Watching the weather

 With 35 miles to go from Cobourg to Whitby, wind on the nose, and thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon, we raised a double reefed mainsail, and motorsailed the whole way.  The first bit was a little choppy as we hobby-horsed through the waves.  We arrived in Whitby in the early afternoon, and made a trip to the nearby shopping centre for supplies.  Our next stop will be a little isolated, so we needed to have some meals available onboard.
The forecast rain did arrive just before dinner time, and we watched storm clouds to the east and south of us.  Then, just before sunset, a huge full moon rose over the lake.  Our first view was between the masts at the marina, and we walked over to the clubhouse, as the moon played hide and seek behind clouds.  

Pretty in pink

As sometimes happens, Ed and I were dressed in similar colours.  Today, we were both in pink shirts.  On our way down the dock in the morning, another boater asked whether we planned that.  Of course, doesn't everyone? 

We took a walk to Dean Marine, which has conveniently moved their store closer to the marina, to see if they had anything interesting.  I was looking for a particular kind of ruler to help me plot positions on a chart.  I had forgotten my plotting tools at home, where I had used them this past winter for my Celestial Navigation course.  They didn't have the kind of ruler I wanted, but Ed picked up a part to change the engine intake valve connection.  The straight connector would make it easier to clear blockages, than the current connector which has an elbow.
Sure enough, Ed was able to clear about a pound of seaweed from the engine intake valve, while I went for a pedicure at the salon right beside the marina.  Pink, please.

Sunrise, sunset

Sodus Bay, NY sunrise

We planned to leave Sodus Bay to cross over to Cobourg on either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, depending on the weather forecast.  With no wind expected at either time, we knew we'd likely be motoring, so chose to do it in daylight.  We left Sodus Bay just before sunrise.  While still in the bay, as we were approaching the channel, I thought the engine sounded funny and checked to make sure water was coming out of the engine exhaust.  No water, only smoke.  Since there was no wind, and no one else on the water at 0530, Ed shut down the engine, and I had a look at the water filter.  It was full of weeds, but when I cleared those, there was still no water coming in the intake valve.  I guess we had a bunch of weeds stuck in there, thanks to the weedy marina.  Ed tried clearing the intake, but was unable to get the weeds out.  Instead, he disconnected the house water hose, and moved the engine intake hose to the house intake valve.  We were back in business.  I'm lucky to have such a smart husband!    

no wind, glassy lake

Several hours later, in the middle of the lake, with no wind, we turned off the engine to switch from one fuel tank to another, and Ed again tried to clear the valve, again with no luck.  No problem.  The current set up was working, and would get us to our destination.

Cobourg, ON sunset

The lake was completely flat and glassy, so at least the motoring was easy.  Every now and again we'd see a few ripples, but mostly it was calm, flat water, and hot, hazy, humid air.  About 11 hours after we left Sodus Bay, we were docked at the Cobourg fuel dock.  
Cobourg Marina has made some changes to their docks, reconfiguring F dock and adding a G dock.  Business must be good.  This is a real crossroads for boats heading in every direction, and when we're here, we always keep an eye out for familiar boats.

Katlynn Marina

Monday we headed out for Sodus Bay.  We optimistically raised the mainsail, but only actually sailed for about half an hour.  The wind was very light, and too far forward to use the spinnaker, so we motor sailed all the way to Sodus Bay. Unfortunately, the club was hosting a LYRA regatta, and was full, so once again, we stayed at a marina - Katlynn Marina - just west of the Sodus Bay Yacht Club.

Protective mother 

The marina facilities are beautiful and air conditioned, so once again I did laundry.  They have an interesting building access card system.  They put the access info onto any card you have with a mag stripe.  I used my Air Miles card.  Unfortunately, the system didn't work that well, and while we could use the card before dinner, it never worked later in the evening.  Very frustrating.

We were hoping to have dinner at the Bay Street Inn, but they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays, like so many restaurant facilities.  Monday we ate at Captain Jack's, and Tuesday, we headed over to the yacht club, which had their bar menu available until 7:00.  We ran into Terry and Nancy (Mi Vida Loca), from QCYC.  We had seen their boat on a mooring ball when we arrived.  Nancy told us their engine had failed a couple of days earlier, so they sailed overnight from Sacket's Harbour, and picked up a ball at SBYC.  A mechanic had a look, and thought they probably needed to replace the engine.  They were planning to leave Sodus Bay on Wednesday, hoping to sail back to QCYC or Whitby.  With no wind forecast for Wednesday, I think they were going to be in for a long couple of days. 

