Testimonials

A Writer's Perspective

My work for the past 10 years -- writing books about the Great Lakes, including The Living Great Lakes and another I'm working on now -- have taken me everywhere around the lakes, but it wasn't until last September, when my son Aaron and I joined photographer Ken Scott and Capt. Bill

Penistan for a week-long cruise on "Little Wing," that I learned the truth about the North Channel: it's the most beautiful and pristine place in all the Great Lakes. And Capt. Bill is an amazingly skilled skipper -- right up there with the Malabar's Hajo Knuttel -- plus is fun, lively, and intelligent company to boot. His knowledge of the North Channel and Georgian Bay is encyclopedic and his enthusiasm for this stunning corner of the continent made our trip even more inspiring. I can't recommend it highly enough.

 - Jerry Dennis, Traverse City

(Above:  author Jerry Dennis preparing a snack in the galley.  Above right:  photographer Ken Scott, Jerry Dennis, Bill Penistan and Aaron Dennis enjoying the moonlight on the deck of Little Wing.  Photographs courtesy of Ken
Scott.)

A Cruiser's Perspective

Recommendation for the skippered charter.
One of my pet peeves is seeing a sailboat mast peeking out above the tree line where there is no mention of an anchorage in my guide book. I'll study the chart and try to figure out how the heck someone got their boat in there.

In the North Channel there must be hundreds of these anchorages that are "off the beaten path". Every time I have taken a trip there I wish I had the local knowledge or an experienced guide to get into these secluded spots.

I would suggest your first visit to this enchanted area be in the company of a knowledgeable skipper like Bill. Your subsequent trips on your own will be made more enjoyable by having the extra confidence to visit some of these unique anchorages which you can now enjoy for as long as you cruise these islands.

Tim Boyko aka. Chicken-of-the-Sea-Man, S/V Myorca. Charlevoix, Michigan