Well its that time of the year. Time to put the boat on the hard and prep it for winter. So far have the water system engine winterized.

Still pending

winterize the head and the shower pump
dry out the bilge
Remove the canvas and do the repairs
pack up all the food and remove it
Put the supports up for the tarps and put the tarps on

that has got to be more than one weekends work :(

That is the price of  owning a boat

I have also applied to the Midland bay sailing to save some money.
They have wed racing as well that would be a hoot :)

Looking forward to boarding season now

Can someone please tell me where all the nice weather that environment canada promised for the fall went?
Oh don't tell me it was only during the week ..the weekends have been way to wet to sail. If you haven't  check the weather for the long weekend its going to be F...ing cold good for pre haul out maintenance :)....I hate this time of the year.... did we not just launch???????    :(..... the seasons between sailing and snow boarding spring and fall   :(  ok I'm finished, off to do Saturday chores.... car wash ....return a backup drive again   take my board and boots in to get the bindings fixed and laundry ..have a good weekend...cross your fingers for some nice sun tomorrow and a little wind

• STRONG WIND WARNING IN EFFECT

• WATERSPOUT WATCH IN EFFECT

Forecast

Think I will stay home today ......

FYI

Looks like it will stay south of the bay for most of the weekend.

 So be careful and have fun out there  :)

Sweet way to handle your Asymmetrical Spinnaker. Check out the video.

I think the price is similar to a sock

Profurl

Had a great weekend of boating with old friends. I do mean old, we have know each other since the 70's they were throwing around 40 years but I refused to believe them. Anyway had some great weather and an awssum sail back to the marina on Sunday, with 10-15 knots of wind and lots of tacking. Didn't take any time at all to train them to grind and trim lol.
Looking forward to additional time off when rogers decides to walk me out because I am now employed by their competition. I will head back up north for a few days of R and R. Today would be a good day to provision and tomorrow would be a great day to head out on the next adventure. :)

73's

Well the last leg of the journey 2 weeks apx 300 nautical miles and lots of sailing and fun. A good vacation overall

Nice end to the vacation two days of rain and motor sailing for an additional two days to get back. But one good thing not one problem with the boat other than a few loose threads. Had a great time but need more time as always. Next year maybe a 3 week vacation :).

Well does it just figure no rain and hotter than any summer yet and on my vacation I am stuck in Britt for a couple of days because of a monsoon that's heading our way. Guess its time to get the 1tb drive out and watch all the movies I downloaded and ripped :) I'd rather be sailing in the sunshine :(

Stopped in Killarney yesterday to pick up some fresh fish and a order of fish and chips and was pleasantly surprised to discover new public docks ..... brand new this year by the looks of them and it's about time. Dockage in Killarney was difficult to find at the best of times, the only one available up until now was the LCBO dock. Total number of new slips, 12. They were busy and that was to be expected. They are located next to the general store, so that's convenient and are a short walk to the LCBO and Herbert's fish&chips. They have 15+ ft of depth, so you non shallow draft SV (Dallis & Amy not a rock in sight :) ) can get in there as well.

Todays position report

Weather seems to be clearing ???????

Tegan from Hindsons shared the anchourage

Good Morning from Haywood Isl, nice rainy morning, but radar says it should be ending in an hour or so and it looks to be clearing form the west as predicted. Will head out to Killarney today for a lunch of fish n chips and then on to the Bustards. Winds look good so far, will let you know on the next post. Oh one additional item we had a visit from a large loon this morning always nice to see them or in this case hear them he was the wake up call today :)

Wind report for the last two days at a shore side slip in the Gore bay municipal marina.
Sat winds max speed 28.9 knots SW, Sunday max speed 27.2 knots NW.

Heading back home today as soon as the service docks clears and we can get fuel and a pumpout. Today's destination is Haywood Isl  about 10 nm past little current. Tue on to the Bustards isl group in Georgian Bay for two days of R&R

Today's location Aug 4th Gore Bay. Time to head home, will be staying for a couple of days till the front rolls through. The weather looks good for the remainder of the week to head back south. Killarney, Bustard isl group, Britt, Parry Sound then home :(

Left croker island this morning heading to Gore bay..flew the kite again today until the entrance to gore bay when the wind died and then changed direction to the west and blew the kite in my face  :) so motored in the remaining 3 miles. Settling in at Gore bay marina waiting out a big storm system that is expected tonght/tomorrow. Winds up too 40k I will leave the nav instruments on and check the max wind speed and post it here, should prove interesting. Doing laundry and cleaning up the boat, doing a little provisioning and then starting the trip back down south. Vacations are always too short :(

Present position

 A couple of good looking boats sharing the Club Isl anchourage

Sunset from Club Isl.

