LAUNCH 2013:         Long Point Bay 
                                     Lake Erie



We finally got most of the work done on Sea Sprite. Bottom paint, varnish work  and general cleaning. 

We launched May 7th.   First Mate and I assembled everthing and launched ourselves. It was a long day. We managed it with only a few glitches. The wind came up out of the east making it a bit difficult.

 Sea Sprite sitting at her new very well protected dock at Rowan Bluffs.
                                                







 LEARNING YEAR: 

     We had never sailed Long Point Bay before and even though we had boated here with our old Crestliner (stinkboat) years ago, a sailboat is quite different. 

       The inner bay is very shallow in spots and a swing keel becomes your friend in a hurry. The weeds became a challenge later in the season. Larger waves (4-5 foot at times) and stiff winds had us reefing quite often. We even used the second reef on the main once.

        We also had to use the GPS (chartplotter) as intended. First Mate became very good at this. Buoys and lights became important aids.





   LIGHTS AND MARKERS AROUND THE BAY:

                                              
                                           Port Rowan Harbour Light

Port Dover Marina Light

                                           
                                                          EC 10 
                                                          channel marker

Long Point Lighthouse

                                                       Port Dover                                                                   Harbour Entrance

We started sailing early in May and as you can see the air was cool. 

We really enjoyed the long spinnaker runs. We had some last over two hours without touching anything.







We also enjoyed what the First Mate calls destination sails. We sailed to Ryserson Island,  Pottahawk sandbar, Bluffs bar, and to the tip of the point. We also sailed to most of the Towns and Marinas around both the Outer and Inner bays.

Anchored off Ryerson Island

    Sailed to Port Rowan for dinner.

Pottahawk Sandbar.








Our two biggest sails were to the tip of the point and  a sail to Port Dover.



The trip to Dover and back was done over two days. We rented a transient slip for the night. We sailed a total 36 nautical miles from our dock back to our dock.

 Sea Sprite looked a bit small beside some of the boats in Port Dover.





The Trip from our dock to the tip of the point and back was done on one day. We sailed\motored a total of 41 nm. It was a long day. Left our dock around 10.am and returned 12 hours later.

             Anchored near the lighthouse at the end of the point.

          The tip of Long Point. Nothing but Sea gulls and sand.




FRIENDS and FAMILY:

Several friends and family members came down to check out Rowan Bluffs and the bay. Here are a few pics of some of them.

Even our part time dogs came down.

SUNSETS and WILDLIFE:

SEASONS END:

Sea Sprite was in the water until October 1st.  A wonderfull fall day made it hard to take her out.

She was in a  total of 147 days.

We slept over 26 nights and sailed a total of 620 nm.

The First Mate and I both consider the season a success and are making plans for Rowan Bluffs again next year.

SAILING IN 2013 

Another long cold winter.

We got to the Toronto boat show again this year.   Les, Chris and Hans from the 

Club were able to join us. We had a great day and purchased a few items that we 

will need on the Bay in the spring. I had to drag the First Mate away from the 

Hunter 33. ( maybe next year )

It was great to be around boaters and boats again.

I did the normal tiller and rudder revarnish this winter. 

Our personal carpenter ( Thanks George ) also made us a spare rudder blade. It is not on the boat yet but our old blade has considerable rot around the pivot hole and won't be with us much longer.

The new blade is made of white oak and looks great.

Well don't we look happy. No this is not Sea Sprite. This is Ramblynn. We are sailing off the coast of Grand Bahama Island and having a ball.

Ramblynn belongs to our friend Gerry from the Club. Gerry and Sophia graciously invited us to spend a week with them in Port Lucaya at the end of January. Being boat people we felt right at home moving onto Ramblynn. I always sleep better on a boat.

The snorkeling was fantastic. Anita and Sophia both enjoyed it. I attempted and am still attempting to get comfortable with it. It is well worth the effort.

We kayaked through the mangroves somewhere on the island. Gerry had us lost with some of  his Jeep excursions.

                                                        
                                    

                                  
                           You gotta love Palm trees.

Beautiful coloured water.

Great
Beaches

Ramblynn & Dirty Girl

                        

And of course boats and more boats.

Our wonderful laid back hosts.







We met a number of wonderful people who all made the trip a success. The coffee group welcomed me and had many insights into island life. 

We especially enjoyed the company and generosity of  Ken and Joanne. We also met a cruising couple from Canada (Ralph and Wendy) and enjoyed their company at the fish fry and at happy hour.

Ralph and Wendy (Sailing Altona) and Sophia's blogs (Life is Good) can both be found on my blog list. Have a look you will enjoy them both.



We both thank Gerry and Sophia for making us feel right at home and showing us such a great time.



Now if we could only get Sea Sprite to the Bahamas.........

Sailing in 2012


Winters are just too darn long. Yes it was a mild winter with very little snow but still winter.
 No trip south this year made it seem even longer.

