Farewell Great Lakes and hello Erie Canal.

Arrived at Port Colborne after three uneventfull days of sailing from Mentor Harbor outside Cleveland. The marina is right next to the Welland Canal entrance so we got our act together early and checked in with "trafic control" at 7:30AM. Since we knew this canal gives priority to the commercial freighters locking through, delay getting the go ahead is a real possibility. The initial time we were given was 2:00
PM which turned out to be 5:00PM.

We locked through with two other sailboats and arrived Lake Ontario at 1:00AM the next day. While locking through the 5th of 8 locks the first mate caught a locking line in the eye and was in immense pain.
After visiting the pharmacy in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada (which is the most beautiful town visited so far, sorry Cleveland and Sturgeon Bay) the next day, we're happy to report all is well  now. It is worthy to note that the 1st Mate showed up for her duties like a true "seaman" for the last three locks.
A bit of info to note on these locks; we were locking down so the turbulence is less than locking up when an average change in elevation is 46 feet forced into a lock about 40 X 1000 feet.  It took 5 minutes or so for all this to happen. 

Spent a very HOT day at the Niagara on the Lake Sailing Club before moving across the southern shore of Lake Ontario. A stop in the little resort town of Sodus Bay, population 1100 and three churches (the crew picked the Methodist one for Sunday worship), was a welcome rest for two days.
The town puts on concerts in the park over looking the Lake on Saturday afternoons. We biked over to enjoy two brothers performing Irish and other Folk songs.  Quite nice, actually.

Arrived Oswego, New York later in the day Monday due to a series of thunder bumpers that came through while on our 25 mile sail there. 37 Kt winds were anti-climatic after our 57.5Kt experience on Lake Huron.  Too windy to take the mast down so we continued to ready HD to be demasted the next day. The Captain performed all the prep work with guidance via phone from Chris who we met at Eldeans in Holland.

Tuesday morning Bernie at Oswego marina assisted by two hefty helpers and the crew accomplished the de-mast-task flawlessly. The mast with her rigging had to be readied for shipping to the Hudson River by the crew. Thanks to Chris' info and the first mate laboring alongside Captain, all was neatly done and given the OK by Bernie as the best mast-packing job he has seen. Hopefully the trucking company will treat her kindly as well and arrive in the same shape it left Oswego.

The crew is currently enjoying an extended shore leave of 4 days. It is "Harbor Feast" in Oswego with a expected 300,000 people to participate in the concerts, vendors, food and fireworks which are supposed to be second to none.

Since the MRI taken in Cleveland didn't show any tear in the Captain's rotator cuff, the first mate, who is also a self-proclaimed medical doctor, made arrangements to have the shoulder rehabbed with all the shore time available.

Food in Oswego is excellent. New York pizza, yea! 

Next stop - The Erie Canal.

Waiting 10 hours to go thru the locks...at least near downtown!

Those walls kept getting higher and higher.

We loved Niagra on the Lake-Prince of Wales Hotel was gorgeous!

Taking a break from the action.

Red sky at night....

Nice town to go back to

Bernie and Pete "into action"

Bernie and 1 of his hefty helpers

Successfully down!

What a job wrapping for shipping!

Our first "back-east" style dinner...scallops and sweet potato fries
at a little hole in the wall restaraunt near the water in Oswego.
Preceded by NY pizza for appetizer and NY pizza for dessert.

Peace and Love.

Leaving Cleveland with Good Memories

Arrived into Mentor Harbor Yacht club Sunday evening a week ago. Planned layover to have Tartan fix the lingering issues and to visit with my old Sticky and money friends.
After a slow start, Tartan came through with the coordination of Art Averall and the very competent work of one Tim Young from the factory. Now the engine works without the alarm going off  EVERY time we docked or anchored; the boom and mainsail actually go out by themselves; the anchor locker no longer takes on water while sailing taxing the bilge pump; the mainsail goes up and down the mast and the companion way hatch opens without the necessity of any body slams and other miscellaneous items are all working. Had the opportunity to meet and speak with both the old and new owners and management of Tartan to get perspective and insight on Happy Destiny.
All said we are happy with the current state of sailing fitness of HD. Thanks to all who helped.
While waiting for Tartan to show up we rented a car, had backs cracked at the old back cracker in Hudson Ohio, made a major provisioning run at Costco and had an MRI on the  Captain's sore arm.