Sara's new skills

We always enjoy visiting with Ajay and Kathy and their daughter Sara, when we're in the Rochester area.  Because we only see them once a year, we really notice how Sara is growing.  This spring, she started taking swimming lessons at a new place, and her confidence and skill level are just soaring.  She had a great time at the Rochester Yacht Club pool, diving to the bottom to pick up toys, and doing handstands.

Oh deer!

After a great sail to Rochester, we made our way to Schooners for dinner.  Unfortunately, we headed out a little later than usual, and the place was packed, so rather than wait for over an hour and a half, we made other arrangements for dinner.  On our way there, just beyond the Shumway gate, there is an open field, and we saw a couple of deer.  On the way back, about an hour later, there was a whole herd - 8 or 9 at least.  They didn't seem to be bothered at all by the cars parking near the marina.  The next morning, I saw another deer in the same field.  Later when we were at Kathy and Ajay's in Webster, NY, we looked out into the yard, and there were another couple of deer in the neighbour's yard.  Very cool.

The forecast was for rain in the evening, so we took an early trip into town for the Webster Jazz Festival.  The music wasn't bad, but I don't know that you could actually call it jazz.  No matter.  Everyone was having a good time, and the band and crowds were captured on film by a drone flying overhead.  I think that's the first time I've really seen one in action.  It's a little weird, but probably a sign of things to come.

We're flying.....

...our spinnaker, that is.  We brought the spinnaker with us this year, in hopes of being to be able to sail when the winds were light.  Friday we had perfect conditions - light wind from our stern, and no waves.  The first time we hoisted the sail, we discovered that I had used the wrong halyard to raise it, and it sort of got jammed against the forestay.  When we needed to tack, we lowered the sail, readjusted the lines, and raised the sail with the right halyard.  In all, we sailed with it for about 4 hours, making much better time than we would have with the genoa.  

We passed a Canadian sailboat, Halcyon, which was trying to hail 4Cs Marina.  We called them on the radio, but I don't think they heard us.  A couple of minutes later, they hailed 'the sailboat flying the red and white spinnaker', to let let us know they got some good photos of our boat flying the spinnaker.  I gave them our e-mail.  When the photos come, I'll add one here.  I told them about the ownership change at the marina.  I hope they were able to get a spot.

When the wind started to pick up, we decided to drop the sail.  Thinking that it would be easier to drop it if I headed into the wind, I started to turn the boat upwind, but this was obviously not the right thing to do, as the boat started heeling terribly, and the spinnaker was flying farther from the boat.  Lesson learned.  After a little wresting with the sail, Ed got it stuffed into its bag and we sailed the rest of the way to Rochester under genoa.

August 25, 2015 update:  We received an e-mail from Halcyon with some photos of our boat.  How nice of them to pass them along.

     

"We have no depth"

 With no wind, we motored from Wilson to Oak Orchard, arriving early in the afternoon.  When Ed called the 4C's marina, where we've always stayed, he was told they could no longer take sailboats as they have no depth, and we should call Lake Breeze Marina.  We wondered what could have happened to the depth at the docks in the creek - maybe heavy silting.  In hindsight, they may have said that they have no docks.  4Cs was purchased last year by the same guy who bought Lake Breeze Marina earlier that year.
When we checked in at the office, we asked whether the 1-lane bridge just south of the marina had been repaired.  It was gone last year, and there are apparently no plans to replace it.  That's too bad, since we took that road when we went to Brown's Berry Patch for fruit and ice cream.  Well, it turns out that Brown's has closed their retail operation, and now just have their commercial orchards.  
We did take a short walk to see which night concerts were held in the county park down the road.  Tuesday - no music for us tonight.  We saw a sign for the Point Breeze Yacht Club, which I didn't remember being there.  We walked down to the docks and chatted with a woman on her sailboat.  Turns out she is the commodore of the PBYC.  They had moved their moorings from further up the river, to the moorings at the county park.  This might be an option for us some other time, since they have lots of docks before the bridge.

