marinetraffic.com

Since our AIS is new, we have been tracking ourselves on Marinetraffic.com and have told everyone who cares to do likewise.  Presently we appear to be frozen north of the Minos Bank near Beausoleil Island.  

Several folks have let us know about this anomally as well.

So I have checked our AIS diagnostics and we are transmitting. We can also see other AIS equipped vessels.

From the marinetraffic.com website, I have learned that they use independent folks with AIS receivers to transmit AIS data to marinetraffic and then marinetraffic posts the data on their website. It doesn't appear that they have any receivers near us, which doesn't surprise me as a receiver needs a stable internet connection to transmit the AIS data.

So, stay tuned, maybe when we get closer to civilization we'll thaw and show up in our true location!

MBSC 50th Anniversary - 12 Mile Bay

July 1st Canada celebrated 150 years since confederation and Midland Bay Sailing Club celebrated its 50th Anniversary. 

We cleaned the decks and down below, sat out a short downpour and left Beausoleil Bay for the sailing club early in the afternoon. We motored much of the way but did get a short sail under jib alone in 18 to 20 knots on the beam.

MBSC's Anniversary was a great party with dinner and dancing and lot's of camaraderie. Many of MBSC's members have been south and kindly shared their tips and encouragement. 

This morning we went out for a hearty breakfast with friends and left the dock about 1230 hrs accompanied by our friends Don, Sharon, Mac and Diane aboard Don and Sharon's Catalina 36 Mk II Symmetry II. Unfortunately the 15 knots out of the southwest that Environment Canada had forecast never materialized so we motored all the way to 12 Mile Bay where we have anchored for the night. 

After another downpour the sun has come out and it looks like it will be a beautiful evening!

Off the Dock!

1315 hours today we left Hindsons Marina to begin our voyage to the Bahamas.  We had a wonderful sail in 10 -15 knots of wind up to Beausoleil Bay.

Anchor down, dinghy down, swim platform down, I installed our new handhold and we went for an invigorating swim.  

We're going to miss Georgian Bay!

Locked and Loaded!

I'm breathing much more easily this week.  Thanks to Nadil at N.M. Marine Services, our projects are done!  

Travel Berkey and stand

The AIS is working (you can find Trekker on www.marinetraffic.com), Go Free wireless control for the chart plotter is working, solar panels are working, cabin fans are installed, exhaust fans for the fridge and freezer are installed, head hoses replaced, jacklines made, the third reefing line installed and tubular fender boards fabricated.  Doug at Klacko Marine fabricated a handhold and socket for the swim platform which Nadil installed to make coming up the swim ladder and disembarking from the dinghy easier (read more graceful)!  

We also bought a Travel Berkey water purifier and was very fortunate to find, at the last minute, Novatek Welding in Cambridge, Ontario to fabricate a stand to mount it on the galley bulkhead. Thanks Mike!

We have charts and cruising guides, lots of safety equipment and on and on. Everything is checked off on our many lists ... hope we didn't forget to list anything!  

We have most of our clothes aboard and Karen has most of the non-perishable food aboard.  The wine cellar and liquor locker are stocked too!  

Time to get going!

Boat Time, Boat Projects and Boat Dollars

We have been very busy getting ALL our projects  out of the way before we go. Time is quickly passing by ... less than two weeks before we cast off.
Some of the main projects have been: add another solar panel (done), add AIS (automatic identification system which lets us see other boats and them see us - nearly done), add a handhold railing on the swim platform (nearly done), add cabin and fridge/freezer fans (done), and replace a couple of head (bathroom) hoses (almost done).
I have discovered during these projects that anything that you think can be done quickly and easily will not be. We call it "boat time". So if you think a fan will take an hour to install ... in boat time it can easily triple. Nothing on a boat is easy to do as you are working in small spaces with limited access to it. Very frustrating and difficult!
But as we learned yesterday, staying calm and working together actually works. We were moving around some mattresses for the aft cabin when it was discovered that the zipper on one of them had split near the end of it. So we tried to unzip it, and in doing so broke off the tab on the zipper. At the very end of the zipper, of course.  So with four hands and lots of patience and teamwork we slowly and carefully re-zipped it. Only to discover the zipper was double ended !! Duh! I guess we should have looked before we started!
And nothing on or for a boat comes cheap. A set of custom made sheets for our V-berth, which I tried to make myself and discovered is not an easy task, will cost us many times a regular set of sheets (well worth it I say)! Boat dollars we call it.

So now we are moving aboard and slowly making it our home away from home. Clothing is being moved on in batches (what to bring?? Warm clothes, cool clothes, fancy clothes, hats, coats). We have bought a whole stack of used DVD box sets of shows that we can watch along the way as we really are not sure what kind of TV reception we will get with our little "rabbit ears". And I have collected a bin full of knitting projects to do along the way. Orders are accepted!!

