Cheeseburger Festival 2025 in Caseville Michigan. Wife put me on probation for sending our daughter to the space station today on the tube. Jeep cover worked well in the intermittent rain showers that hit us. Swim up seats on the Yamaha are a favorite too. They work as a underwater seat and reverse as a table to hold beverages and phones etc.
2025 Caseville Cheeseburger Festival
- Thread starter mtudb24
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lakeliving
Well-Known Member
Looks like a good time!
Vikingstaff
Moderator
Looks like it was a lot of fun!
sunedog
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So when the kids were young, their favorite movie was Flushed Away. They would watch it for hours on end. It was about a colony of animated rats who lived in the sewer's of England and a Toad's plot to take over the world. And the main Character's boat was named the Jammy Dodger. We just modified it a bit to say Jammie Dodger
Vikingstaff
Moderator
Unrelated, but made me think of you on Saginaw Bay. For those that don’t know your boating conditions from other parts of the country, I thought this would be interesting:
Saginaw Bay Wind Patterns
Saginaw Bay Wind Patterns
So true. Thanks for sharing that link. Saginaw Bay is like a "mini" great lake at times. Many boats have gone down the bay. It can bite you in a heartbeat, just like many other bodies of water. Respect them all! I've gone from flat calm to small craft advisory's in a New York minute. Its just such a huge expanse of water.
We laugh now today as all is well, but in 2007 when I had my first 25 foot Wellcraft center console with a single 250hp before we upgraded to a twin outboard version. We took off from our cottage out on the bay just before sunset to watch the fireworks for the 4th of July off Caseville harbor. Wife was about 7 months pregnant with our daughter which due was early September. Waves were a modest 1-2 foot chop with winds out of the North. Not a big deal for a 25 footer that weighed over 6500bs with 150 gallons of fuel and a big deep V hull. It was a great rough water boat. Made the 15 mile mile trip easy with very little bow rise and or spray. Everyone was comfortable and we were all listening to tunes and kid were eating snacks and having fun on the run out.
We got to the fireworks about a 9pm which was 30 mins before they started. Wind started picking up but the forecast wasn't for much more then 10mph, with occasional gust to 15mph according to our weather app and on the VHF radio weather band. Waves 2-3 at most. Just as the fireworks started, my VHF weather band squawked of small craft advisory with a special marine forecast and possible squalls coming from the north out by Tawas / Alabaster moving south to Charity Island and towards Caseville moving at 25mph. It wasn't more then 20 minutes later, winds increased to 20mph and gusts 25-30mph. I knew better then to stick around for the rest of the firework show and pulled anchor and started making the run back to the cottage. It hit us within minutes of leaving. Once we left the protected shallow waters and hit the deep water, it was 2-4 and built to 3-5, which was rough, but manageable. Then it went 6-8 footers and things got nasty and it went south quickly out in the middle of the bay.
We had a dodger that is a canvas that protected the whole bow area that went up to just behind the center console. My wife and my cousins wife were under the dodger laying on the fully cushioned bow and our 3 year old son and my cousins 3 year old son were in the cabin inside the center console (the wellcraft had a 2 person berth with porta potty under console) to keep them out of the elements. My cousin was at the helm with me. I've never had so much white water come over the bow dodger and over the windshield of the console in my whole life. It was like being on Deadliest Catch. I had the trim tabs adjusted as much as I could and the trim on the motor to keep the bow high and it didn't matter. Water was coming over the console windshield and drenching us.
The 2 wives were bouncing from the floor under the dodger up and down. No matter what throttle speed I tried, the frequency of the crest of the waves was just right and it beat us up. I tried every trick i knew. Throttle up, tabs down, trim down to try and punch the deep V through the waves, tabs up, trim up, to keep the bow high, speed slow, speed fast, etc. It was just kind of the perfect storm scenario. Nothing worked. I tried quartering the waves and tacking left to right and right to left, and the waves were crashing over sides and flowing through the aft deck and scuppers on the self bailing deck. But when I quartered them, I noticed the rear bilge pump coming on (it had 3, front, mid, and rear). So my best bet was to take them them head on and deal with the pounding.
