The following year we had repeated the One Thousand Islands Invasion voyage with even more friends. Another successful getaway, looks like a tradition in the making.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
One Thousand Islands Invasion 2010 -The return
We were in a hurry to get back home from Gananoque. We did it in two sprints. The first Gananoque to Cobourg. We were planning to stop over on Duck Island, but with unfavourable winds reaching it before dark would not have happened. So we endured over night, me in bed and my dad at the helm, LOL. The next day we set sail for Oakville. The day started with out any sign of wind. Then as soon as we got fed up, kicked the engine, the winds started blowing from the east pushing us to our destination.
It was already night when we sailed past Toronto with the wind and waves steady increasing all day long with the eastern wind. The waves were the size of your average house. It was the first time were were sailing into our marina at night, its totally a different experience then the day. The approach was not looking too pleasant with the waves beating the breakwall. On the positive side I noticed I could enter the marina with a half wind. I had the engine running, but the diesel leak was worse then ever despite the extensive network of rescue tape, foam, cork, wire, and clamps holding the fuel filter together. I knew that to get into the marina I would have to throttle pretty hard. Putting that kind of pressure on the fuel system would have surely increased chances of the whole thing exploding, shutting down the engine without fuel. My folding prop didnt help either. My dad was quite nervous so i didnt want to stress him out by telling him we are going to do something new. My boat does not have a furling sail and the sails dont come down effortlessly.
Anyway, we begun to make our move by first getting closer, then making a quick tack to get into position. Then my dad went out on the foredeck to prepare to get the sails down as we normally do. I kept on saying just wait a minute more as long as I could before finally saying; we are going in on sails and once we pass the mouth we are dropping the sails. He was against it, but my plan worked. Despite the enormous waves blasting away sailing with support of the half wind we sailed in smoothly. To our surprise a group of people were out on the tip of the mouth taking pictures of us going in. as soon as we passed the mouth the wind died and the sails dropped down like never before. It had also just started raining as we were going in so the sails just managed to get wet before having to put them away. But at this point we were thrilled getting back home safe and sound having completed our first long distance voyage.
It was already night when we sailed past Toronto with the wind and waves steady increasing all day long with the eastern wind. The waves were the size of your average house. It was the first time were were sailing into our marina at night, its totally a different experience then the day. The approach was not looking too pleasant with the waves beating the breakwall. On the positive side I noticed I could enter the marina with a half wind. I had the engine running, but the diesel leak was worse then ever despite the extensive network of rescue tape, foam, cork, wire, and clamps holding the fuel filter together. I knew that to get into the marina I would have to throttle pretty hard. Putting that kind of pressure on the fuel system would have surely increased chances of the whole thing exploding, shutting down the engine without fuel. My folding prop didnt help either. My dad was quite nervous so i didnt want to stress him out by telling him we are going to do something new. My boat does not have a furling sail and the sails dont come down effortlessly.
Anyway, we begun to make our move by first getting closer, then making a quick tack to get into position. Then my dad went out on the foredeck to prepare to get the sails down as we normally do. I kept on saying just wait a minute more as long as I could before finally saying; we are going in on sails and once we pass the mouth we are dropping the sails. He was against it, but my plan worked. Despite the enormous waves blasting away sailing with support of the half wind we sailed in smoothly. To our surprise a group of people were out on the tip of the mouth taking pictures of us going in. as soon as we passed the mouth the wind died and the sails dropped down like never before. It had also just started raining as we were going in so the sails just managed to get wet before having to put them away. But at this point we were thrilled getting back home safe and sound having completed our first long distance voyage.
One Thousand Islands Invasion 2010 - Continuation
On day two we left Toronto at the break of light, our destination Cobourg. We sailed in gloomy weather almost entirely on one tack into the night. It was a dark, moonless night with the occasional glimpse of some stars. By now the wind had died down but the waves remained rocking the boat. This being our first time sailing at night we decided to take down the sails and motor for the rest of the way. The weak wind also played a role in our decision as we wanted to get to Cobourg as soon as possible after an entire day of steering without an autopilot.
In the dead of night all of the smallest sounds are unpleasant. I wish I had an engine that I couldn't hear because each time it would turn over I would compare the sounds to the previous revolution looking for any anomalies. Having nothing to do but go crazy from the sounds with two more hours of motoring I opened the engine compartment to have a visual inspection. At this point I saw a problem. Diesel was dripping from the engine. I had radioed my friend to inform them of the situation and not to speed off into the distance too far in case our engine died. Nothing could be done at the moment so we were forced to continue as we were now with more anxiety then before until we reached our destination at 1am. The marina was full so we tied up on the inside walls of the marina. At which time an official from the cost guard stationed there appeared requesting some information. The diesel fumes were unpleasant but manageable during the night.