• We had a wonderful last day with visits from the Zolans, Peruzzis, Crookstons and Rains. After a picnic lunch land side by HD, the Tartan folks finished their work and we all went for an afternoon sail leaving Marty to guard the beer.

With pleasant memories of the Cleveland area HD is on its' way to the Welland Canal which connects Lakes Erie and Ontario and then to the Oswego & Erie Canals to the Hudson River.
And just while writing this we received a picture of our newest crew member to be: baby Stuyck.
All is good and we are blessed.

Back in the USA

As it turned out Kincardin Ontario was our last port of call in Canada as we took advantage of SW winds and sailed back across Lake Huron to the Michigan shore and the town of Harbor Beach (HB). Before leaving our hot water heater hose broke and it being Canada Day, July 1, no  stores were open. I meet a fellow sailor also waiting for the hardware store to open who offered me a plug to stop the leak so  we could have water, if not  hot.
So at Harbor Beach we did find a hardware store who hooked us up with enough parts to jury rig it together. It has worked all the way to Mentor Harbor, Ohio where we are now. This is our planned stop at the Tartan factory for repairs which begin tomorrow.
After HB we sailed to Lexington and were hit with a line of thunderstorms with winds clocked by HD of 57.5kts. (that's better than 65mph if you don't have your conversion table handy) We only had short notice however being the careful crew we are we had the sails down and were as ready as you can be. The winds hit us from our starboard aft quarter with some small seas as we were just of the coast and that was where the storm came from. We did hull speed for a half hour or so and then the worst was over. We had to steer off our coarse to keep our speed below hull speed even while in idle. Good news again for our new home did her job and  HD never put her rail in the water.
When it was all over we were rewarded with a place at the sold out marina in Lexington and a front row seat to the 4th's fireworks while we ate a gourmet meal in the cockpit the first mate pulled together again.
We checked back into the USA at Port Huron, the first of the ports in the St. Clair river. We motored through the rivers of St. Clair and the Detroit to get us to Lake
Erie. Had a nice sail across the St Clair Lake which separates the two.We will miss the blue waters of Lake Huron. They are truly a magnificent.

A stop at the  island of Put in Bay then  Huron Ohio which didn't have a town? and we finally found the lovely boating community of Vermilion. We spent a planned second night with shore leave for the crew which was a nice change from the traveling we have been doing on this part of the trip. We had dinner at the 5 star restaurant,Chez Francois, which was as good a meal as we have had in a long time. (not counting the  home cooked delights which the crew is blessed with on a daily basis). We told the co owner this and that our sister is the publisher of Food Arts Magazine. He was familiar with it and Marvin Shanken and the past now deceased publisher which he was glad was not our sister.
The crew is anxious to get on with the next adventure which is the 7 to 10 trip through Erie Canal and then the much anticipated NY and NE coasts. We will leave here after the repairs are finished and visiting with some old friends from the Captain's second tour of Ohio.

