Day 3: The final push!

Background: on April 18, just before heading to Oakville to get the boat ready, I came down with a cold. That cold got progressively worse for the next 3 weeks. Day 3 it was really bad. Among the newer symptoms , I lost hearing in my good ear. I couldn’t hear much at all. First born got good at yelling at me. Yes, I finally went to a Dr.

Day 3: Let’s get up early and do the final 75 Nm to Kingston. 14 to 16 hours of travel.

Check the weather. Predict Wind looks great, light winds picking up to 10 knots from the SW as we round Prince Edward Point. A bit of rain for 3-4 hours in the morning with a chance of rain later in the day. Transport Canada site says no advisories. Wx forecast is good as well. Seems good. Let’s go!

Up at 03:40, we pushed off the dock on time at 04:00. Circled the Harbour in the dark while we got the boat ready for the open water.

By 05:20 there was enough light to see safely.

At around 08:00 the rain hit. Today was a motoring day as we had a schedule and you can’t sail to a schedule. We were running the auto helm and keeping on the course we had set on Navionics.

At some point in the later morning, I went down below for nap #1. Calm water with light wind, it was good nap!

Rain stopped just after noon. About 4 hours in total.

Around noon I checked Predict Wind again. Hmmm, 15 Knot trailing winds as we hit Prince Edward Point and turn NE. Well, that’s not ideal.

The wind increase and we had to do some hand steering as the auto helm struggled with the trailing wind/ waves.

Now came decision time. Navionics had suggested to cut through the shallows east of Prince Edward Point and then cut NE to the east side of Amherst Island. Being pretty tired I made the wrong decision to avoid the shallows and went east of False Duck Island. That put us on a true run with the wind and waves at our back. Apparent wind hovered at 12 knots with us going 6 knots. Waves were about 1 meter with a variable period which resulted is some higher peaks as the waves combined. Hand steering it was. All the way home.

What should I have done? Gone through the narrows and cut across Prince Edward Bay heading North until close to land. Then follow the land into the north channel on the north side of Amherst island. That would have kept us in calmer waters (less fetch) and given us the easy option of stopping at Waupoos.

Never really felt in danger, there were a few large waves that hit and really wanted to broach the boat, but we steered through it. Thankful for that rough weather training in Grenada!

We got to Collins Bay Marina and it was time to pull into the slip. That went OK but we had 10 knot headwinds the the bay and the bow of the boat got away. Fortunately we did not have a neighbor boat. A nice guy come to help and we got it back in order pretty quickly. Lock it up and head home.

We got home around 20:40. Quick chat (put the hearing aids in so I can hear). Slept for 10 hours straight. Another 6 hours during the day Wednesday. Off to Dr Thursday. Lungs, sinuses, ears, all infected. Yay.

Great trip, wish I were healthier. First born did really well and had had to take on extra stuff given my state.

Boat was awesome!