Month: May 2025

I arrived Friday night after a relaxed cruise down from Tobermory.  Destination achieved.  About 600 miles in six days.  I wasn’t trying to make a fast trip, but with unsettled weather the timing allowed a reasonably smooth trip.  I also travel faster in waves for comfort.  Nine knots is much more comfortable than seven, and I adjust speed according to condition. 

Friend Leo who has a boat at the marina was able to give me a lift home to Guelph, about 200 km away, and I’m now back with my car.  Escapade is at anchor.

This is my favourite spot for the boat while I come and go ashore.  Tomorrow I’ll go dinghy racing in Guelph.  It’s a nice drive through the countryside in my car or on the motorcycle.

I love roaming around local marinas. There’s always something to catch the eye.  This is a Paceship Northwind 29 built in Mahone Bay to a C&C design. Clearly well kept.  The early C&C designs still look really sweet to me, unlike some of their IOR inspired stuff from ten years later.  This boat was introduced in 1969. 

Leo has a Corvette 31 that was one of the early boats that C&C made as a builder around the same time.  They’re both shoal draft keel/CB boats. I’ll have to have a closer look at both. 

No sign of Saugeen Queen. Maybe they were visiting last fall.

I keep thinking that this would be the ideal place to have a mooring field, or at least one for me.  The bay is exposed to the east but otherwise well sheltered.

I’m trying to get the inside clean and presentable for guests, so I’ve got time to tell stories.

I was reminded a few times coming up the Michigan shore of my inaugural voyage on Mazurka almost exactly 9 years earlier.  Pre-blog.  I had bought the boat ashore in St Joseph MI a few months before. 

That was an epic trip.  I took two weeks off work with the sole goal of getting the boat back to Canada, launched the boat and headed out.

I made it to Tobermory, but ended taking the long way.  A giant high pressure set in just as I was leaving, and I had two weeks of relentlessly warm, calm and sunny weather.  I cleared into Canada in Little Current five days out of St Joe then kept going to Killarney and did a clockwise loop of Georgian Bay. 

I was hooked, both on trawlering and on this area.  It really is a beautiful spot.  I have pictures that I should dig out and put here.

To complete my travels that summer I headed down the Trent-Severn, through the Thousand Islands, and across the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and stored the boat ashore on the north shore of Lake Erie.  I know I don’t take many pics these days, but it’s sometimes because I’ve got my hands full, but more often that I’m traveling familiar territory and an album full of pictures.

I got into Tobermory last night at dusk and anchored in the harbour, then went in this morning and fueled up.  545 litres/70 hours for the 575 mile trip. 

Yesterday was another long segment, 120 miles from De Tour, but flat water following the south shore of Manitoulin Island in a north wind. 

I’m now meandering my way into Georgian Bay.  It’s nice to be back.

Last night I anchored in Charlevoix after 102 miles in 12 hours.  The last couple of hours coming across  the entrance to Traverse Bay were a little wet, with 25 knots on the starboard bow.  I think most of the Chicago grit is gone.

Today I left Charlevoix at 10:00, and had a relatively smooth passage up through to Lake Huron.  Now I’m heading east in smooth seas towards Detour Passage.  Weather looks benign for the next few days.

Yesterday was a long day.  I was underway at 0730 and followed the shore to Manistee, where I anchored inside the breakwater just after dark.  About 110 miles covered.

Not much to report, except that I lost the anchor off the bow while bashing into some short steep waves off of Big Sable Point.  I heard a brief noise that I thought was shifting of the metal frame I’ve got lashed on the top deck, but in hindsight was the chain running out.

I didn’t notice the missing anchor until things had settled down a bit.  It was dragging in the water for a couple of miles.  As soon as I noticed I stopped and went forward. The chain had jumped off the windlass and 15-20 ft of chain had run out before it jammed on the turn out of the hawse pipe.

We were cruising along in about 40 ft of water at 8-9 knots when I noticed.  It would have been a rude shock to fetch up if the entire rode went out, but that would have made enough racket for me to stop and investigate.

No harm done.  Im now pledging to keep the tether on the chain regularly.  I think it may have been my recent servicing of the windlass that’s to blame.  The clutch on the chain gypsy had been frozen, and I cleaned it up and lubed it.  I’ve always secured the anchor by tensioning the chain with the windlass.  My working theory is that the clutch let out enough chain in the surge loading to allow it to jump off the gypsy.  Will monitor.

Today I was underway at 0630.  Making miles along the shoreline in 15-20 knot easterlies.  My plan is to get to Charlevoix today, and tomorrow it looks like a nice weather window will open up to get up into Lake Huron. 

I installed wind instruments this spring, and it’s great having them, especially this time of year when I’ve got the boat closed up.  Yesterday would have been tricky sailing.  I seemed to be following the line of transition between east and north winds all day. 

That was relatively smooth.  I set a course for St Joseph, 60 miles straight across.  About half way across the wind filled in from the north as forecast, and I poked my bow into it a bit and headed for Saugatuck.  Covered 94 miles in 11.5 hours and arrived in port well before sunset.  Sunny, but cold out on the lake.  Water temperature in the middle is around 40 F.  I was happy to have heat.

This is an easy anchor stop.  I anchored here just inside the breakwater.  There is also space to anchor in Douglas Lake. 

Today the wind in light NE and I’m cruising up the shoreline approaching South Haven.  Smooth sailing today, but I may get stopped by weather in the next few days.

We launched today, and after finishing up a few things I cruised up to downtown Chicago, and am anchored here in what locals call the Play Pen for the night.

Tomorrow my plan is to head for Michigan.  The weather doesn’t look great for the next week or so, but with east and north winds forecast I’m hoping I can make my way up the eastern shore. 

My destination is Wiarton.  No schedule, but no desire to dawdle. 

It’s nice being back aboard, and even better to be underway again. 

Miles drove me and a bunch of stuff to Chicago yesterday, and I’m back aboard Escapade on shore at Crowley’s.  It’s good to be back aboard. 

My plan is to prep and launch in the next week or so, and head for Canada.  I have a lengthy to-do list, as usual…

I didn’t pursue the electric drive.  I came very close to ordering the drives, then the tariff nonsense started, and I pulled back.  I’ve been reevaluating any future plans for cruising in or through the US, and what that means for my boating needs and choices.  My choice of power over sail was always motivated by river travel, so if that’s not part of the plan it may motivate changing to sail.

This summer I’d like to go east in Escapade. One of my favourite trips was in 2021 when I went out the St Lawrence to Nova Scotia.  This year I’d like to take the north shore all the way to Labrador, then down the east coast of Newfoundland and on to Halifax.  I’m not sure I want to do the whole trip solo though, and I don’t speak French.  And I’m not sure I have time.

I’ve also sort of pledged to get Tin Lizzie sailing this summer.  Not sure how that fits with going east.  Lots of moving pieces, but they’ll get sorted in the coming weeks.

Here are a few pics of interesting boats on the docks.  A Sydney 38 that I’ve always liked the look of, a Sabreline 36 hardtop that I’ve come to admire, a big Beneteau Oceanis, and a new Beneteau 36 alongside a Beneteau 36.7.  interesting to see the design changes between 2000 and 2024.