MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Spring 2018

34 ML BLUE SPRING 2018 words :: Ned Morgan photos :: Andrew Jowett The Trans Superior International Yacht Race is not for the fair-weather sailor. Starting at the Gros Cap Light in Whitefish Bay, near Sault Ste. Marie, the race finishes at Duluth, Minnesota, an official race distance of 326 nautical miles—about 604 kilometres. Sailing the length one of the world’s largest and least populated bodies of fresh water is full of hazards even during the warm, usually stable-weather months. Lake Superior’s water temperature averages 4 degrees Celsius. Sailing in open water can bring sudden wind changes and seas of more than four metres. The Trans Superior—the world's longest known freshwater sailboat race—was first held in 1969 as a challenge between friends from White Pine, Michigan. Always held every odd-numbered year, the 25 th running of the Trans commenced on Saturday, August 5, 2017, and photographer Andrew Jowett was on board the trimaran Areté , registered in Port Huron, Michigan, and skippered by Rick Warner. “ Areté is a unique boat,” says Jowett. “It’s a 60-foot trimaran which is about 60 feet wide as well which makes it essentially a big square on the water. The boat has foiling capabilities so ideally two hulls are out of the water at all times. (The less a hull is in the water, the less resistance, and the faster it goes.) “The race has a reputation that follows along with the rest of Lake Superior. It’s brutal. It’s cold. You traditionally race with wind on the nose the entire time. It’s challenging. It’s not for everyone. That lake is mean. The reactions I received from people when I told them where I was going ranged from concerned, to severe head-shaking with no words. BRUTAL, COLD AND MEAN Andrew Jowett Shoots the World’s Longest Freshwater Yacht Race GREAT LAKES “It’s brutal. It’s cold. You traditionally race with wind on the nose the entire time. It’s challenging. It’s not for everyone. That lake is mean.” “I try to convey a sense of motion with my onboard photos. I think having motion blur of the water really creates that sense of what it’s like to be onboard and especially being on the netting between the hulls where you’re exposed and standing above the moving water.”The Areté trails Il Mostro ,August 2017.