It was Tuesday 7/26 and thankfully the Welland Canal was open and running well. The prior two days did not allow for any pleasure boat traffic to enter so we were worried all night that we would be laying over another day in Port Colbourne. We made the passage through with very little incident, with our only casualty being a fender we thought was tied to the stern rail that wasn't. We were traveling through with a 50' power boat and the 10-15 kt crosswinds gave him quite a bit of trouble throughout the day. The channel is rather narrow and has very little room to recover if you lose your steering, so the low speed between locks and the approach to the wall can be tricky for the higher profile boats. We managed to coast in and out of each lock pretty well. After the first few stops the maneuvering became pretty routine, and boring really. There are 8 locks between the Erie and Ontario Lakes. The first lock only adjust a few feet according to the current lake level, but the other 7 took us down 46 feet at a time. As the water is released from the lock, the boat just goes down with it. The canal workers provide each vessel with two lines attached to the shore. As you are lowered you have to hold that line through a cleat on the bow and stern and release them at about the same rate as the water level is going down. Too fast or too slow can make the boat move back and forth against the wall and will scuff your hull up. Just when we thought we had this day behind us, we arrived in the Weller Harbor at the north end of the canal. Lake Ontario was wild and windy, presenting 10+ ft waves and 20+ knot winds on the bow. We got pushed around a bit, and the engine had to work a little harder to get us out and around the rocky breakwall protecting the marina. It was a very long day and we were very relieved when we finally tied up in St Catherine's Marina that night. Not bad for a 12 hour day, eh?
We've since moved on from St Catherine's by way of Niagara-on-the-Lake, north to Colbourgh, past the Presq'ile Peninsula, Murray Channel into the Bay of Quinte, past Belleville, Deseronto, Picton, Bath, Collins Bay, North Channel waters and Kingston ON. We're now at the start of the St. Lawrence River and will begin navigating through the Thousand Islands tomorrow.
The coastline of northern Lake Ontario is beautiful. There are hundreds of miles of shoreline and small inlets everywhere you look. We've seen properties ranging from nothing more than a clearing with a tent, to acres with a mansion and private boat launch. It's really amazing how much more the Canadians have done on their shores than what we see in Lake Erie. If you're looking for a place to get away, this is one you should consider.
We've spent the last two nights just on the anchor, and tonight we're tied to a dock without power or water hook ups. Talk about roughing it....actually we're really enjoying it. With our fresh water tanks of 100 gallons, and the power plant(solar panels) Jim built on top of the bimini (lol), we don't need the support of a club or marina every day. We haven't established the threshold yet, but a few days at a time is great! I guess that if the diesel runs low, or the beer runs out, we'll go ashore :) We're already adjusting quickly to the change in our daily activity levels. We work very hard sometimes to physically get through the day, and not so much on other days. We are also feeling different about food. The frequency and quantities are very different. I'm sure we always ate 3 meals a day because that's what you're supposed to do. Now that we are away, we eat when we're ready. Ready has become a mid-morning brunch/snack and a modest dinner. This morning before we set off, we cooked a whole summer squash in the pressure cooker. This is an appliance I have no experience with but it was recommended that we have one since they are so efficient. It's 9p and the squash is still in there, depressurizing :) since the seal will keep it from spoiling until it's opened. I wonder if it's done? We aren't hungry as of yet so it'll have to wait until tomorrow.

We've started our journey!

It's Friday July 23 and it's hot and sticky. After a long day in our slip trying to finish the critical projects, the wiring is 99% complete and we managed to soap up and sprayed off the boat.  ALL our remaining cargo(junk) has been loaded and stored as well as it can be for now.  It's 4:00p and we have just signed out on the Presque Isle Yacht Club's trip log.   Our son Louis just motored through our dock basin on his boat with several passengers to wish us one more good by...

Au Revoir to all our local friends and family!!

A motor ride across the bay was just about all we could do this late in the day.  After filling the fuel tank and setting anchor we took a long needed swim and rest in the Presque Isle Marina.  We set off through the channel on Sunday morning just after 8am.  ARR Port Dover @ 4p.  The Erie Beach Hotel being our ultimate destination and the only reason we continue to visit this port.  They have, by far, the best Lake Erie perch in the great lakes!  One platter = 1 lbs. = $31.99+15% tax = total satisfaction!  Oh, and don't forget a few slices of celery bread!

Monday was the leg from Pt Dover to Pt Colburne, 40 miles.   This is the entrance to the Welland Canal and the count down of our final hours on Lake Erie.  ARR 3:30p.  We just visited with another transient captain who has unsuccessfully entered the canal for two days already and is hoping tomorrow will be the third and final attempt. Apparently there are some issues with inoperable doors in the areas of Locks 3-5....and 35+ freighters and boats jammed up in the system.  We plan to join this captain @ 6a to attempt the passage north to Lake Ontario.  If the canal is closed we'll have a layover day here in Colburne. 

