Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

We left Sackets on a cold morning, with some mist still floating around in the Bay, and what little wind we had was right on the nose. The morning sun did not warm me up, and we continued to motor on into the wind, avoiding the shoals. Even though the depth is listed as 12-15ft, I still avoid them. Probably adds another 1/2 hr to the ride, but better to be cautious. As we turned to cut through the shallows, looking for the elusive KS2 buoy, the engine RPM dropped, then slowly came back up. It did this several more times, and now I started to get nervous. The wind kicked up to about 20, and we were in a shallow area marked by wrecks, and shoals. I didn't want to another wreck to the charts. If the engine dies, we would turn around, and unfurl the headsail to go downwind. I decided to switch to the other tank, and throttle down a bit, and see if that takes care of it. It did, and we continued on. Bad fuel? Dirt? Not sure, but will have to investigate. Just to be on the safe side, I had a knife ready to cut the anchor safety line, in case we lost the engine in the small basin and had to drop some chain. My fear was we'd lose the engine while approaching the dock. Imagine bouncing off all those million dollar yachts, and having everyone yelling at me in French. Not sure how I'd react to that, but it would not be pretty. Might be a good time to review my policy. The Kingston Marina would have to kick us out on Friday, so we went to Confederation Basin instead. We will be holed in here until Sunday morning. Not a very exploratory cruise, but at least we got away from Sodus this year. Dinner at the brew pub of course, then a pint at the bar, and we were ready for bed. Not too many folks here yet, so it's nice and quiet. This will change.

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