Author: Jeff

The boat is a Dash 34, designed in the early 1980s by Laurie Davidson. Check out the paint job.

Patrick, the man on the right, has owned the boat since new. That’s his friend David on the left. The three of us went for a sail today out of RNSYS in Halifax. My other friend David caught up with us in the harbour a bit later after hitching a ride on another boat, and we ended up sailing to Bedford and leaving the boat there.

Tomorrow the forecast is for NW winds, which means a spinnaker sail back down the basin for the return trip.

I’ve known Patrick for a long time, and have sailed with him on several boats. One of my most memorable sailing experiences was from 1979, when he and I and a non-sailing friend of mine sailed his Bombardier 7.6 Narwhal III from Chester to Halifax in the same storm that went on to kill people in the Fastnet race. It was incredibly windy, probably the most wind I’ve ever sailed in. We had a double reefed main only. Planed down the coast and then as the wind veered NW had a lot of trouble beating up the harbour. We finally got in around midnight. That was before mobile phones, and we didn’t have a radio. Our families had been pacing the docks for hours.

Patrick in his quest for speed under sail moved up to a Kirby 30, and then the Dash 34, which was built in 1984. He had it heavily customized at build with an oversized rig and a diesel inboard.

In 1986 I started sailing on the boat as helmsman. For the next few years Patrick was very busy with his medical practice and family commitments, but he encouraged and supported me and a young crew as we aggressively campaigned the boat without him. This is the crew in 1986 winning the RNSYS opening regatta

We campaigned the boat hard for three seasons. Put a new keel on in 1988. Raced the Marblehead-Halifax in 1987. Won a lot of trophies and grew as a team.

I left Nova Scotia for good in the fall of 1988, but went back to race the Marblehead-Halifax again in 1989, this time with Patrick aboard. In a fast race we finished in 48 hours and won our class. It was sort of a fitting end to a big chapter in my sailing story. The boat was not seriously raced after that.

Patrick is now 80, and has trouble handling the boat by himself. At the insistence of his family and friends the boat now has a small roller furling jib, which he hates. But he has excitedly reminded me several times that he still has big spinnakers aboard. We’ll get one up tomorrow.

Edit/update: Had a nice sail back to Halifax Saturday. These pics were taken as we left Bedford by my friend Andrew.

After we dropped the spinnaker in the harbour and started to go upwind we heard a loud noise and discovered that the main bulkhead was starting to come apart around the chainplate. Fixable, but it ended our sailing for the day. We motored back to RNSYS. So it goes with 35 year old boats…

I’m glad I made the trip. Nice to catch up with old friends and sailing companions, and to have David’s son Allister and mast man extraodinaire Scott join us on Saturday.

I’ve been offered a slip at Marina Quay West for the winter, and negotiated a slightly reduced rate there for the remainder of the season.

I expect to be there in the next few days to get the boat secured, then largely on shore travelling until the end of October. Then back on Mazurka getting buttoned down for winter.

Living aboard in downtown Toronto is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’m starting to get excited.

I’m still anchored in Outer Harbour. Took a long convoluted bus/train ride back to Kingston NY and retrieved my car yesterday. In a moment of unrealistic optimism I registered last week for the Snipe Canadians in Etobicoke this weekend. I’m not going to race but will cruise over there to say hello and watch some racing tomorow, and explore the area west of downtown in more detail

It feels kind of weird to be here in Mazurka. I’ve gotten close, but this is the first time in this end of Lake Ontario.

I arrived – as usual – without a plan. I stopped in at Marina Quay West – more on that later – and after touring the islands I’m anchored here in the Outer Harbour. Nice secure spot, but I’m pretty much trapped on the boat because the dinghy motor refuses to start. Could be because it was dragged underwater for a while last week 🙂

It’s been a leisurely trip along the north shore of the lake. Yesterday I stopped in Newcastle for lunch. Nice spot.

Last night I anchored in Whitby and today came over to Toronto. I stopped at every port in between.

I’ve been thinking seriously about wintering here, living aboard the boat in the water. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while. There are winter slips in two of the inner harbour marinas. I will be applying for one tomorrow, and looking for a spot to park Mazurka for a few weeks while I do some land travel. The winter slip doesn’t become available until late October.

That’s it. I can claim my gold flag for completing the Great Loop. I crossed my wake today as I reached the north shore of Lake Ontario. I’m anchored here, just east of where I left Bowmanville more than 13 months ago.

Some quick stats:

Distance: 5,815 nautical miles; 6,692 statute miles; 10,770 km

Motor hours: 893

Generator hours: 299

Fuel used: 1,523 gallons; 5,757 l

GPH: 1.7

MPG: 4.4

Yesterday was an easy run up to Oswego from Phoenix. The locks were all waiting for me and I was at Lake Ontario by lunch time. It was a nice calm afternoon so I headed out immediately across the lake.

