The Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender Make an Appearance on a Blustery Day

I decided to go boatwatching today as it's been a while since I've gone boatwatching.  Well at least it's been a while since I've gone boatwatching here.  There were a couple of ships that I wanted to catch and it's been a while since I've seen them.  This first one was kind of a bonus.

 First up was the tug Ken Boothe Sr. and her tug the Lakes Contender.  They were on their way to Cleveland.

 As you can see, it was pretty windy today and the weather was pretty ominous.

 In fact, it was windy enough that the Ken Boothe Sr. ended up pulling into the Belle Isle Anchorage.  I kind of wish I would have known that was going to happen.

 Oh well, nasty weather makes for nice pictures, I think.

I would have stayed but I had another ship to catch.

The Ken Boothe Sr. and the Lakes Contender in Port Huron

The next ship wasn't too far away, so I decided to stick around for her.

 That ship was actually a tug/barge in the form of the Ken Boothe Sr. and Lakes Contender.  While I'm not a fan of tug/barges in general, they are actually growing on me and this one isn't too bad looking, I guess.

 They were on their way to Cleveland but I'm not sure what they were carrying. 

 She's framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

 A shot of her bow.  I didn't notice the person on the front as I was taking pictures.

 and her tug.

She continues on her way to Cleveland.  Her crew got almost a front row seat for the Air Show yesterday.

The Ken Boothe Sr/Lakes Contender Makes an Appearance

Next up is a tug/barge combination.

 I'm not a huge fan of tug/barges but I do like this one.  I think it is one of the nicer looking ones out there.  But then again, this was designed to be a tug/barge and wasn't built out of an older ship.

 The Ken Boothe Sr/Lakes Contender has been on this blog before, so I wont go into their details much.  They are run by American Steamship.

 The Ken Boothe was returning from Ashtabula and she is heading up to Calcite where she will pick up a load of stone.

 I'm not sure where she is headed after that.

 Here she is framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

 I liked her assortment of flags.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 A shot of the tug itself.

 And she heads out into Lake Huron.

 As I was taking shots of the boat, I noticed one of the crew members hanging out on the back of the pilothouse.  I thought it was kind of neat.

One more shot of the boat.

The Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender Passes Milliken State Park

I had yesterday off.  I had originally planned to go over to the Welland Canal this weekend but other things cropped up and put the kibosh on those plans.  I looked at AIS and saw that the river wasn't particularly busy but it was busy enough, so I headed down to Detroit.

 So first up was the tug/barge combination Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender.  She's been on this blog a few times before but not before this year.

 This is rapidly becoming my favorite tug/barge.

 The tug is called the Ken Boothe Sr.  I believe both the tug and the barge were built in Erie, PA.

 The pair passes under the eye of Sauron.

 Another shot of the tug.

 Kind of a shot of her pilothouse.

 And she passes by.

 A shot of the Renaissance Center.,

And the Ambassador Bridge.

The Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender Makes an Appearance Again

I also saw that the Ken Boothe Sr. and her barge were making their way up the river as well.

 I decided to linger around St. Clair and a little longer to catch her there.  Next to the Presque Isle, I think this is my next favorite tug/barge combo.

 It's not actually a bad looking combo.

 A shot of her bow.

 The Ken Boothe Sr.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 She makes her way past St. Clair.

 I waited at the spot where I caught the Blough to catch her as she headed out.

 An almost head shot of her.

 She works her way past.

 Part of the Blue Water Bridge as the backdrop.

 A shot of her tug.

 Another shot of her tug.

One more shot of her as she heads out into Lake Huron.  I believe she is headed to Duluth.

The Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender Pass Port Huron

I saw that I had an outside chance of catching the Roger Blough as she passed Port Huron.  I thought it would be kind of cool since I got to see her leaving Duluth.  One of my long term goals is to try and follow a ship during it's travels.  I have a feeling this is the closest I'm going to get.

 A pair of tugs near where I was waiting for the Lakes Contender.  There are normally tugs docked here.

 The Ken Boothe Sr/Lakes Contender is one of several articulated tug/barges that sail on the lakes.  They were built by Donjon Shipbuilding in Erie, PA in 2011/2012.  This is one I haven't seen before.

 The barge portion is 740 feet long and can carry almost 34,000 tons of cargo.  It was built in 2012.

 The tug was built in 2011.

The pair heading off somewhere.