A couple of pictures form the Lions head area. 

Always wondered how the tree survives on solid rock

Spent last night in James Bay. Great spot similar too Hope Island good hold in sand and with the right conditions a great anchorage. But as the wind turn to the south the roll began, it still wasn't bad only a half foot or so. Left there this morning with thunderstorms in the area and a SW wind at 10-15 knots. Once out in the open bay the the waves built to about 1 meter or maybe a little more on the stern not a comfortable ride at all. The wind did move more to the south,  gibe and headed to little current with a reef in the Genoa and no main. At one point and I think this may have been an error on the display but I did see 50 knot winds as I said it was probable an error because it sure didn't feel like it  Arrived in LC for the 3 pm bridge and then off to wally's for fuel and a pump out. Sitting at the west end in a finger slip near Boyls marina with free wifi  :) . My brother and his wife, who are on their way to the east coast to find a new house dropped by for a beer and dinner we had a nice visit.

Some video from the trip to Wingfield Basin from Lions Head on Monday. Nice weather for flying your kite.

Here is something unusual. Seen this crossing the bay yesterday.If you ever wanted to know what the weather buoys looked like this is the southern Georgian Bay weather buoy. Position 44 57.390 80 36.501 +- a mile or so.

HI again just a couple of pictures/videos from the vacation so far

 This the Lionshead at lionshead. The ports book says part of it has fallen off so it doesnt quite look lionish anymore  :) I think there is a face on it now so should the change the name? Check it out see what you think.

Its a little bumpy but you get the idea. Conditions about a third of the way across Georgian bay on the 28 July.

Good morning from Lions Head. Just a quick update to the blog. Day three sitting at Lions Head marina having tea and watching the sun rise over the escarpment. Day one was a night sail to Hope Island uneventful,  but interesting not being able to see what the shape and the size of the wave is that is coming at you. Day two was the big crossing. Picked a good day, winds started off light and did some motor-sailing out of Hope for an hour or so then sailed and then motor-sailed again for another hour. The remainder of the crossing was under sail with winds from the NE at 10-12 knots. The wind shifted to NW 10-15 later in the day but I managed to make the headland at Lions head and sail to the marina. Didn't spill a single beer.

So off on holidays this weekend and just thought I would post a proposed sail plan on here. It will cover the first week more or less. I will update the mapping as I go and confirm destinations along the way depending on bandwidth availability. Anyway see you in a couple of weeks.

A little something for the sailing fans
6 Meter Class

For those of you interested and it really applies to anyone heading to the North Channel. You may want to check this out. It's a video feed from the Anchour Inn in Little Current of the Little Current daily cruisers net. If you know anyone up there during the summer you may just hear them check in on the net. I am on it everyday when I am in the area, great place for news and information exchange. There is a chat area on the site so you may be able to get a message to the boat or boats you know. Check it out ..................

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/roy-eaton#utm_campaign=www.facebook.com&utm_source=11476523&utm_medium=social

Some interesting moments from the Volvo Ocean Race. Check out the last couple of seconds of the video. The helmsman isn't steering he is just holding on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A7XJLhRVVE&feature=player_embedded

Kilcoursie Bay 

Trip from Killcoursie Bay to the Westerns. The wind varied from 7-8 to 11 knots boat speeds were between 3-5+ knots great sail. As you can see the bay was very calm.

Here is a hint to the location of one of the best anchorages on the Bay. Do you recognize the light station 

Met  buddy at a new to me anchorage this weekend after spending a couple of days in Killcoursie bay. Check out the pictures. 

A small visitor this weekend.

Ordered my MMSI number yesterday, by email. Amazing how the Canadian government has moved in to the 21st century. Lets see how long it takes to process the application. Sent the application Monday at noon and I did receive a reply by 2 pm saying I will receive my number by email when the app is processed. Hope I have it by the weekend :)

So Saturday morning they began to raise the anchor. It was so slow ..like watching the minute hand of a clock, but it finally broke the surface.The ship was originally powered by steam and still had the same motors for the anchor windless, so the crew was using compressed air to power the windless.  Attached are a couple of additional pictures from Saturday morning as they prepared to leave for Port.