On Day three our destination was Presqu-ile Bay. In the morning before leaving i had climbed into the engine compartment to see where the Diesel was coming from. It turned out that the aluminum ring collar holding the secondary fuel filter, "on my boat the only fuel filter" had a crack running along the thread. Its not a spare part one has so a temporary repair was in order. I had some rescue tape on-board which I thought would be the perfect application. The only problem with the application was the limited space i had to work with for a proper application. It was not possible to apply the rescue tape as tightly as i would have liked. I wish the tape had heat shrinking properties at that point. We fired the engines and it worked, for a while. Because we were unable to get replacement parts anywhere during out trip this was an ongoing issue that had received daily improvements on the temporary fix just to maintain a slow drip rate. At the end of the trip i had a layer of foam mat rapped around, with a layer of 1mm cork mat on the outside rapped with rescue tape, clamped with flange clamps, lots of flange clamps, and solid copper wire twisted to tighten on the ends where i could not get a flange clamp. Rescue tape is great but once it gets diesel on it the material becomes slick and stops adhering to itself.
On day four we were sailing past CFB Trenton. They were performing ac-130 exercises of takeoff and landing. Each time flying over a different boat as if they were trying to individually target us. It made for some good photos and I found the experience better than any airshow I had gone to. We did a stop over at Belleville for the night and to see in vein if we could track down some parts. On day five we had a good sail down the channel system. towards Kingston. On our approach to Amherst Island the weather was quickly degrading and we kept hearing weather storm warning over the radio for our area. It was a west wind and the waves had grown to small monsters. We had our sails up passing Amherst Island with our engines backing us up. We had ground to a crawl going upwind at times manoeuvring in-between buoys in front of Kingston Airport. We made it to Portsmouth Harbour in the evening. The next day we made it to Gananoque where we hung out moored in-between the islands relaxing with our friends.
In the dead of night all of the smallest sounds are unpleasant. I wish I had an engine that I couldn't hear because each time it would turn over I would compare the sounds to the previous revolution looking for any anomalies. Having nothing to do but go crazy from the sounds with two more hours of motoring I opened the engine compartment to have a visual inspection. At this point I saw a problem. Diesel was dripping from the engine. I had radioed my friend to inform them of the situation and not to speed off into the distance too far in case our engine died. Nothing could be done at the moment so we were forced to continue as we were now with more anxiety then before until we reached our destination at 1am. The marina was full so we tied up on the inside walls of the marina. At which time an official from the cost guard stationed there appeared requesting some information. The diesel fumes were unpleasant but manageable during the night.
On Day three our destination was Presqu-ile Bay. In the morning before leaving i had climbed into the engine compartment to see where the Diesel was coming from. It turned out that the aluminum ring collar holding the secondary fuel filter, "on my boat the only fuel filter" had a crack running along the thread. Its not a spare part one has so a temporary repair was in order. I had some rescue tape on-board which I thought would be the perfect application. The only problem with the application was the limited space i had to work with for a proper application. It was not possible to apply the rescue tape as tightly as i would have liked. I wish the tape had heat shrinking properties at that point. We fired the engines and it worked, for a while. Because we were unable to get replacement parts anywhere during out trip this was an ongoing issue that had received daily improvements on the temporary fix just to maintain a slow drip rate. At the end of the trip i had a layer of foam mat rapped around, with a layer of 1mm cork mat on the outside rapped with rescue tape, clamped with flange clamps, lots of flange clamps, and solid copper wire twisted to tighten on the ends where i could not get a flange clamp. Rescue tape is great but once it gets diesel on it the material becomes slick and stops adhering to itself.
On day four we were sailing past CFB Trenton. They were performing ac-130 exercises of takeoff and landing. Each time flying over a different boat as if they were trying to individually target us. It made for some good photos and I found the experience better than any airshow I had gone to. We did a stop over at Belleville for the night and to see in vein if we could track down some parts. On day five we had a good sail down the channel system. towards Kingston. On our approach to Amherst Island the weather was quickly degrading and we kept hearing weather storm warning over the radio for our area. It was a west wind and the waves had grown to small monsters. We had our sails up passing Amherst Island with our engines backing us up. We had ground to a crawl going upwind at times manoeuvring in-between buoys in front of Kingston Airport. We made it to Portsmouth Harbour in the evening. The next day we made it to Gananoque where we hung out moored in-between the islands relaxing with our friends.
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