Newly Updated
October 8th, 2005
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Our
Adventure Began on September 12th, 2005 as we left Georgian Bay heading South
for
the Caribbean!
We've gone live with our new satellite system and will be
posting updates
with position information as we travel.
Be Sure and Check Back Often!
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Friday, September 30, 2005, 1800hrs (6pm)
Position: 43*
40.65N
78*
34.00W
Cumulative Miles: 41nm (from
Toronto)
781nm
(including original 740 Nautical Miles from Great Lakes Trip)
He said:
We’re finally underway again! We spent about 12 days at dock in Toronto, and while it flew by, it feels like we did about 2 months worth of solid work on the boat. We actually finished up a couple days ago, but ended up doing other ‘smaller’ projects while we waited on weather… it was howling on Lake Ontario and had waterspout warnings to boot for a couple days so we just stayed put.
‘Sophisticated Lady’ is now sporting her very sleek new dodger and windows… forward visibility has increased dramatically! We also installed two new refrigeration systems that run off the ships batteries instead of the engine so now we can run entirely off our configuration of solar panels and wind generator whenever we are at anchor… no more running the motor for two hours a day!!
The most involved upgrade was the navigation station, it was in severe need of a re-arrangement, and since we had many new systems and radios to add to the configuration, it was time for a completely new face. We had it completely torn apart for about 4 days while I rewired everything and ran new wiring throughout the boat to accommodate all the new gadgets we were adding. The biggest part of this job was the new SSB/Ham long-range radio we installed for communicating with other boats while at sea. This was a very involved installation and even required stripping everything out of the bilge of the boat (below the floorboards) and lining the hull with heavy gauge copper foil plating. The radio needs this plating for a ground-plane which helps it radiate the transmissions through the hull of the boat and into the water so the transmissions will carry farther into the atmosphere and start bouncing their way to their intended destination. In the first test of the new radio I was able to talk to a station in Bermuda… that was cool!
Suffice it to say, ‘Sophisticated Lady’ is looking better than ever, inside and out. We’re a little ragged after all the time spent working on the boat, but no worse for the wear. We never really got a break while in Toronto, even from the time we arrived there the boat was a complete disaster after the Great Lakes Cruise and required a complete cleaning and drying out from all the water that managed to find its way in as we bounced our way through all those waves. The biggest problem was our furnace vent which kept shoveling water below whenever we had a breaking wave on the bow (often). We also managed to fix this (hopefully) by replacing the vent with a proper chimney which elevates the vent well above the deck and clear of any boarding waves.
After the Great Lakes Cruise, we had only one day to clean everything and put it all back together before we had a charter on the following Monday night… are we crazy or what!! That one went fine, and then we had another one on Tuesday night with 12 people on board, most of whom had never sailed and had taken Gravol ‘just in case’… I’ve never seen so many grownups have a late afternoon ‘nap’, lol. All-in-all they had fun, and we fared well considering how tired and run-down we were getting. The day after that we started ripping the boat apart and never finished until over a week later… but here we are… back out on Lake Ontario… and it’s a beautiful, sunny afternoon!
The wind is blowing about 12 mph and we’re sailing along at about 6-7 mph in nice calm seas. We just finished a great lunch of barbequed chicken, salad, and rice and we’re just settling in for a nice overnight sail across Lake Ontario to Kingston where we plan to stop and visit family and friends for a day or two before we head South to New York and begin our trek through the Erie Canal System. If all goes as planned (hahaha), we should arrive in Kingston sometime tomorrow afternoon. The weather is supposed to be clear tonight, with a nice Southwest wind of about 20mph which should speed us along nicely towards our destination.
We’ve had a lot of emails come in, which we were only able to receive recently, wondering how things were going… sorry we weren’t able to get back to you in a timely manner, but we were in the Outer Harbour Marina which has no internet facilities, and with our navigation station taken apart, our satellite was down for the count too. Terri had to go to a friend’s house the other night, just to download email from the previous week. We’re back up and running now, and back on the move again! We’re hoping to find internet access in Kingston so we can update the website with some pictures from the Great Lakes Cruise, but we’ll keep you posted. We posted all the log entries so far to the website in case you missed any… www.WindInMySails.com and follow the link at the bottom to the Ships Log.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone, just remember to delete our message from your reply to help shorten our download time. Thanks everyone!
Cheers,
Rick
She Said:
Lake Ontario surrounds me as I write this. The CN Tower is a very tiny speck behind us and we are finally well on our way. It has been a very long and hard week and a half. I would have to say it has been the hardest leg of my journey so far. Even compared to the rough trip we had coming through the Great Lakes! Being in Toronto again, near friends and family was wonderful but under it all was the shadow of our leaving any day. It was bittersweet to be with everyone and to try and enjoy the moment instead of thinking ‘this is the last time I will see them in a long time”.