The SS Keewatin is a passenger liner that once sailed between Port Arthur / Fort William and Port McNicoll in Ontario, Canada. She carried passengers between these ports for the Canadian Pacific Railway's Great Lakes Steamship Service. The Keewatin also carried packaged freight goods for the railway at these ports.^[1]

Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Scotland as Hull No. 453, the Keewatin was launched 6 July 1907 and entered service in the following year. She ran continuously for almost 60 seasons, being retired in 1966.

Just a couple of pics of the keewadin at anchor at Giants Tomb Isl. Oh and the tug that towed her all this way... The gull would'nt go away until I took it's picture. They are well trained, show up as soon as the BBQ is started :)

OK so finally settled on the radio model that I am happy with. I returned the first one  Standard Horizon 1600 and upgraded to a 1700...built in GPS. Its cool plugged it in and the GPS locked on the satellites and OMG I have Lat and Long on my Radio ...so DSC will work. Now all I have to do is apply for a MMSI number and I will be a happy boater......Check out my new radio shack.. well the start of it. 2 Meter radio to be added later this year when I get my Ham license.. brought to you from the mouth of the Mushquash River.

"Tech is Good"

I did take all the comments to heart and replaced my VHF radio on the weekend. Tim and Thunder Bay radio reported an excellent signal and good audio deviation. Now the install of the radio was easy, the wiring for the older Standard Horizon radio worked with the new on just fine. I did have to rewire the Remote Mic, that required some fishing and taking most of the back end of the boat apart to run the cable. Oh and the supplied cable was too short so I had to by the extension available from Standard Horizon for the cost of $50. I lucked out and found one at Bay Port in Midland so that completed the radio install.

The frustration started when I tried to get the GPS and the radio to talk, this allows the radio to automatically  report location data when the emergency DSC button is pushed. So I hooked everything up according to the supplied manuals and nothing happened. WONDERFUL....... but I kinda expected it.

So three days of testing and various configuration changes and it still isn't working. There is suppose to be a little satellite icon in the top right corner of the radio display and even that is not there...hummm wonder if it's a problem with the brand new radio????????????????????  just another possible cause in the list.

I am now in the middle of a conversation with Garmin about NMEA protocols. the Question is....are their NMEA sentences  propitiatory or they do actually meet NMEA specs. One manual (the radio) says the the sentences should be "RNC" and that is their preferred one. Garmin sentences are named "GPRNC" ,  I am not sure what to think, but I have asked that question to Garmin....lets see what the come back with.

Oh and I figured while I was spending the money and the time at the dock I installed Satellite radio....Not much of an install used Velcro and plugged it in to the power point on the DC distribution panel.
Photos to be uploaded when I get them

Well had a few more complaints about the VHF radio on the boat. The complaints are about the Deviation level  (modulation on FM transmission) when I am at the remote mic in the cockpit. So a little experiment and found that the mic at the radio works OK but the one at the helm audio is very low. Standard Horizon does not carry a replacement for it. so I will be picking up my new radio and RAM Mic this week and will have yet another project this weekend.

standard horizon

A little wing on wing sailing in really light air today check out the video

Well good afternoon.. sitting in Methodist bay in the sunshine air temp is about 75 water temp is 14.4'c let me tell you that wakes you up in a hurry  :) I have attached a short video of some of the sailing on the way out here not much wind so it didn't last long but we arrived with the help of the engine. 

Well the long weekend has finally arrived. This is the first major sailing weekend of the summer. The weekend that the rig will get a good test sail and tuning. I will also be catching up on all the remaining jobs on the list.
Solar power, cleaning and waxing. Andrew will be arriving tomorrow nite late in Barrie. This will be his first weekend on-board since I purchased the boat.  So saturday morning heading north out of Penetanguishene bay and the depending on the wind, out to Methodist Bay, or maybe over to Chimney Bay. It depends on the wind. Windfinder says there will not be much of it (wind) this weekend because of the large high that will transit the area on Sunday.
Standby for videos and pictures next week  :)

Well so much for working on  the boat tonight, although I did get the sails on-board. Checked the running steaming and deck lights and they all work well. The fridge is freezing anything that was close to it so its working well.  :)  Check out the squall line that chased me off the dock and home.