Baby bear

On Tuesday we had a great sail from Port Dalhousie to Wilson, NY.  We had hoped to go to Niagara on the Lake Sailing Club, but they were full, and since the sailing conditions were good, we carried on to Wilson, NY.  We docked by the state park, and checked into the US, then contacted the marina to look for a place to stay.  We had stayed at the Sunset Bay Marina last year, when we visited the Island Yacht Club.   The marina was sold and is now owned by Bootleggers Cove Marina. We got a spot between 2 huge power boats, and I felt like baby bear, stuck between mama and papa bears.  It turned out that the one to the left of us is owned by the brother of the woman who runs the Sunset Grille restaurant, and the marina.  I guess it's something of a family business, as they also own the Boat House restaurant at the other end of the bay.  Plans are to make improvements to the facilities, and to build a distillery on-site.  Interesting.  Not sure how this impacts IYC, but we certainly didn't see many sailboats at the marina.  
Wednesday was quite windy, and since we had already planned to stay a second night, we walked to the grocery store to check out what was new in town.  The laundromat has reopened - hurray!  I took the opportunity to do a couple of loads.  I spent the time reading, and trying not to listen in on the group of ladies who were using the laundry as a meeting room. 

Long walk on a short pier

Beautiful sailing day

We arrived in Port Dalhousie after a good trip from Bronte.  We sailed for the first couple of hours, then motored on a flat lake when the wind died down.  We spent several days on the wall in front of Dalhousie Yacht Club last year, and our initial plan was to dock in the same place, in case there were other boats docked in front of the clubhouse.  As we approached the pier, I realized there no cleats to tie up to!  Fortunately there weren't any other boats on the wall, so Ed motored forward until we found a spot which looked available.  The 'No Docking' sign painted on the ground near the dinghy crane confused us a little, but the dock master came out and assured us we could dock.  We pulled up as close as we could to the fuel dock, and got lots of fenders out as the wind and current were both pushing us onto the pier.

Pedestrian bridge from Lakeport to Pier 61 restaurant

The dockmaster told us that both the east and west piers have been fenced off as they are structurally unsound.  The club had to remove all the cleats to prevent boats from docking.  Where they used to be able to accommodate 60-70 boats, they can now take 6 or 7.  The piers were a favourite spot for locals to walk, and take in the beautiful sunset.  I hope they are repaired soon!    

Wild at Heart

Last year, Andrew and Deb bought a Hanse 37 named Delta G.  The name didn't really suit them, and when we met Andrew in Mimico, we noticed that the boat had been renamed to Wild at Heart.  
Andrew assured us that he followed an appropriate renaming ceremony (you can find anything on the internet), and made the required offering to Neptune, so can now safely sail under the new name :-)

Sexy pictures

On Saturday, we sailed to Bronte in company with Andrew and Chris.  One of the advantages of sailing with a buddy boat, is that you get to take photos of each other's boats.  It was foggy when we left, so we motored side by side for the first hour or so, but then we noticed that the visibility was improving and wind picking pick, and we raised sail.  

Prime Interest and Wild at Heart crisscrossed paths several times over the next few hours, looking for those sexy boat shots - you know, when the boat is heeling over, sails are full - boat looks great!

2015 Sailing Vacation begins in Mimico

This year, we started our vacation close to home.  We didn't have far to go to get to the Mimico Cruising Club, so the light rain which was falling on our departure didn't worry us.  We motored out the western gap, and then enjoyed a downwind sail to the entrance to the the yacht club.  
By the time we arrived, the rain was pretty steady, but we were settled before the possible thunderstorms which were forecast for later in the day.  Thankfully, thunderstorms didn't materialize, and we spent a cool, rainy afternoon watching the PanAm Games on TV.  Katie is working in the kitchen at MCC, so we had dinner at the club.
Later, (much later - well after dark) Andrew and his friend Chris arrived from Bronte aboard Wild at Heart, and we joined them for a nightcap and snacks. 

Let the games begin

Ed and I went out for a sail on one of the first really warm, nice summer days.  We saw several boats heading out onto the lake to take part in the first of the PanAm Games sailing events.  There were three different courses out on the lake.  Lots of spectator boats were heading out to watch, but with such nice sailing conditions, we opted to sail.

TD team goes for a sail

One of Ed's colleagues was visiting from London, ON, so Ed invited a group from work out for a sail. Tim, his girlfriend Marta, Doug and John joined us.

We had a nice evening with enough wind to have a good sail, but not so much to make new sailors nervous.

A couple of days later, Tim and Marta were riding their bikes on the island and stopped by for a visit and refreshment.  It was a welcome break from our boat job that day - refinishing the teak toe rail on a hot day.