Last Update
October 8th, 2005
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Our
Adventure Began on September 12th, 2005 as we left Georgian Bay heading South
for
the Caribbean!
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Monday, September 12th, 2005
Position:
45*40.9N
81*17.5W
He Said;
Well, we did it… the adventure began today! The crew showed up ahead of schedule at 9:30am and we had the boat loaded ready to go by 11:00. That was when our engine promptly died while warming up at the dock! I had just finished changing oil and filters and draining the water separator a little earlier so now we had an airlock in the fuel system. It took about 2 hours with all of us troubleshooting the fuel system to find where the airlock was, then we got the engine running in no time and let it warm up for a good 15 minutes before leaving the dock.
Guy, the Penetanguishene Dockmaster, came down to help us with our lines and bid us farewell, and at 1:45pm, off we went on our final trip down Penetang Bay for the season. It was a little somber, but that feeling was quickly replaced with the excitement of the new journey at hand. We had sunny weather, it was over 80 degrees outside, and the forecast was for SW winds of 15Knots… perfect for heading on our intended course up Georgian Bay towards Tobermory! We motored out to the outer islands past Giant’s Tomb Island in anticipation of the great sail ahead only to find… no wind! Oh well, we kept motoring hoping it would pick up later on and eventually it did. We never did get the SW winds that were promised, they were pretty much NW but favored West just enough to keep us pointed at our destination of Cabot’s Head at the tip of Bruce Peninsula.
We had a great dinner while under sail, Charles had barbequed chicken on our new grill, and Terri had put together a great salad and made fresh Bruschetta on garlic bread… what a meal while sailing along at 8knots in ideal conditions! It was a fairly easy sail actually; the boat pretty much looks after itself. Karl is using the time to learn some new navigation skills with his GPS he brought along, and Ron and Charles seem to be enjoying themselves and catching a little R&R along the way. So far it’s been a great trip. We pulled in sail at about 11:30pm and motored into Wingfield Basin where we just anchored to spend the night.
The night is clear, the moon has been bright all evening and is just setting on the horizon behind the shadowy outline of the escarpment. We’ll be pulling the anchor at daybreak and heading over to Tobermory tomorrow morning. We’ve just been checking the weather and deciding our course for tomorrow… wind out of the SW and building in strength through the day… doesn’t sound conducive to sailing on Lake Huron, we may wait in Tobermory for a wind shift the next day, but if it isn’t coming we’ll head out first thing tomorrow (Tuesday) to make some miles South before the waves build up against us from the SW winds.
Addendum: Tuesday, September 13th, 2005
Lake Huron is going to live up to its reputation today… there’s a gale blowing already and it’s supposed to get worse by tomorrow so we’re forgoing our stop in Tobermory to make some miles West on Lake Huron before the winds shift later this evening. We’ve already stowed all our gear, lashed down everything on deck and just getting ready to reef the mainsail before we cross around Tobermory and into Lake Huron where the 25Knots of wind have already blown up 6-8 foot waves. The ship is ready… the crew is ready… wish us luck!
Cheers,
Rick
She Said…
We are off! I still can’t believe how fast the summer flew by but then again that is what we all say every fall isn’t it! In our case I guess we are outrunning the snow, hightailing it outta here you might say LOL ! I’m not sure how I feel – just feel kind of quiet and contemplative. It was a sad day for me yesterday in more ways then one. Of course I was sad to be leaving Penetanguishene and all our friends there especially Guy the dock master and all his crew, they treated us like kings and we appreciate them so much and look forward to seeing them next season.
But the saddest part by far was saying goodbye to one of my dogs, Tinker. Ashley is coming with us South but Tinker is too old and he is also blind so the trip would be too hard on him and the off shore stuff just impossible. I knew this at the beginning of the summer but put it out of my mind till yesterday. Anyone who is a dog person will be able to understand where I’m coming from – Tink is part of my family. Tink has been there for me through tough times and lonely times for the last 8 ½ years and I will truly miss his love and Tinkness. My good and dear friends Sandi and Butch are caring for Tinker while I’m gone and I know he will be loved but my heart still hurts. Me and Ashley seem to bond and cling together more when he is gone and we both miss him.
Sadness aside, it was a sunny and hot day to begin our new journey that already feels so different then what we have already been through. Our crew of guys, yes once again I am the lone female aboard. It’s a strange world I step into… one of bad jokes, farting and snoring!! It’s not all that bad really- they are wonderful witty, kind and gentle men with great strength and skills eager to share.
We had some air in our engine and it took us a bit to get going but all the men had their opinions and it was soon running and we took off. We had a good sail all the way to Wingfield Basin and spent a quiet night. Poor Ashley still hasn’t gone pee or poo yet and it’s been about 24 hours! Last time we did this she held it for 35 before she finally decided it was ok to go on her astro turf. I guess she will go when she is good and ready.
