’ve been on the payroll long enough to recall how founder and former-owner Darryl Harris used to react to receiving a new printed magazine. He would crack open the box, fresh from our printer, flip through the pages, he’d inhale the smell of ink and grin from ear to ear. Clearly he loved the aroma of a printed magazine, and if I’m not mistaken, this routine dated back to when Harris Publishing was first established in 1971, back when Darryl was working out of his basement with a small staff.

Even though he sold his company to his sons over a dozen plus years ago, I think we may have caught him recently in the office on the hunt for a new magazine to get a whiff of. Some habits die hard I guess.

Although my time at the company doesn’t go back nearly as far as Darryl’s tenure, I too appreciate a printed magazine. But I also recognize the evolution of our business. We live in a digital world and while some still prefer flipping through the pages of a printed magazine in bed or in their favorite chair, others would rather read Great Lakes Boating magazine digitally while on the go.

t is November as you read this, October as I write it. What a year 2021 has been. Usually at this time of year we have put our boats away … or, in the case of the ice boaters, they’re getting ready for the winter sailing season. Or maybe, if you’re lucky you are planning a trip to the Caribbean over the winter. Today, however, let’s look back at the 2021 sailing season.

For me, 2021 began early. I was fortunate to have been invited to sail around the Florida Keys and the surrounding waters. We were a close group of three and were able to stay “socially distanced” when ashore. Key West was especially pleasant to visit as there were no cruise ships in town. When I returned from that trip it was time to start thinking about sailing our Great Lakes. Once again it was a moving target as to whether the U.S.-Canadian border would be open, and what the rules were going to be. Unfortunately, it was too late in the season for visits to some of my favorite ports along the Canadian shore. Next year I look forward to visiting Pelee Island, Leamington Rondeau Bay and Points East. Who knows? Maybe the Georgian Bay and North Channel are calling for me and my boat to head that way again.

ack in September, the dazzling bay on the Côte d’Azur shined once again with the reopening of the most anticipated event among Europe’s boat shows: the Yachting Festival Cannes. In the heart of the city, the Provençal Vieux Port welcomed the world’s leading shipyards through elegance, luxury and high technology, marking a confident restart and an optimistic outlook for the industry.

Included in the excitement was the all-new Absolute 48 Coupe that was on display to the general public for the first time. The first-born of a fresh new range for the Piacenza shipyard starts a new generation of Absolute boats, the result of years of extensive research and innovation.

The 48 Coupe, also referred to as “the Absolute Horizon,” combines comfort, superior livability and innovation with the bold, sporty lines of the new Coupe range. In the living room, the large electrically opening windows offer a boundless view of the water, while a large “terrace” cockpit accommodates versatile modular furnishings that can be easily rearranged to enjoy relaxation and leisure with friends, while admiring the water.

eing the executive editor of Great Lakes Boating magazine has its challenges, but believe me the perks more than outweigh any of the negatives. For starters, when new boats are set to launch for an upcoming model year, I often get a chance to jump on hull number one—months before it’s released to the general public. So when Regal Marketing Manager Jeff Littlefield invited me to preview the all-new Regal LS36, I enthusiastically responded to his invitation and the only details I needed to know were when and where.

Although the boat is scheduled to be on display at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show this fall, Jeff was eager not only to let me see it in-person months before its debut, but he wanted me to truly experience it too, and hat meant traveling beyond my comfort zone of the Great Lakes and heading to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri where the first LS36 was heading for a Regal dealer preview meeting.

or the record, it would have to be an extremely calm day on Lake Michigan—or any of the other Great Lakes for that matter—before I would even considered venturing away from the shore on the new Sea-Doo pontoon. However, those familiar with our region know there are countless waterways where this latest creation from the number one personal watercraft brand in North America (for 20 straight years) would be a perfect fit!

“A pontoon boat with the heart of a Sea-Doo PWC,” was a line that stuck with me after first hearing the news, but what exactly did that mean? Despite 20 plus years in the marine industry and easily testing over 1,000 boats during my career, I hadn’t seen anything like it and I had nothing even to compare it to.

The hype was building with a buzz in the boating industry like nothing I’ve seen in quite some time. Like many of you, I had a lot of questions and I knew I needed to test it out myself.

