That's hilarious! I mean, I can think of a LOT of places I'd rather be when German fighters and dive bombers are coming at me to take the position out... but being stuck on a rediculous piece of nothingness... no where to run, no where to hide... man, I wouldn't want to be the guy manning that gun. Talk about a turkey shoot the first German plane you pissed off...

You're looking at it the wrong way. It is incentive to be good at your job.

Yeah, right... I can hear it now: "Oh, sh!t, here they come boys! Ummm... hope you boys know how to DIVE DEEP and hold your breath a L-O-N-G time!"

Then you'd hope they didn't understand that a single bomb concussion underwater... the shock wave would kill you, regardless...

I mean, at least on land, you could 'psychologically' dig yourself a foxhole. But... on open water???!!!?!

So what I've gotten out of this is that we like the lakeshore, the breakwater area, the sailing center but need a man-made island somewhere far enough away from land to declare it its own sovereign nation. 12 miles? Probably doesn't work for the Great Lakes

I think the big thing is that it would be a haz to nav. Otherwise who would give a crap? So how many times does the mid lake buoy get hit? It sounds like you folks w/ any sailing time on the lake have been there or know closely where it is. I bet it is fairly safe.

Sooo.. put a small BBQ island there. Invest little, claim nothing. If the CG shows up to maintain the buoy and they sink the island, oh well, do it again. If it breaks free and washes up somewhere, well it was lake flotsam right? Paint MSU on it somewhere to throw em off.

Y'all are mocking me, right? Aren't you? Making fun of my idea of a floating island?

Well, that's cool. Thing is, if I had a little money, it is something that I know could be accomplished, legal formalities followed.

The real deal is that year after year after year... all we can do on the southern 90% of the lake is sail giant donuts. And, while that's cool... you never leave Milwaukee (ever!) with any actual destination, unless you're sailing across the lake. And I think this is something most of us understand, hence the interest in putting together a couple of sailing party 'destinations' this coming summer.

Actually Gary I was quite serious. Except the part about not taking responsibility for said island. If I were involved in putting it there I would certainly share responsibility.

My point is the buoy is on the chart, I believe there is also a charted tanker mooring buoy close by. Mariners should be anticipating a hazard in this area already. So it should be possible to add a feature close by. I was not advocating tying off to the buoy, just that if the CG was out that way and saw an unexplained BBQ island nearby they may do away w/ it.

If it is legally possible I don't see it being that hard to pull off. Or expensive.

Last July 4th one of our sons wanted to hit the river but not in his fishing boat, just a relaxing float. So he took 4 donated plastic barrels, structured them together, put a plywood deck on it, an old couch, and 4 adults (debatable) and our grandson spent two days floating, fishing, and swimming. That's why I mentioned the modular barrel thing. Build small platforms that could easily be towed out and joined together.

It really would be great to have somewhere to go besides just out and back.

Gary wrote:
Y'all are mocking me, right? Aren't you? Making fun of my idea of a floating island?


I think it's only me mocking you

Hey man... if you do it - I'll be first the first customer at the "Rusty Island Tavern"

that is if I can beat Ev there... His boat is faster than mine

I think Ev just hit on it. Put a large keg (tank) on it. That makes it a "tnaker".

Tie it up to the tanker mooring.

1) You're now on the chart--tanker mooring, and not an uncharted hazard to navigation.
2) You have all the legal status of any moored boat.

The downside is that I can't see how you can declare independence. Wasn't there a play a long time ago about someone who seceded, so they could surrender and ask for foreign aid as a conquest?

Seemed in the play the problem was when they were given a little foreign aid, it meant they were no longer american territory, and everything becamea drunken chaotic mess. . .

Guy,
Sounds similar to the old book/Peter Sellers movie: The Mouse That Roared. The tiny bankrupt country declared war on the US expecting to lose and be eligible for reconstruction aid.