It’s a sunny and warm day again, maybe summer isn’t going to end this year! We are gearing down and getting ready to sail into some very rough weather. Yikes, hope I will be ok LOL. We are about to cross Lake Huron which is known for being a mean and rough expanse of water when it wants to and I guess today it wants to. Great – can’t say I’m looking forward to it but all the guys are humming and running around lashing things down with big grins on their faces. I must be crazy. Can I get off at the next stop please, conductor…?
Just kidding, a little. If I survive Huron you will all hear from me soon.
Cheers,
Terri
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Current Position
(8pm):
Latitude: 44*
43.4’’N
Longitude: 81*
37.6’W
Cumulative Miles so far: 190
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for all the great emails, it’s nice to hear so much from everyone, makes it feel like you’re all out here with us… although I’m sure most of you would not want to be today, lol. We wish we could respond to everyone individually, but hey… We’re Sailing!
Lake Huron has been giving us a good go of it, but we’re doing just fine. ‘Sophisticated Lady’ is really showing her stuff, we’ve got the mainsail down to the 2nd reef, and only about half the jib out, and she’s still making 7 knots straight upwind! We got in a few miles West first, then turned to the South to cover some ground towards our destination. When we turned the boats heading, Charles and I were on the windward side of the cockpit looking out as we brought in the jib and both our jaws just about hit the floor… we were sitting on top of the biggest wave we’d seen yet looking straight down into the trough and it felt like we were standing on a cliff looking over! We dropped down into it and came up the next wave like nothing ever happened, it was awesome!
The boys were getting too relaxed with the routine already, taking naps and all, so I decided to shake them up a bit… tossed our big yellow marker over the side and called out “MAN OVERBOARD”… that got them on deck pretty quickly, LOL! They were all looking around with tired eyes wondering who the unlucky one was… but we were all there so everyone started worrying Ashley (the Daschund) must have fallen overboard in one of her many romps around the deck. Karl was first to realize what was going on and immediately repeated the call and started the routine of getting the boat back to the “Man overboard”. We practiced this about 4 times and then upon retrieving the marker, Captain Ron looked up and said “please don’t do that again”… it was so funny, you just had to be there! Made them realize how difficult it was to get back to the ‘man overboard’ let alone get him back in the boat… lesson is, don’t ever be the man overboard!
Needless to say, a couple of the crew is feeling a little less than perky as we head across Lake Huron’s finest… we won’t mention any names out of respect for the ones left behind, lol. A couple of them have been putting a dent in Charles Gravol supply, lol. We’re heading straight upwind into 25-30 knots of wind, gusting about 35 with seas that have been consistently about 6 feet with the bigger waves around 10-12 feet. The boat is handling it superbly, we aren’t heading in exactly the direction we want to go, but we are sailing and already ahead of schedule. In our first 32 hours we had an 8 hour layover at Wingfield basin, so for the 24 hours that we were moving we’ve already covered 190 miles!
Terri is off watch right now, so I just wanted to send out an update to let you know everything was fine… I got the idea from your emails that a few might be anticipating an update on how we were doing. We’ll probably get bounced around for the rest of the night, but we’re expecting to leave Lake Huron and enter the St Clair River sometime after lunch tomorrow (Wednesday). If the wind shifts as they forecast, we should have a great sail on Lake Erie on Thursday, but we’ll have to see… they’re batting less than a thousand so far with their predictions! We have a beautiful, bright, ¾ moon off our port side right now, so if you happen to look up tonight… think of us! Talk to you soon!
Cheers,
Rick (& Terri…
zzzzzzzz…..sleeping)
September 14th, 2005
He Said:
Hello All!
Well, we survived Lake Huron! It served up a nice mix of wind and waves to try and make us turn back, but we stood fast and prevailed!
We got bounced around pretty good last night, heading straight upwind into SW winds of 30-35 knots and waves of 6-12 feet, ultimately it added about 50 miles to our course so cost us about 9-10 hours off our 'schedule'. We arrived at Sarnia and the St Clair River at around 4pm today and it has been calm ever since. The spirits of the crew have definitely improved, the cameras started snapping pictures again, the food started coming out of the fridge... and even a bit of celebrating going on!
Terri & Charles served up an absolutely scrumptious dinner with smoked maple salmon shish kabobs, seasoned yams, parmesan zucchini, salad... you get the idea! Yes, spirits have definitely improved! LOL
Oh, for the record, people keep asking what LOL means... it is an internet acronym for 'laughing out loud'. You may see it as 'lol' or 'LOL', but they both mean the same thing. Sorry if you've been trying to figure that out for months... it's just kind of a known in our world, lol.
We are now in the St Clair River and just arriving in Lake St Clair. A HUGE tanker just passed us in the channel like a slow graceful mammoth from a different era (picture taken!). The sun has just set giving us another spectacular view from our mobile dinner table (picture taken!) and we are heading off in search of the Detroit River for another overnight passage which should put us at the entrance to Lake Erie around 4am tonight. The forecast is for clear skies and mild winds... yeah, right! We'll see!