We had so much to change, revamp or install that the boat was ripped apart from stern to bow which was difficult to live in all that chaos both physically and emotionally. I think we both felt like we were standing on the edge of a cliff ready to leap but unable to. It felt like being stuck nowhere for a long time with no direction or focus. Rick was working on almost every system on the boat and although I tried to help it was all things only he had the skill and knowledge to do. This gave me too much time to sit and ponder and worry and wonder “are we doing the right thing ?”. I guess in life we can never know what is the right thing, I don’t even really think there is one right thing. I guess it is just about trying to follow your heart and your soul and continue to grow. Where this will take you is unknowable.
Saying goodbye to my daughter Madison was truly the hardest thing I think I have ever done. Staying in touch and connected to her is a focus for me. I want to be able to balance being there for her and being here and in the moment for myself. To enjoy and learn and change from the experiences and adventures that await us. I am finding this journey is very personal for me, with a lot of inner contemplation. I guess the nature of sailing allows and even encourages this. Maybe this is part of the allure of it. The ability and necessity of slowing down and looking around with a new eye and sense.
It is a beautiful warm sunny day and our new enclosure is wonderful. The cockpit is so much more open, airy and filled with light. We feel more connected to the water as we can see it surrounding us easily on all sides. I am about to go lay down for my ‘off watch’ any minute and it feels much better to be under way, to be on our way and not simply waiting. Much is ahead of us to see and discover.
Thank you all for emailing us and sharing your feelings and thoughts on our adventures. It makes this journey so much more fulfilling and fuller…. we both look forward to staying in touch with all of you through emails.
Cheers,
Terri
October 1st, 2005
Arrived In Kingston
Hi Everyone!
Just a quick note to let you know that we made it to Kingston… pulled into Confederation Basin at about 11:30am after sailing 170nm (approx 195 miles) in just under 24 hours. We had a great sail, topping 10 knots many times as we surfed downwind on 6 foot waves heading towards Kingston. The overnight sail was beautiful… 15 knots of breeze on the beam and a clear starlit night… couldn’t ask for better!
We had some visitors today that spent some time trying to figure out where we were… We are in Confederation Basin Marina, downtown Kingston, on ‘I’ dock. Anyone stopping by, just dial ‘1-2-4’ at the security gate to get on the main dock… walk down the main dock to the end and take the last dock on the right and you’ll see ‘Sophisticated Lady’ on your left as you walk down the dock. Feel free to stop by after 12pm… we have some cleanup to do! We’ll be doing a little sightseeing and visiting as well, so if we’re not here when you arrive, just check back shortly… we won’t be far! We’ll leave a notepad in the cockpit, so if we’re not here, leave your cellphone number and we’ll call you when we return.
We’ll be here till Monday morning when we head off to Oswego, NY to begin our journey down the Erie Canal. Looking forward to seeing anyone who is able to stop bye!
Cheers,
Rick & Terri
‘Sophisticated
Lady’
October 3rd, 2005
We Made It!!
Hi Everyone!
Well, we finally said good-bye to the Great Lakes today… we arrived in Oswego, NY about 3:30pm after an effortless motor sail across Lake Ontario from Kingston. We pulled into the dock and did the ‘videophone’ check-in, now we’re the proud owners of a 1-year cruising permit for the USA! Tomorrow promises to be a very busy day as we start to take the mast down for the transit through the canals. We were dead tired as it was, so we treated ourselves to a dinner out at one of the local restaurants where we had a very pleasant surprise… our friend Brian showed up unexpectedly from Canada (we knew he was coming, but weren’t sure where or when) and somehow found us right at the restaurant were having dinner at! He joined us for a celebratory beer and then we all came back to the boat to crash… tomorrow promises to be a long day I’m sure…
Thanks again for all the nice emails… and thanks to all the friends and family that stopped by to see us in Kingston! Sorry to the ones that we missed, but family kept us very busy for the one full day that we spent there! Looking forward to hearing from you all, and we’ll keep you posted on our progress… New York City here we come!!
Cheers,
Rick & Terri
‘Sophisticated
Lady’
October 4th, 2005
Off We Go Into Oswego!!
1000 miles down… only 3000 miles to go!
He Said:
We had a very busy day today! Brian was a very big help… we had our hands full with dismantling the mast. I had decided that the best platform to mount the mast on would be the new radar arch, so Brian and I removed the port solar panel and beefed up the wind generator mount with a large bolt that would transfer the weight directly to the transom through the wind generator pole. We found a wooden support that served perfectly as a mid-ship support to carry a good portion of the weight of the mast, and help inhibit any side-to-side swinging induced by any possible encounters with powerboats on Lake Oneida… we’ll report on our potentially successful design after our crossing of Lake Oneida, lol.
