Well, we've discovered another misconception in our communication system. Our North American Plan doesn't work so well in Canada. Last time I looked at a map of the continent, Canada was part of North America. Trying to sort out the problems with Alltel. We're amungst their first customers with this North American plan and there seem to be some bugs.
So, we are putting this post on our site at a internet cafe in Kingston, Ontario. We've been here three nights now, got here Tuesday afternoon, June 5, and this morning , Friday June 8, the wind is blowing hard from the SE. The forcast is for the wind to shift to the SW, then W to NW and die this evening. We were planning to go to Trenton today, but a SE sea would be on the side and uncomfortable. If the wind shifts to the SW as predicted this afternoon, it will be on our nose and not so uncomfortable so we will go to Picton, about halfway to Trenton. Once we are at Picton we are behind a series of islands so wind will no longer be an issue.
We will be posting on this page for about three weeks as we work our way to the NW towards Georgian Bay, so keep looking on this page as you follow us over the top of Toronto.
We have WiFi at the dock so we can post some information. We did leave Kingston at about 1:00PM on Friday and had an easy ride to Picton, Ontario. What a neat little town, and a well protected harbor. On Saturday, June 9, we went the rest of the way to Trenton and up to the top wall of lock 3 for the night. Today we came through several more locks up to lock 13 and are currently in Cambellford, Ontario at Old Mill Park, tied to the wall.
This will be a short post, I'm sitting on a bench at a "Hot Spot" I found, and I can't hardly see the computer screen in the sun.
It is Monday, June 18, and we have spent the weekend at the Pigeon Lake Yacht Club in Bobcageon, ON. We were last here in 2002 racing our M-20 at the North American Cham,pionships. Have seen many old friends. Expect to go sail on an M-20 this afternoon, with Joe Bowland, to help him turn up the boat.
Yah, we're sitting at the Orillia Municipal Marina in downtown Orillia, Ontario, and we have a "Hot Spot", so I'll try to update our progress. It's Thursday afternoon, June 21. I did get some sailing in at the Pigeon Lake YC, both on an M-20 and again on Monday evening in their E Boat race. We left Bobcageon on Tuesday morning, stopped at Fenelon Falls to get a hair cut, and went on to lock 35, near Rosedale, where we spent the night on the upper lock wall. This is the top of the system, 598' above Lake Ontario, 843' above sea level, the highest place in the world you can drive a boat from the ocean. Wednesday was windy, so only went as far as the breakwater wall at the eastern entrance to Lake Simcoe. It was rooling pretty big on the lake so we elected to wait until this morning before we crossed the lake, was much better this morning, but is blowing hard again. We will probably stay here until Sunday morning, and then head towards the "Big Chute" marine railway that takes us up about 20' and then down about 30'. This schedule puts us into Georgian Bay on Tuesday, June 26.
While still in Orillia, boats started arriving on Friday from various ports within a 50 mile radius to celebrate "Christmas in June". We had no idea how crazy things would get, but by noon on Saturday all the slips in the marina were full, all 252 of them, and people were madly decorating their boats with Christmas decorations. They judged all the decorations at 7:00 PM Saturday evening, awarded prizes, had a raffle drawing, and then at about 9:00 the party began, with much fun being had by all until about 3:00 AM. Sunday morning the decorations came down and everybody started for home. We let them get a head start on us, really didn't want to go through the remaining locks with them. We finally left at about 1:30 PM and went 34 miles further towards Georgian Bay, anchoring for the night in Lost Channel, just above "Big Chute".
