Friday, July 22, 2011

In Toronto eh

Made it to the big city on the lake. The Toronto Island Marina is not like the brochure, but it will do just fine. I'll post pics later, but if you could see where I am docked, you would wonder how in the hell I am going to get out of there. Well, I'm wondering too! I guess that's what's fun about cruising, it's always a challenge. If it was the same old same old, then you might as well sit on the couch. I say that now, but if I'm playing bumper boats in Canada  later, I might be wishing I was on the couch.
I wish i had pictures of the entrance to the docks, but I was too busy trying not to crap my pants. The entrance is a canal, and it's marked with some little buoys, and from the harbor, they look they are marking the entrance to a forest trail. You head right for the trees, get through the markers, and make a left. The depth read 5 feet, and I was swearing I'll strangle the kid that told me there was enough water in there, when a sailboat came the other way, and Deb asked how deep the water was in there. The guy said 12 feet, and he drew 7, and he made it. OK, away we go. So the docks are nice, but man is it tight in there.

So the trip from Cobourg was slowed a little by another dirty racor filter, but i swapped it out pretty quickly, and we motor sailed here. The wind was on the nose most of the trip, but shifted enough for us to get the main up. That added about 4 knots. So here we are. We're off to see a CFL game tomorrow at the dome, then some dinner and a few cocktails :)

Good times.

Paul and Deb

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Oh Canada


Got to Cobourg without an incident. Hooray! We are spending a few nights here, then on to Whitby. Never been there, and never heard of anyone being there. Should be interesting. Hopefully I’ll find a nice pub, and I hope it’s better than the one we found last night. This one was located in an old hotel, and had about 4 locals in it. The kind of place, where you walk in and it gets quiet, and they all size you up. We just ordered a couple beers, and watched the Jays game. One of the old guys in shorts and black socks, pulled up with suspenders was pretty buzzed, and talked up a nice lady at the end of the bar. It was at the point where he started kissing her hand, when they decided to leave. That left Deb as the target of Mr. Socks. He looked at me, and I did not smile, so as not to put out a friendly invitation. Hope Deb appreciated that. Another patron had an old baseball uniform, which looked like it was from the 30’s all tucked into his 120 lb frame. Add a mullet haircut, and it’s not a pretty picture. Very entertaining, and harmless. Not sure Deb liked my choice of drinking establishments.
So we sailed halfway across the lake, until the wind died on us, and we had to fire up old Smokey. Took us about 11 hours to do the 67 miles. Not too bad I guess. We could have motor sailed and made it in much less, but what fun it that? When we went to start the engine, it didn’t. It sounded like a dead battery, but on the next try is fired up. When the alternator started charging, it seemed to be cranking in an awful lot of amps for only using the instruments for the last 6 hours. I’m wondering if my starter battery is crapping out. I brought along a spare battery (who does that?) and will swap it out today.
When we were motoring we had visitors……
BITIING FLIES!!
These bastards are the spawn of Satan. They will eat your flesh, and they are quick. First they send in the stupid flies. These do not bite, they just land on you and size you up. You can swat them easily while the others watch to see who has the quick hands. After this squadron gets decimated, the others descend.  These little creatures from hell, attacked us the rest of the way. If you do managed to kill one, the others attack the corpse. Yes, they are cannibals as well.  After we docked, they continued to bite us until we left for dinner. There are still a few around, and they only bite Deb. Based on the scouting report, she must have been the slower hand.
Had a great dinner at the Oasis, and the drinks were good too.  I asked for a Tanqueray and Tonic, and I got a stare, and then “What?”  It’s gin…and tonic. “I’ll be right back.”  Ten minutes later. “We have Tanqueray. What do you want in it?” Oh boy. At least there was a lime in the first one.
So far, so good. Lot’s of friendly people here.
Good times.
Freighter alley. Pay attention!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Destination: Cobourg Ontario

Well, we'll get there eventually.

The cruising plan is to cross the Lake to Cobourg, then bop over to Whitby, continuing to Toronto. We left Sunday morning, because the bastards that employ us, would not leave us alone the whole week before. Needless to say, we were not ready for the Saturday morning departure. Prepped all day Saturday, with some relaxation, and Sunday morning looked good for the crossing. Nice breeze from the southwest, and we would reach all the way there. As we motored out into the lake, I made my rounds down below, as I usually do, to make sure things were cool. You know, like no water coming in the boat, stuff like that. Bilge? Relatively dry. Pump work? No. Looks like a bad float switch, again. Not a problem, as I can jumper it. Instruments? Good. Engine? Looks OK, sounds OK, any fluids visible, or oil? Um, what's that pink stuff dripping on the alternator? Crap! We have a coolant leak, and a steady one at that. "Deb, turn her around".

Deb had such a nice smile going, as she was free of work, and about to have a wonderful sail across a blue lake with sunny skies. I hated to see that smile turn to concern as she spun the boat around. We killed the engine, and sailed as close as we dared, then fired the thing up again. After we tied her up, I waited for the coolant temp to come down, and then yanked the hoses. Looks like a rupture where the hose may have made contact with the engine. Damn.


My buddy Don (Tweaker) came to the rescue, with some hose. Where does he get this stuff? The other day I needed to open up a hole in some stainless, and he pulls this xmas tree looking thing out of his ass, that will widen the hole up to where you need it. Amazing. Even more amazing is the porn hits I'll get for stringing those sentences together.

We're all put back together, and running. Now I have to replace the crappy Rule brand float switch for the bilge pump. These poorly made switches only last a year or two. You really have to check them every day.

Too late in the day to cross now, so we stayed put, and met up with Kelly and Eric for lunch. We then jumped over to Abe's to watch the girls soccer team's disappointing loss to Japan. Bummer. We found our friends sitting peacefully with their Dog Izzy, so we felt obligated to ruin that nice moment by hopping aboard for a nightcap.

So the plan was to cross Monday morning, but as you can see from this radar picture, we aren't going anywhere.


The remnants of what kept us at the dock.

So, I guess we sit tight, wait out the storm, and leave tomorrow. Well, that's the plan anyway.