The galley is slowly coming together. We bought some stacking drawers and made a row of them in the "garage" which has given us more storage space. Not shown in the photo are the straps we installed to keep them in place.  Plus I ordered extra Tupperware for all my staples and feel quite organized now.

Storage drawers in the garage

Tupperware cupboards

 I bought all new spices and found a super place to store them, cool, dark and the perfect height. The cupboard they are in used to hold a garbage can, a complete waste of space as far as I was concerned, so our "handyman and jack-of-all trades" Nadil built me two amazing pull out drawers in that space for added storage. The garbage can is in now in the garage.

Top drawer

Lower door was for garbage

Spices at back

I have discovered living on a boat makes you extremely organized and I  can now look at a space and go "a-ha" this will fit here, or I can put that there. My shoes are another issue. A girl needs as many shoes as possible. So I took a shelf between my bed and wardrobe and made a little area for shoes. So clever!

We are starting to feel like we are (almost) ready to go.
Now starts the hardest part. I'm not looking forward to saying "see ya soon" to all my friends and family. But we will be back in October to celebrate my nephew's wedding which will be here before we know it.
Our adventures will soon begin .... one day at a time.

Six Weeks to Go!

C minus six weeks.... (C=Cast off!)

What? 6 weeks? Really ... how did that happen? Time is quickly whizzing by as we get ourselves ready for our great sailing adventure.

Reality really set in when Hugh semi-retired May 1st. Now we can run around getting things organized, together! Its like everyday is a Saturday ... I guess that's what retirement life is all about! I think I like it!

Items on our many lists are quickly getting checked off ... new wills, check! New glasses and sunglasses, check! New iPhone (7 plus which is "water-resistant!!), check!! We have ordered  a new custom fit sheet set which is very exciting. I did try to make my own sheets from a regular sheet set but, wow, that is a hard job. They will work but in an emergency only!! I'm also gathering knitting projects to do along the way. I am an avid knitter and hate to sit and do nothing, and I have a feeling I will have some spare time as we travel.  Let me know if you need me to make anything 😊 Its all coming together.

I am slowly getting my head wrapped around provisioning the boat. I decided that I need to stock my galley pretty much the same as my kitchen at home. Makes sense, right? So I am going through all my cupboards and making lists of things I use all the time ... spices, staples, condiments, oils / vinegars etc. Some things I will bring from home and some things I will buy new.  I am also looking at all my Tupperware to store it all in and will order more containers. Everything needs to go into Tupperware or Ziplocs to protect it from the moisture on the water. I will be bringing a ton of Ziplocs with me! I'm feeling calmer about provisioning.

There are piles of "stuff" all over the house that need to go up to the boat. It always amazes me how we can take up so much and it somehow disappears into the boat. We bought a set of stacking drawers that we will be putting in our spare aft cabin (the "garage") for extra storage room. We'll see if everything we take on board this year disappears!

We are  slowly putting the boat back together after the winter and we finally spent two nights on board. They were a  little chilly!

The Main Salon

Our Cozy Cabin

Thank goodness for our fireplace to keep us warm!  

Time is quickly flying by and we want to see as many friends and family as we can, one more time, before we go. My mom is coming to terms with the fact that I am gong to be away for 10 months. I bought a  map of the Eastern USA and put it on a cork board with our route marked on it so she can follow us as we go.  The good news is we can talk/facetime/and text as much as we want along the way.  Isn't new technology wonderful?! When Hugh's parents did this trip in 1980, apart from the Super 8 movies, we hardly ever heard from them ..."no news is good news" was their motto! Plus, we will be home in October to attend my nephew's wedding and celebrate my "big" birthday!

Its all very exciting and scary at the same time. Exciting as its a huge adventure that we have been talking about since we met. We will see lots of amazing places along the way and meet people from all over the world. Besides, spending the winter in the  Bahamas sounds pretty good to me!
Scary because  I'm afraid of lots of things ... thunderstorms and lightning, big winds and waves, missing my family and friends ... you get the picture!! I guess its the unknown that is scary.

But we can do this ... One day at a time ...

Launch Day!

Central Ontario's weather has been nasty this spring.  Record amounts of rain and well below average temperatures.  



In spite of the weather I got that last of the preparations below the waterline done on Monday. 


Wednesday May 3, launch day, turned out to be a beautiful cool but clear day.  We arrived at the boat about an hour before scheduled launch.  

The marina kindly raised us in the slings so we could paint under the cradle bunks and then she headed for the water.

Trekker splashed down around noon to begin an exciting year!