June 29, the real start of the trip. Left the school right after the morning meetings, passed up on the luncheon as the wind was a 15 to 20 out of the west and made for an easy and fast sail to Cathedral Bluff Yacht Club with an average speed of 6kts using only the Genoa sail. Hot, hazy and humid, the start of summer holidays. Met with Catherine, who brought beer and food to the boat. Had a lovely evening at the club.
(Good-bye Toronto)
July 1, left Cobourg at 6:30am. The water was flat as glass and the winds were light. Motored to Presquille bay and through the Murray Canal. Once I got out of the canal there was a bit of a breeze which helped with the heat and I was able to sail as far as the bridge by Belleville using the genoa only.Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at Belleville YC and watched the very spectacular Canada Day fireworks.
(Canada Day in Belleville)
July 2. Another sunny and hot day. Since
it is a short trip to Picton from Belleville, I had decided to sleep in. Winds
were light again in the morning and gradually increased throughout the day.
Long reach channels the winds resulting in sufficiently strong winds to sail at
a good speed. Unfortunately it was
mostly dead on so I needed to tack up the Reach. As I got approx. 3 miles out
of Picton the wind picked up and ended up having to motor into 20kt gusts.
Since the beginning of the trip the engine has been erratically. This hard
motoring did not seem to agree with it.
I stayed in Picton for a couple of days, as it is a great day for
provisioning and getting fuel. Everything is close by.
(tall ship leaving Picton)
July 4. Left Picton at 5:45am with
overcast skies that gradually cleared and turned into another hot and hazy day.
Westerly winds 10 to 15 kts allowed for good sailing. Thunderstorms were in the
forecast for the day and it looked like a storm was going to form until I got
to Kingston when the weather cleared.
Pulled in a Trident Yacht Club at around 2:00pm. A beautiful quiet club
and in a lovely setting with very friendly staff. It was great to get out of the burning sun
and sit in the shade.
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| Trident Y C |
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| Trident Y C |
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| Leaving Bateau Channel |
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| 2kt current in the narrows |
July 5, a cool start to the day with
light clouds and winds requiring me to motor or motor sail all day. Near Rockport Bridge a 1kt current started to
help my progress. This current became approximately 2kts in a Brockville
narrows. Since the engine was still running erratic I was a bit concerned about
docking in Brockville with the current, but this proved to not be an issue as
there is little to no current close to shore and by the marina. Checked into Brockville Yacht Club where the
members were very friendly. One of the
members gave me a half dozen hard boiled eggs, as he had received too many from
a friend who works an egg processing plant.
Brockville is another great place for
provisioning. Beer store and a large grocery store are within easy walking
distance.
At this point I have reached the end
for the Ports book. My Richardson charts book of the thousand islands will
still be of use for another couple of days.
After Brockville comes the first of
several locks on the St. Lawrence River.
In order to transit the locks a minimum of two people are required on
board. I sent out a request for crew to
my friends and it was Catherine’s nephew, Oliver, who said that he would love
to join me for that stretch, and would be able to get a ride to join me the
next day.
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| the sailing school kids enjoyed bouncing of the waves from the freighters |
Friday Yannick stopped by to visit as
Caroline and Jean-Pierre were going to come and bring Oliver. Had a great visit with everyone.
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