Still anchored in Navy Bay. I intended to stay there another night until a late afternoon squall blew through Kingston and just about layed Ananda over on her side. This was the wildest thing I had ever been in on any boat. I had been staining and varnishing in the galley all day so there were lots of things out of the cupboards, etc.

What a mess after the wind hit! Pounding rain, hail and wind gusts over 30 knots. On the 2^nd or 3^rd major gust Ananda’s anchor lost it’s hold, cupboard doors in the galley flew open and I started drifting towards the shore. I immediately started up the engine and began to slowly motor away from the shore and towards the center of the little bay. My anchor was all on chain (rather than rope) so I was not too worried about getting it caught up in the propeller because any slack chain that resulted from me moving Ananda would immediately settle to the bottom and I could pass over it without difficulty.

After about 15-20 minutes (which seemed like forever!) the storm finally passed on and the wind dropped to next to nothing. The marine weather radio continued to issue additional severe thunderstorm warnings for the area and they were talking about tornado warnings in the Cornwall area – about 90 miles east of Kingston. That was enough for me. I pulled up the anchor and headed to the City marina. I had had all the excitement I wanted for one day. Plus, I needed the night to clean up the mess!

Still anchored in Navy Bay. Today was quite pleasant, with light winds and lots of sunshine. I spent the day cleaning up the boat and getting ready for Brent and Rachel Temmer’s arrival. CFB Kingston operates a cadet camp at the base on Navy Harbour. Part of the cadet camp includes a sailing school. It was fun watching all of the kids out in their dinghies sailing around marker buoys, capsizing occasionally and generally having a ball. I was very tempted to call over to them and ask if I could join in on the fun. Across the harbour is Old Fort Henry.

Today is Catherine’s birthday. I’ll keep the number a secret but I can tell you that she is just more beautiful to me as each day goes by. On June 15 we celebrated our 19^th wedding anniversary and we have been together as a couple since 1986. Other than my business trips to Australia and the UAE, this trip will be the longest stretch of time we have ever been apart—and up until the end of July we’re both still in the same province! We had a lot of fun together in Toronto for the Canada Day weekend but that’s probably it until I reach Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Catherine and I have always supported each other in our individual pursuits. Her personal passion is yoga and mine is sailing. It means a great deal to me that Catherine is supporting me in accomplishing my sailing dreams. Happy Birthday, my love!

 

Today is a double-whammy day. I am missing Catherine’s birthday and Steve has to leave for Ottawa today in order to catch his flight home on Friday. We got up early and showered and did laundry. After that we walked up to the boating store to buy some hardware supplies that I needed to help stabilize the dingy davits.

Steve rented a car and drove me to the local Home Depot to return some plumbing parts that I had bought in Coburg and ended up not needing to complete the installation of the new heads. Then he brought me back to the marina and headed off to Ottawa. We had an awesome time together. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if he could have stayed a few days longer and brought his daughter (and my grand daughter) Zoe with him. Oh well, we can always plan on next year’s journey & Zoe will be ready to visit a castle!

We got up early and headed for Kingston. There was still no wind so we motored the entire way. Poor Steve, he came all the way from BC to go sailing with me and we had not seen enough wind to blow out a candle. Oh well, given the choice between sunny, hot days with no wind or windy, rainy days; we’ll take the sunny days every time. Prior to starting out that morning I switched from our starboard fuel tank to the port side. We had been motoring for about 2-3 hours when the engine quit. Fortunately we were in a large body of water (instead of a narrow channel) and were in no danger of running aground. We popped the engine cover open and Steve took a look around to try to figure out what was going on. We couldn’t see anything obvious so Steve bled the air out of the fuel lines and we started the engine again. It only ran for a minute and then quit again. Clearly there is something wrong with the fuel feed from the port-side tank. The tank is full of fuel so it has to be a blocked line or a loose fitting that is letting air in to the line—diesels do not like air in the fuel until it reaches the combustion chamber. We switched the fuel feed back over to the starboard-side tank and the engine started up right away and continued without any problems all the way to our destination in Kingston.

My friend Chris Cavanaugh emailed me as we were approaching Kingston. He asked if I would be able to stop by the Federal Penal Institution in Collins Bay (just beside a marina) and take a few of his “pen-pals” out for dinner. I politely declined, concerned that once they were out from behind bars they might decide to become pirates and toss Steve & I overboard. This is all a joke of course, Chris does not know anyone from the penitentiary (at least he’s not admitting anything) but we had a bit of email fun as we passed by a lakeside “hotel” that no-one wants to stay in.

Once we arrived in Kingston Steve and I were pretty tired so we decided to stay in the City’s downtown marina and enjoy a hot shower, laundry facilities and water and electricity. To our surprise, we were staying at the marina that was hosting a Nonsuch Rendevous. For non-sailors, a Nonsuch is a unique sailboat that has only 1 large sail, its mast is situated at the front of the boat, it has a wishbone instead of a boom and it does not have any standing rigging—the mast is supported upright only by where it passes through the deck of the boat. These boats were designed and built in Ontario and have a solid reputation as a very sea-kindly boat with lots of interior room.

All tolled, there were 37 Nonsuch sailboats in the marina. My (Nonsuch) dock neighbor on one side was from Toronto and the neighbor on the other side was from Rhode Island. The next morning I met an 83 year old  gentleman from Toronto who owned Nonsuch hull #4 and this boat did not even have a wishbone—it’s mast rotated and when not sailing the sail was furled around the mast. I hope I can still be sailing when I’m 83!