New Members from Northern Wisconsin

[NedKathyZ]

Hello Members,

My wife, Kathy, and I purchased our 1978 Albin 33 this past May. We live in Northern Wisconsin and our boat, Zees Zen is kept at a marina in Ashland, WI on the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior. Zees Zen is a project boat and we've been working on her a lot! At the same time we've taken her out and have been learning her handling intricacies given the single screw and no thrusters. We are learning!

We hope to more spend time cruising through the Apostle Islands and hopefully over to the Keewaunaw Peninsula in Michigan yet this year, and into next Summer. Our plan is to start the Great Loop from Ashland next August. Looking forward to learning from you all.

Ned Z

[Nancy]

Welcome aboard, Ned and Kathy! Very pretty boat.

[DesertAlbin736]

Welcome to AOG! Nice looking boat!

We have some sailing friends from Flagstaff, AZ who recently bought a Southern Cross 31 sailboat just up the road from you in Washburn Marina earlier this summer. They finished cruising around the Apostle Islands a couple weeks ago & just had their boat hauled & put back in storage on the hard until next summer & want to take it east then. We were hoping to do a "triangle" loop this year, trailering our A25 to Brewerton, NY at the west and of Oneida Lake & loop clockwise around the Erie, Rideau, Ottowa River, Richelieu, Lake Champlain canals, Hudson RIver & back. May try that next year if our Canadian brothers will let us back in by then.

So which way would you go on the loop? Counter clockwise (downstream on Ole Miss)? Via Tonawanda & the length of Lake Erie on the way back, or via Oswego & the Trent Severn?

On single screw maneuvering, prop walk, rudder kicks, and spring lines are your best friends. You've got a lot of windage there, so could be tricky in windy conditions. Patience, grasshopper!

[NedKathyZ]

We aren't sure about what we'll do next August. We would do the Loop counter clockwise. Or we'll stay North and head to New England and Canada. We'll see how things are going. In Fall, 2018, I took a 24' pontoon boat, MikoMan, from St Paul to Mobile, AL via the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and TennTom and got hooked! Kathy got hooked later.

Ned and Kathy
Zees Zen
Albin 33

[DesertAlbin736]

We aren't sure about what we'll do next August. We would do the Loop counter clockwise. Or we'll stay North and head to New England and Canada. We'll see how things are going. In Fall, 2018, I took a 24' pontoon boat, MikoMan, from St Paul to Mobile, AL via the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and TennTom and got hooked! Kathy got hooked later.

Sounds like a plan! I'm subscribed to NY Canal's Notice To Mariners. Getting regular emails & there's been a lot going on with various temporary closures for maintenance & other issues on the NY Canal system this year. Good idea to sign up for notifications if you plan on being on Erie and/or Champlain & Oswego canals, keeping in mind the NY canals close for the season in mid October. There are some pretty low bridges on the Erie Canal, so watch your air draft. Can get a little hairy in places.

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If you read through some of the posts on the Albin Cruising/Cruising forum a number of us Albin 25 guys have cruised the Pacific NW, like here:

http://www.albinowners.net/aog/viewtopi ... 12&t=11016

We hope if & when the COVID crisis subsides hopefully by next year that we can trailer our boat east and do some canal cruising at least but not limited to the Rideau Canal from Kingston to Ottowa. That could be accessed from your location via Sault St. Marie, Georgian Bay, Trent-Severn Waterway, and the east end of Lake Ontario. You could go that way west bound on the back side of your Great Loop by cutting up to Oswego, NY north of Syracuse & west of Oneida Lake on the Erie system instead of taking the Erie Canal all the way from Waterford to Tonawanda.

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