|
Taking
inspiration from the 2015 cruise log Following Beatrice into
Paradise, my daughter, Heather, and I planned
a four-night, five-day cruise in the North Channel
of Lake Huron. Our previous cruises had been
two-nighters out of Parry Sound on Georgian Bay in
W728 (above), a Wayfarer purchased by my
father in 1972 from Kingston's Wally Schwenger.
Cruising-Wayfarer-specific outfitting of the
Wayfarer included:
- Grapnel
anchor with 150' of rode.
- Hans
Gottschling canvas boom tent.
- Self-made
mosquito netting tent.
- Honda
2.3 HP 4 stroke outboard motor w/ eight litres of
fuel.
- Mainsail
with single set of reefing points.
- 50
Amp-Hour LiFePO4 battery for lighting and mobile
charging.
- TrakMaps
printed chart and Navionics electronic chart
plotter on an iPhone.
- Portable
VHF marine radio.
- LED
light string under the boom.
When
cruising, we always sleep on the boat, but do all
cooking on land. An eight hour drive from our home
in Merrickville near Ottawa, Ontario brought us to
Blind River. As there are no (interesting)
anchorages close to Blind River, we stayed the night
prior to the cruise at the Lakeview
Inn which is actually a motel. It had the best
accommodation reviews in the area, and an on-line
booking cost of $120. The proprietor could not have
been more friendly. The motel itself was very clean
and well kept; highly recommended. Dinner this night
was a satisfactory take out fish & ships from
the 17
Restaurant, eaten on a picnic table by
the river.
It turned out that the Blind River marina has
camping as well. There are only a few spots, and
they are small, but they are fully serviced and at a
beautiful location right on the point in the marina.
At a cost of only $15/night, the value can't be
beat. Toilets and showers are available as well.
Overall we were very impressed with Blind River as
an outpost. Somebody, obviously a few years ago, had
put a lot of effort into sprucing the place up.
The next morning we launched at the marina,
technically beside the marina. After a long
discussion with the marina attendant, who thought we
wanted dock space, camping, mooring, and who knows
what else, we eventually agreed that everything on
the ramp side of the hedge was no charge, including
both launching and parking. Bonus! The OPP launched
a patrol boat while we were prepping, so we figured
that they must keep a reasonably close eye on the
place.
Wind the first day was not only light, but an
easterly, which was exactly our intended direction
for the Benjamin Islands. But as we will see, that
was not to be. After a 10 am start, we were making
mostly only 2-3 knots, and having to beat. While the
wind picked up a little later, getting us up to four
knots at times, it was obvious we were not going to
make the east end of John Island, our first night's
objective. We decided to aim for a closer spot, and
checked out a few locations, eventually settling on
Turnbull Island. Total distance covered was 18 NM
over 6 ½ hours.
Here we had a sand beach and were completely
protected from both wind and waves. However, there
was no easily accessible open spot for cooking,
relaxing, etc. The other side of the point had some
rocky areas, with a view out to the channel, but
fighting through the undergrowth was not an
appealing journey, . We did have a nice swim though.
We tried for coffee and hot chocolate on the beach,
but were sent scurrying for the mosquito tent on the
boat about 9:30pm when mosquitoes descended. This
was in spite of a pair of Thermocell repellers,
which work great at home. This mosquito feeding
frenzy turned out to be a nightly occurrence.
The second day dawned with a nice breeze, but very
heavy rain forecast for early in the afternoon. We
thus planned an abbreviated day, with the hope to
get to an anchorage still dry. It was a nice sail,
though still beating against an easterly breeze,
averaging 3-4 knots. The many islands make for great
cruising, as there is always something to go around,
if the tack doesn't work for one island. We were
just making it close to the anchorage when the
heavens opened. We kept sailing, but then the wind
died completely, so we packed it in, and fired up
the outboard. It was still raining cats and dogs
when we anchored at Dewdney Island. A distance of 11
NM over 3 ¾ hours.
We setup the boom tent to keep the Wayfarer from
being flooded, and then setup a tarp on land. This
anchorage was much better, and it was an easy open
walk to the top of the island for setting up camp.
As we were already soaked, we setup our tarp, and
then were able to change into dry clothes followed
by a drink!
