Michigan Challenge volunteers and Perception crew members were excited to provide tours for Gold Star families during the Special Populations visitations an hour before the festival was opened to the general public.We were happy to see returning gold Star Teen Kenzie and her mom Katie, and Survivor Outreach Services Coordinator Melissa Alex helping to tell the families about our mission.
Gold Star Teens gather on Perception's Bow
Families and Sea Cadets join Gold Star Teens
Captain Bryan and treasurer Judy King greet Gold Star families
Gold Star Families tour Perception
Bay Veterans Foundation Hosts Barbecue for Gold Star Families and Perception Crew
Captain Bryan and Judy King enjoyed a lunchtime barbecue at Battery Park in Bay City. Funds for the Michigan Gold Star Families Memorial were spearheaded by the Bay Veterans Foundation and dedicated September 30, 2017.
The Michigan Gold Star Families Memorial at Battery Park in Bay City
Gold Star families and Perception crew enjoy a picnic at Battery Park
Gold Star families gave us these tokens in remembrance of their fallen heroes
Bay Veterans Foundation logo
If you missed our June Newsletter about our recent Gold Star programs, click on the video below:
Watch a 7 minute video of Michigan Challenge's Gold Star programs!
Here are a few of the comments we received from our Gold Star Teens after they returned home:
"The thing about this program I liked best was being able to share how your loss affects you and hear other people's stories. My new friends, the captains and the crew are all amazing people and I look forward to seeing them next year."
"I enjoyed being a part of the program because I can connect with people who are in similar situations as I am."
"I also liked that this program not only honors the Gold but also the Blue, both are affected by loss whether it's a parent gone all the time due to service and tours or a parent who has passed . . ."
"What I liked best was knot tying--it was very soothing."
"The captains and crew were great, they taught me a lot of stuff I didn't know. They are great teachers and fun to be around."
Perception Appears at the Bay City Tall Ship Celebration
Michigan Challenge is thrilled to have been invited to bring Perception to Bay City for her very first Tall Ship Festival in the Northern Hemisphere. Although she appeared at Tall Ships Australia in 1988, this was a new experience for her crew. It's an important one for nonprofits, too, as it gives us a chance to earn money to fund our programs.
Captain Bryan is welcomed at the crew dinner
Over 4,000 people toured Perception!
We had hatch-peekers . . .
And porthole peekers!
We had the Good . . .
The Bad . . .
And the Beautiful!
And even some sailors!
Many Volunteers Made The Bay City Tall Ship Celebration a Success!
Over 500 volunteers were behind the scenes making everything go smoothly. We are extremely grateful for our sponsors, McLaren, Bay Region, who provided the funding for our appearance. Our liaisons provided us with rides, were gofoers for supplies, change, deliveries, and shuttled us to gatherings, showers, hotels, and stores. Our orange-shirt volunteers counted guests, managed lines, and signed up new newsletter subscribers. The SeaCadets stood in the hot sun (103 degree heat index on Saturday!) and helped with tour guiding while we took breaks in our merchandise tent.
Our sponsors from McLaren, Megan Samyn and family
Our hardworking liaisons, Rich and Carole Milster with our crew
Our tireless volunteers
The Navy Sea Cadets saved us from heat exhaustion
A huge THANK YOU goes to the Michigan Sugar Company, the parent sponsor of the 2019 Bay City
Tall Ship Celebration
And a HUGE THANK YOU goes to the amazing Shirley Roberts, who coordinated a multitude of boats, captains, crews, events, parties, volunteers, merchants, sponsors, and visitors. I'm sure it was she who made the Saturday storm hold off until 5:00!
Our Voyages From Traverse City and Back
Perception sailed beautifully on our way to Bay City. We had to motor-sail most of the way because of time constraints, but we did turn off the motor when sailing under the 5-mile-long Mackinaw Bridge on our way there and back. Our to-Bay City crew was Captain Bryan, Captain Jason, Bill and Barb Horning, Judy King, and Vinney Festa. We changed crews on Sunday and Captain Bryan handed Perception over to Captain Jason. We tied up our cook Vinney and kept him below until he couldn't jump ship because he is indispensable. Replacing some crew were Steve Hatch, Captain Denny Ray, and Sandy Cron. They made it back to Traverse City in a record 4 days!
