45°15′22″ N 81°39′46″ W

If you copy & paste the above coordinates into Google Maps search box it will show you our location. I will try to remember to include our coordinates with each blog posting.

Note that the GPS coordinates with Google Maps may show us in a parking lot or on the side of a hill but I can assure you that we are still afloat. If we run aground I’ll be sure to post a special blog about that particular experience.

We arrived in Tobermory (Little Tub) Harbour around 2:00 am this morning, found an empty dock & went to bed. A long but satisfying day.

More chores await. Yesterday morning I was on a “high” at the top of the mast. This morning I’m a little closer to the waterline. (Unfortunately the glass of red that awaits me is transmission fluid – not wine – that comes much later in the day – after we have tied up to a dock or dropped the hook in a nice little anchorage)

Cheers!

Current location: 44 06 N x 081 49 W

We finally cast off from Goderich at 12:00 noon. But not before there were a few more glitches to sort out.

My GPS unit did not want to “talk” to my laptop. I had tested everything out at home a few days earlier & it all worked perfectly.

It appears that my laptop got caught in a Windows 10 update while we were at the dock & that caused the problem with the GPS software & drivers. So, we started our journey with Chris’ iPad & I sorted out the problem with my laptop a couple of hours later.

We are now making a steady 6.9 knots under motor only & will decide what our first destination of the trip will be. Under consideration now are Tobermory, Wingfield Basin & Powderhouse Bay.

ETA for our furthest destination is about 4:00am tomorrow morning. In any case we will be traveling until midnight or later. The weather & wind forecast looks reasonable & Ananda is running well.

The one thing I dread about sailing is having to go up the mast. The last step in our preparations to leave Goderich is to put my wind instruments on the top of the main mast. Not a good place for a guy who is terrified of heights to be. It’s at times like this that a trawler looks like a really good option.

Please don’t make me go up there!

Anyway, I survived the ordeal & Chris was good enough to let me back down so we could start our journey.

Don’t look down!

At last the masts are up! It was a really hot day in the marina today. We spent the morning attaching all of the rigging to the masts & then hoisted them up after lunch with the help of a few dock mates.

Now we’re fitting the sails. We should still be on schedule for an early morning departure on Tuesday.

Today we begin to get the masts ready to stand on deck. I am always amazed at how the rigging is able to keep these two brutes standing through all kinds of wind & waves.

We recruited Mitchell from the marina to help us two old guys wrestle the main mast off the storage rack and haul over to the mast hoist. With any luck we will have them standing before dinner tonight.