Long story short, we got back ok. It was a 2 plus hour ride back. I averaged about 7mph and me and my cousin were just cold at the helm. Kids were fine inside the console. But my wife ended up having to have an emergency C-section on August 22nd because the umbilical cord was wrapped around our daughter.
As we were in the hospital because of pregnancy complications, we told the story to the doctors / surgeon the story and he believed that was probably the reason why my wife had that happen was due to being tossed around on the boat so much. Who knows. Could be true or not, I don't know. But seems reasonable. But I have no proof that is the actual reason for my daughter being wrapped up in the cord. All in all we got back safely. I have yet to go to the fireworks by boat since then. Its not worth it. I'll go and set at the beach and watch them by land.
In hindsight, I probably should have ridden it out at anchor and waited it for to pass, but that storm lasted for 2+ hours and the young kids were freaking out. Winds topped out with gusts at over 40mph that night.
My uncle who was my insurance agent and for the thumb area (Pigeon, Caseville, Bayport, Port Austin, Grindstone, etc) and he had 4 boats that were lost in the storm on their hoists in the bay as they tipped over and 3 jet skis were deemed as total losses as well as they were swept off their hoists and washed up on shore and some were found on the beach upside down.
Respect the lake is all I have to say!
I still sinch up my big boy pants today when we're duck hunting out on the bay in November when the bay is more white then green. Its a little unsettling for sure with only being in a 24 foot pontoon boat with a 70hp motor. But at least were only a couple miles off from our dock. And those waves are only about 2-3 footers. Not 6-8 which we faced that night.
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Vikingstaff
Moderator
That would be a terrifying boat trip back home! Glad everything worked out with the emergency C section. That sure reinforces, respect the lake!
Thanks. All is good. She's in college now, go figure!!!! So many years ago, but still in the back of my mind every time we shove off from the dock no matter what boat I am in.
I've made the trip a couple times and always during the day to the beach since then and even in the old Bennington, however its been with a group of boats that follow each other. But I will never do that at night again. The pitch blackness totally increased the "pucker" factor. The darkness being miles offshore and white / green water over the bow, has made me re-think my boating decisions. Maybe its the age thing too? Back then, I was in my mid 30's and figured nothing could stop us. Now in my mid 50's, I'm much more cautious.
lakeliving
Well-Known Member
Crazy. Here in Florida we get some storms that pop up out of nowhere and you need to get back asap. Glad you all made it.
The bay (and all the Great Lakes) were angry today. As my good buddy George Costanza would say, like an old man trying to take back soup in a deli. 
URGENT - MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac MI
356 PM EDT Fri Sep 5 2025
...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EDT THIS EVENING...
* WHERE...Outer Saginaw Bay SW of Alabaster to Port Austin MI to
Inner Saginaw Bay and Inner Saginaw Bay SW of Point Au Gres to
Bay Port MI.
West winds 20 to 25 knots. Gusts to 35 knot gales early in the evening. Partly cloudy. Waves 4 to 6 feet. Waves occasionally around 8 feet.
Saturday
West winds 20 to 25 knots diminishing to 15 to 20 knots in the late morning and afternoon. Mostly sunny becoming partly cloudy in the late morning and early afternoon becoming mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers early in the afternoon. Waves 3 to 5 feet. Waves occasionally around 7 feet.
URGENT - MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac MI
356 PM EDT Fri Sep 5 2025
...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EDT THIS EVENING...
* WHERE...Outer Saginaw Bay SW of Alabaster to Port Austin MI to
Inner Saginaw Bay and Inner Saginaw Bay SW of Point Au Gres to
Bay Port MI.
6NM NW Caseville MI
Marine Zone Forecast
TonightWest winds 20 to 25 knots. Gusts to 35 knot gales early in the evening. Partly cloudy. Waves 4 to 6 feet. Waves occasionally around 8 feet.
Saturday
West winds 20 to 25 knots diminishing to 15 to 20 knots in the late morning and afternoon. Mostly sunny becoming partly cloudy in the late morning and early afternoon becoming mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers early in the afternoon. Waves 3 to 5 feet. Waves occasionally around 7 feet.