Around the Circle This Week: Aug. 4, 2017

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Trans Superior Race begins tomorrow: Every two years, dozens of Great Lakes sailors converge in Sault Ste. Marie for a 388-mile race across Lake Superior – an “isolating, humbling and inspiring experience,” says Fred Dudderar of Duluth, who has completed the race twice.

This year’s Trans Superior International Yacht Race starts at 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, August 5.

Says Fred of his experience, “Unlike the Chicago-Mac and the Port Huron-Mac (the other two long-distance races on the Great Lakes), the Trans is more of a ‘wilderness’ race. The Chicago-Mac puts over 300 boats out on a narrower Lake Michigan course, and you see other race boats all throughout that race. With only 40 boats out on the largest freshwater lake in the world, the Trans is an isolating, humbling and inspiring experience. The race starts (mid-day) on Saturday, and it is common to not see another boat on the Lake when the sun comes up on Sunday morning.”

Each vessel is equipped with a GPS tracker, so fans can follow along online as the boats race towards Duluth. The race’s Facebook page also posts updates throughout the weekend.

The course record? 28 hours, 38 minutes, set by Ray Howe and his Earth Voyager crew in 2001.

Back in 2009, writer Ann Klefstad wrote a feature for us about the race. Check it out for the history of the race and harrowing tales from sailboat skippers.

+ Also this weekend: the CanAm President's Cup Poker Run along the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, waterfront. The three-day festival features more than 40 high-performance powerboats this year, twice the number from 2016.

Great Lakes wolves stay on endangered list: John Flesher with The Associated Press reports on a federal court decision this week that retains protection for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region:

In a 3-0 ruling Tuesday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said (the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) had not sufficiently considered important factors. They included how loss of historical territory would affect the predator's recovery and how removing the Great Lakes population segment from the endangered list would affect wolves in other parts of the nation. As long as wolves are on the protected list, they cannot be killed unless human life is at risk. That means the three states cannot resume the hunting and trapping seasons they had when wolves were under their control.

An unmanned rescue drone named EMILY: Lisa Kaczke with Forum News Service writes about a new unmanned water rescue drone being tested in Duluth:

A 24-pound unmanned water rescue drone sped through the water toward the firefighters, its movements directed by a firefighter on shore using a remote control. When it reached the firefighters in the water, they grabbed onto a set of handles and were pulled to shore by the drone — formally named an Emergency Integrated Lifesaving LanYard, or EMILY for short.

The Duluth Fire Department is looking at buying one of the drones, which on Lake Superior are used by the Marquette Fire Department and at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Little Presque Isle.

+ In other water emergency-related news, the U.S. Coast Guard commander for the Great Lakes region is retiring, reports Elizabeth Miller for WSKG. Rear Admiral June Ryan was the first woman to lead the district.

Lighthouse Days continue: Through Monday, head down to the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Duluth for the 15th annual Twin Ports Lighthouse Days celebration. Films, history walks and children’s activities, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Name that trail: Thunder Bay's Blacksheep Mountain Bike Club, dedicated to promoting mountain biking in their neck of the Big Lake woods, has completed a new trail and wants votes on the top five name choices. Voting continues now through Sunday. The club is gearing up for its major annual event, the Shuniah Forty Miner XCM on Sept. 23 (the second year for the marathon course).

Free ride: Starting today, the Port Town Trolley in Duluth will be free. The Duluth Transit Authority hopes to promote the short-ride, cute-trolley route that shuttles between the DECC, downtown Duluth and Canal Park. 

The greening of Ontario: CBC News reports on a project intended to make Ontario cleaner and greener, with the provincial government distributing seed pods for 15,000 eastern white pine trees at schools and community events. The seed pod program is also a way to mark the sesquicentennial of both Ontario and Canada. As part of Ontario150, the provincial government is encouraging the public to plant more trees.

Nipigon dentist helps Jamaicans in need: Dr. Derval Clarke was born and raised in the Caribbean country and regularly returns with the group Jamaica Dental Mission. The CBC spoke with him about his latest trip, and we featured him in a story last winter.

Minnesota’s Scenic Highway 61 is getting fresh pavement: The 5-mile stretch from McQuade Small Craft Harbor to Duluth’s Brighton Beach will be completed by Sept. 8, just in time for the NorthShore Inline Marathon.

Local physician receives national honor: Dr. Arne Vainio, a family practice physician at the Min-No-Aya-Win Human Services Clinic on the Fond du Lac Reservation, was named “Physician of the Year” by the Association of American Indian Physicians at its annual conference in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Arne, of Finnish and Mille Lacs Ojibwe heritage, was born in Chisholm, Minnesota, attended the University of Minnesota Duluth and U of M Medical School. Known for his “Mad Science” presentations to interest children in science careers, he also does a health segment on WDSE-WRPT TV’s “Native Report.” He was also the subject of an Emmy-nominated documentary, “Walking Into the Unknown,” addressing suicide in his family and other health issues plus encouraging Native Americans, men especially, to get necessary health screenings