08-06 Franklin Island

The day after GBR we had a nice sail with brother John, then back to Kidd Bay on White Cloud for the 4th and 5th. This morning we decided to skip Christian Island, as the wind was coming from precisely that direction, making Parry Sound a fetch. Nick from Moonstruck had shared a favourite anchorage on Franklin, so we decided to give it a try. The latest sonar charts on Navionics made his recommendation seem doable. There was room for a RIB to squeeze out between us and the rocks as we passed through the narrows. I was happy to stop and anchor with a shore tie at the first opportunity to get out of the way.

We are the only sailboat in here tonight. The shallowest reading I saw was 8.5, and that’s referenced to the transducer, so probably closer to 10 actual. We dropped in 11, then tied about 15 feet offshore to keep us in place. The water reads 25C, so very comfortable swimming.

This is one of the prettier anchorages we have been in lately, especially if you prefer granite to limestone. It’s not a secret, as there are plenty of power boats in here with us, but there was still space when we pulled in around 17:00.

07-31 to 08-03 Georgian Bay Regatta

We were joined 07-30 in Meaford by very able crew Nick and Marcia to prep for the big start.

07-31 was 10-15 knots from the east, backing towards the north, so it started as a fetch, out around the tank range marks, then a close reach to Cape Rich. We were able to hoist the spin for the second time ever for a fast blast across the mouth of Owen Sound, then down a bit towards White Cloud Island. Once it backed we were well forward of the beam, so we took the assym down from an abundance of caution. Shannon carried theirs all the way to the island and had a few exciting moments. We only passed Frisky when the bottom of their rudder broke off and they dropped their chute. We finished third of seven in our division, exceeding expectations. We had a nice raft party with Jacana, crewed by Allan, George, and Ken who have been doing the regatta forever!

Extra specially impressed with the Frisky crew, who managed to lift the boat and glass the rudder back together overnight in Wiarton. It was as a wonderful surprise to see them back on the line the next morning!

08-01 We started from Little Port Elgin in light east wind that got lighter. I accidentally hit the start button while we were bobbing off Cape Croker and we motored onwards to Lions Head. Even with the course shortened to Jackson Shoal, not even Smiley (Beneteau 40.7) made it within the time limit. The water is too deep to shorten in the middle of the bay!

08-02 Our first race took us from Jackson Shoal reaching down to Barrier Island and a CCW circumnavigation back to the finish. Line honours, but corrected to fourth place 5 SECONDS behind Orange Krait!

The second race was CW around the island, then a beat up to the top of Hope Bay in enough wind we were depowering the main from time to time. We did a bit of a pirouette on the finish line when an unexpected gust dropped out of the sky. Second place! Frisky was not far enough ahead to make their time.

08-03 Last race was a light run out of Hope Bay, then a faster fetch/reach to get above Hay Island, then down to finish in Kidd Bay on White Cloud. Nick did an awesome job of floating the spin around in front while we soaked down, but I’m not sure my choice to go deep was best for VMG. We had some fun playing close to Shannon rounding Cape Croker quite closely, but corrected out to a disappointing seventh.

We motored in to Wiarton for a chicken dinner at the legion, and an unexpectedly good third in our division on a tie breaker with Orange Krait.

The GBR is a lot like EYC, with a cast of characters who have been doing it for years. They are friendly and welcoming, and mystified that we would come all the way from Kingston for their regatta. Don’t tell them we had other reasons to be here 😉

07-29 Meaford

 We arrived a day ahead for the Georgian Bay Regatta, so we could do laundry and get ourselves organized. It was motoring in 0-3 all the way from Cape Croker. The facility is bigger and deeper than I thought from looking at the chart, and we had lots of water all the way in to the base of the dock. We highly recommend Pom Pom for ice cream and Station 87 for dinner!

The Reef Boat Club are our gracious hosts for the regatta, and we are looking forward to crew Nick and Marcia arriving soon! It will be a busy time, so don't worry if you hear nothing for a while.

07-28 Little Port Elgin, Cape Croker

Scarcely 3 miles from last night’s spot, but it was a fun day reaching in 20 knots getting here. We put 20 miles on the clock. The impressive escarpment to the west of us, was visible to the east of us yesterday ;-)

07-27 Sydney Bay, Cape Croker

Had a lovely sail down on starboard tack with westerly wind from 0 to 15. We just drove up the middle of the bay and dropped at 20 feet and have been solid in 10-15 knots so far.

There’s a beach and camp ground on the south side but lots of room for everybody. The Niagara Escarpment is prominent on the NW side — very scenic!