Cheers,
Rick
She Said:
Well......I'm alive. Last two days have been what can I say, very challenging and many times I wondered what sick joke was this that I was somehow in the middle of. When we started out Tuesday morning from Wingfield all was well and the winds seemed in our favor. Then next thing I remember is Rick telling everyone it was going to get really rough out on Huron and we began batten down the ship. That was kind of fun and our adrenaline was pumping and it seemed like the beginning of a great scene in an action adventure movie.
Then it kind of turned into a horror movie.....monstrous huge waves, shrieking winds and the boat pounding into wave after wave. And the poor cast thrown around the boat like rag dolls!! OK maybe im exaggerating the rag dolls part....actually come to think of it I'm not at all! I remember one of us tumbling around head over heel. Imagine trying to go down a small ladder and get something to eat or even more fun, go to the bathroom while on a roller coaster screaming down and swerving around curves. That's what it is like in a sail boat crashing through 12 foot waves. Yikes!!!
There is one other small factor that I forgot to mention. On top of all that roller coaster fun you feel like puking every time you move at all. About half of the crew, and im not ashamed to say me, ended up tossing our cookies over the side of the boat. Numerous times!! Well I guess I am no longer a stranger to storms and getting through them. The only thing that kept me going was Gravol every 4 hours and clinging to Ashley as we looked into each others eyes with disbelief. Ok - the fact that we had a sound ship that took it all in stride and a rock solid Captain
(Rick) - I guess that helped to! LOL As uncomfortable as I was I never felt scared - I just wanted the waves to stop!
After my 4th dose of Gravol I lurched into bed and slept for about 14 hours straight - I know how to ride out a storm!! Before I passed out I finally got poor Ashley to go pee - we were clinging to our seats in the ever more slanting cockpit and I laid some newspapers out and held her from slipping and pleaded with her to go pee....please! She did! Great celebrations followed with treats and hugs.
I woke up to a brand new day - actually it was noon on Wednesday. Time flies when you are having so much fun!! The waves were normal and it was blessedly calm. Ahhhhhhhhh I felt like a new person. I did manage to complain a little to Rick about how I never wanted to go through that again and he reminded me we need the bad to appreciate the good. I guess he is right but I still hate storms and big waves. Yuck. I did feel quite sorry for myself at points. But I'm all better now. Sorry I wasn't more help last day and a half guys, but I will get stronger storm legs as I go.
The whole crew was quite chipper and almost in a celebration mode as we neared the end of Lake Huron and its bad temper. We all putzed around getting lunch, well I was getting breakfast! We had a great afternoon of calm waters and as we entered the Detroit River we all felt happy to be out of the rough and enjoying the views on both sides of the river. Its cool, one side is Canada and the other is the US. We got to see numerous big tankers pass us by and ate a great dinner again - real food not just ginger ale and pretzels- I love food! One huge tanker passed us in the dusk and it looked like a whole city lit up just cruising slowly by. Very cool to see. We are taking lots of pics and getting ready to start our watches on Lake St. Clair.
Thanks to everyone sending us well wishes and hopes for a safe journey - it helped! We love getting your replies and emails and hearing how you like our 'he said' 'she said'. It means so much reading your words and knowing you are all out there caring and thinking of us.
Extra love to my sisters, Dad and my dear Madio. Miss you and love you guys.
Cheers
Terri
Thursday, September 14th, 2005
Position at 1600 hours:
41*
53.5N
82* 34.4W
Cumulative Nautical Miles: 469
He Said:
I never dreamed you could see the look of absolute terror on a mans face in total darkness... yet, there was Charles scrambling down the deck towards the cockpit yelling out "RICK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!"
It seems Charles was having some kind of strange reaction to the fact that there was a HUGE freighter coming straight at us in the channel in the Detroit River and just as we were trying to turn Starboard and out of his way our engine died leaving us drifting straight towards him with nowhere to go and no power to get there. Hmmm... what goes through a mans mind at this particular moment in time? Usually a good amount of disbelief would be appropriate while still in the denial stage... followed by bewilderment and the 'how could this happen to me?' stage... then the analytical stage trying to figure out what could have possibly happened... all within 2 seconds while still observing the huge swell coming off the freighters bow as he bears down on you with no possibility of stopping or turning. Ok, I know... 1-2-3 WAKEUP!! LOL (Laughing Out Loud) ;o)
Seriously though, it always seems worse than it is at the time. The first logical thing to do is... try and start the engine! Luckily it re-engaged right away, ran for couple seconds, but then died again. Let's try this again but with more throttle... works! But then try and put it in gear and it dies again. I know!! Start it in gear at full throttle! Hey, that worked good... only now we're weaving our way through a VERY tight channel at top speed and can't slow down or the engine will die! Freighters get outta our way!!
This got us out of harms way at least as we cleared out of the Detroit River and headed for some open water where we could anchor or drift and have some time to figure out the problem. Obviously, the engine was starving for fuel since it re-started easily every time but died whenever you dropped throttle for any reason. Now we're heading down the big shipping channel out to Lake Erie and we can feel that our time at full throttle is becoming limited as the engine is starting to 'waver' in RPM quite regularly. We started looking at the chart for the nearest place outside of the channel where we could safely drop the anchor when Terri called out "isn't that a freighter behind us?"