Georgian Bay to Kincardine

Spent  10 days in the North Channel (NC) and Georgian Bay(GB) before coming to Kincardine, Ontario on the east side of Lake Huron yesterday. Our longest trip in open water, 71NM, and more on this later.
While in the NC and GB it was foggy, drizzling and cold. It was beautiful as expected and a very short season. They don't really open up until July 1. All the docks were empty.
Upon entering Canada we discovered our GPS is only for the US, so we were navigating the old-fashioned way by dividers, parallels and the eye ball. We had a couple of scary moments: the first as we were going into a secluded (they are all secluded) island anchorage and this captain had the wrong two smaller islands (used for navigational aids) confused.  Between the two of us, we figured it out before running aground. We gingerly turned around and went out the way we came in and proceeded with the correct path in. There are rocks everywhere and it was not well marked.
Did we mention there was a lot of fog while we were there? Another day we were headed for the "pool" (which is at the end of Bay Finn's 10 mile length) and before arriving at the challenging part, the bay itself,  out of the fog pops a 100 foot  rock shoal!  BTW, all the shallow stuff up there is rock, so it is important to try to avoid hitting. We then navigated into the "pool", with the captain standing on the foredeck looking for rocks while the first mate steered us through. Happy to say we got out of the NC and GB with out touching.
Ate dinner at the Killarney Mountain Lodge which reminded the captain of the old Bay Shore Inn... some of you remember.
We really liked Killarney on the north side of the Bay and Tobermory on the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. We docked right downtown Tobermore with the grocery store for the town right across the parking lot from us.  A very pretty town and area. This was the first real grocery store for us since Traverse Bay Michigan two plus weeks ago. BIG DAY! And right outside our door!
The forecast for our trip yesterday was to have 2 meter waves going to 1 meter in the morning and winds in the 18-20 knots range. So we got up early and left at 6:50 for the 67 NM trip.  All was as forecasted
except the waves stayed with us most of the day.The first mate noticed the bilge pump going off in 15 minute intervals so she checked the bilge and we were taking back on the water the pump was pumping out. A new source... this time from the bow. We checked all  the thru hull seacocks up there and no leakage, so the first mate assisted the bilge pump for hours in getting the water out. While this was happening, the captain had his hands full steering with 6 footers coming off our aft quarter and HD reefed down with the self tacking jib flying us along at 8 and 9 kts.  At lunch time...here comes the smell of fresh baked bread, which the first mate had made for her belabored captain while feeling a little queasy due to the rough ride.  We saw land around 2:00pm and docked in Kincardine at 6pm. By this time the winds had gone away completely and the waves were gentle 1 to 2 foot rollers. Good news... once at dock the incoming water stopped so we could get a much needed rest for the crew.
Investigated the source of our water this morning and found that the anchor locker (which was in the water quite often with the wave action) is not totally water tight from the main ship. It is designed to discharge any incoming water through scuppers in the bow. Looking this morning, these worked, but not enough to  keep HD dry. We will add this to the list for our upcoming stop at the Tartan factory in two weeks.

Oh Canada..

After spending three fabulous days at Mackinac Island, where we biked, ate, shopped
and of course spent time at the Starbucks we are now in the
North Channel of Canada in northern Lake Huron.The fort at Mac Is. was
very interesting. Built by the British during the revolutionary War,
the US got it when the war was over only to have it taken back by the
Brits as the first act of aggression during the the War of 1812.
"Aggression" is a bit of a loose term. Seems that after we got
the fort back at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the Brits
built a new one on their territory 20 miles up the bay to keep an eye

on us. When the War of 1812 was declared, the Brits in their fort
heard about it first and set sail with a couple hundred Red Coats and
500 of their Indian friends under the cover of darkness and surprised
the 60 colonists soldiers who forthrightly surrendered before a shot
was fired. Seems that this particular fort never did work very well,
but it is beautiful in the summer.
We took a horse carriage ride up to The Grand Hotel all dressed in our
going to meeting clothes and were taken for another ride. "We
only have 5 course gourmet menu at dinner and you get it all for $75 a
person." Well, let it just be said that there was no love in those
tidbits, a good idea that would have embarrassed Applebees. Learning to
pay attention to Trip Advisor from now on!
Currently we are at dock in Little Current in the North Channel of
Canada. We have spent the last four nights at anchor off of various
Bays on the southern portion of the Channel and off of the Island
Manatoulin. The first night we were got in late to Meldrum Bay, had
dinner on board and dingied ashore to the Inn on the hill. We thought
we would see about coffee and dessert. What a treat, French owners who
served fresh made apple pie with the most succulent ice cream all
consumed in the comfort of the Inn's living room while surfing the
net.
Next off to Gore Bay where we were treated to a great grocery store-they let you take their cart to the marina and they take care of getting
it back from the ship's store where we replenished supplies and purchased our Canadian burgee (flown as a courtesy while visiting this
country).

Yesterday we made the transition from a month on Lake Michigan to
Mackinac Island on Lake Huron, our home for the next 3 or so weeks.

