It’s my first time on a cruise ship. 24 hours in, I like it. A lot. And Norway too. We’re aboard the Midnatsol, the oldest ship on the route. I was hoping to get on a new hybrid ship, but honestly I don’t think the experience would be any different. There are about 450 passengers aboard, something like 50% capacity. We’re in an accessibility cabin which is oversized and immediately adjacent to the lifeboats. All good 😊
Today we were off the boat in Ålesund. Very picturesque. No rain. Expected high tomorrow is 10C, which our guide says is summer weather. We stop in Trondheim for a few hours.
It’s Susan here. For those of you who don’t know me,, I’m Jeff’s sister, aka Suey, a prolific amateur photographer.
The following is my recount of the memorable start to our boat trip.
We left downtown Toronto about 6 PM Wednesday March 11 bound for a coastal expedition heading north from Bergen, Norway on Saturday.
I had a great plan – we could save some money by having a one night stop over in Amsterdam which seemed perfect when Jeff said he’d never been there.
It was not a good idea. Some 38 hours later, we were finally in Bergen. Every leg of the trip was compromised.
It began on the initial flight which was cancelled 5 hours after it was supposed to depart. That time was spent in a lovely combination of siting at the gate and on the tarmac. This was a challenging time because PD makes it very difficult for me to be calm in the midst of chaos. We got through it together though.
About 5am, while at an airport hotel, we were told we had been rebooked on the first available flight to Amsterdam – on Saturday evening flight, which landed the day after the boat departed Norway. Throughout Thursday, we discussed many options but ultimately continued to try and work with Air Canada to find a solution.
Finally at about 4 pm, we had a new plan. We would fly to Frankfurt direct from Toronto, leaving at 5:40 PM , arriving Friday morning. We would take a train from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and connect to our KLM flight to Bergen, Unfortunately, our flight from Frankfurt was delayed due to “mechanical issues“. We made up the time and thought that we would catch our train, however the Frankfurt police decided to hold our plane at the tarmac for unknown security reasons. Once they left, jeff and I went as fast as we could to the train station adjacent to the airport, only to find that we missed the train by 15 minutes.
When we were redirected to Air Canada to get new train tickets, we decided to ask the AC rep whether they would put us on a flight from Frankfurt to Bergen Instead
The representative had sympathy for us and put us on a flight from Frankfurt leaving within the hour.
This meant, we had to run from terminal D to terminal A. We did this only to discover at the security checkpoint that we had two boarding passes for Jeff and none for me. Jeff had to sprint back to back to the gate. We made the flight with eight minutes to spare.
The flight to Bergen was delayed due to an apparent dispute between the luggage handlers (which I witnessed). It didn’t matter though – We were in Norway earlier than planned heading for a lovely hotel.
Winter has been relentless since I arrived back in Eastern Canada in December. I had hoped to get Tin Lizzie out, but missed that opportunity when the snow started and never let up. It’s at the end of a long unserviced road that is buried in snow over ice. The last few days have been promising though, and melting is well underway.
The timing of my shore leave has been fortuitous. Susan (@sueyf) has been facing some health challenges, and I’ve spent much of the time holed up with her in her downtown Toronto condo. I’ll post a few Toronto pics below.
Susan is recovering. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease 8 years ago. We have a trip planned to Europe this month to Europe including a cruise up the coast of Norway, the Coastal Express. I’m sure she’ll blog here with some pics.
I’m prompted to write with an update because I’m back from a visit to Escapade a few days ago. All is good aboard. I also had a brief dalliance with another boat in the area, a Seaton 42, and had a chance to get aboard.
This boat is double the displacement of Escapade, and would be quite capable of doing the sort of traveling I imagine for the next few years.
I came away appreciating Escapade more. All boats are compromises, and older less expensive boats magnify those compromises.
My plan for the summer hasn’t changed. I have three trips planned between ON and NS between late March and early May, one of them to deliver Tin Lizzie. Escapade needs some work done on the deck and pilothouse, and that’s high on my list as well.
These photos were taken around Marina Quay West, where I’ve wintered in the past. I was a bit jealous…
Breaking ice around a sunk boat
I hiked Leslie Spit a lot. Great wilderness area close by.
Susan lives in a high rise in downtown Toronto. Her neighbourhood is often used as a film set.
And a few others – back yard in Guelph, electric ferry in Toronto, and a brand new Beneteau 36 built in Slovenia.