It just keeps gets better and better doesn't it?
Now we have another mobile apartment building pulling quickly up behind us and we are rapidly losing power to maneuver with. That's when Ron put out a call on the radio to the freighter 'leaving the Detroit River' and informed him that we were the sailboat in front of him and that we were experiencing engine difficulty. Unfazed, the captain came back with "well, you better pick a side, cause I can't stop!". Nothing like a little intimidation to help your decision making skills at 1:30 in the morning, lol.
We promptly turned hard to starboard to leave the channel and turned on the new forward seeking sonar to check depth ahead of the boat. Hey, at least that worked properly! Safely out of the channel we throttled back and of course... the engine died. No problem, we're trying to slow down to anchor anyway... just hopefully the anchor windlass works if the engine isn't running! Safely at anchor, we all drew a deep breath to ease up the adrenaline, then got out the tools and Ron & I set to work.
Upon opening up our RACOR fuel separator we found it to be completely plugged with sludge. Apparently, the fuel tank hadn't had biocide added in some time and quite a bit of algae is present in the tank. When I had gone through systems check and filter changes before we departed last week, I had added in some biocide to the newly filled tank of diesel fuel. I guess the stuff works really well and with the major shakeup we just had on Lake Huron, lots of the dead algae is now in the filters. We changed the primary filter and the secondary (luckily, I had purchased some spares before leaving the dock in Penetang), and then Ron & I spent about an hour and a half trying to bleed the air out of the lines and get the engine running again. Finally, it started and roared to life with new vitality and throttled up and down perfectly! Problem solved!
So, now it's 3:30am and we're anchored outside the shipping channel on the open water... I missed my time offwatch to sleep and everyone else was tired after our 'eventful' evening so we decided to stay put and get some sleep for a few hours. Then we'd get up and make our way over to Leamington where we can hopefully purchase some more filters as we are probably going to need them very soon! We woke up at 6:30 to the boat rolling heavily in 4 foot swells coming in off the lake... nice! We got the anchor up and started back to the channel when Charles announced that our one and only boat hook just fell overboard. How did I get here again? Lol
Now it's 7am and we're back doing Man Overboard drills, but with no boat hook to retrieve the boat hook with! We actually used the 'real' Man Overboard pole to pull the boat hook into position where, dangling over the side, we were able to retrieve the mutinous boat hook. Another successful adventure on the water! LOL We're heading towards Leamington now, and of course pounding into 4-6 foot waves again that have been created by the 20 knots of wind out of the NE that have been blowing straight down Lake Erie for hours now (not the light winds forecast from the NW by the way, which would have been perfect). Oh well, all in a days work!
On a lighter note, we had a great cruise through Lake St Clair and the Detroit River, they really are spectacular at night, especially with the near full moon we had out last night which just made the water dance with sparkles! I must admit, Terri never ceases to amaze me... She has no use for all our electronic gizmos and gadgets, much preferring to go up on deck with her flashlight and paper charts and pick out the markers one by one, yelling back their identification numbers as we pass them. Can you imagine being with someone, who after all the events of the last couple days, still gets up at 6:30am in bouncing waves, smile on her face, goes up and hauls up the anchor by herself, helps retrieve the boathook, and still laughs about all that we've been through!
All I can say is that I'm finding myself very fortunate to have her with me, and also have a great crew onboard, and believe it or not... we're all still having fun! How cool is that!!
Cheers,
Rick
She Said:
I seriously don't even know what to say. Literally I'm beyond words. I will try and tell you how it was last night but its kind of impossible. By now you have read Rick's account and are probably thinking "holy......" , yup that about sums it up. I guess I should say we all were feeling quite proud of ourselves having survived Huron's worst and our tummies were full of yummy dinner. Yup, we were feeling quite content. Me and Ashley were lounging up on the deck pads laughing and thinking "this is more like it". There was no hint of the terror and "fun" to follow.
All was well as we made our way down the St.Clair River it was lovely - I guess most wouldn't describe it that way but after what we had been through it was pure heaven. It is very industrial on both sides with enormous black and sinister looking factories and refineries as far as the eye can see....still to us it was lovely!
Dinner was great with tankers passing us on all sides and us happily posing as they surged by saying "how impressive and cool are they".
The Detroit River was a little trickier as it was by now dark although we had the 3/4 moon to help guide us. Imagine trying to drive down a winding road you have never been on with your lights out and a wet and tinted wind shield. Oh and there are dangerous bits marked by bouys that are sometimes lit and sometimes not. And there are big huge trucks coming at you and lots of lights all around and you cant tell which is which. That sort of gives you a feel for how we carefully plotted our course down the dark and surging river! We were doing well - I tracked our progress on the paper chart as the others used the GPS. I don't think any of us were feeling nervous or anything. You are just on high alert and intent on navigating safely. Things were going well; according to our plan...until...insert scary and ominous sound track at this point!
