TRAILER

----- Original Message -----
From: "C Weis" weiso3@hotmail.com
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 10:16 PM
Subject: The 'Knight's5' C~22 on Sturgeon Bay Waters.

We sail our Com-Pac 19XL from Snug Harbor Inn/Marina at the foot of the Bayview Bridge. In the shadow of the Leathem Smith Lodge. We live just a couple of blocks away from the Lodge. The Bayview Bridge is the highway bridge and is not the downtown, Michigan Street bridge. In the spring and fall I use the Sawyer Park Ramp across from the DNR office [Sawyer side of town]. In 2003, $5 covered launch and take out. Parking is totally free and ample, except on fishing tournament week ends. Often trucks and trailers sit for several weeks while owners are on long summer cruises. Click here for other ramp locations.

Jon and Patti Hanson run the Snug Harbor Inn and they have a Rhodes 22, McGregger 26, speed boats, fishing boats, and pontoon boats for rent. Jon also rents his Pontoon boats at the Michigan Street Bridge next to the museum.

The museum is really neat and outlines Sturgeon Bay's rich history of boat building particularly during WWII. From Snug Harbor one can sail south to the 'cut' and Lake Michigan or head north past the Quarterdeck Marina, Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club and Sturgeon Bay Yacht Harbor, past Roan Salvage, The Door County Maritime Museum, and Coast Guard cutter and barge all on the West side with Palmer Johnson and the old Peterson Shipbuilding yard on the East side. Hit the downtown [Ch 9] bridge at the top-o-the hour or squirt through with the red sight-seeing Chicago Fireboat, Fred Busse.

On the north side of the bridge one can stop in at Skipper Bud's Harbor Club Marina with the floating docks next to AppleBee's on the West side or venture across to the Stone Harbor Resort and tie up for a few hours on the East side. The Stone Harbor Slips are managed by Bay Marine, but owned by the city.

Do not run up on the almost submerged island upstream of the bridge. You can sail around it. [to port], but catch the channel by the old railroad spit of land by Applebee's. Then cruise by the hillside homes, turning back out to the channel just past BayShip. Don't forget your charts and GPS as the water is occasionally very thin, even at considerable distances from the shore.

If you just need a room/shower the Holiday Inn behind Stone Harbor is economical. Downtown Sturgeon Bay is a block away. Hit the bookstore or any of the eating joints on 3rd. Ummmm Pudgy Seagull, Inn on Third, come to mind. Or fill up on fudge. Or the 50's style Perry's, Cherry Diner. Sonny's Pizza on the west side is OK too.

One of my buddies uses the ramp next to Bay Ship (Sunset Park) to launch his ComPac 19 with it's 2 foot draft. This is where you want to go if you must avoid the bridge. Then he boats up-stream over to his dock in his back yard at the street-end of Lamma Wamma Lagoon, just past the park, duck pond, and before Bluebird Ln. It's an OK ramp and has parking for the tow/trailer set-up. A park and a Sail Training School are also at the this ramp.

You are to pay five bucks once to the dock master for the "in" and "out" usage. The ramp is just north of Bay Ship Building Company. Turn at the first road toward the water after passing the ship yard's gigantic, light blue, gantry over the 1000 foot graving dock. [you can't see the graving dock from the road, but you may see a ship in it] as you head out of town on 3rd Ave. If you drive past the duck pond, you drove too far. You'll figure it out.

The open waters of Green Bay are a few miles north. Stay clear of the line from R24 to R26. Often you'll be able to see bottom a half mile or more from shore. Stay to the southwest side, between the cans. Or better yet sail just 75 foot off the rocky Potowatomi State Park shoreline. When you sail into Sawyer Harbor you'll see an island with a house on it. I hit bottom around here but if your careful you can gunk-hole it. Drop the hook have lunch, there are lots of weeds and make it very difficult to get a good hold. Potawatomi Park's boat ramp is also in this bay. But with parking & entrance fees on top of very thin water, I'd say forget Potawatomi.

Once you hit the mid-channel gong buoy, another mile or two in 85 foot of water. Turn to starboard and head northeast and swing by the Olde Stone Quarry, brand new in 2006 and 12 feet deep. If sailing to port around Sherwood Point lighthouse you hit canals and big houses. We sailed in just for a look-see. From here your on your own.

Craig J Weis aboard
s/v Comfort and Joy a Com-Pac 19XL.

=======added by Me=======
If you go far enough west after the Sherwood Point Light you get to Sand Bay, Snake Island, Riely's Bay, and then Little Sturgeon Bay, a rather snug bay with a modern resort and marina on the west side. Five foot drafts are easily accommodated. The bay is a nice quiet anchorage unless the wind is directly from the north and that is very seldom around here. To get to the resorts docks you'll need to follow some private markers . Be very careful as there are many shallow spots and some spots on the chart are way, way too optimistic. I grounded hard one time, but I was still 500 feet from the six foot contour line. Many others have hit the large Larson's two foot shoal about a mile from shore straight north of Sand Bay.

Other county parks. A fun site for boaters might be the doorcountyboating.com site it is new and wants volunteers to help increase the content.