I’m in Calgary, flying home to SW Ontario in the morning.
I don’t usually post about non-boating activities, but wanted to wrap up the boating season. At this point my plan for next season is to arrive in NS in early April and get back at it.
All went as planned over the past week or so. I left the boat Friday, arrived in Toronto Sunday, flew to Vancouver Monday, and spent four days driving the Rockies, with overnight stops in Kamloops, Banff, Hinton, and Canmore.
This has been on my bucket list for a while. Lots to see in BC, but mountains have always fascinated me. I’ve visited alpine areas in other places, but not Canada. Now I’ve traveled the highest road in the country, at 2083m.
It was especially nice to spend a couple of days sharing the experience with son Miles and getting caught up with his life. It’s good to get off the boat.
I felt good leaving Escapade. Cold weather has descended on NS. I got out just in time. All systems are ready for storage. No shrink wrapping yet, but I’m sure they’ll get to it. I forgot to take pics.
A bunch of things are falling into place. Darrin assures me that there is a qualified welder nearby that can get Tin Lizzie operational. My plan is now to bring that boat here to Gold River over the winter, and use both boats in Nova Scotia next summer. That sounds like a ton of fun. Race boat and RSV. I need to start making new friends here. Anyone who wants to do some racing reach out. And I hope to see lots of visitors on Escapade.
Today I picked up the polypropylene glycol required in my furnace system, and new hose to replace the chafed hose that I discovered a few days ago. So my plan is to shut down the heat, drain most of the system, replace the damaged hose, fill it up with antifreeze, and turn it back on. I’m familiar with the whole process having done it 5 years ago.
This is a clear case of my less-than-perfect installation failing prematurely after five years of heavy use. All fixed with a bit of effort and $400 in materials, but also a major inconvenience and source of concern over the last month. Lesson learned. It could have easily been prevented, and detected earlier.
The clock is ticking now. Tomorrow I finish the winterizing, load up the car, and head for Toronto. The weather’s not looking great, but I’m not too worried about missing my early morning Monday flight out of Pearson at this point. Smooth sailing.
I really didn’t fully commit to hauling until the very last minute. Even then, I knew high tide was at ten on Monday, and I planned to dinghy in to their docks around 930 and check in. I was anchored just a few minutes away. I knew from previous contacts that leaving a voicemail wasn’t likely to get attention before then.
Darrin the yard manager called me around 800 and woke me from a deep sleep. I’m a night owl. ‘Get in here! We want to haul you now!’
So not quite awake, and far from adequately caffeinated, I started the engine, went forward to get the anchor up, came back and got underway, and stopped. I had run the fuel tank dry.
I’ve been through the routine several times. Drop anchor, switch tanks, do the bleed thing and get back underway.
When I got to the marina the crew came out in the cold rain to meet me and take the boat into the lift. I wasn’t saying no at that point.
As a result of the rush I didn’t get to do a few things like hoisting my dinghy on deck, but I did empty my holding tank in advance. That’s the biggie.
The other biggie was power. I arrived with partially charged batteries, and wanted to run my heat for a few days then disappear with a full charge.
I discovered on haul out that my prop is a little mangled. I had a pretty good suspicion when I hit bottom on the Saint John River and noticed high fuel consumption coming back to NS. My furnace started flaming out yesterday ashore and when I checked my second tank it was dry as well. I really hadn’t been carefully tracking it. I filled up with 80 litres that I had in Jerry cans. That’ll keep heat going for a while.
Darrin and the yard crew have easily solved my concerns. They’ll remove the prop and have it serviced locally. I was trying to make contact with the shrink wrap crew for several days and Darrin helped get us connected and on their list. My dinghy and outboard are taken care of.
The panic list is over. I haven’t winterized a boat since 2017, but it’ll come back to me. Generator, engine, water system, and furnace. I have a couple of more days to get that done and do some cleaning and organizing. Tomorrow I’m visiting relatives for dinner. Packing up my car and leaving by the weekend for Toronto, then on to BC on Monday.
I really like the idea that I can return over the winter if I want. There won’t be water on the boat, but if I winterize the heating system properly I should be able to connect power to the boat and turn the heat on. There are washrooms and a shower here that’s open year round. I’m not sure I want to visit in the dead of winter, but it opens up the option of coming back a few weeks before early launch to do some maintenance/repairs/upgrades. All good.