Once again I re-varnished the rudder and tiller. I also applied cetol to the new swing keel winch board
built by our personal carpenter.  (thanks George)   Sometimes I wonder if stainless and fiberglass might look just fine.  (AKA the Mulholland solution)









                           Our escape to the Toronto boat was made alone this year as all of our sailing friends where busy with life.   



The first mate and I spent more money than we usually do. Fenders, mast head\deck light and other small parts and oh yes  you guessed it more shoes........

In the early Spring we also made a trip to Port Credit and visited our favorite stores. ( Mason's, Genco and HMP ) We picked up a wind indicator, VHF antennae and an anchor light. We had to order a new main halyard block as no one had it in stock.

The First Mate has complained about raising the main sail for a couple of seasons now. I finally discovered that the main halyard block was worn. I really should have noticed this earlier.

I also bought a new Garmin GPS  and a Canadian topographic map which shows Wildwood Lake on it. No way we will get lost now. It is actually a replacement for our old knot meter which has finally quit. It shows speed. max speed and logged distance as well as the map functions.

With the knot meter and the depth sounder replaced I now have two through hull fittings that can be removed. But what to do with the holes?

I was very busy in the early spring installing all these new parts. In fact I ran out of time and had to launch without refreshing the bottom paint. ( Must do that next Spring. )







We launched on Sunday May 5th.***** Lets get the season started.******  First sail was on May the 8th.






After the boat was home in 2011 I found a small kayak for sale on Kijiji. The First Mate was interested in trying one since Juan seems to enjoy his so much at the Club. 

This gave her something to do while I was busy working on the docks or fishing. We dragged it all over the lake.  It tows very easily.

We raced again and again no wins. We finished 5th in June and 2nd in July.  We always enjoy the challenge and learn more each time. We really enjoyed dicing with Chelsea and her crew aboard Trinket.

On the 14th of June we where sitting around the fire about 10 PM. We both saw a fire ball (large meteor) travel from one end of the lake to the other. It disappeared over the dam. It was green and white in colour, very large, very low and very bright. Did not hear any sound from it. I'm sure I will never see another one. 

NASA photo

It was reported in the media. Many people saw it. I found one YouTube video. It is under Sea Sprite links.

Canada Day we managed to up our Flag count up to 10 large flags. This made Sea Sprite sail a bit sluggish but we still had a fun day on the water.














Many of our friends joined in the flag flap this year.















And wouldn't you know a raft up and swim broke out.

Thinking of adding one of these to help deal with the odd stink boat. It just might fit in the anchor locker. The half million dollar price tag may be a bit steep though.
























We missed the August race because we where in Halifax to visit our son. We had a great time and even managed a day in Lunenburg.
                                 

We arrived just in time to see the end of a sailboat race.
 They where a bit larger than ours.

We finally got to see Bluenose II. She was in dry dock and would be relaunched within weeks.

The Farley Mowat was also in Lunenburg. This ship has an interesting history with the Sea Shepherd Society. (see Wikipedia)

We also spotted the Spirit of Canada.










                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                            After our day in Lunenburg we toured  HMCS Iroquois with our son.

We had a few guests this summer. Some just couldn't wait to get off the boat.

We decided to combine our two favorite hobbies this year. We and many of our friends  were pleased with the results.

We attended the Port Credit in the water boat show with some of our sailing friends in late August. Gord helped us pick up several bargains. Always take a Scot when haggling over prices.

Upper Thames had to lower the lake early this year to do some "planned" dam maintenance. It would have been nice to know this when we bought our pass for the "planned" full season. We had to start pulling boats in mid August. Upper Thames had to close the lake to all boats at the end of  August. 

We had our last sail on August 25th and pulled the boat on August 28th. The lack of water and notice made it difficult for some to remove their boats.

Even with the shortened season the log book shows we managed to sail a total of 40 days. We visited the Club more than this but could not sail everyday.

 We sailed 288 nautical miles up and down the lake and we reached a maximum speed of 6.5 knots. (this is according to the GPS)

Aerial  picture of  Long Point

With the extra summer weeks we  had with no boat in the water the First Mate and I had time to make our decision to leave Wildwood.( at least temporarily ) 

This was a difficult decision as we have made many great friends at the Club and have enjoyed the racing, dinners and even the Peanut Gallery. (which we joined in from time to time) 

We have been exploring the idea of  taking Sea Sprite to Long Point Bay on Lake Erie. I spent a lot of time there when I was younger. My grandfather always had a boat on the Bay. When our son was young I have to admit we also owned a stink boat which we used on the Bay a lot. We spent many afternoons at Pottahawk  swimming eating and fishing. After a lot of looking around and many different thoughts we have decided to move Sea Sprite to Rowan Bluffs for the 2013 season. 

Sea Sprite should be at one of the docks on the left.

We hope this will extend our season next year.We also look forward to spending nights anchored out on the Bay and sailing from Port to Port. I should also be able to do a little more serious fishing with  all the weeds and sand bars.