Captain's Log

The trip

• Posted on June 16, 2008 at 11:39 AM
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Rich, Glen and James at the helm

“Sailing Trip 2008”

On Wednesday June 11th at about 8:30 pm we left on our four-day, four-night boys' sailing trip. On board was Rich, James, Glen and I. We weren't 100% sure on our destination given that it was the first time we were going to sail on an extended expedition through the night.

Once we were clear of the Toronto harbour we began to set up the GPS and Radar. It's a good thing Rich is an electronics wizard. He had everything set-up (including waypoints, radar warnings etc... within 25 minutes).

The night sail was great. We worked it in two-person watches at 3 hours each. It seemed to work well.

We approached the entrance to the Bay of Quinte (Town of Brighton) at about 2 pm after a 17 hour sail. At that pointed I wanted to take a break and we found a great public dock. We decided to stay the night so It was $30 but didn't include any shore power. Unfortunately the mosquitoes were brutal!

We woke up early the next day and were ready for another sail. Since the Murray Canal was closed for bridge repair (meaning we couldn't get into the Bay of Quinte) and Kingston was now looking too far we decided to head clear across the lake (south-west) to Port Dalhousie. Unfortunately thunderstorms were being called for all day and the skies began to darken. We therefore adjusted our plan and did about a four hour sail / motor to Cobourg.

We were all really glad we made the adjustment because we loved Cobourg. The marina there is top notch ($45 for the night including shore power, water, showers etc...) and the town itself is charming with great little restaurants, bakeries, ice cream shops and one of the nicest beaches that I've seen on the lake. It was home field for a great game of touch football.

The next day we sailed / motored for about 7 hours to Whitby. Again the marina was nice and we docked right in front of a wedding since they put us on the fuel dock. Needless to say we had a few laughs.

On the last day we headed home and had to make a pit stop at the Marina by the Scarborough Bluffs. Again we were surprised by what a beautiful destination Scarborough is from the water. Beautiful beach, great scenery and a fantastic marina / yacht club. We'll definitely be heading back there with the kids.

The final drama happened when we were only 60 minutes from home. We noticed thunderstorms building over the east part of Toronto. We enjoyed an amazing light show and thought we had avoided the worst of it. Unfortunately another one built directly in front of us and we were headed right for it. James and Rich headed below, we locked all the hatches and put on our foul weather gear.

Glen and I weathered wicked rain/hail and 35 knot winds while we attempted to keep the boat on course. It was a fantastic and humbling experience.

All in all a great trip. Already looking forward to next year!