Then all hell broke loose.. I think it was at the mouth of the Detroit River. As I think back shortly before that we had all been sitting on deck admiring the moon and many brightly lit casinos we drifted by! Not any more. Our first hint of trouble started out quite innocently. I walked back to the cockpit because we were getting to a tricky part and wanted to consult with Rick. There was also a huge tanker that sort of suddenly appeared out of the dark dead ahead, we had thought it was the island on our right and then it came to life. Rick said "I'll just slow us down a bit.." As he pulled the throttle back to slow down the engine just stopped totally and completely and the huge, did I say huge tanker was practically on top of us and we had no power, no way to steer out of its bone crushing way. Charles came flying back from the bow thinking this was some kind of demented ploy on our part until he realized this wasn't planned at all. Oh boy - time seemed to slur a bit and we all were saying stuff like "Rick what are we doing??" "Rick" "OH Sh*t" - and other things that I can't even remember. The engine started right back up and then died again. The tanker was turning slightly and its huge bow wave sort of pushed us off to the side as Rick gunned the engine- it only seemed to work on full blast. We managed to squeeze by it! That was way too bloody close for any comfort. We all were kind of shell shocked at this point - kind of looking at each other and thinking "what know?".
Immediately Rick started issuing orders as Charles and I tried to do them quickly. I remember feeling very concerned and wanting time to stop so we could re adjust our brains to this new info. No chance of that. We were in trouble, that much was obvious. Every time we tried to slow down at all the engine stalled. Great...just great I remember thinking. "Cant we just dock somewhere????" But there was no where to dock - we were stuck in a narrow river with huge tankers coming at us from both sides and no friendly port in sight. And we had no idea where we were in the narrow river. I was trying to plot us using the chart and leaning over the side with my little flash light to read the numbers on the buoys. Of course the spot light was dead- that would have made it too easy. Ok, not really having any fun anymore - once again in survival mode - is there a theme building here???
I ran up to the anchor locker and got the anchor ready in case we lost all engine power and control and had to throw it in. We quickly talked, raised our concerns for life and limb and whimpered( I think that was me and Charles)-then figured out what had to be done - but we had no choice but to keep going - there was simply no where to stop and it wasn't safe to float around in tanker central! We thought we could just get out onto Lake Erie and then maybe sail to port- at least get out of the shipping lanes. We made it to the mouth of the Lake with no other tankers, but the engine was making really weird and definitely not good noises. Every few minutes it would almost die totally. And we could only go top speed. Things were not looking good for the mighty crew...at all.
It's kind of a blur now. But I remember we were trying to decide where to head to get out of the busy shipping lanes and I looked behind us and said "ummmm isn't that a big tanker coming up from behind us???? Guys....???"
I remember thinking - could it be any worse?? I don't think Im the panicking kind cause I just remember thinking ok we have to do something, we have to get out of the way of this looming floating boat-crushing beast--and fast. The engine was still stalling and the tanker was right on our tail - Ron is up by now trying to come up to speed with the situation. Suddenly the tanker turned on two enormous spot lights on us that seemed to shine down from miles up. We yell for Ron to get on the radio and tell him we are in trouble. He talks to them and they say, loudly: "get out of the way, pick a side and go NOW!" Oh God. This is not good. We aren't sure how shallow the lake is outside the shipping lanes and I can see Rick struggling to decide in a split second, which side. We veer painfully slowly to starboard and all actually start to breath again. The tanker eerily slides past with not much room to spare.
I think my heart actually might have stopped for a few seconds. We are all now all juiced up and need a plan of action. We decide we can't go on like this and we need to get out of the crowded shipping lanes and anchor. Me, Charles and Ashley (my brave hearted mini daschund) go up front to ready the anchor- of course there are suddenly huge rolling waves tossing us around from the tanker and I yell to Charles to hang on and grab Ashley as we are tossed around. We let the anchor out and I think "ok at least we can anchor and deal with this" ....the windlass which is the motor that lowers the anchor chain stops working! It just got even more exciting. Rick is yelling "are we anchored???" and im trying to restart the motor by turning the crank. Charles is saying 'what's happening?" and part of me seems to detach and stand back shaking my head with disbelief. Could it be worse?? Somehow I think not. I finally get the motor restarted and we are anchored. We are nestled in-between the two shipping channels on what the chart calls "the dumping grounds" - great that makes me feel really good. Off slightly to our side enormous black and now very evil tankers are passing by rocking us continuously with their bow waves. Much too close for comfort.
Ron and Rick attempt to change the filters in the engine, having decided that is the problem - some kind of sludge is getting stirred up in the diesel tanks and clogging the engine. Charles is very concerned about the impending "death by tanker" so he takes up a spot watching each one with binoculars. I try and help by handing things to grease covered men and making jam bread. And checking the anchor is holding. What fun this all is I think in my head. I think I actually start talking to myself too. I remember thinking "I could really panic right now and just flip out" - we are powerless hanging on a little chain in the middle of a now choppy lake with pulverizing steel beasts all around us. I could lose it. But I don't although I had to make a quick run to the toilet, squishing past the guys with their heads in the engine, butts and doors blocking everything.