The folks here assure me I can keep an eye on things over the winter. I’m not worried.
We hauled today at Gold River Marina. Snow mixed with rain. It’s time. They’re winding down for the season here.
I dithered for a couple of days, then decided to go ahead with pulling the boat. I’ll spend a couple of days here winterizing and tidying up, then I’m leaving until April. I’ll have the boat shrink wrapped.
This weekend I’m heading for Vancouver to do a road trip with Miles through the Rockies. It’s time for some non-boating adventures.
I like this yard. Power is available close by, and I can stay aboard while ashore. Pricing is reasonable, and they have been supportive and flexible. All good.
There is a little less urgency on this one, but I’ll lay it out.
Some readers may not know, but I have another boat that deserves my attention. It’s been sitting on its trailer in Guelph since 2019 in the field of shame at my local sailing club.
I’ve really enjoyed my travels in Escapade. First world problems. But my issue with the multiple boat program is the cost of having a ready-to-go boat sitting for occasional use. Getting the sailboat sailing again requires a significant amount of time and effort, and a summer slip costs thousands of dollars. And I haven’t been thrilled with racing opportunities outside of Toronto, where all costs double and I can’t visit with Escapade.
My time aboard Narwhal reminded me again of how much I enjoy sailboat racing. The racing around here is good, and Tin Lizzie would fit in nicely. I’d be happy to upgrade my membership at BBYC and make it my home club. My uncle’s farm is not far away for off-season storage. I’ve made a tentative plan to bring the boat to the farm over the winter.
In the spring, I have two major choices:
A) harden up Escapade a bit and head for Newfoundland and Labrador
B) stay in NS with Escapade and do lots of sailing with Tin Lizzie.
This decision is made harder by the fact that my experience this summer was pretty optimal, from my point of view. Show up for an event, meet the boat and crew, and go racing. Being the boat owner is the hard part. For me the obvious solution is some sort of syndicate or partnership.
Whatever happens, I need to do something with Tin Lizzie. Use it or let it go.
The furnace is fixed. Yay! That was causing me a lot of angst. I found a chafed hose way out of sight that was draining into the bilge.
I had a visit with the yard folks yesterday. The more time I spend there the more I like the place.
I have option A, which is to haul Monday, winterize and shrink wrap the boat, and come back in late April and launch. The yard doesn’t operate outside that range. The boat doesn’t need to be hauled for maintenance.
Option B is getting back to what I had in mind a month ago. Keeping the boat in the water and heated through the winter. There are varying degrees of hardening vs using (home vs boat), but those are details.
My biggest concern with option B is that I want the ability to disappear for weeks at a time. But my brief chat with the Alderney Marina guy made me think that maybe that could be possible. I’ve put out a request for another discussion.
I’m really not anxious to abandon the boat for 5 months. A bit of bad weather shouldn’t force me off. That’s part of my use case requirements.
I just dropped anchor in Gold River. It’s 5 am and below freezing. Slippery on deck, but comfy inside.
I did a driving tour of the yards I was thinking of for hauling Escapade. Gold River Marina was the clear favourite. I’ve never been there.
They have a hard stop date of the end of November, so I started to look for a weather window to get down there from Bedford. Thursday and Friday looked fine. I booked the haul for Monday.
My furnace has been losing fluid for a while. I fixed one known leak in August, and thought I was done. But the leak has accelerated as I’ve been using the furnace. I’ve been through all the obvious possibilities, and have been feeding it with fresh water regularly. My plan is to remove it for detailed inspection and service when I haul.
Wednesday afternoon I headed in to Armdale with the intent of meeting a friend. I ran out of water at anchor, and couldn’t feed the furnace so slept in the cold.
Thursday I filled up with water at RNSYS, tried unsuccessfully to get the furnace to restart, and retreated to downtown Halifax for a meal out and some pondering. By evening I had the furnace running by bypassing the low water alarm switch.
Feeling like maybe I’m on borrowed time with heat, I high tailed it here. Maybe I’ll get hauled today.
I did get a call from Alderney Marina in Dartmouth on Wednesday. I had identified that place as pretty much what I was looking for originally and called a while ago. I might have considered it with more time to prepare. Maybe next year.
Nothing in the photo album, and dark outside. I will take some photos of the boat yard and haul out. It’s a delightful place. They use a marine railroad with adjustable straps. Quite ingenious.
Boating Adventures 