Ah, yes! I remember Robert Manry’s adventure very well. That was just 3 years after my first becoming an Ohio resident. Lake Erie was a great training ground for Manry’s preparations for the trans-Atlantic crossings...it is the most shallow of the great lakes and can really dish it out in a storm.
I know...about 5 or 6 years after Manry’s adventure, I learned to sail...on Lake Erie. We sailed a Pearson Commander, a 26 foot, full keel boat...very forgiving, and great for Lake Erie. We often would head out when others were coming in because of weather brewing. They called my friend who owned the boat “Fearless Joe”. He had an American flag sewn to the mainsail and was easily recognized by those who knew him sailing out of Mentor Lagoons. When he bought the boat Joe did not know how to sail either...we learned together. Extraordinary times!
The Pearson Commander was one of Carl Alberg’s designs.
And Manry’s trans-Atlantic adventure was a couple years before Sir Francis Chichester’s round the world adventure on Gipsy Moth IV...
Saw the Tinkerbelle on display. It’s about the size of a van.