The 678-foot ship "Wilfred Sykes" passed under the Aerial Lift Bridge on 12/28/2023 as it headed for Lake Superior in Duluth, MN!
Boat Friends, this ship earned the Best Show of the Year award after this departure! The conditions were absolutely fantastic with a cloudless blue sky and perfect lighting to see this ship make the most memorable departure of the season. I could see the old-school pilothouses as the ship started to appear on my camera in the Duluth Harbor Basin. I could easily tell this was a classic Great Lakes Laker by its overall look and design! I made sure to zoom in and point out the steering pole and other features on this vessel that look really cool.
As I was recording the ship approaching the Aerial Lift Bridge, Captain Lori Reinhart blasted the horn to provide a full salute to the bridge. A few seconds later the Aerial Lift Bridge returned a full horn salute to the ship. Then, Captain Reinhart did a special fleet-specific full-horn salute a few seconds later! As the ship made its way to Lake Superior the captain did another two separate full-horn salutes! It was absolutely incredible and everyone was so thrilled along the south pier! You could literally feel the excitement in the air!
I immediately knew because of the overall conditions, the ultra-rare ship appearance in Duluth, and the incredible horn performance from the captain, this was the Best Show of the Year from a ship in Duluth!
I don't want to forget to mention that this ship is very historic as well! The Sykes loaded right next to the Edmund Fitzgerald at the ore docks in Superior (Wisconsin) before it headed out on Lake Superior into a 1975 storm in which it sank, and left no survivors. The Sykes departed only two hours after the Fitzgerald and took a completely different route. Unbelievable history attached to the Wilford Sykes because of its connection to the Fitzgerald.
Information about the ship Wilfred Sykes: https://greatlakesships.wordpress.com/wilfred-sykes/
Key moments:
0:01 Intro
0:44 Ship photo preview
1:00 Photo of ship's captain
1:08 Map of where the ship will be going
1:24 Weather conditions
1:55 Daytime look at bridge light
2:10 Showing Aerial Lift Bridge road surface
2:16 Quick look at 12th Street Beach
2:26 A Person in a kayak in the ship canal
2:43 Showing wind conditions
3:03 Bridge getting ready to lift
3:23 Bridge lifting
3:29 First look at ship
4:07 360-degree look around the canal
4:25 Full ship details provided
5:20 Ship approaches bridge
5:47 Ship blasts horn salute
6:29 Ship blasts horn salute for the second time
6:53 Ship blasts horn salute for third time
7:24 Smokestack and loading boom
7:41 Stern anchor
7:44 Rudder
8:04 Ship blasts horn salute for the fourth time
8:40 Ship going out to Lake Superior
8:48 Black smoke coming from the ship
8:54 Thanking the ship captain for such a show!
9:07 Outro
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