance journalist Cyndi Perkins travels Lake
Superior aboard her 32-foot sailboat Chip Ahoy with
her husband Scott, Houghton County Harbormaster. The
couple has completed two America’s Great Circle
Loops and is eagerly planning the next long-term
voyage. Comments and questions may be directed to
Cyndi at svchipahoy@gmail.com
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