Cruise 2003

Log of the RUBICON
August 2003


In August of 2003 Mary and I left Goderich for a sailing holiday in the North Channel. We had been there in 2001 but only for a limited time and we were looking forward to spending at least three weeks away. We sail an Alberg 30, #384 named Rubicon.

As we left we were greeted by a neighbours Stan and Gabrielle in the trailer park who gave us a send-off bottle of wine. Our objective was Port Elgin some 65 miles away. We like to travel distances that we can easily do in a day. The weather was good and we motored north on a calm Lake Huron. After a few hours had passed a mist set in and we took extra precautions to miss Point Clark just south of Kincardine. We had heard a catamaran calling for help on the VHF just two weeks prior as it grounded on the flat stone off the Pt. Clark lighthouse. That day we watched as the coast guard send out two rescue boats to assist. When Sarnia Coast Guard asked him if he had a GPS and what was his position he didn’t have any idea about either.

The mist thickened as we passed Douglas Point and the nuclear power stations. Normally you can see the towers twenty miles away. We didn’t see anything. Our GPS guided us right into Pt. Elgin and we motored to the fuel dock just in time to see the magnificent yacht Liquidity. Liquidity is based out of Monroe, Michigan and apparently belongs to the Monroe family famous for it’s car parts. While a little old lady sat on the stern deck assisted by her deckhands hundreds of gawkers eating ice cream gazed at this 102’ piece of molded plastic.

Morning greeted us with total fog. Visibility about 100’. I stood on the seawall and watched Liquidity glide into the steamy gloom and decided that if she can do it so can we. Within a hour we were ready and with points organized in the GPS we headed off with our trusty radar reflector beneath the spreaders. As the buoys disappeared in the fog we were greeted by two bats flying around the boat. Apparently they had been stow-aways in the mainsail cover and discovered that they were going for some offshore sailing. We managed to chase one away with the mop but the other dove through the companionway and disappeared only to emerge into my hair upon dusk in Tobermory. The journey in the fog was uneventful except for passing a few fisherman in open boats north of Pt. Elgin. Visibility varied from about one hundred feet to half a mile and after a nine hour trip finally cleared about ten miles south of Cape Hurd. We were prepared to round Cape Hurd in the fog but really didn’t want to, so things worked out well. We were just about the last boat into Little Tub and we were assigned a spot in front of a fishing tug looking right up at the ChiChiMaun. The ChiChiMaun (Big Canoe) is the ferry from Tobermory to South Bay Mouth on Manitoulin Island. It is a magnificent ship that carries 145 cars and everything from logging trucks to buses. Our first visitor was a young man I had met in Goderich three years earlier. Chris had bought an old Continental Folkboat (made by Whitby as the Alberg 30 was) and sailed it back to Kincardine from Goderich. He has since been on ships around the world sailing to the southern hemisphere and thousands of miles up the Amazon on a small freighter to pick up lumber. He is now working as a navigator on the Chichimaun. Jay and Kathy Poulter (from Goderich) stopped by to say hello and we met several Americans travelling south and north. One of these--Mike is a NASA engineer sailing alone on a Pearson 30 and a boat that we would see more of.

We had a great time up north. We met many people and many boats (saw four other A30's) but only got to talk to one (Tobermory). The others were not familiar or members of GLAA. We had a great run down Georgian Bay on Saturday sailing in four foot seas and going at a great pace. After a tranquil night in Tobermory we listened to the radio for weather. The forecast was for south-west winds of 20 knots. Unfortunately we got 30 knot winds from the SSW and pounded into eight to ten foot seas from Tobermory to Kincardine. I failed to refuel in Tobermory (stupid) and we ran out of fuel about 15 miles off Port Elgin. Up to that point we had been following a friend in an Aloha 34 and he was determined to reach Kincardine bashing into 8 footers that were hitting us about 20 deg. off the SB bow. It was pretty nasty. I tried to subtlely convince him that Pt. Elgin would be a better option but he refused to motor on the beam in that weather (maybe he was right for his boat). When the motor quit we instantly experienced the most wonderful sound -- silence. Suddenly everything was quiet and our A30 rode the breakers like a bloody cork. It was amazing. We quickly unfurled the jenny part way and took off like a shot. When we were bashing into the waves we were being smacked and rolled 30 degrees (always recovering quickly), but as soon as the boat went abeam to the waves it seemed to heave-to and the ride was smooth and the waves rode underneath us and rolling us less than half of the roll experienced bashing into them. Of course I had extra fuel on board and eventually refueled before we got too far (good thing because Pt. Elgin in a SW blow is a beast to line up and hard to find). It took about 2 hours to make Pt. Elgin while our friend bashed on for another four hours in Kincardine. We watched his boat take the waves and saw the bottom of his keel a few times. A few days later they couldn’t wait to tell us how much they had seen of our keel.

We had some great sails in the north channel. Visited many coves and learned some new skills. We covered 525 miles. Ports of call--Pt. Elgin, Tobermory, Killarney, Little Current, Kagawong, Gore Bay.