The anchorage itself was idyllic with a stupendous
view from our campsite. There were only a couple of
keel boats and a motor cruiser present.
The forecast for our third day was light winds, but
the fourth day was looking like 20-30 knots of wind
and an accompanying strong wind warning. As we had
to be back in Blind River on the fifth day, we were
hesitant to head further east. Thus we planned to
just take a scenic route north to Bear Drop Harbour.
The wind was nice to begin with, but faded away
around noon. We drifted around for a while, but
eventually had to give it up as a bad job, and
motored around Lesueur Island and over to Bear Drop
Harbour.
...
Bear Drop Harbour was the best anchorage yet. While
we were sharing this particular cove with about
eight keel boats, we had a gorgeous island all to
ourselves. As was to be expected, there are few
dinghies cruising, and the keel boats rarely go
ashore. Given the projected winds for the next day,
and that we would be spending two nights here, we
set up camp in a well-protected area near the boat.
With heavy rain forecast for overnight, we set up
the Wayfarer with the boom tent. Sometimes we just
lie from the anchor; it's fun to swing around during
the night. Other times we keep a stern line to shore
as well.
The key out here was definitely getting hidden
within the tent soon after sunset, before the
mosquitoes would come out by the millions. Then just
getting into the tent would bring in hundreds which
then must all be killed. It worked out much better
to give up on the last 30 minutes of bug-free time,
and get established within the tent before the
onslaught. In that manner, there would only be maybe
2-3 mosquitoes to swat - much more relaxing.
Overnight there was a tremendous down pour. While
the boom tent needs a lot of holes around the
shrouds and such plugged with sock to keep out the
mosquitoes, it does keep out the rain perfectly.
Other than an few drops trickling down the mast, it
was as dry as a bone inside. We stayed inside a
little later than normal, until around mid-morning,
when the rain came to an end.
As the day progressed, and the wind shifted around,
we buttoned down the tarp to protect us and keep us
warm. What should have been a little quiet day,
reading books and drinking coffee, got a little more
interesting.
A keel boat came in and anchored pretty much on top
of us. Clear, but only just. We suddenly noticed
that the keelboat wasn't where it had been, and was
coming even closer to our boat. As we ran for the
shore, we could see it was basically running loose
with neither the anchor, nor stern line holding it.
It was heading straight for our bow, but
fortunately, its keel got hung up on the rocks just
off our bow. We grabbed the stern line to hold the
drifting boat off the rocks, and made a call over
VHF 16 looking for the skipper (he was visiting
another boat). I was actually surprised that two
boats responded to the call, and were able to get
hold of the skipper. They used one of their little
dinghies to tow the boat into the middle of the
harbour where the anchor was reset. We needed a
drink after that bit of excitement! A husband and
wife, from one of the keel boats, invited us over
for coffee in the afternoon. We have a very nice two
hour chat with them. They live in Kitchener, keep
their boat (a Catalina 28) at Lion's Head, and do a
three week cruise every summer. While we were having
coffee, a Securité call came over the VHF radio from
the coast guard, a squall was heading for us. Sure
enough, 5-10 minutes later the winds jumped up and
the water got choppy; and this in the very protected
anchorage. We would not want to have seen that in
the open channel. We saw a couple of bald eagles,
herons, and cormorants, and a pair of these cute
little mink!
A swim around the island completed the day. As no
rain was forecast for overnight, we switched back to
the mosquito netting tent. By now we had the night
time routine down pat. Get under cover early, and
relax a bit on the boat.
After a peaceful
night, the day started with light winds. We motored
out of the inlet, and picked up the breeze. We then
had a wonderful sail back to Blind harbour. Both the
wind and waves picked up as the day progressed,
giving a fine ending to the cruise. It took but a
couple of tacks, to cover the 18 NM back, over 4 ½
hours.
Most importantly Blind River has great ice cream,
which can be found at the Video
Movie House. Then right next door is A
Touch of Home with very good home cooking and
baking. Great for some food for the drive home.
While the original distance objectives of the trip
were not met, it was a very good education on how
much the wind can affect distance travelled. All the
other experiences on the trip were very valuable in
to increasing our capabilities and confidence.
Allan
& Heather
Yates
|