Ten days with the Trailer Sailors

 We have been very busy.  I've only read 1-1/2 books since we left Superior on June 25.  Spending much of my "leisure" [i.e. not sailing or motoring] time reading cruising guides and studying charts, figuring out where we will go next. Or occasionally, blogging when we can get WiFi access to the Internet. That's why we don't publish daily.

We have sometimes been in marinas (like tonight, in Killarney ON); the other nights anchored in various locations in the North Channel. Killarney is a great town - the main street is a channel about a mile long between the mainland and an island. [There is a road also, but it's really more like a wide alley - the water is the main story.] We are at a dock on the island side; a water taxi continuously takes us back and forth across the channel to town - although we could use the dinghy.

It seems to be a lot more crowded all over the North Channel this summer than in past years; sometimes it is difficult to find a good spot to anchor.  For example, last night outside of Covered Portage Cove we put out two bow anchors and two lines tying the stern to shore, so we wouldn't swing into other boats.  Good thing – strong winds. Decided to pull all this out this morning after the overnighters left; we had to motor the Bruce anchor out as we couldn't pull it out by hand. We needed lots of room to do all this maneuvering and decided to do it when the other boats were gone.  After that, we headed to Killarney to grab a dock and hook up with some of the rest of the Trailer Sailors.

It has been GREAT hooking up with old and new friends here.  There are about 30 boats in our "flotilla", although most of these come and go.  There are only 5 boats here tonight in the "main fleet" [all from MI, MN & WI]; great dinner at the Sportsman's Inn.

There are about 100 boats in the North Channel - at least those who radio in to the morning Cruiser' Net where we can all find out who is here, who is where, and the news, and unreliable weather forecasts.

It has been and will be sad to leave these friends.  Thanks to John Travis ("Traveler") for planning and leading this organized adventure. We can't believe how many people we know here (now, and from before), and how helpful everyone is.  We met the Fraks again, the couple we met in Marquette on our way across Lake Superior, who trailered their boat here for these two weeks. And many others.

We expect to leave them all on Thursday (wind and waves permitting), to make a 40-mile crossing of northern Georgian Bay – should be easy after some of those 60+ mile crossings on Lake Superior. After that, we should be in protected waters (somewhat), all the way to Port Severn where we start transiting the Trent-Severn Canal.

One possible snag is that the Canal is at low water levels. If they don't get some rain, it may be too shallow for us when we get there in a few weeks.  No way to know now; it probably won't be a problem.  Onward.

Will upload pictures separately.  Stay tuned.

An interesting evening

Earlier this week, we had a real eventful night -

The setting: We had anchored in a very crowded (but beautiful) anchorage. Because of the large number of boats anchored close together, everyone had short anchor rodes (lines and chains to their anchors) – too short to hold well in strong winds, but short enough to prevent the boats from swinging into each other – we had 50 feet of chain, 10-15 feet of line, and a kellet. [Significant Lesson Learned: Avoid crowded anchorages and ALWAYS set enough scope. ALWAYS.] In the evening, we had a great time reconnecting with our new friends for conversation and beer, on their s/v-Iroquois (Debi & Jack), who we had met a week or two ago in Meldrum Bay.

The storm:  Strong winds hit about midnight, from a different direction, causing us to drag anchor.

The problems: 1) we were drifting into another boat; 2) it was too dark to see which boats were where; 3) we had to get our anchor up, then get out of there.

The midnight cruise: We motored through the fleet, in the dark, trying to find a safe place to reset our anchor (not to mention the difficulty of pulling the anchor up in the dark while motoring.)  We were locating boats with flashlights, and shoreline with the chartplotter.  In strong winds. Not fun.

The good news: We did not hit another boat. No damage. Nobody hurt.

Anchoring, take two: We found the best place we could where we thought we could reset the anchor without swinging into any other boats.  But it was pretty close to a rocky shore – couldn't tell how far away it was due to the dark – probably 20 to 60 feet but who knows? We put the anchor in, and stayed on anchor watch all night – impossible to tell how well it was set, exactly where we were, or who or what we might hit.  Had the diesel motor ready to start, fast, if we needed it. (We didn't.)

Morning:  Very tired. Up all night.

Decision:  In the daylight, get out of there and into a different anchorage which would not be crowded, would be safe from the strong winds, and where we could anchor securely and safely.  We motored a few miles to Croker Island – set TWO anchors with incredibly long scopes and, pointed into the wind, tied TWO stern lines to shore.  Then we slept most of the day and the next night.

Meanwhile: Since our VHF radio didn't work too well, we had trouble contacting the rest of the fleet.  But we did and let them know where we were and that we were okay.

Epilog: Bought two more flashlights and another spotlight. Swore never to anchor again without enough anchor rode, regardless of what other boats were doing or saying. Got our antenna fixed (finally!).  And, since then, have had safe anchorages and wonderful sailing.

Good learning experience. You will be happy to know that we did everything right in acting through this adventure (except, of course, for the initial anchoring location and setting the anchor).

Important take-away: ALWAYS have your anchor light(s) on in all anchorages, even if you are well away from any expected traffic and are in designated anchorages – another boat might have to motor through the anchorage in the dark and/or in a storm, and needs to know where you are.

Stuff happens. Oh, well …

Pictures from the North Channel

Some of the ~30 sailors attending the happy hour party on - and mostly off - our boat

Anchored, with our stern pretty close to shore

Plotting the course at our navigation station

The marina at Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island

Boats and Anchorages

These are some of the variety of boats participating in the 2012 Trailer Sailors Assn. North Channel cruise - 

Klingon Bird of Prey ?

Trailer Sailors

We are still in Little Current, Ontario.  Had a great potluck with about 30 boats and their crews of the Trailer Sailors Association, who we will be sailing with for the next week or two.
We do still count as trailer-sailors, since we did have our boat hauled from our home port (Lake City, MN) to our launch port (Superior, WI). - Everything is trailerable if you have a big enough truck.
Skippers meeting today, then we will be off-line until we get back to WiFi, probably by next weekend or before.
Great people, nice weather but hot, riding our bikes around the town here, re-provisioned and pumped-out.
I'm late, I'm late - for a very important date.  No time to say "Hello Goodbye" - I'm late. I'm late. I'm late ...

Little Current

We made it to Little Current, Ontario.  Now tied up at the Town Docks.  Have started meeting up with other trailer sailors.  Opening potluck is Sat. night - we made it a whole day ahead.
Got a lot to do now that we are back in "civilization".  More news later - we're back on the 'net!

Canada! We're in the North Channel

Left the USA this morning; we're now on the west end of Manitoulin Island in Meldrum Bay. Cleared customs, so we are legal to sail in Canada through September (if we stay that long).
Internet, where we can find it, is extremely slow and difficult to work with.
We will leave tomorrow for several days of sailing and anchoring out, so don't expect any posts for a few days.  We should be in Little Current by Saturday sometime, so we will back on-line by then (we think).
Tentative Plan from here: Cross to the Whalesback Channel; anchoring maybe north of John Island, then on to Laurier, then the Benjamins or Croker, and on to Little Current. But don't believe that too much.
Nice traveling by boat - without a car, we tend to stay around the ports. And so, we meet people and see local stuff that we would probably have driven by quickly if we had a car.