Thursday, June 24, 2004

1200 – Kingston, Ontario
Picked up our Alberg 30 from Andrew at Portsmouth Harbour, and ran through the checklist of electronics, pumps, and items unique to “Trailwind”.  We loaded up our gear, untied, and headed out of the harbour, directly into a stiff 15-knot Southwest wind.  We set the autohelm to a course of 247 toward the K9 buoy, adding a degree to remain slightly north of it.

1400 – N 44 10.13 / W 76 36.57
Once we rounded the K9 buoy to make our turn to the South, we raised the sails and stayed as tight to the wind as possible to make a Southerly course to the False Ducks, motor sailing to keep the course tight.  Kevin and I decided that we REALLY like this autohelm.

1745 – N 43 55.81 / W 76 48.20
Passing through the False Ducks Island channel, between the K11 and K12 buoys, had a great view of the lighthouse on the Island, but was too busy tying down all of our gear below, and the wind continued to stiffen up from the Southwest.  After leaving this channel, we are now completely open to Lake Ontario.  False Ducks Island will be the last land we will see for many hours.

1930 – N 43 37.39 / W 76 52.62
Passed by the Canadian weather buoy marked 45135 on the charts, knowing that there is now nothing between Rochester and us.  We attempted to keep a straight course, but the Southwest wind was working against us, so we began a more southerly trek, knowing that we could tack back when we needed to.  Good wind, under full sail, nothing at all could be seen on the horizon, except the weather buoy that we passed… it was well behind us after a few minutes, so we left the autohelm keeping the course and went below to make some baloney sandwiches.  We went above to check the horizon every 10 to 15 minutes, but did not see any other vessels.

2215 – N 43 34.26 / W 77 05.26
Strong gusts from the Southwest give us a very rough ride, even a little overpowering it seemed, but we knew that the hull of an Alberg 30 can take pretty much anything that Mother Nature throws at it… The mainsail however, now that’s a different story.  As the gusts began to strengthen, I made the decision to lower the main… unfortunately before I could get up on deck to haul it down, a quick 40 knot gust came out of what seemed like nowhere, and took the mainsail for a spin right out of cleat, unraveling the lines out of all the blocks and out to where the end of the boom was positioned, abeam the vessel.  We weren’t in any danger, but we knew that this was going to be a pain in the ass to fix while we’re being thrown around like volleyball.  Kevin did an excellent job at keeping “Trailwind” steady, while I went up onto the deck on my hands and knees and manually took down the main, armload by armload.  All I could do was pull the main in beside the vessel, and tie it off so that it wouldn’t bang up against the side of the hull.  Then we closed up the hatches, and went below to ride out the storm.  We could easily have motored to Sodus Bay, but we would have been arriving there in the pitch black dark.  We opted to wait until daylight, and then go to Sodus where we could re-string the main at a dock, instead of in a light gale.

Friday, June 25, 2004

0600 – Sodus Bay, New York
Arrived in Sodus Bay, and tied up at the SBYC, where the building was empty this time of day, and we knew we wouldn’t be long anyway.  We walked down the street and found a small diner with a hearty American style breakfast…that of course is no different than a hearty Canadian breakfast.  Eggs, sausages, hash browns, coffee, great chat with the locals of Sodus Bay who seem to all come to this diner for breakfast.  We re-strung the main, and headed for Rochester by 0830.

1330 – N 43 17.21 / W 77 30.63
The Rochester lighthouse is now in view, as is the huge power-cat ferry “Spirit of Ontario”.  Kevin and I both scratched our heads because we thought the name was “The Breeze”.  I made sure I took a picture that clearly shows the name.  We later found out that “The Breeze” is a nickname.  The US Coastguard closes the channel whenever "The Breeze" is arriving or departing.  They practice strong "Homeland Security", and probably consider this vessel to be a possible target due to the fact that it's such a high profile item.  We docked at Shumway Marina, went out for some nachos and a couple of pints, and then wandered back to the slip to cook up some terrific steak.  Kevin is truly a master when it comes to bar-b-cued steaks.  Since we were still exhausted from the previous night, we decided to crash out a little early… yep, 8pm.  We didn’t even stir until about 0730 the next day… wow, what a great sleep!

Saturday, June 26, 2004

0730 – Shumway Marina – Rochester
Went into the marina for the sh-sh-shave routine, and then walked up to a mini-mall a couple of minutes up the street.  Got a little cash from the ATM, and picked up some beer, and then tried to figure out where we wanted to sail to today.  The choices are… head NE to Kingston, or East to either Sodus again, or Oswego.  After we checked the forecast, and calculated the timing on the routes, we decided to go to Sodus, and we should get there around suppertime, and we spotted a nice pub not far from the marina.  Had to toast the fact that we docked on the Genesee River...with of course a Genesee!

1000 – N 43 18.40 / W 77 29.00
With Rochester off the stern, we head out to open water to get ready for an Easterly trek to Sodus Point.  Great sunny day for now, but we can see a T-Storm developing behind us.  We can’t really avoid it, so we’ll just have to ride it out.

1315 – N 43 20.21 / W 77 17.90
Strong gusts are now almost over-powering our mainsail, we skipped around once on a wind & wave combination, and opted to take down the main until the wind lightened up a little.  No time to take any pictures of this.  No problem, as we were still making 5 knots on just the jib, and never put the main up again.

1620 – N 43 16.32 / W 76 58.26
Arrived in Sodus Bay, sailed all the way into the harbour under the jib, and booked a slip for the night at Kate Lynn Marina, knowing that we’d be leaving in the dark to make it back to Kingston in time to give Andrew his boat back.  Had some great wings at a local pub, and then headed back to “Trailwind” to crash out early in preparation for a 0300 departure.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

0300 – Leaving Sodus Bay
A careful exit from the marina, pussy footing through some moored vessels, and peering through the darkness for the harbour markers was the best explanation for the first 10 minutes of our departure.  The bay is mostly lit buoys, so it wasn’t difficult, but you had to keep your night-vision in check because the tip of Sand Point looks just like the water in the dark.  Once we were clear of the sea-walls, we knew that we had six to seven hours before we had anything else besides water in front of us.  We set the autopilot, and went back down below, scanning the horizon for vessel lights every 5 to 10 minutes.  We stayed on engine until daylight, and then set the jib by itself at around 0630.

0945 – N 43 51.36 / W 76 42.90
Land-Ho! – We can now see Main Duck Island off the Starboard Bow.  It’s been several hours since we’ve been able to see a clear piece of land out there.  The waves have picked up to an average of about 6 to 8 feet, with a few that were much higher than that.  We now know that we’re only about 3 and half hours from Kingston, and continue to be thrown around like a volleyball game again, much like the first night.

1200 – Rounding the K9 buoy
Called Andrew on the cell phone and let him know that we’d be at Portsmouth at around 1315.  Even in the Kingston Harbour strait it was similar to ocean swells.  At least 25 to 30 knots from the west.

1330 – End of the journey
We signed “Trailwind” back over to Andrew, unloaded our gear, and went up to Glen Lor Lodge, where Kevin has a trailer… we grabbed a 3 hour nap, and he took me to the train station so I could catch the 2040 train back to Ottawa.  Kevin headed back to Oshawa, putting an end to the 2004 sailing adventure.

Over and out.