Friday 22 June 2001
24 miles from Little Current to Killarney in 3 hrs 20 min!!
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The morning after the night before: A night of rain but as you can see, we were well positioned to dash across the street to the Anchor for our 0730 breakfast date with Dick & Dick. They did not appear and we have yet to hear why... The breakfast was delicious, however. By the time we'd had a couple of coffees each, it was nearly 0815 and...
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... and time to pack up the tent, re-pack the Rocket, and get out there to catch the 0900 bridge swing. There was still a light rain but the good news was that we had a nice little northerly (see flags) that should permit us to reach or run all the way back to Killarney.
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 With a slightly delayed bridge swing, we got through at 0911 with our wet gear on due to increasing rain. As had been indicated by the clouds
a few hundred feet up, the wind continued to strengthen from the north, and by the time we were passing Heywood Island, we were regularly at hull speed and occasionally surfing on a broad reach. Looking into the mists past Heywood, it suddenly occurred to Uncle Al that we were now alone and thus
without the possibility of requesting help by means of radio or flares. A sobering thought on this cool, breezy morning with rarely another boat in sight and most cottages apparently still empty. We made a particular effort to sail with minimal helm to save rudder strain and suffered lots of transom drag just to play it safer by keeping the bow up. The realization that help might be a loooong time in coming, also made us decide to take the Lansdown Channel instead of
the faster, steadier winds around the outside. This way, if worse came to worst, we only had a few hundred yards to drift in case of disaster.
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 Still, shifts and all, it was a pretty speedy ride with clouds above continuing to indicate strengthening winds that would back to the NW.
By the time we were well into the Channel, the rain had mostly gone and there were even the odd patches of blue sky.
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Badgeley Island coming up to starboard, and the exit from Lansdown Channel dead ahead. I now regret not having risked the camera in the rain as we streaked across the North Channel from Strawberry Island to the Lansdown Channel. The skies, mists and sea looked considerably more impressive than in the protected waters of the Channel!
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But even in the protected confines of the Channel, we got the occasional wavelets. Again, we saw no other boats.
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We did watch carefully for shoals - no point snapping centreboard or rudder when we couldn't attract help! With our eagle eyes, we had no need of a chart to note the likely presence of a shoal in the photo above! This kind of perceptiveness comes with experience, I guess!!
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As we exited the Channel, the NW winds kicked in with a puffy vengeance (above),
and once we got clear of the land's wind shadow, we rode a series of whitecaps...
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... into Killarney Harbour where Ed consulted his watch which showed almost 1230. Three hours and 20 minutes for a 24-mile run!!! Not bad for a Wayfarer loaded hundreds of pounds of gear, about half of which you can see on the dock here. Way to go, Rocket!!! We unloaded at a leisurely pace, had some of the marvellous fish and chips, packed Angela's (Ed's wife's) truck and hit the road as the sun finally won its battle with the rainy clouds. Going against the Friday afternoon cottage traffic from Toronto, we were back in Oakville by about 1830. Poor Ed still had about 4 hours of driving to do to reach his Detroit area home while all Al did was run over to Loblaws and had his cruise photos back by 2130 that night!

It was a wonderful, varied and interesting trip! Thanks: Ed Weber, Dick Tyrrell and Dick Harrington for a great week!!!
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Saturday 16 June: Killarney to "Tim's" cove
Sunday 17 June: "Tim's" cove to McGregor Bay
Monday 18 June: McGregor Bay - Little Current - Sturgeon Cove
Tuesday 19 June: Sturgeon Cove - 1
Tuesday 19 June: Sturgeon Cove - 2
Wednesday 20 June: Sturgeon Cove to the Benjamin Islands
Wednesday 20 June: in the Benjamin Islands
Thursday 21 June: breakfast in the Benjamins
Thursday 21 June: dinner in Little Current
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