We changed the first filter and the engine starts up right away. Yeahhhhhh - we rock! After the second one the engine refuses to start at all. We try for an hour and finally it starts. By now it is 3am and we have had no rest and are all very pale and exhausted. We vote to sleep for 3 hours then get up and go to Leamington about 4 hours away. We set an anchor watch alarm to tell us if we drag and all fall into our bunks. The alarm starts to go off shortly after that but I can't get Rick to wake up. I look up and see Ron dealing with it and just let my head fall back into my pillow. The wind is howling and the waves are big now. I just think - if we are dragging, oh well I simply can't deal with anymore. We sort of sleep very fitfully as we wonder will we hold, will the tankers crush us??
We get up to big 4 foot rollers and another rough trip on the water. Can we please get a break now?? Somebody. The engine starts and we make our way on the now familiar rough ride across yet another mean Lake. I forgot to mention one of our crew actually slept straight through all this excitement and got up and wondered why we all looked like we did! LOL Did we have a tale to tell him. He tried to get us to tell it on video and we all just looked at him and said no way we cant think of it now. It's still too fresh!
We pulled into Leamington and all leapt off almost kissing the ground. We were safe and sound and on solid ground. LOL Just kidding we all seemed really quite calm about the whole adventure and joked and relived it as we got spare parts in case it happens again. ( please no). We showered - and I tell you a shower never ever felt so good. Although as soon as you stand under the water and close your eyes the room spins. Will the fun never end! Ashley was so excited to be on grass I thought she might levitate!
We are back on Lake Erie, no rest for the weary. I am so proud of Rick and how he got us through all this - I guess we all did it. But he led the way. Thanks honey. We are all very tired. I think all of us except Karl have had about 2 hours sleep! We ate carefully at the restaurant as we expect the lake to be very rough and it's a 24 hour trip. I am feeling surprisingly calm and almost happy, maybe to just be alive after all this! Laughing about it and knowing we all survived it is great. We are back on board and ready, I think, for anything Erie has to throw at us. Honestly how much more can happen to us........
Cheers,
Terri
Friday, September 16,
2005
Saturday, September 17th, 2005
Cumulative Miles: 733 Nautical Miles (830+ statute miles) Penetanguishene to Toronto, Ontario
He Said:
Well, we finally made it into Leamington after our inspiring morning and managed to get tied up at the marina without incident. The marina attendant got on the phone and hooked us up with some companies who had our filters in stock, and within an hour we had plenty of spares hand delivered to the boat! Things have been operating very well since, no problems, no oscillations in the engine... in fact, it's running better than it ever has! (touch wood!)
The crew was attempting to regain their land legs... at least I think that's what it means when they get down and kiss the ground. They were all in good spirits, but to avoid a potential mutiny on the next leg I suggested we hang out for a bit, have showers at the facilities, and go out to a local restaurant for a nice meal before departing the dock after lunch time. Given the fact that I already knew the wind was scheduled to shift against us again, I strongly recommended we all avoid anything heavy or greasy. The crew happily obliged and we had a great meal at the Dockside Diner before heading out around 3pm.
We had to head South around Point Pelee before we could turn Easterly on the Lake so I forewarned the crew that we only had about an hour to stow all loose gear or it would all be on the floor soon. There is only one wind that could spoil our good time on Lake Erie, and the forecast was calling for exactly that for the next 24 hours... 20-25 knots of it!
Somewhere up there, I'm beginning to think we ticked someone off!
As we got out into Lake Erie, the waves weren't all that bad, we had 4-6 footers, but of course we were heading straight into them and the wind, so sailing was out unless we wanted to double our course length. We got about 10 miles out when we spotted something really odd on the horizon, couldn't make out exactly what it was but it looked like a big square island! Another half hour later we figured out it was very large tug with a huge barge in tow. Of course since we were the only two boats crazy enough to be out here it was only fitting that we be on a collision course! It wasn't long before the tug captain radioed me to inform of the problem. I advised that we had altered course 20 degrees to starboard, he did the same and confirmed that we would pass 'port-to-port' and that fixed that problem.
About 5 minutes later the tug captain comes on the radio again and asks in some kind of Southern accent, "Where Y'all headed?" I told him we head left Penetang a few days ago and were heading around the Great Lakes to Toronto. In other words... across the Lake that he was trying to get off. He came back with "Y'all know it's gonna git a little lumpy out here tonight, right?" Yes, we replied, indicating we had just taken a beating on Lake Huron so how bad could this be. "Y'all know the winds comin outta the Northeast tonight, right?" Yes, we've become very aware of our ability to attract winds on the nose. "Well, y'all take care out there, and good luck!"
Always nice to have a little reassurance thrown in at the beginning of every new voyage!
