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Great Lakes Training
Passages
There are no training passages currently scheduled. Please check back next spring.
Passages include all meals
and onboard
expenses. The additional costs are travel to and
from the boat, and any personal shore-side
expenses.
Custom trips are
available, just ask. Longer sailing legs,
more days, short weekends, special destinations --
I will entertain any interesting ideas.
The Captain
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In addition, he is an
accomplished rigger, and owns Custom Line
Splicing, LLC a custom rigging loft in
Mukwonago, WI.
Contact
Bob Pingel or via phone at 262 227 5241
The Boat
L'Aquila is a custom
Stevens/Hylas 47 center cockpit cruiser. Designed by Sparkman & Stephens, she offers good
performance coupled with a very sea-kindly motion. Her interior is very comfortable with three
private cabins, two heads and a large saloon. She is outfitted with state-of-the-art navigation,
communication, safety, and entertainment systems.
See specs and some photos of
L'Aquila here.
What will you
learn?
Voyage Planning
Vessel Management
Night Sailing
Shipping Traffic Tactics
Weather
Paper-based and electronic
(both GPS and PC-based) navigation
RADAR
Automated Information
System (AIS)
Marlinespike Arts
(splicing, little-known knots, etc)
You will gain valuable
experience and confidence in offshore passage
making
What to expect?
I may have a listed syllabus,
but this is a real working passage, expect to
stand watch, cook, do dishes, reef the sails in a
blow, and everything else that goes into a
passage. Rest assured that you will
experience a sailing passage first hand.
But be prepared to learn a
lot too. You will be planning and
undertaking a real passage and I will be there to
teach and assist you along the way. There is
no shortage of time on a passage like this and we
can have an in depth discussion of each part of
the passage.
Where will we go?
An experience
like this is much more about the journey than the
destination, but we won't just go out and sail in
circles. The actual route of your passage will be
driven by the weather, but a typical trip may
follow this itinerary.
We will start
out in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. The entire crew will gather on
Wednesday evening. That evening we will stow all of
the gear and provisions, discuss the passage, have
dinner, and just get to know each other.
Early on
Thursday morning we will depart on our first leg. This leg will take us across the lake to White
Lake, Michigan. We will definitely
experience some commercial traffic and the last
few hours of the trip will be in darkness. The entrance to White Lake is well marked, but a
night landfall is always exciting. The
distance is about 70
nautical miles and should take between 10 and 11
hours. We will spend the night on the hook just
off the White Lake Yacht Club. White Lake is just
far enough North to have that "up North" feel. The anchorage is very well protected and has a
tree-lined shore. We won't spend too much time in
White Lake, we'll spend the night and just enough
time in the morning for a hearty breakfast before
we depart.
We will depart
for Portage Lake, Michigan early on Friday
morning. This leg is about 60 miles and will take
us about 9 to 10 hours. We will spend the evening in
Portage Lake.
We will bid
farewell to Portage Lake on Saturday morning and
set sail for Sheboygan, Wisconsin. This leg is
about 75 miles and will take about 11 hours. Sheboygan has a rich maritime history and a
historically renovated downtown and riverfront. We will spend the night in the Harbor Centre
marina, one of the finest marinas on the western
shore of Lake Michigan.
Our final leg
will take us back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This trip is about 50 miles and will take about 7
hours. We will depart on Sunday morning, arriving
in Milwaukee in the evening.
Once back in
Milwaukee, we will quickly clean up the boat and go over
any last minute items. Those with a long drive
home can opt to spend the night on the boat and
depart in the morning.
Contact Captain Bob Pingel
at (262) 227-5241 or via email at
rmpingel@earthlink.net
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