On Monday June 25, we pulled anchor and went the last 4 miles to Lock 44, called "Big Chute". As you can see, this lock is actually a cart that goes up and over, a net drop of 59'. This system was developed to keep the migration of the parasitic sea lamprey from infesting the Lake Simcoe fishery. For you crane guys reading this blog, Hepburn built the cart, ABB built the winch and adjustable frequency control, and Motorola supplied the radio control which operated from the cart. The winch imployes "single failure proof" design. Here's how it works;
So, we are putting this post on our site at a internet cafe in Kingston, Ontario. We've been here three nights now, got here Tuesday afternoon, June 5, and this morning , Friday June 8, the wind is blowing hard from the SE. The forcast is for the wind to shift to the SW, then W to NW and die this evening. We were planning to go to Trenton today, but a SE sea would be on the side and uncomfortable. If the wind shifts to the SW as predicted this afternoon, it will be on our nose and not so uncomfortable so we will go to Picton, about halfway to Trenton. Once we are at Picton we are behind a series of islands so wind will no longer be an issue.
We will be posting on this page for about three weeks as we work our way to the NW towards Georgian Bay, so keep looking on this page as you follow us over the top of Toronto.
We have WiFi at the dock so we can post some information. We did leave Kingston at about 1:00PM on Friday and had an easy ride to Picton, Ontario. What a neat little town, and a well protected harbor. On Saturday, June 9, we went the rest of the way to Trenton and up to the top wall of lock 3 for the night. Today we came through several more locks up to lock 13 and are currently in Cambellford, Ontario at Old Mill Park, tied to the wall.
This will be a short post, I'm sitting on a bench at a "Hot Spot" I found, and I can't hardly see the computer screen in the sun.
It is Monday, June 18, and we have spent the weekend at the Pigeon Lake Yacht Club in Bobcageon, ON. We were last here in 2002 racing our M-20 at the North American Cham,pionships. Have seen many old friends. Expect to go sail on an M-20 this afternoon, with Joe Bowland, to help him turn up the boat.
Yah, we're sitting at the Orillia Municipal Marina in downtown Orillia, Ontario, and we have a "Hot Spot", so I'll try to update our progress. It's Thursday afternoon, June 21. I did get some sailing in at the Pigeon Lake YC, both on an M-20 and again on Monday evening in their E Boat race. We left Bobcageon on Tuesday morning, stopped at Fenelon Falls to get a hair cut, and went on to lock 35, near Rosedale, where we spent the night on the upper lock wall. This is the top of the system, 598' above Lake Ontario, 843' above sea level, the highest place in the world you can drive a boat from the ocean. Wednesday was windy, so only went as far as the breakwater wall at the eastern entrance to Lake Simcoe. It was rooling pretty big on the lake so we elected to wait until this morning before we crossed the lake, was much better this morning, but is blowing hard again. We will probably stay here until Sunday morning, and then head towards the "Big Chute" marine railway that takes us up about 20' and then down about 30'. This schedule puts us into Georgian Bay on Tuesday, June 26.
While still in Orillia, boats started arriving on Friday from various ports within a 50 mile radius to celebrate "Christmas in June". We had no idea how crazy things would get, but by noon on Saturday all the slips in the marina were full, all 252 of them, and people were madly decorating their boats with Christmas decorations. They judged all the decorations at 7:00 PM Saturday evening, awarded prizes, had a raffle drawing, and then at about 9:00 the party began, with much fun being had by all until about 3:00 AM. Sunday morning the decorations came down and everybody started for home. We let them get a head start on us, really didn't want to go through the remaining locks with them. We finally left at about 1:30 PM and went 34 miles further towards Georgian Bay, anchoring for the night in Lost Channel, just above "Big Chute".
On Monday June 25, we pulled anchor and went the last 4 miles to Lock 44, called "Big Chute". As you can see, this lock is actually a cart that goes up and over, a net drop of 59'. This system was developed to keep the migration of the parasitic sea lamprey from infesting the Lake Simcoe fishery. For you crane guys reading this blog, Hepburn built the cart, ABB built the winch and adjustable frequency control, and Motorola supplied the radio control which operated from the cart. The winch imployes "single failure proof" design. Here's how it works;
Boat drives on, boat comes out and over the top restained in straps.
Down the back Into the lower side water
Down the back Into the lower side water
Large SeaRay going over ahead of us
On we go, over the top, down the back side
Back in the water on our way at the lower level
After passing through one more lock, we were in Georgian Bay. What a fascinating canal system.
