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Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 Well, we did it... we finally managed to break free of Toronto! For 5 weeks we stayed at the Docks beside the beautiful Music Gardens of Marina Quay West, and after several delays we finally managed to slip the dock lines free at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon and begin the first leg of our major voyage South to our Caribbean destination... the British Virgin Islands! Our new crewmember, Colin, was onboard and ready to share in the action packed adventure of the river run to New York City! As we departed Marina Quay West for the last time this year, we found our new travel partner, 'Emanuella' circling at the entrance waiting for us so we could start our grand adventure together. Our colleague, Frank Baron, had found a delivery job taking a brand new Hunter 450 called 'Emanuella' from Toronto to the Virgin Islands so we'll be traveling in company! 
View of Toronto from the Harbor We left Toronto Harbor under cloudy skies but as we cleared the Eastern Gap the sun started to peak through and there was even some blue sky opening up on the lake ahead of us. After turning East past the final outer harbor marker, we set full sail with 15 knots of wind out of the Southwest right on our beam and 'Sophisticated Lady' took off like a shot and has averaged 8 knots of boatspeed ever since! The night air is cool and clear, the water is calm, and we're speeding along directly towards our destination at full speed... it doesn't get any better than that! We managed to accomplish quite a bit during our stay in Toronto, including giving 'Sophisticated Lady' a bit of a 'face-lift'. A lot of her canvas has been replaced and upgraded to a livelier new turquoise color that suits her very well and makes her look much more tropical and happy!
'Sophisticated Lady' modeling her new colors in front of The CN Tower
New Striping and Sail Covers The last couple of weeks have also been spent sanding and polishing her deck and cockpit fiberglass... yes that's right... sanding! The gelcoat was so oxidized from the sun down South that compounding did absolutely nothing... we spent days watersanding it all and then compounded and waxed and now it all shines like brand new!
New Decals on Sparkling Fiberglass! Nat Genco Jr from Genco Marine has been down working on 'Sophisticated Lady' extensively over the past few weeks and has done a great job of helping us in 'dressing' up the Lady. The man is a true artist of canvas work and we can highly recommend him!
Nat Genco and his wife Clare out for a daysail aboard 'Sophisticated Lady'
Our newly decorated cockpit/living room
New turquoise stripes and matching deck lounge pad
Both helm stations completely redone, wheels even covered in new leather! Yes, the Lady has really undergone a major transformation and is looking better than ever! Now we are finally underway and can't wait to see her floating again in those beautiful turquoise waters we've missed so much... Virgin Islands here we come!! Thursday, October 19th We made record time to Oswego, NY after sailing in optimum winds all night long that kept 'Sophisticated Lady' rocketing along at speeds faster than we could have motored for sure. After arriving at the Oswego Marina by 8:30am, we re-fueled, re-watered, checked in with US customs and got our clearance papers, and were in our slip by 9:30am... all-in-all, a great check-in! By 2:30pm we had the sails down, the mast stripped, and we were ready to take the mast down but it started raining and the crane operator insisted that it was better to not step the mast in the rain so we should wait until morning. 'Emanuella' had already been de-stepped and were ready to go, they were just waiting on us... unfortunately there was nothing we could do except wait for the marina crew to give the ok so we put into our slips and settled down for a very cold and rainy night. Friday, October 20th Woke up at 7am and it was pouring rain outside... pouring and windy and freezing cold... not a good combination by any standards! By 9am it was still pouring and only about 36*F outside... wasn't looking good so far as the marina staff came by and told us we could move over to the mast crane if we wanted to and they would start if the weather broke... didn't look like much chance of that happening as it seemed like the kind of rain that settled in for days! By 10am we were at the crane and I think the guy knew we were itching to go... he came out and said "ok, lets get this over with", lol. We all sprang into action and starting loosening everything off and by 11am the mast was on deck and we were almost ready to go! We pulled back into our slip and finished securing everything, got all our fenders ready and fender boards mounted and by 2pm it was time to start the next part of our grand adventure... the Oswego Canal Locks! We slipped the dock lines and headed out into the river and were greeted by steep 3 foot waves... in the river! The wind had been blowing steadily out of the North off Lake Ontario, and with all the rain we had over the past 24 hours the river was running out at over 3 knots against the wind... this made for an incredibly lumpy start to our day of traversing the locks and put all our mast tie downs to an early test! We had to wait for 10-15 minutes while the lockmaster readied the lock for us so we slowly kept circling around in the narrow channel outside the lock, tenderly skirting by 'Emanuella' several times as we waited for the lock to open. Finally the light turned green and off we went... into the locks and out of the howling winds and ferocious currents that kept us dancing in the Oswego River. Our first lock went fairly quickly, but the nasty, biting cold made it feel like forever as the wet ropes we had to cling to would quickly freeze your fingers almost solid. The first 3 locks were less than half a mile apart, then we had a half hour ride to the fourth lock... thankfully giving us a chance to warm up! We cleared the fourth lock and then found a nice dock in the town of Minetto to tie up to. It was a very small, quaint little town but it had a grocery store close by and the dock had electrical hook-ups so we could run our heater for the upcoming very cold night... huge bonus! We settled in for the night, had a fantastic hot meal that Colin prepared, followed by nightcaps and tales of the day aboard 'Emanuella'... all-in-all it was a great day, we accomplished a huge amount of progress, we stepped the mast, battled the elements and the biting cold, came through 4 locks this afternoon and made it to a great little town where we all enjoyed a hot meal, hot shower, heat onboard, and great company... what more could you ask for!! Cheers, PS... thanks so much to all those that have already sponsored our Children's Wish Sail-A-Thon to the British Virgin Islands. If you haven't already done so and would like to, please just follow the link below to our contribution form and your pledge will be sent directly to the Children's Wish Foundation. Thanks again so much everyone, your support means the world to us!! Rick & Terri |