After our enjoyable time in Leland, Michigan we spent three nights at
anchor off Traverse City. Our hopes of refilling our Pelligrino

supply at Sam's didn't work out for us. We did the 4+ miles on ourbikes expecting to take a taxi back to HD with our plunder, only to find THIS Sam's no longer stocks our favorite beverage. We did find a

West Marine along the way as well as a Grand Traverse Pie Companyrestaurant, our favorite spot for superb home made pies in TH. Cin got thelocal favorite, cherry pie ala'mode and even shared!
On our way to Charlevoix we sailed under 160% foresail surfing to hull
speed and then some around 9kts. All fun and games until it was time
to reef in the sail to enter the channel to Round Lake and Charlevoix
and the winds had built 25kts. Our experiment of using the electric
winch to reef in the sail ended with a big BANG! as our reefing line parted

mid way through the job. Fortunately, the sail that was already reefed

held firm and we managed our way into the harbour. Bad timing, however, as
we had to wait 20 minutes for the bridge to open in a strong oncoming current in a channel

so narrow we couldn't turn HD around while we waited. The first mate performed
exceptionally well at the wheel while the captain finished wrapping up
the head sail. After anchoring in Charlevoix Lake in the very
protected Oyster Bay for the night we were able to switch the reefing
lines between the two jibs and were back in business.

The only damage was that one of the reefing blocks broke so we now
have just one for the two head sails and must switch between them depending

which sail is up. We are looking at Harken's new electric furling
units to alleviate this job, which is the toughest on board.

We spent two additional nights dockside in Charlevoix, our favorite port of call 

thus far on our trip. The marina is new and located right

downtown with a park separating the two. Cin found a bike shop two

blocks away and trialed new seats for our bikes while the Captain
finished repairs. Grocery store two bocks away so we restocked the
heavy stuff mostly water. Oh, and we found a bigger grocery store 2
miles out of town that had our coveted Pelligrino on sale. Pete made
three bike trips and packed in a total of 39 fresh bottles.

Great town, restaurants, coffee shops and people.  Definitely would

come back to cruise Lake Charlevoix, which is itself some 40 or so miles long
and has many towns on its' borders. Ernest Hemingway spent time here.

Next we sailed the 20 miles to Harbor Springs... which failed to live up

to our high expectations for all the hype we had heard along the way.

Although having the anchorage in the harbor to ourselves for three nights 

was nice, the place was like a ghost town the whole weekend!There were

no people and nothing was going on!  So, we took the dingy to Petosky

across Little Traverse Bay (about a four mile trip). Marvelous town!

We coffeed and shopped around.They even had a West
Marine and we got our 48" teak flag pole to replace the one that went
missing on our rough first crossing of Lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay. Lesson
learned (everyday we are learning new teachings!)... this one will be
secured with a safety strap. 

Oh, did I mention the lake flies are  back with a vengeance!! Back to wearing the

green hairnet bag over our heads and taking turns at the wheel, with the other going

down below where you can open your mouth and not breathe in bugs!

As we write this we are docked at the marina in magical Mackinac

Island. After tying up and going for a run and shopping bike ride (guess who did
what) we donned our best dress and took a horse and buggy ride up to
the Grand Hotel for dinner. Although very beautiful and ornate with a lot of
staff attending to you, the expensive five course dinner wasn't up to
the surroundings.

We will spend two or more nights here and then head for the Canada's
North Channel and best fresh water cruising grounds in the world.
Two notes on the crew: The First Mate is adding the nautical nuances
of docking, sail handling and navigating to her current broad spectrum
of skills. She is finding that preparing lavish and very creative
meals already existed in her latent talents and all are enjoying this
discovery.

The Captain found out yesterday that while he has not felt the need to
run more than a few times in the last two months since retirement, his
conditioning is in marathon shape. My heart rate, which used to jump to
above 90% of max the 3 times a week I ran, now stayed near the levels

experienced while training for a marathon.
Only can guess that in addition to getting more physical exercise

sailing everyday, there might be stress in caverns of enterprise.

More after we experience some of Canada