If you want to know what it's like to sail on Perception, click on any of these links, expand the screen, turn on your fan, and have someone squirt you with a spray bottle of water every few minutes. Then sit back, relax, and join the sail! Vinny Festa, our cook, engineer, videographer, and jack of all trades, brings these videos to you!
Would you like to sail on Perception? Do you have sailing experience? We are looking for crew to help with our voyages to and from the Erie Tall Ship Festival in August.
As an expert classic boat restorer and longtime friend of Captain Bryan Smith, Denny began volunteering on Perception to help restore and sail her on the pristine waters of the Great Lakes, and support the nonprofit’s mission to help Gold Star Teens, veterans, and their families. In addition to many hours of restoration on Perception, Denny has just earned his masters 25-ton certificate with sailing endorsement from US Captains Training.
New Zealand Friend Sends Photos of Perception After Her 1985 Launch
John McKillop, friend of Perception's builder Mike Bentley, was present at Perception’s launch in 1985. We are very grateful for the photos he sent. He also gave us information we didn’t have and corrected some misinformation. We always believed that Perception was built in Keri Keri, New Zealand, but John tells us the steel hull was made by Brian Sullivan in Papatoetoe, a suburb in South Auckland. The hull was then moved to a site not far from Mike Bentley's home in Howick, where he spent 3 years building her. Below are the photos he sent of Perception's maiden voyage in Half Moon Bay.
Mike Bentley is in the red jacket, taking the dinghy on board
At Our Berth
Just-completed Perception leaving her berth.
Moving away
Going astern
Heading toward the marina entrance
In the Tamaki River, a tidal estuary
July Weather
According to The Vane, a weather website by Dennis Mersereau, "shelf clouds are a stunning feature of many spring and summertime thunderstorms that often pack more bark than bite. Other than for their incredible beauty, shelf clouds are usually newsworthy because they tend to freak people out," as it did on Saturday evening at the Bay City Tall Ship Festival. The Coast Guard advised us to take down our merchandise tent, batten down the hatches, and encourage guests to head for their cars.
The shelf cloud that covered Bay City on July 20
We did exactly what they suggested, took down our flags, added extra dock lines and fenders, and hunkered down in the cabin to wait out the storm.
These clouds most often form along intense lines of thunderstorms. These storms, called squall lines or bow echoes, tend to produce damaging winds when they hit.
The main circulation of air in a thunderstorm occurs within an "updraft" and a "downdraft." Updrafts feed warm, moist air into the thunderstorm to provide it with the energy it needs to survive. A downdraft consists of the dense, rain-cooled air that sinks to the surface underneath a thunderstorm.
The air from a downdraft pools up at the surface beneath the storm in what's known as a "cold pool." As the cold pool begins to race away from the thunderstorm, the storm's updraft tilts along the outflow's leading edge, allowing the storm to continue to ingest warm, moist air as it moves along in the direction of its outflow.
As the updraft's warm, moist air rises up along the outflow boundary, it cools and condenses into a shelf cloud. We experienced only a brief rainstorm, but all across Michigan the storm caused floods, felled trees and damaged homes.* When you see a shelf cloud it's better to be safe than sorry--take shelter!
Perception's 34-Year-Old Sails In Need Of Replacement
Perception still has the same sails she first hoisted after her 1985 launch in Half Moon Bay. When Michigan Challenge acquired her in 2017, her sails showed many previous repairs from her years sailing on the East Coast. After 2 years of sailing on the Great Lakes and hundreds of dollars in repairs, we've even sewn up a few rips ourselves to save money. Her deteriorated sail covers were unusable and, the UV damage to the sails, only contributed to the problem.
Today we are launching a campaign for new sails and sail covers, and hope we will be hoisting beautiful new sails next summer! If you would like to contribute, please use the donate button below. You could also contribute by donating a boat.