The Thunder Bay Yacht Club on Lake Superior boasts an impressive history. Founded in August of 1945, it started as a small group who wanted to race sailboats. The snipe sailboats they raced required a skipper and a crew.

t was not yet 6 a.m. on November 9, 1913, when the Charles S. Price, a 504-foot steamer, made its way up the St. Clair River past Sarnia and Port Huron. Standing on the shore blowing kisses and waving farewells were the wives and loved ones of the Price crew.

Though most were present to witness this parting scene, one member of the crew was missing from the ship that day—Milton Smith, the assistant engineer. Two days prior, disturbed by weather reports in the afternoon paper, Smith had informed Captain William Black and the Price’s chief engineer, John Groundwater, that he would not be setting off with them. Though he had a wife and six children to support, there was nothing they could do to convince him otherwise.

Mariners of the day were not accustomed to heeding the warnings of nascent weather-predicting technologies. What this unfortunate crew and those from more than 20 other vessels failed to understand was that a devastating gale was brewing and soon would combine in a torrent of storms arriving from three different directions, unleashing a fury unlike any before or since in the history of the Great Lakes or any other body of fresh water.

hen a non-native plant takes hold in a foreign environment, it can alter the landscape and wreak havoc on the ecosystem it invades. Non-native Phragmites australis, also known as the common reed, is an aggressive wetland grass that Europe introduced to the United States in the 1800s. Phragmites may look harmless to those unfamiliar with the plant, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

This is a daily concern for Samantha Tank.

Samantha is the aquatic invasive species senior program specialist for the Great Lakes Commission and serves on the science advisory team for the Phragmites Adaptive Management Framework (PAMF). She has witnessed firsthand the destruction brought about by the rapid spread of invasive Phragmites.

hen you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.”

At least, that’s according to the HBO hit series Game of Thrones. Luckily, the stakes are not quite as high for the kind of thrones we’re talking about here. Or are they?

Marine heads are often the unsung heroes when it comes to boating luxuries. But I think we can all agree they make boating on the Great Lakes a lot more comfortable and enjoyable. So let’s talk toilets for a little bit. Laurie Louvier, vice president of marketing for Dometic Marine, likes to think of marine toilets as an investment that’ll pay off in the long run.

“Whether you’re getting a permanently installed marine toilet for a vessel with a holding tank or a portable unit, marine sanitation is no place to scrimp,” said Louvier. “Think of it as investment that will pay off in many comfortable, convenient and worry-free boating adventures in the future.”

all is no different than any other time of year when it comes to trolling for Great Lakes muskies: boat control is paramount. That’s according to Captain Doug Dingey, who maintains that control of the craft is what usually makes the difference between trolling and catching. It’s all about keeping lures in the right place, at the right time, and running at the right speed, in order to cover lots of water efficiently, claims the captain. And according to the Ohio-based multi-species guide, the best way to achieve that proficiency is maximizing your time at the wheel or tiller, dragging muskie baits and keeping track of what works, when and then trying to decipher why.

No matter the time of year, Dingey says he catches most of his muskies on some sort of edge, like a weed bed, flat, mud-line or around a pod of baitfish, where the predators are holding. Once a likely edge is located, he says the trick is maintaining the right course to keep lures running right along the transition zone.

Perhaps the most important “edge” for Capt. Dingey’s pursuits is the bottom. He always has a trolled muskie bait or two set to “tick” bottom; the others are selected and rigged to match the contour of the edge. When working a sloping shelf with four lines, for example, he suggests setting your shallowest line to run on the shallowest side of the break and on an outside line, then staggering the presentations progressively deeper to mirror the slope or drop below.

etween the ports of Superior and Duluth in Wisconsin and Minnesota lies a 10-mile sandbar. The freshwater sandbar is split in its center, with a lighthouse on each end: Superior Entry Lighthouse and Duluth Entry Lighthouse. Together, they light the way for ships passing through the slim lake entrance, which is only 300 feet wide. Superior Entry was the first one built in 1858 as the first lighthouse in the state. The decision to add Duluth Entry as a second light came years later to replace Zero Point Lighthouse.