Signing off for now,
 Jim and Linda

First Shake-Down

Friday July 15th; 7am; light wind(3-5 kts); moderate temps (+/_ 70); heading west to Grand river and Fairport harbor.  The wind never did grow and we motored the entire trip (58 miles) to the Grande River and Fairport Harbour area.  The plan "was" to moor for free at John Dur's store and have some work done on the boat while we layed over...  There were no slips available there, or at the GRYC, so we were forced to tie up at the marina.  It was hot, humid and noisey!  The boat work didn't get done either.
We did have the pleasure of granddaughter Megan on Friday night and grandson Jared on Saturday night.  We watched a championship baseball game on saturday afternoon and ate plentifully all weekend. Sunday was a difficult ride from fairport to geneva with kids and friends and no wind, again...  After the drop off we continued on to Ashtabula. 
Monday = Ashtabula to Erie...sail, then motor, then sail , then thunder..lightening..light rain..motor...sail...motor...sunshine... AND THEN THE MAN EATING FLIES!! we really need our bug guy. Clay,are you?
Shake-down?  oh, yeah.  the boat.  The main issues continue to be the unfinished installation of electronic equipment and the lack of storage space...we'll get to that asap.  I vow to rid our vessel of 50 pounds of stuff or 50 items by friday!!  Jim vows to finish the wiring, right Jim?  We cannot function with the current load... seriously, the boat and the sailing/navigating parts are not an issue.  Tentative Bon Voyage = Friday July 22, 2011

We're getting closer!

The lists are getting shorter and the remaining parts to install are definitely fewer.  We were able to mount the solar panels this morning and start looking at the actual wiring designs. The wiring is still the biggest remaining workload for us.  We have the inverter/charger, battery monitor, regulators, starting battery, and house battery cables to complete. 

We did manage to go sailing on Sunday and the conditions were great on the lake.  And last night we gave the dinghy and new outboard a test run.  We have an 8hp Tahatsu and it ran very smoothly.  This also gave us a chance to test the mini-crane to lower the OB on the stearn which also worked great.

We're still planning that shake-down trip to Ohio by the end of the week.  Our yacht club and the surrounding areas are full of events this weekend so it will be a good time to get away.  We hope to start writing about actual travel very soon!

Happy July 4th Everyone!

We just returned from a bountiful feast at sister Patty's and are forced to resume work on the boat. The autopilot is the latest project and it looks like that will be mounted by the days end. We've been playing hooky some this weekend due to all the activity at the club and the presence of so many other club members being around. We've made so many nice friends and acquaintances here that we will surely miss them as we travel. Our first overnight trip will be a quick run to the west on Lake Erie to Grande River to have the lifelines replaces which we had planned to do right along. The wear and tear is not always obvious and ours are over 20 years old. This will also give us a chance to put the other systems through some testing.

We finally got some sailing in this weekend too.  Saturday was our first sail of the season and in looking back through old log books it appears that we have been out of the sport for over 9 months!  We felt rusty and the boat felt sluggish (must be all the extra stuff on board). Yesterday's sail was much better and we felt ourselves falling back into our familiar routines.  We found Louis out there on his Blue Nose and performed the traditional first crossing of paths which includes the tossing of shelled peanuts at the other vessel!   

Final Departure remains listed as : TBA

First week on board

Good Morning Family and Friends! 
We've had a very busy week and continue working hard toward our first sail of the season.  It's hard to believe that the first month of summer is already gone. Time is moving so quickly we are losing track of the days.  The mast and rigging are up and the sails are attached.  Jim will be tuning the rig this week as we continue to find the right homes for each of the sheets and halyards.  9 months is a long time ago and that's how long it's been since we took the rig apart.
As fate would have it, we have already had several opportunities to "shake" a few things out without ever leaving our slip.  What better place to have something not work than right here at home, right?  We filled the water tanks, turned on the switch for pressurized water and learned we had a leak somewhere.  We filled the sink in the galley to wash dishes and when it drained we found a leak there too.  Last night we lost shore power, again, and remembered that we had the wrong extension cord here and the right one at our storage building.  These things sound simple and they are, but trust us when we tell you they are not so simple when your are out of town, without a car to run to the store, or in a town that has no store. Been there done that.
Oh, did I already mention the beautiful weather we saw this week? That's a no, unless you think thunder, lightening, overcast skies and rain are beautiful.  The blessing here is that we didn't miss anything good out on the lake while we stayed inside and worked on the boat.  Another blessing this week included our celebrations on Friday which included local family, several yacht clubs friends, and our very own Monsignor Snyderwine who delivered Birthday Blessings for Jim, Traveler Blessings for our trip, and a special blessing on our vessel.  Thank you Monsignor!

Land vs.Lake

Hello everyone!  Well, we have one day left on shore. We are moving onto the boat tomorrow, ready or not.  We've been very busy since the last blog posting with Graduation, grad parties, family gatherings, cleaning the house out, final closing on the house, and pushing the boat work to a point where we could launch. We've been floating since Thursday. What a great feeling.  We still have a least a few weeks of work to complete the remaining upgrades and electronics installations.
Life on the water is very different than what we're all use to. If you didn't like camping as a kid you wouldn't like this life style either. You have very little personal space and no room for clutter.  If it's not tied down or put away expect to find it on the floor in a heap when you get back from a sail.  We're still struggling with the reduction of shoes,clothes, small tools, and various other bags of "stuff".  In the coming weeks these will all surely reach more managable volumes.  We're planning to take as many "shake down" trips as necessary to ensure all systems are working properly and our confidence levels are peaked.  The actual sail away date is now listed as TBD.