43°44′31″ N 81°43′25″ W

We are now back in Goderich and tied up to “our” dock at Maitland Valley Marina. This is our “final” destination (at least for now!).

We entered the channel to the marina at 8:15 pm and were tied up on the dock by 8:25. Just before the sunset.

 

Above is a photo of the sunset shining down the channel that leads to the marina. It’s as if the setting sun is showing us the way to our dock.

We traveled approximately 95 nm today from Tobermory in about 12 1/2 hours. The day was perfect and the wind and the gentle swells on the lake seemed to be pushing Ananda towards Goderich all day long. It’s as if she couldn’t wait to get home!

We have had some wonderful adventures over the past several weeks but like any other travelers we are also glad to get home.

I am really looking forward to seeing Catherine and Emily and Jeanne (Catherine’s mom). It will also be very nice to be able to sit in a chair that is perfectly still for as long as I want.

Ananda was perfect throughout this entire trip. I would not hesitate to set out tomorrow morning for the east coast or the Caribbean islands. However, I have a wife and a life here that I love very dearly so this is where I’ll be staying – at least for a few weeks and then Catherine and I will be off on an adventure to the United Kingdom to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary! I’ll be most certainly blogging about that, so don’t go too far away from your computer or tablet 😀.

Tomorrow I will start to assemble some statistics about the entire trip that Chris and I have just completed. I will post them on the blog site for anyone who is interested in that kind of stuff.

Thanks everyone for following us on this adventure. I really appreciate your comments, questions and encouragement.

Cheers!

44°6′48″ N 81°48′57″ W (Current position)

We left Tobermory this morning at 8:00am. There was a heavy dew on the boat from the night before but the sun was shining brightly & the forecast for our passage to Goderich looked really promising. It would be greedy to expect much better.

We have had an awesome day today. Ironically it has been the best day for sailing that we have had since we left Goderich on July 26th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have been motorsailing all day today, with the jib & the mizzen sails deployed. This kind of sailing is what Ananda was built to do. With favorable winds and the engine at only 1500 RPM we have consistently travelled at 7.3 to 7.7 knots, with periods of reaching well over 8.3 knots as we surfed down the swells that were passing under our stern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now past Point Clark and Goderich is only a couple of hours away. We are about 2.5 nm off shore & on a straight line towards the entrance to our marina. There’s a large wind farm along the shoreline but the winds are so light that the blades are barely turning. As a result we have taken the jib in but left the mizzen up. It helps to smooth out our ride in the gentle swell from the north west that is crossing under our stern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have not eaten much today. It’s just been so fantastic that we both wanted to soak up as much of this as we can.

Chris just fixed up a great snack plate of smoked whitefish, crab & raw veggies & dip. That will hold us until we are tied up on the dock in Goderich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers everyone!