An Inauspicious Start

On Friday the 14th we had a party to say goodbye to family and friends.  Reg held court in the family room showing photos and maps on the TV to explain our trip and answer questions about our boat.  Our good friend, Shari, brought a cake which we cut like a wedding cake but refrained from stuffing into each other's faces and wasting it.

Thanks to Diane Freeman for the lovely photo

We moved aboard late Saturday afternoon ready to set sail on Sunday morning. Our crew for the day consisted of me, Reg, Sam, and Riley.  The boys were only with us for that one day for now - they will join us full time in August. After a quick stop for a pump out and to return our access card to Harbour West Marina, we were on our way under motor to make the 9:30 am lift of the old Burlington Bridge.

Once out into Lake Ontario proper we finally felt like we were on our way. The wind was light to non-existent with periods of promise that quickly diminished.  Luckily we managed to dodge some nasty looking weather systems and make it into Saint Catherine's Marina nice and dry.

Chasing the weather

We had a few problems that first day.  The connection I made at the new alternator to the tachometer was loose which caused very iffy tach readings.  That was easily fixed underway.  When we got to dock we discovered a leak in our fresh water system which is easily repaired with $5 in parts from Canadian Tire (I will get to that as soon as this post is completed).

On Sunday night, Tony (my Dad) drove to St. Catherine's to join us for the next leg while the boys took his car back to Waterloo. Monday morning was an early start to head up the Welland Canal to Lake Erie.

We didn't get off to a great start on the Welland.  When we arrived at the pleasure craft check-in dock at 8 a.m. we were told that there would be a wait of 2 hours before they opened the first lock.  The Welland is a commercial system and pleasure craft are granted access as a courtesy (an expensive courtesy at $240).  We had some entertainment as we waited watching an American power catamaran approach the lock clearly having done no research ahead of time.  While ignoring the signs directing them to the check-in dock, they slowly approached the lock, radioed seaway traffic control and asked for the lock to be opened. They were told that they had to proceed to the check-in dock ("see the other catamaran tied up to the dock on your port side? - go there!").  They continued to insist they didn't need to dock because they were in transit, to which traffic control continued to tell them that they wouldn't be getting transit if they didn't tie up to the dock, pay their fee, and phone in. Eventually we realized that they had come from a U.S. port of call on Lake Ontario and were headed for a U.S. port of call on Lake Erie and had no intention of alerting Canadian Customs and Immigration.  They motored to the dock and held themselves there without tying off while someone used the phone and paid for passage as directed.  We had fun speculating what might be on board that they didn't want Canadian authorities to find.  Guns?

We finally entered the first lock at about 10:30 a.m. and quickly learned the ropes (poor pun intended).  We had some struggles figuring out how to hold Binary still while the water rushed in to fill the locks.  Near the end of the system I realized I hadn't but the centerboards down which caused 99% of our struggles.  Live and (hopefully) learn.

 

The trip through the Welland was slow but uneventful until lock 8 which is the final and easiest lock.  With only a small rise in water level, pleasure craft do not tie off but simply slowly move through the lock and out the gate at the far end.  When we accelerated toward the open gate to exit the lock we found we had no forward momentum whatsoever.  After a rather frantic diagnosis we discovered we had no prop. We radioed the lock attendants immediately to tell them what was happening and they radioed to the American power cat (with the unoriginal and tacky name IV Play) who had been with us in the locks all day and exited just ahead of us.  The lock staff requested that they return to the lock and tow us out.  They instantly refused citing insurance restrictions and went on their merry way never to be seen again.  I'm flabbergasted that one boater would refuse to help another boat in distress!

We drifted towards the wall of the lock and tied off (that could get you a $5000 fine but they make exceptions for emergencies).  A lock attendant was able to pull us by our bow line and get us out of the lock and tied off to a wall so they could use the lock for a freighter that was waiting behind us.  While we waited for the freighter to pass us we devised a plan.  We lowered our dinghy and lashed it to the port hull near the stern (a trick I leaned from the Gemini owner's forum and thought I would never need). The 8 hp outboard on the dingy gave us enough power to do the last portion of the canal and limp into Sugarloaf Harbour Marina in Port Colborne. I don't recommend doing this in the pitch dark under any circumstances but it was particularly interesting in a busy shipping canal with incoming freighters.

Things were much trickier once we entered the harbour.  The dingy engine provided enough power to get Binary moving in forwards or reverse but tight maneuvering was near impossible with the engine on one side of the boat. After many attempts at docking we were fortunate to drift gently into a much larger vessel and some local boaters were able to tie us up to the larger boat for the night.  After a quick drink to settle our nerves, Sam took Tony home for some much needed sleep.

This morning we were greeted by a very unhappy boat owner on the dock beside us.  He wanted us untied from him immediately as he had work to do on his boat.  Instead of helping us move our disabled craft, he used a pressure washer to clean his boat and was none too careful about spraying us at the same time.  The staff at the marina were very helpful and were able to use their work boat to tow us to a better dock.

I spent the morning trying to find a replacement prop nut (we already have a spare prop) so we can be on our way again but it looks like we will likely be here a few days so I rode our new folding bikes into town to replenish our beer supplies while Reg stayed onboard working.

I was looking for an adventure when I talked my family into this trip and it looks like I found it!!