I set a course for Brighton, but decided to poke into Wellington as I went by. Glad I did. I stopped for dinner just inside the entrance to West Lake, then continued on to anchor here. Pretty cool spot with the dunes between West Lake and Lake Ontario.

Today I moved a mile or so away to anchor near the start of a Gran Fondo ride I’m doing tomorrow with family members, and we’re gathered at Sarah’s farm nearby for the weekend.

Mazurka was in the US for 360 days, entering at Sault Ste Marie last September 10. It’s nice to be back in home waters!

My plan is to head for Toronto early next week.

I’m docked in Phoenix. There are a couple of Canadian boats here heading south. And I guess technically I’ve crossed my wake and competed the great loop, though I’ll save marking that until I get back to Ontario. But wanted to mark it here just in case I get hit by a bus tomorrow. Love that euphemism.

Yesterday was nice. Quiet and uneventful. I stopped in Little Falls for lunch, and stayed at Lock 20 just above Utica last night.

A couple of the locks had vertical gates, like this one.

Today saw a little more adventure. I got underway around 0730, and a front went through shortly after with some heavy rain, and behind that a pretty brisk wind. I didn’t give the weather a lot of thought until I got to Lake Oneida. It was pretty rough with a 20 knot breeze blowing straight down the 25 mile long lake.

Shortly after entering the lake I was on the flybridge. We were bashing into the waves at about ten knots and i noticed we’d slowed down a bit. It didn’t take long to find the problem.

The new line I had installed in Kingston for the davits had failed, and the dinghy had fallen and flipped. Never trust cord from a hardware store! The dinghy was upside down and was being dragged sideways as I had a cable on the motor attached to one corner and the painter attached to the other. One side of the RIB was completely flat, as it has a slow leak and I hadn’t pumped it up since leaving the boat in May.

In any case, I managed to get it upright and tow it the rest of the day. Bit of work to get things sorted while bouncing around in the lake. I got the outboard off this evening and pulled the plugs to drain the water out of the cylinders. Think I’ll throw the boat away. It’s at end of life.

I made a short video of us coming up the lake after getting the dinghy upright. I’d gotten soaked from the spray up top at that point and was taking shelter in the cockpit.

Fun day!

Tomorrow should be an easy run up to Oswego.

I’ve traveled the Erie Canal between Oswego and Tonawanda several times, but this section is new to me. I like it.Yesterday I was underway from 0800 to 1700 with a brief lunch stop in Schenectady. Nice day, variable overcast and calm. I left Waterford and climbed through 10 locks, stopping for the night just above lock 11 in Amsterdam.I rained last night and this morning. I waited out the rain and got underway around noon, and came up to Riverfront Park in Canajoharie. There are two eastbound boats here tonight.The Mohawk River valley is pretty around here. I took a bunch of pictures yesterday. This one was first. It was neat being in a pool with an invisible dam looking out over the valley.So I took a sequence of pictures going through lock 7.

I had all sorts of feelings of dread driving back to Kingston NY. I had left Mazurka in the water at a small marina in May, and they had hauled it and stored it ashore. I figured this was safer and less expensive, but wasn’t there to make sure it was level, properly supported, etc. And I’d forgotten to ask them to pull the drain plug. Touring dozens of derelict boats at Crowley’s this summer didn’t help.

I also wondered how I’d like the boat after playing on Tin Lizzie all summer. That was a blast.

As it turned out the boat was fine. Pretty grimy outside but dry and just as I left it inside.

And the big diesel? It started instantly, and as soon as I climbed up on the flybridge and backed out of the travelift well I was smiling.

The boat’s running well. I washed the outside from the deck up this evening.

The only minor annoyance is that the VHF radio no longer works. And to compound the problem I lost my handheld earlier this summer on Tin Lizzie. Think I’ll pick up a new handheld before heading up the locks. I wanted one with DSC anyway.

Anyway, I still like the look of the boat, and it suits me.

I’m reminded again of why I like upstate NY so much. This is the transient dock, free for visitors, with washrooms and showers. Restaurants in the old downtown a few blocks away.

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent cleaning and waxing the topsides and getting groceries and supplies. There was a lot of brown staining from the rivers, but it came out pretty nicely. I also found a big hunk of rope wrapped in the shaft and prop. I had dragged a crab pot in SC and had some driveline vibration after. Guess that explains that!We launched Thursday, and headed north on the Hudson River. I anchored here and continued on this morning.

We’re above lock 1 in Troy here, at the fork in the waterway. North to Lake Champlaign and then to the St Lawrence, or west on the Erie Canal to the Great Lakes. Im going west.

I’m back aboard Mazurka, ashore in Kingston NY. I had left the boat in May and haven’t been back since. All appears to be in good order.

Launch is scheduled for Thursday, which gives me time to do some work on the boat. Then it’s north on the Hudson.

I love visiting all these different regions, towns and yards. Each has their own rhythm. I was reminded of my cousin Herman Schwenk when I drove in on Schwenk Dr. I remember as a kid listening to him telling stories about growing up in Kingston.