On the Hard in Bath (Kingston)
24 August 2014 | 44 10.576'N:76 45.513'W, Lake Ontario
Bob
44.10.576 N 76.45.513 W August 24, 2014 It has been a few very busy days. Our stops are on our Google Map. Did a couple longer days heading east on Lake Erie. On our last day heading into Port Colborne (top of the Welland Canal) it got a little breezy. They were calling for 20 to 25 kts. But it piped up to 35 to 45 with a peak of 51 for us. Matching wave to go with it; 6 to 8 feet from 2 directions. Double reefed and a reef in our small Solent jib we were still doing over 9 knots. Fun. There were a couple of boat calling in to the coast guard looking for help. Everyone made it in though. We furled the Solent prior to the break wall and furled the main once in behind in the calmer water. We motored into Sugarloaf Marina where we had a reservation to prepare for the canal transit on Sunday (August 17). As we got in the marina behind the second break well we received our dock assignment but it was pretty tight quarters. I said �"to hell with this, it is still blowing 43 knots�" and we went back out and anchored behind the outer break wall and the beginning of the canal. (Outside of the channel of course) No sense bashing the boat against a dock. It continued to blow over 40 for a few hours so we just stayed there the night and went in in the morning. That lost us a day but as it turned out, it was for the better. Once in, we found out that 4 boats that had continued in when we turned around and all received some damage trying to dock. We ended up going through the canal on Monday and did it in only 6 hours. 12 is average and it sometime takes up to 24 as commercial traffic take precedent. Apparently on Sunday, the day we were going to do the transit it was busy and people were taking 15 or more hours and were rafting in the locks with each other. We were by ourselves in all 8 locks! We did hire a line handler for the transit (Dino) and having him aboard was a great help. He was pleasant and very knowledgeable as to the workings of the system. He should, his full time job is working at lock 6! Even he was amazed at how few ships there were and how quickly it was going. He used the word �"lucky�" I believe. Once in Lake Ontario we just went around the corner and anchored for the night at about 2:30 PM. Early stop but our day started at 4 AM AND we are now 325 feet lower than this morning! On Tuesday we set up Lake Ontario but ended up bucking east winds (as advertised for once) and only made it to Cobourg where we just anchored in the harbour. Next morning the winds where light out of the east so we just ended up motoring to stay off Sandbanks Provincial Park. Karen and Ricky were going to visit but right on schedule, the skies opened up and it poured so we called them and suggested that we wait for the visit as it was going to be a fair dink ride to pick them up. I started to look where we could get the boat hauled to change the transducer and do the required glass work. The transducer coming out is 2�" in diameter and the replacement is 1 ¼�", hence the fiberglass work. My call to Loyalist Cove Marina was great. Although they were �"booked up�" they would fit us in. Great! We headed there immediately and spent the night on the dock while we prepared the boat for the haul and pulled the transducer cable back to the transducer. Once out �"on the hard�" (on land in a cradle) Dave Hinton (owner himself) went right to work grinding and preparing for the large (see photos once I get them in our album) repair. They then hauled over a large compressor for the vacuum bagging part of the project. 19 layers of glass were used and were held in place with the vacuum system. At 8:30 in the evening Dave was there still attending to the repair. Wow! Laurie headed to Ottawa with Karen and Ricky and I stayed behind to install the correct sounder. I headed up as well in the morning for Elizabeth�'s 80th birthday party and Elaine and Jim�'s. (Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!!!) It was good to see everyone and the party was great�". Lots of corn (Ricky and Karen) and great burgers (Jim and Elaine). And Emmy, thanks for giving us your bed to sleep in! We are heading back to the boat early in the morning and hopefully will be in the water at the end of the day. Tuesday at the latest.
We are now concerned whether we will make it out the St. Lawrence as the time is passing quickly. We are schedule back in Thunder Bay by the 3rd and won�'t be back to the boat until the 12th or 13th. If we are going to make it out that way we need to make Quebec City in a week. We do not like deadlines so we are keeping our options open which include the New York canal system where we will need to up-step our mast and truck it to New York. (The bridges are too low) It is a LOT shorter distance though.