We made great progress today, we finished stowing the mast on deck about 3:30pm and headed into Lock 8 (the first lock coming from Lake Ontario) and the beginning of the Oswego Canal System. We made it through the first 3 locks and then tied up to the wall at lock 6 for the night. Had a great stir-fry dinner courtesy of Terri, now we’re about to watch a movie before heading off to bed (at 9pm, lol). We’ll be up bright and early tomorrow to begin our journey to lock 5 hoping to finish the first 8 locks and cross Lake Oneida before nightfall (wishful thinking, but we’ll let you know!)
Cheers,
Rick
She Said:
Our trip across Lake Ontario to Kingston was great..it was not too rough and a lovely clear night. My watch was filled with starry skies and no real waves at all till the last couple of hours. I asked Rick when I came up to do my watch how many tankers there had been and he said only one. Great I thought , perfect , nothing to really stress or worry over. Well the tankers seem to like me cause on my watch I had 9 tankers pass by. They are always somewhat nerve racking as you peer into the dark at the approaching lights and try and decide if you are on a collision course with them or not. They seem to move out of your path achingly slow while you decide – yup we are safe. At one point I had 5 tankers all at once surrounding us and I was happy to see them all move out of our way. Me and Ashley also listened to the drama of another boat on the same course as us with engine troubles. The coast guard sent out a rescue boat but it was a little soap opera that kept us glued to the radio.
I absolutely loved Kingston. Its very picturesque with all the forts, old building and cool shops. There was a chili fest on when we docked and it was great to walk through a fall fair and see all the happy kids and people. It has been hard knowing we are traveling further and further from our kids and family and to see things I know they would enjoy and wish they were here with us. I still feel very sad when I think of Madi but I have been calling and trying not to focus on it too much. Its still harder then I thought it would be. And I thought it would be very hard. All you mothers out there will understand exactly what I am feeling. Meeting and being with Rick’s family in Kingston was food for my soul and I especially enjoyed meeting his Grandma Helen, she is an amazing person. Everyone else was a real pleasure to meet and their support and love made me feel great.
Our trip across Lake Ontario was choppy and wavy at first as we had the wind on our nose again. I asked the Universe to please give us a break and could we have calm waters to cross instead of beating into it. Amazingly, about 20 minutes later the water was calm and we were no longer pounding into the waves. How awesome!! Our good friend Brian joined us in Oswego and today he and Rick took apart the mast and rigging while I did domestic stuff like laundry and shopping and cleaning. It was nice to do it somewhat leisurely and to leave all the mast stepping to them. Thanks guys. I even gave Ashley a bath and she ran around feeling yummy and sparkly clean! We went through 3 locks tonight and it was a lovely evening with water falls and scenic towns around us. I’m feeling a little less sad each day and able to enjoy my surroundings and to remember things I will tell Madison about.
We had a great stir fry dinner tonight and watched a beautiful sunset over the lock. Gonna go watch a movie and chill now!
Cheers,
Terri
October 6th, 2005
Just Livin' The Life Of A River
Boat Captain...
Location: The Erie Canal System around Lock 16
He Said:
Miles and miles and miles of gently winding streams and rivers… surrounded on both sides by endless amounts of trees and shrubs, all glistening in early morning sunlight, showing off the most beautiful shades of orange, red and yellow as all the leaves are changing to meet the coming chill in the air… We have had such phenomenal weather, you couldn’t ask for any better! It has made the journey down the canals a very enjoyable, almost surreal part of our adventure. Each day since we left Toronto has been sunny and hot… much higher temperatures than you would normally expect to see for this many days in a row in October. If it wasn’t for the changing tree leaves and Terri’s straw decorations down below, you’d never know it was fall.
Lake Oneida treated us very well yesterday, we lucked out big time as we motored across with no wind or waves to speak of, and no major wakes from other boats to try and coax our mast to fall off the deck. We completed about 80 miles yesterday, and 7 more locks. As I write today, just around 2pm, we have completed another 45+ miles and 4 more locks so far. There are 16 more locks ahead of us between us and the Hudson River, about another 75 miles away. We hope to reach there by tomorrow afternoon where we’ll hopefully find a place to re-step the mast before the weather turns colder on Saturday.
The drone of the big diesel engine is becoming a constant companion now, and touch wood… it has performed flawlessly, not even so much as a hiccup. As we wind our way down the river, watching with fascination as we pass through town after town and miles and miles of tree lined shores, the drone of the engine has become our friend… yup, it’s starting to feel like we’re on the African Queen! Lol
We stayed at a dock in a town called Rome last night, although it seemed a little more like Brooklyn to me, lol. We had just finished a very long day of traversing the locks and despite being very tired, decided it would be nice to wander into town and have dinner in a nice restaurant. We found one called ‘The Savoy’, and it was excellent. It was very quaint and ‘small-townish’ in its blend of English style pub and a Country club. Brian treated us to a fantastic meal, (thanks Brian!) and then we got a ride from the owner of the restaurant back to the boat where we were very quick to crash at about 9pm!
