Sad Goodbyes, Hopeful Monarchs and the Roar of King Neptune

We have been members at Mimico Cruising Club for 3 years and we have the closest and dearest friends there that we could have never imagined. On the eve of our departure, "D" Dock surprises us with a joyful Bon Voyage party, guitars and all!

Thank you everyone for your true friendships, hugs for extra luck and bottles of booze to celebrate our journey along the way. We are retiring from MCC however hopeful that we will be invited to some future club parties as your guests.

So as any good sailor about to sail the open seas, we go over our departure checklist. First is the weather forecast - fair winds and sunshine for the next few days, so off we go on Monday, September 7 at 9:12 am. Our journey begins saying goodbye to our a very hot and hazy Toronto skyline,

SSW winds 10 knots, motor sailing out of the harbour listening to "America", cuz that's where we are headed. Many splashes along the hull make me call out, "is that another dolphin along for the ride?"...Tony is in for a long voyage with me. Just passing Pickering shore to Whitby, we hear this message on our new VHF radio installed the night before, bellowing from the speaker: "Hey hull blue and white, speed limit's 10", to next hear the response "No it's not jackass".   We laugh out loud and keep an ear for other amusing chatter not allowed on Channel 16.

Arriving at Monday 3:24 pm at the Whitby Marina for 3 nights. We haul the boat out for a wash of the bottom and change the anode from magnesium to zinc for upcoming salt water, scrape off zebra mussels using spade and even a screwdriver to chip away at them. Never use your fingers!

Rob and Lisa and Taylor drop by for a quick visit at the marina with extra first aid supplies. Thank you! It's wonderful having a paramedic in the family.

Tuesday morning the boat is hauled up into the sling for some work.

After a bbq chicken dinner we had a short visit from my dad and sister Sue at the marina. We shared a some red wine and a few chocolates from Sweet Olenka's (sorry Jenny and Chris, we just couldn't
wait until NYC to have them!!) and lots of hugs.
On Wednesday, while some unplanned work is being done on the stuffing box, I walk to LCBO nearby for a few beers and their new fall magazine (yay) and a quick stop at Metro too.
A surprise dinner invite with Jordan, Jill and granddaughter Ava at their house, makes this stop so memorable. Don't grow up too fast Ava!

At 9:13 am on Thursday we leave Whitby harbour east to Cobourg, which is about a 6 hour sail. Sun with a few clouds, NE 11 knots, gusting to 20, so we are setting the sails! As we set our waypoints and are underway we are frowning at Mother Nature for changing her mind on wind direction as it is now on our nose. Ah, motor sailing again.
After my quick and unprofessional pedicure complete, I decide to relax and read the new LCBO fall mag, (see pg. 56, looks like I'll be making this recipe, yummy) while Tony fiddles and fidgets with boat stuff and charts n' things.
We  had an enjoyable, relaxing sail and as we approach the Cobourg harbour entrance at 3:51 pm,  I see a lonely Monarch butterfly on the port side, flying about 30 feet from our boat, then she turns inland. I smile and remember the butterfly trail along the Humber shoreline, wondering just
how little Monarchs are left these days.

We love Cobourg and if we were in our 90's we might even consider living there. Of course Mark and Amanda and now Dave and Julie will have something to say about that, "What about Florida?".
Cobourg has everything nearby for a cruiser just a block away: LCBO, ice cream shop, bakery and the Main Street with all the cute shops and dining. We will stay for 1 night, enough time to do a bit of laundry, and prep the boat for our lake crossing on Friday late afternoon.

Weather forecasts on Friday show a fairly large system coming across Lake Erie to the upper shores of lake Ontario early Saturday morning. We check Oswego forecast and they are calling for light rain,  so we decide we will go.

At 5:35 pm on Thursday we head out from Cobourg harbour, wearing sweatshirts and shorts, and what do I see? Another Monarch butterfly! Hopefully giving us luck for fair winds. With dinner sandwiches made and rain gear and all necessary items up in cockpit we are off.

This will be my first night sail, and after hearing Tony's concerns, his first night sail without the crew
from Lake Ontario 300! We have calculated about 13 hours to cross the lake, with NNW winds at 11
knots gusting to 19.  We are setting our sails and settling in the cockpit, preparing for our night vision: turning off all white lights in the cabin and donning our new headlamps (thanks Ken and Christine) with red lights all set. The sun is setting an orange red glow in the west, rolling waves  behind us;  it really is lovely at night.

Tony takes the first shift at the helm, I rest, then he rests and  I sleep from 9:30 to 12:30, a 3 hour shift. Well that was what we had planned, ah but we soon learn that any lesson plan is just a plan, but you must be flexible! (Fellow teachers know this all too well).

Charts indicate a Military Firing Practise Area just across the Canada, U.S. Border in the middle of the lake.  We decide to not cross this area especially as it's U.S. water. It doesn't say restricted but we are  not considering it just in case. We remind each other of  the 9/11 anniversary this night.

It's around 12:30 am, winds are gusting to over 25 knots, we've brought in all sails and neither Tony nor I can stay sitting  never mind sleeping! It's about to get bumpier as King Neptune, God of Freshwater and the Sea gives us the ride of our life!

3:30 am, with easterly  winds  gusting 39 knots and   7-10 ft waves, with some crashing over the roof of the Bimini and dodger, we hang on to our life jackets and for me, the bucket too.
I was looking forward to looking out when we crossed one of the deepest areas of the lake (a mere 657 ft) but my head was buried, in and out of sleep and nausea. What the heck happened to our forecast of light rain at this end of the lake? Where did this system come from? Why are the waves so flipping high? I really wanted to grab my camera and video this but the thought of looking back and taking my eyes off of the dim horizon was not going to happen.
We saw a few bright lights south of us, getting brighter, definitely not on shore but a large vessel. With the help of the AIS (Automated Information System) on our VHF we could see it was a freighter heading west -phew, not in our path. Then another, behind  us, getting closer, again a freighter heading east along the shoreline, another sigh of relief, not in our path.
Soon dawn arrives, a deep red sunrise, sorry no pics as you can appreciate, and we see Oswego port. Our charts say 25 minutes, huh! With these waves and the crashing about it takes us over 3 hours, arriving Saturday morning  at 9:45 am. Tony carefully navigates the  nasty waters near the break walls in and around the lighthouse to the channel inside! We are exhausted, woozy and emotional.
We made it! We agree to never do that again!




Tony says I passed my Advanced Sailing, gee thanks.







He  hails the Owego Marina for slip #5, and I dock our baby Deja Vu safely. We check-in at the video phone to customs and Tony faithfully raises the American flag.

After a wee cry, me not Tony, we eat soup and crash for some much needed sleep after our 17 hour dance with Neptune.



Surrounded by friends on text, emails and even fellow Mimico members here (Bill and Marilyn), we know we are not alone.  We have each other always but knowing others care  about us really warms our hearts.

Thanks to Bill and Marilyn and cat Skippy
 for inviting us into Grand Caper for a warm lunch of homemade soup and yummy red wine, giving us that warm feeling of home.

Today and tomorrow we are preparing for de-masting  before we begin our canal journey. De-masting will be quick on Tuesday, just Deja Vu and one other 27' boat.


Any boom dances Colleen, will have to wait until we mast up in about a week at Hop-o-Nose Marina, in the Catskills.

Sailor Christine
xo