Daily Archives: July 24, 2010

Wednesday, July 14

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!

Tuesday, July 13

We entered the Murray Canal around 9:00am. The canal is about 10 miles long and has two swing bridges. The eastern (2nd) bridge collects a $5.00 toll for the full canal passage. The operator collects the toll by passing you a can on a long stick. Exact change is always appreciated. If you do not have exact change you can stop on the canal wall walk up to the bridge operator to pay the toll and get change made.

We entered the Bay of Quinte around noon. We motored past Trenton and then stopped the engine to have lunch in the middle of the bay just front of Canadian Forces Base Trenton. There was no wind so we just drifted lazily while we cooked hamburgers on the BBQ.
After lunch we started up the engine and continued motoring on towards Belleville. En route we were surrounded by hundreds of dragonflys that were in the process of mating. They were attracted to Ananda’s rigging and many landed and proceeded to procreate.
We were making pretty good time so we continued on and ended the day near Glenora, Ontario. We anchored in Canachan Bay, a beautiful little bay a couple of miles from Glenora. It was pretty hot so as soon as we were satisfied that the anchor was properly set we donned our swimming trunks and jumped overboard.

After cooling down, I started to cook supper while Steve did some fishing. He tossed in a line and caught a big one just a few minutes later. We would have eaten it but supper was already well underway so Steve mercifully tossed his catch back into the bay so it could have a 2nd chance.

Monday, July 12

Steve and I left Cobourg around noon and headed towards Presque Isle Bay and the entrance of the Murray Canal. This canal is for pleasure craft only and links the west end of the Bay of Quinte to Lake Ontario. Once again, there was no wind so we had to motor the entire distance. When we arrived in Presque Isle Bay we were too late to enter the canal because the two swing bridges in the canal stop for the day at 7:30pm, so we tied up on the wall at the canal entrance to spend the night. We were near a marsh area that was also a mosquito haven. As a result we got eaten alive that night. We shut the boat up before dark but the mosquitoes still managed to find a way in to the cabin. Steve and I spent the evening looking at photos on the laptop and swatting bugs. By bedtime Steve had a pretty big pile of mosquito carcasses. Hopefully the sight of all those dead bodies deterred their comrades from entering our sleeping quarters!

Sunday, July 11

Sadly, Bo had to head home today. I cannot believe how fast our time together flew by. We covered a fair bit of ground and Bo was awesome in helping me install the new heads. No, change that thought, Bo didn’t help me, he pretty much did it all himself while I hobbled around the boat like a 90 year old, not much good for anything except to pass him parts and tools. I hope that I get the chance to return the favour, my friend. By the way, I’ll be sailing to the Chesapeake next summer, wanna join me for a week? I was also thinking about upgrading Ananda’s plumbing about that time (just kidding). Next year, it’s all serious sailing—I promise!

 

After Bo left Steve and I worked on installing the new dingy davits. My back was still pretty sore but codeine is a wonderful drug! Steve cooked supper and texted his boss back in British Columbia that he was working pretty hard on his “supposed-to-be” vacation. Steve lives in Golden, BC which is about 3 hours’ drive west of Calgary. Steve is a top notch automotive and diesel mechanic and an absolutely awesome Dad to his 4 year old daughter Zoe. Steve is on vacation so I wouldn’t dream of asking him to do any work on the boat ;-). After supper Steve walked over to the local beach where a fellow was working on some incredible sand sculptures.

Saturday, July 10

This morning my back was incredibly sore. I could hardly move. The night before I had picked up the strongest (over-the-counter) pain pills that I could find at the local pharmacy but they did not seem to be helping much. This pain was really odd because it would come in waves (no pun intended) that would last 15-30 minutes each. Once the pain spell had passed I could function reasonably well but when the pain came back it was so intense I was hardly able to stand up. Around 11:30am I could not stand it any longer so Bo took me to the local hospital Emergency Room. My son Steve was due to arrive on the train at 1:00pm. I was hoping to get in and out of the ER quickly be at the train station in time to meet him but the ER was pretty busy and there was only 1 doctor on duty. As it turned out, I spent 4 hours in the ER and Bo ended up going to the train station to meet Steve. Luckily Coburg has a small station and they didn’t have any trouble connecting up with each other—even though they had never met before & Steve was expecting to see me, not Bo. I finally got out of the ER with prescriptions for muscle relaxants, pain killers and inflammation reduction.

Bo and Steve continued working on the installation of the toilets and got the project wrapped up around supper time. At Bob & Jackie’s suggestion we donated the old toilets to the local Habitat For Humanity Re-Store. The people there were very happy to get them and they will be a bargain for someone renovating an old boat or a rustic cottage with no pressure water. The bowls were in perfect shape & Royal Doulton to boot, so they might even be suitable for serving punch in, but I won’t be the one to take the first drink from them! Our dock neighbours (husband & wife) are avid fishermen. We had talked with them a few times and they were telling us about what can be caught in the lake. Last week they caught a 23lb salmon. When Bo and I arrived back from the hospital, my son Steve presented us with a beautiful filet of lake trout caught (and cleaned) earlier that day by our neighbours. We cooked that beauty up for dinner on the BBQ and it was absolutely delicious.