After Matt Graves completed a trip to and around Isle Royale, he learned he might have been the first person to accomplish that feat in a Sunfish sailboat.
Graves departed Grand Portage on August 24 and returned August 30. His adventure, he said, “Included about 150 miles of sailing, two–23-mile open water crossings, waves big enough to block wind from my sail, meeting new people, excitement, and relaxation.”
An intrepid adventurer, Matt lives in Ely and works for Range Mental Health Center. He also serves as an officer with Saint Louis County Rescue. He has considerable training and experience in rescue, survival, outdoor leadership, equipment use, and long-distance trips, using knowledge gained through those experiences to help him to stay safe.
For those who aren’t sailors, a Sunfish sailboat is peanut-sized when compared to most sailboats. According to Graves, his boat is “14’ long, just under 4’ wide at its widest, and has a roughly 2’x2.5’ cockpit that’s 1’ deep. You sit on the edge with your feet in the cockpit. It only has one sail, although I attached my hammock at one point for a little more push. The sail is called a “Lanteen” style.”
The Sunfish is the most popular sailboat ever built and is a simple sit-on-top model meant for learning, day sailing, and racing. In fact, Graves learned to sail at a Boy Scout summer camp during middle school in a Sunfish.
Taking a small craft onto Lake Superior comes with risks, and Matt didn’t take his solo journey lightly.
“I had been toying with the idea for a couple of months, then decided and started planning about one month prior. I needed the time to think through all the gear, route, and emergency plans. I sailed on Lake Superior a couple of years ago when I made a five day trip around the Apostle Islands. I’ve also been out on Big Bay of Lake Vermillion in 40+ mph winds and 5-foot waves, which was certainly great practice. I’ve also camped a few times with it to have an idea about stowing gear and how the boat reacts when loaded.”
When asked if he ran into any problems, he replied, “That depends what you consider to be a problem? I lost wind for about an hour on the way over and started getting pretty seasick, just bobbing around. I got in the water for a while to help recover. On the way back, I had 3-5 foot following waves, making it difficult to do anything besides sail. It’s difficult to eat lunch or do anything extra in a small, very hands-on boat in waves. It took about 6.5 hours getting to the island and just over four to cross back to Grand Portage.”
Matt grew up in Middletown, Connecticut. He said his parents were never big on watersports, but “I messed around with sailboards/windsurfers with friends in high school and a couple of years ago.”
When asked about playing sports, he replied, “I’ve never played sports in school. During high school and college, my buddy, Kris, and I used to go on canoeing, backpacking, sailboarding, and climbing adventures after school and on weekends. I don’t remember anyone pushing me toward adventure. It’s just always been something I’ve been drawn toward. I remember in 5th grade saying that I wanted to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail and bike cross-country. I’ve completed both as well as canoed the entire Yukon River from Whitehorse Yukon Territories to the Bering Sea.”
Matt holds a bachelor’s in Psychology as well as 3.5 years of coursework in Adventure Education. He said he likes to get out into nature “because it’s a passion and I feel most at home there. It certainly has the added benefit of relieving stress as well.”
As far as his trip to Isle Royale, Matt is working on editing and posting videos on his YouTube Channel: Adventures In Reach, where he hopes to inspire people “to use what they have to embark on cool adventures at the level they can safely handle, as well as building their level of confidence.”
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