So, off we go out on Lake Erie. Even the crew will admit that Lake Erie hasn't been all that bad. We had 4-6 foot waves most of the night, put up the mainsail with a double reef in it to stabilize the boat and just kept going. We did run into a period of bigger waves in the middle of the night, they were forecast to 10 feet so I'm guessing that's what they were although we really couldn't see them all that well. It's amazing how fast you get used to weather and things don't feel extreme anymore! I finally got some downtime around 3am and went to bed for a few hours.
About 7am Karl comes in and shakes my head trying to wake me from my peaceful slumber and starts yelling "RICK, GET UP, WE JUST GOT HIT BY A FULL BLOWN SQUALL, IT'S RAINING BUCKETS, THERE'S LIGHTNING EVERYWHERE, WE JUST ENTERED THE SHIPPING CHANNEL AND THERE'S SHIPS EVERYWHERE BUT WE CAN'T SEE THEM AND CAN'T FIGURE OUT THE RADAR!" and then turns around and runs out of the room.
Normally this would induce a little adrenaline.
Now I have acceptance of the fact that I can't change or control the weather, only react to it, and react calmly in the knowledge and wisdom of the fact that nothing happens fast on a sailboat. So I drag my butt out of bed and get dressed and come into the cockpit to see everyone hovering around the radar display. Ok, what's the big dilemma? Two button clicks later all is well, no ships, the rain is abating, and we are nowhere even close to the shipping lanes, we are right on the course I left us on and in no harms way. Next problem please...
We're about 3/4 of the way across Lake Erie as I'm writing this, and although it's still a little 'lumpy' all is well and we expect to be in the Welland Canal by sometime early evening. Haven't checked the forecast for tonight yet, but I'm sure there'll be a tornado watch or some other form of entertainment for our passage through the canals, lol.
The Canals:
We finally dragged our sorry butts off Lake Erie about 7pm Friday and entered into the Welland Canal system. We checked in, paid the fees, then they informed us it was going to be foggy tonight so they may not put us through until tomorrow... "but, but... we have radar... we have chartplotters... we can do it!" I say, he comes back and says "well, they'll put you through if you really want to"... cool! Lets go!
We hit the first lock and the guy handing the ropes looks at the five of us standing on deck, thoroughly soaked and looking dead tired and says "wow, you guys must be real sailors to want to do this tonight!"... like we haven't heard that one before! Lol
The locks went surprisingly easy, we only got delayed at the last two because of some problematic boats ahead of us. By the time we reached the last lock and the door opened it almost felt euphoric... it was 3am and sleep is near! We immediately set out to find the outer wall to tie up for the night. Unforeseen to us there was another huge floating apartment building lurking in the darkness at the canal entrance who saw our lights floundering around in the channel as we were trying to decide where to tie up. Almost simultaneously a HUGE spotlight breaks through the darkness from the heavens above and a voice comes on the radio asking "boat in the channel, where are you going?" We all just about had a stroke! We told him we were just on our way across to the dock and we'd be long gone by the time he got here. The canal radio operator laughed on the radio saying "I think you guys gave that captain a heart attack!", to which the captain replied "Did someone just suggest that I have a heart?", I have to admit, at the time it was very funny.
We immediately crashed and slept away until about 11am Saturday morning. Saturday was easy, we got up, started the motor, and set off across Lake Ontario which was only about 25 miles and it was a lovely calm sunny day for a change!
Karl, one of our crewmembers and friends, is a Toronto Firefighter, so he got on the phone with one of his area captains and managed to get us permission to dock at the Toronto Marine Unit docks, right beside the Lyle Mackenzie, the Toronto Fire boat... that's cool! Thanks Karl! We pulled into Toronto harbour under calm conditions, weaved in and out between 50 or so little sailboats sailing back into the harbour, and found our way over to the Marine Unit dock... right at the base of the CN Tower! We'll probably be here for a few days, and then figure out where to go from there.
So that's it for now... the first part of our journey ends... a little bumpy along the way, but successful none the less. We have lots of projects to get under way this week, and we are hoping to find a place we can have a little send off party to visit with anyone who'd like to come down and say hi before we head South. We'll keep you posted and look forward to hearing from you soon!
Cheers,
Rick
She Said:
HI all. I'm sitting at the computer downstairs at the nav station. I think it is Saturday! Yes it is Saturday. I feel a little shell shocked and quite groggy. We haven't had all that much sleep on this trip and I'm not a great non-sleeper you might say. LOL Its also kind of lumpy out here on Lake Ontario which makes me feel a little queasy when I have to try and read or write. But I guess I am starting to grow used to feeling slightly "off"!
When I last wrote I think we were just pulling out of Leamington and heading off across Lake Erie. We were expecting rough seas so we picked our lunch carefully - nothing too greasy or hard on the tummy!! I think I have some self induced amnesia or something cause its taking all my brain power to try and recall how events occurred!! Plus all I can think of is I have only had one shower in 6 days and I have virtually worn the same clothes unless they were wet - which they all seemed to be lately!! Worse then that all 4 guys I'm stuck with in close quarters have also only had one shower!!! Nice. Life on the rough seas is a whole new ball game.
