Back from the UK in late April – April 2019, that is: we’re catching up from a year ago with this blog – we head down to Loyalist Cove Marina to unwrap True North III and ready her for launch this season, which will be very different from others in that rather than voyaging far from home we will actually be using the boat as our home in Toronto while we navigate the continuing extended delays in the construction of our condominium there.
We arrive to find the waters in the Great Lakes are rising even higher than they were in the “100-year flood” of 2019.
For True North this year, there’s some have duty mechanical work to be done by ace mechanic Dave P in addition to the normal prep. Over the winter Stephen has sourced two extremely rare Holset turbochargers, new, from a small company in the UK, to replace the 1977 originals (not an easy job), and the two fuel injection pumps have been rebuilt in Kingston and need to be reinstalled (not an easy job). Stephen will look on as this work goes on (a somewhat easier job).
From mid-May to early June we drive back and forth from Campbellville to Bath as the work continues, with a Perkins technician joining Dave P for the injection pumps, with starting and calibrating the engines, and we tackle other jobs that need doing that come to light, including gear shift and throttle cables from the upper to the lower helm, launching the dinghy, and on and on.
Meanwhile the rain keeps raining and it seems that the water won’t subside til August or even September.
While we’re there at Loyalist Cove, we help Harold with getting his sailboat up and running, and venture out on the waters of Lake Ontario to wrangle the sails.
Finally, we prepare to leave Bath for Toronto. Since it is raining pretty much every day, we have to try and dodge the worst of it, with a three day trip ahead of us. The plan is to do a short 20 or so nautical miles to Picton on the first day, then a long day to Cobourg (76 NM) and finish off with another 60 NM across Lake Ontario to Toronto on the third. We scout out the places we’ll be staying by car and telephone over a few weeks before setting out, and the floods are going to have an impact for sure. Some marinas are having problems with their docks, and power and water is not available, though Toronto is in good, though wet, shape.
On the morning of our departure we have a last sea trial with Dave P to make sure everything is shipshape, then depart at 12:35 with the threat of heavy rain appearing later in the afternoon. We calculate a time of 2 hours and 45 minutes travel time, and head off under steel great skies. We are understandably the only boat out there as we head west into Adolphus Reach, as the clouds become more and more ominous. We end up tying up at Picton Marina just as the rain starts. And boy does it start.
The sound of the torrential rain on the cabin roof is a little worrisome, but makes it cosy as we dine on trout and listen to the weather reports for tomorrow, which promise light winds and calm waters, which is good for us.
Next day, the forecast is improving by the minute. Up at 06:00, we pull out of the harbour and things get better and better. By the time we are travelling through The Bay of Quinte, the skies clear and the water sparkles in the sun, so we continue to travel further and further, with only a couple of fishing boats and a sailboat as occasional company.
We arrive at the Murray Canal – at 5 miles long it joins The Bay of Quinte with Presqu’ile Bay on Lake Ontario – at 12:20 and the conditions are wonderful. The canal avoids having to go round the whole peninsula of Prince Edfward County, and is run by Parks Canada, with a swing bridge either end.
The only customers for the canal bridgemaster, we call on the radio and he opens up for us, taking our $5.00 passage fee that Michel has to toss into a brass cup on a long pole that he stretches out to us. Such technology.
While Lake Ontario is not as placid as Quinte Bay, conditions are still lovely and we cruise into Cobourg Marina and Harbour at the end of a long, nine-hour day, tie up, and light the barbecue. The water in the marina is exceedingly high, and there is no fresh water or power available. But with our 160 gallon water tank, engine charging and solar panels, we are self sufficient for a good long while if need be.
With another 60 NM ahead of us, and an average speed of 7.5 knots, we need another long day to get to Toronto, and are up at 05:30 the next day to cast off, and the weather is gorgeous. We could not have picked a better 3-day window to do this trip.
We arrive at Toronto Outer Harbour Marina at 13:40, tying up at our pre-booked slip – our new home for the summer – with the help of friend Ron who is there to help us, at 14:00. The weather is now positively hot and the silence is golden as we turn off the twin Perkins diesel engines.
The total trip of 148.0 nautical miles took us 19:40 hrs at an average of 7.5 knots. It would account for 2/3 of the mileage for the season, since we would be hauling True North III out at the end of the season to spend the winter on land. (In comparison, we travelled 1200 miles for 167 hours to Lake Huron and back in 2017, and 1500 miles for 180 hours to The Saguenay and back in 2018).
The next day we woke to the by now familiar sound of rain pittering and pattering on the roof of True North.