Today we passed through an absolutely beautiful, picturesque little town called Little Falls. It was like mountains came out of nowhere, and all the houses were built on the hillsides. It was quite something to pass through on our sailboat heading down the canals and Terri took lots of pictures! We met up with a fellow on a very nice looking trawler named ‘Candor’ who cruises at about the same speed as we do, so he took forward position, and from his helm seat 12 feet above the water started calling out the deadheads (floating debris) in the water to us on the radio so we could steer to avoid them… that was nice, thanks ‘Candor’! One part of the canal ran parallel to a railroad track and as we were passing by a train went by… about 100 feet from us! The driver was hanging out the window and waved and tooted his horn at us as he breezed past us at about 25mph, that was cool!
In sharp contrast to the amount of excitement we had coming down the shipping channels in the Detroit River… the most exciting thing these days is food! We do eat quite well while we’re traveling, and when you spend your days sitting in the cockpit watching the scenery go by and just steering the boat in general, the next meal becomes a very important thing! We had a fantastic Vegetable stir-fry for dinner the other night, and today we had oven-made pizza with hot jalapeño poppers and a fresh made garden salad. Terri’s been doing most of the cooking, and I must admit, I’m amazed at some of the things she brings out from that galley when we’re under way!
Anyway, I hope this finds everyone out there doing well, we’re doing just fine… from what I hear, everything is good back in Canada, but I did get some bad news today… my Grandmother in Newfoundland had just taken seriously ill and was taken to the hospital there so my mother is flying out to see her. I hope everything goes ok, wish I could be there, and I’m sure everyone would join me in wishing you get better soon Gramm! Take care and I hope to talk to you real soon!
Cheers Everyone,
Rick
She Said:
We have been traveling along the Erie Canal for the last couple of days and it has been very nice. The weather has been absolutely perfect: sunny and hot , which makes the trip down this winding scenic river even nicer. It reminds me so much of the Severn River where my family had a cottage for most of my childhood. It brings back wonderful memories of lazy summer days at the cottage.
It has been very relaxing just gently bobbing along the calm river taking in all the forests of fall colors, the tiny cottages and sometimes massive homes. Dotted along the way have been little towns or villages with scenic rural views that often smell of fresh cow manure. Busy train tracks seem to follow the river and we often hear the romantic train horns as we motor along. We are all enjoying the ease of the river and have gotten into an easy routine for each lock we come upon that has been running like clockwork.
We are eating quite well with tasty lunches and dinners enjoyed in the sunny cockpit. Ashley enjoys hopping out at various locks to grab a quick pee before we start to descend. The only yucky part of the lock procedure is the slimy algae covered ropes we have to grab and hang onto as we go up or down. Very smelly and slippery but you get used to it!!
Last night we walked into town in Rome NY, not quite like the Rome in Italy, I might add LOL ! We had a good Italian dinner at a restaurant that had been in the same family for three generations. Some of the pictures and memorabilia on the walls reflected this – it was quite eclectic to say the least. Very interesting feel to the place and lots of characters in the busy dining room. It was only 8:30 pm when we finished but we all looked dog tired! The owner actually drove us back to our boat and we all flopped into our beds by 9pm !! All the fresh air, sunshine and early hours makes us long for our beds very early.
I am taking tons of pictures – seems like every bend we round has a new scene I want to capture. Its great really. I love taking photos. We have only met up with a couple of other boats so far but the other crews are very friendly and often warn us of ‘deadheads’ ahead (floating logs that can be very bad news for props). Yesterday we looked ahead and saw what looked like a huge private yacht heading up the river towards us. It was impressively massive and we stared as it approached. As it passed by we realized it was a cruise ship that you can book to travel down the river. It was very sleek and interesting to pass on this lazy, narrow river.
All the lock masters are very nice and helpful. Sometimes there are locals who chat for a little as we go through the lock. We are enjoying going through the locks in this fantastic weather as it is supposed to change by tomorrow to rain and cold. It won’t be nearly as nice hanging onto slimy green covered ropes in the pouring rain , I’m sure!
There were a gaggle of Canadian Geese floating beside us tonight when we tied up just above Lock 15. It was nice to see them and made us feel at home among fellow Canadians! I am loving the gentleness and beauty of the river and the fall colors are getting more spectacular as we go. Part of me doesn’t want the river to end. I guess each leg of this journey will hold its own magic and appeal. But I really am feeling very happy and content meandering our way down the canal.
Hope all is well back in Canada – we send our love and thoughts to all of you.
Cheers,
Terri