07-25 Wingfield Basin

The entry was straighter than I remembered. Just line up the range and drive straight in between the buoys. There were 17 boats in, but we could have fit more. Five big power boats rafted and shared their music with the harbour. 

The Gargantua, an old wrecked steam tug, has deteriorated further, but is still clearly recognizable. 

The Cabot Head light used to be an attraction, but is fading. If you go look, land on the shingle nearer the point, not the obvious sand beach, especially by outboard. Even rowing you will probably strand yourself on a rock 20 metres from shore. 

Reception for VHF and cell are both blocked by the bluffs of Cabot Head, so do any business before coming in off the water. We’re staying an extra day, so with luck I can get the posting backlog cleared tomorrow. We didn’t get a reliable signal off the east side of the Bruce until almost down to Cape Croker.



07-23 Sportsman’s Inn, Killarney

We were very lucky to get a slip on a Wednesday night without a reservation. Others were turned away after we got there about 14:00. By Thursday morning all options were booked solid for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! Make a reservation well in advance. 

Herbert’s still has the best fish and chips in the world, fresh off the boat! Although it’s up to $32 per basket…

The Sportsman’s used to project movies on the screen across the river, but it’s not in use this year. 

The Sportsman and Killarney Mountain Lodge share the same management and offer lots of upscale dining and spa options, although the clothes dryer wasn’t working. 

The town seemed more crowded and the boat mix seemed to go more towards large power boats. On our sail south we passed a flotilla of five headed north at 24 knots, just in time for a late lunch at Herbert’s.

Definitely not a wilderness destination, not even as much as it was in 2005. 

Of course, I was in a grumpy mood from working on boat plumbing. Our pumps do have a thermal cutout that won’t reset until they are completely cool. They will get hot if they run too long with an airlock preventing pressure shutoff, especially in a compartment with a fully heated HW tank, especially if the tank is leaking some hot water into that steamy space. Now that I have some spares, I was able to fully replace the offending section of tube, white replaced red, since I don’t stock the colours 😉. We will be shutting off the pressure lake water while sailing to avoid sucking air when heeling. 

07-24 Chilling in James Bay

Anchored in the exact same spot (the big arc is the previous swing), knowing some big weather was on the way. We came from Killarney this morning, sailed and motored, then anchored at about 13:30. 

Just as we were approaching James Bay the air temperature dropped rapidly. There were no other signs of sudden weather change, so we checked water temperature, then noticed the developing mist. We were used to low twenties, but the water we were in was showing 16.8C. We grabbed warmer clothes and watched as the water temperatures dropped and dropped. The lowest readings we saw on the way in were 11.7C right in the bay (see the pic above). We have never seen anything like it and were watching for icebergs or the Kraken through the mist. Some kind of upwelling? Need to learn more. The air temperature was much warmer in the bay, coming off Manitoulin Island, for a while…

There was a squall watch this morning, eventually upgraded to a warning, and we could see the line over Mac Island at noon before we got out of cell range. It looked likely to reach us in some form at about 15:00.

There was a cacophony of alarms by radio and cell starting around 14:30. Apparently they can push out an alarm saying “TORNADO in this mobile coverage area” even when your phone shows no service, and the wording seemed to suggest that there already was an actual tornado. We got eight different cellular tornado warnings between 14:44 and 15:37. I hope nobody got hurt!

At 14:42 the rain hit and the wind rose rapidly. We already had the engine on and were dressed for action. We could monitor conditions and follow GPS position on the instruments at the nav station below. We could see from inside when the BBQ lid blew open and when the flag tried to fly away. (Pulled apart a split ring. ) The drag alarm went off and we watched on the plotter as the boat worked its way 200 ft towards the open lake before stopping again. The max wind speed recorded was 53.9 knots which felt quite exciting. There were extended periods around 40. The stormy part was about 15 minutes. The adrenaline reaction is still ebbing after an hour. 

After the storm the water temp was 10.8 for several hours, but was back up to 19.2 by morning. 

07-22 Bell Cove

We had planned for Sturgeon Cove next door, but it was looking kind of crowded, even at 2 PM.

07-21 South Benjamin Island

We went north of Fox and east of Croker, partly for reconnaissance and partly to avoid the really narrow channel between North and South Benjamin. You wouldn’t want to meet another boat going the other way!

The anchorage was fairly full when we arrived at noon and had filled further, but the views are lovely. 

We took the dinghy for a circumnavigation of the island. We waded in a sandy cove on the south end and the narrow channel was easy in a RIB! Sunset was glorious

Playfair snuck in late, then sailed off her anchor at breakfast time. We took a little longer and used the diesel.