Ok, I digress, back to the tale. Lake Erie. Well these Great Lakes have not been a friend to us on this trip. If it could go wrong or be worse - im not sure how. Erie was not too wavy at the start compared to Huron. We still had 4-6ft waves which is more then enough in my mind. Rick said "oh this is nothing". Yeah, ok. But it was still on our nose and so was the wind- which of course meant we once again were pounding into the waves and wind. By now me and Charles are just sitting up in the cockpit used to holding onto the side of the boat with one hand to keep from bouncing out of our seats. We look at each other and grin and just have to laugh and say "boy isn’t it amazing how you can get used to just about anything!". The constant rolling and tossing just seemed normal and we could pretty much carry on with life as if we lived on a roller coaster all the time. Even Ashley was getting used to trying to pee on moving newspapers while I held her from skidding across the floor! Once as we were desperately trying to rest in our cabin, I heard this huge water fall type noise and sat up. Poor Ashley was sitting in her bed dripping wet. A huge wave had washed over the dodger and our cabin hatch wasn’t closed right. She just had a bucket of water thrown on her as she slept! She just shook herself dry and we both sighed and rolled over. Having Ashley on board and the distraction of smooching her and thinking about her has kept me sane for sure. You animal lovers will know what I mean!
For this entire trip we have had our satellite radio on the Jazz Café station and I'm telling you it has saved our sanity. I remember once in the middle of Huron, Rick somehow shut it off and me and Ron were yelling "what happened, where is the music" with panic in our voices!! Somehow the soothing sounds of jazz kept your mind off the endless lurching waves and was a sort of lifeline to civilization and calm. I think we all spent a lot of time just staring out at the water looking for tankers and letting our minds wander where ever they pleased. It's an odd sensation really - almost meditative in a way. The seas give you lots of time to consider life and death and all the stuff in between! You feel very mortal and small most of the time.
Me and Rick finally laid down for some much needed rest thinking "ok we can handle this weather all across Erie- its not so very bad". Next thing I know Carl yanks our door open and starts yelling "get up get up - we have a major thunder and lighting storm out here and we can't see a thing and we are in the shipping lanes. We need the radar!" Rick leapt up and out of bed and I remember just laying there for a second shaking my head and thinking "now what...seriously, who did we royally piss off to have all this happening???!". I scrambled to get dressed in warm clothes and head to the cockpit.
The cockpit is completely soaked. There is water running in from every crevice, Zipper and corner you can imagine. It's absolutely pouring out and there are huge waves crashing up over the deck and past the dodger. It's like we are upside down in a washing machine. I looked up at one point and Lucky ( our parrot) had her own personal shower inside her cage! Visibility is next to nil. Water is flowing down the floor under our feet in rivers and also on the seats as well. We spend the next hundred years using our radar to track and dodge the tankers. Erie also decided to throw in huge metal mooring balls and well head poles sticking out - of course all unmarked and appearing out of no where on a collision course! I felt like we were in some kind of video game careening around dodging bad guys and bombs!
We continue to bash our way through Erie and the end is in sight! Hallelujah!!! I am so sick of waves and water and wind. Get me some land - just to even look at as we sail by, please! We enter the Welland Canal and make our way to the first bridge. Its takes us a while to figure out we have to dock at the first bridge and go to the little blue booth and pay for our pass. This starts the whole lock passage procedure. It is of course night as we enter the giant locks, luckily Rick and I have done this in the dark twice already on our way down. Piece of cake! I know now you are cringing thinking "oh boy, what happens next". Actually the locks went very smoothly. But we were all battling with numbing fatigue- most of us had been up for 20 hours with little or no rest. Plus we hadn't eaten a real meal since the afternoon before. We had planned to grab some Chinese food before we entered the system but they called us through right away. We begged Carl to make some spaghetti while we started our way through! It was misting rain- the kind that instantly soaks you and makes it hard to see. Of course, just to make going through the locks that much more fun and tricky!!
I seem to recall going from lock to giant lock grabbing the lines and going way down in a kind of robotic stupor..I think we were all on auto pilot at this point. But we worked as a team and the hot food helped. Near the end of the locks with 2 more to go we ended up having to tie up on the wall and wait for a bit. We all would crash down on the nearest horizontal surface and drop into sleep until the green light. Then off we went again- grab lines, hold on and try to stay warm in the constant rain. I was near my breaking point - I had had enough. I needed to go to bed. We all did. We came out the last lock - almost collided with another huge invisible tanker and then tied up on the wall and crashed. Blessed sleep- a bed never felt so good.
Now it's Saturday and we are on our last Lake.. It's almost over!! Heee hheeee heee , I'm gleeful at the thought of land and no motion and hot showers and real meals and ...... But also a little sad the adventure is almost done. As challenging as it has been, it's also been fun and crazy and unlike anything else. We can look at each other and feel proud we took the worse the lakes had to throw at us and we survived!
Thanks everyone for sending us your love and thoughts via email. They really kept us going.
Cheers,
Terri