Wow just back from the marina  and its cold down there. But managed to get the mast put back up, thanks to Tim, Dave and Peter.
All went well all the lines are in the right places etc.  It will need tuning and I have to pick the sails up from the sail loft. Not sure if the fridge is working,  another job on the list of things to investigate.
But I am in the water and I am a happy boater.
Oh one more thing, the wind interments and the VHF work well. Match on the VHF is 1.5-1 and I was talking to Thunder Bay radio from the stepper slip. :)

Who said sailing is easy, today's job list.  
Check the bilge for leaks at the stuffing box.  done
Check the cooling system on the engine for leaks.
Build a spacer for the VHF antenna mount.  done
Attach the new mount to the mast head. The old location was too unstable.  done
Re-seal the compression post at the deck. done
Mount the new BBQ.
Clean all the turn buckles and rigging on the mast.  done
Check the standing rigging for breaks.
Get the dingy off the deck and in the water and then on the davits.  done
Bring the dingy motor down and put it on and do a test run with it. (need gas I think)
That  is it for now I think.
well more to do tomorrow

Well after a crap day at the office I thought I would take a little time and head to the boat and fix the drip from the stuffing box. One quarter turn and I think that may have done it. Repeating the tissue under the stuffing box to see if it is still leaking. Other than that everything looks the same. Lots of cleaning to do and still have the mast to prep and step.
Day at the office was awful, all kinds of BS going on including the work from home day, which by the way  is the only way that I make it through the week.
But good news, just sat down at my desk after the morning meeting from hell and my personal phone rang. A call from Cogeco. They may have a position for me. That would be great. Get out of the big red saggy company full of doom and gloom and on with a new fresh optimistic company. Fingers crossed.
Tks Workopolis  :)

Launch day went well as you can see from the videos.  I removed all the water from the bilges and returned tonight to see if anything was leaking. The bilge was still dry and and not one of the thru hulls were wet. Before i left I did place some paper napkins under the stuffing box and well it is leaking slightly. Just another thing to do, added to the list.

I did manage to get the spacer for the new VHF antenna mount started. I picked up a 1 inch think block of aluminum today. I will be prepping it this week, round off the edges and drill three holes to accommodate 1.5 inch #8 stainless steel screws. I may even put the equivalent of a pennant on the antenna.  A pennant was originally used on sailing vessels as a wind instrument to determine what the wind speed and direction was at the masthead. The decision to put it up and what to use for material will be decided later in the week. I will need to ensure that it will not slide down the antenna and interfere with the modern day wind interments. It may be simply a short piece or rip-stop nylon or maybe 2 who knows.

Show you what I come up with later this week. Any ideas just post them here.

Launch day videos
 You can almost hear the splash when she goes in  :)

Today's job list keel maintenance... checking the torque on the keel bolts ...110 ft/lb complete.

Well launch date is April 25th 9:30 AM

I will do lots of video for the blog

A view of the boat yard from above ....

Good Morning just back from town and about to clean up and put stuff away for tomorrow. I just finished the first coat of wax and will be starting the second tomorrow. The next one is easier and is put on by hand. Makes things very shinny for a few days and way :). So the jobs in the boat yard / on the hard continue.......  Next job will be keel maintenance. I will post pictures etc after its complete.

A little more video from that same area ...just me trying to be creative and again note the lack of motor noise in the back ground.  (Tim)

Additional video from the Magnetawan Ledges July 2011

So I finally decided to create a blog for my sailing adventures around the sixth great lake Georgian Bay. On here you will find all kinds of interesting stuff to keep you entertained. Links to some interesting articles web pages and some great photos from around the bay and of the anchorages we visit. Of course all this would be possible with out my best friend Dragonfly. Shes a great sail boat, stable, easily handles the weather and waves of the bay and is really comfortable for spending quality time on.

This years holidays on the bay will be 5-6 days around the July long weekend and 2 weeks at the end of July and first week of August.
The link is to Google Earth with a rough plot of the trip for the 2 weeks vacation CANT GET THIS TO WORK
Plans for the long weekend will be heading north to the Parry Sound area, maybe stop at the Western Isl group for a day. There is an interesting anchorage there.

view of Penetanguishene and the destination 

The Western Islands

The out bound route to South Bay Mouth

So that is this years plans, but first there is boat yard work to do. The bottom paint is OK for another year. I have one of two coats of wax on the side of the hull. I hope to get a second one put on by hand this weekend.

We have a brand new BBQ to install and I have 5 of 7 coats of varnish on the cockpit table and companionway handholds. They will  be re-installed after launch day.
So heading down to the marina Saturday morning to get some work done and arrange for a launch day.

Well for lack of content here are some of the short video clips form last years sailing vacation to the North channel

Somewhere near the Magnetawan River / Bing inlet Georgian Bay

Note to Tim notice the lack of diesel noise in the back ground :)