Georgian Bay and Lake Huron

After a beautiful day in Midland I was up at 5 Am and ready to be underway. There was still a moderate breeze, but I didn't expect it to be a problem. There were no storm forecasts, so Idecided to leave.

I watched the sun rise at 5:38. The route up the bay first passed a couple fairly large islands, past this light at Hope Island, then headed in a NorthWest direction for over 60 miles of open water.
There were some waves, and fairly quickly we were getting spray over the windshield. I closed all the hatches and continued.
The boat rode fairly comfortably, the wind was almost directly on the nose. I amused myself by keeping a log, watching the instruments, and generally keeping a watch. The autopilot worked OK, but I'm still not convinced its completely right.

As I aproached Cabot Head I began to get concerned over the fuel use. It is still only drawing from the port tank, and by the time I reached Tobermory the gauge was bouncing on the bototm.
But I made it to Big Tub marina just in time to fuel up before it closed. 218 liters, but on this run up to about 2.5 gal per hour. I was pusing it to 2500 rpm to hold 10 mph all day, a total run of 9.9 hours
This is the light at the entrance to Tobermory
After a short walk I decided it was time to have a look at the fuel line problem. I opened the engine hatch and shut off the port tank. The engine continued to run fine, so I know there is no clog in the lines, its simply a matter of pulling the fuel over the path of least resistance. I intend to change the valves to someting I can control from above the engine hatch. I also changed the Racor fuel filter, after about 50 hours it was rather black. I mamaged to drop a wrench into the lowest part of the bilge, under the engine.

This bit of grafitti was painted here in about 1965. The Katherine II was the first big boat I sailed, a 65 ft gaff topsail yawl, built in 1891. It was owned by a very good friend, Joe Pica. He often ran to Tub with groups of Sea Scouts, and I recall him telling me about this painting, but it was quite a pleasant memory to see it. It was partly those memories of Joe and the Katherine II sails in Gerogian Bay that helped me decided to take this route.

A quiet night in Big Tub, I was up again at 5:00 AM. Just in time for a good thunderstorm. I watched it pass, then walked over the the Coast Guard Station and asked to see a weather map. The storm that had just passed seemed to be the last one, so I decided to head out.
The first couple hours were a bit breezy but that soon died, leaving a confused and lumpy sea. It was unconfortable rolling and wallowing, but the boat maintained the 10 mph.
By late morning it flatened out and this is what it looked like.

I had intended to stop at Kincardine, but when I passed there it was just 12:45 and since the water was very flat I decided to take advantage of the calm and go to Goderich, another 35 miles. This made a total days runs of 11.1 hours and 110 miles. I was a bit tired, but its good to have that distance behind me.

I had dinner in a small restaurant down by the freighter docks, then a quiet night in the marina. I awoke about 4:30, couldn't get back to sleep, so I headed out- started the engine at 5:05AM

About 6 hours later I was passing under the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario. This is one of those bridges I've been over a hundered times, that I want to go under on this trip.

This is the Fort Gratiot Light at the southern end of Lake Huron.
Just a couple miles down the St. Clair river I entered the Black River and stopped for Fuel, and the required call to Customs. After the usual telephone menu tree I got through to an Officier, and eventually was cleared to continue without inspection.

My Father and Brother arranged to meet me at the town of St. Clair, about 10 miles down the river. They enjoyed a ride down the St. Clair and across part of Lake St Clair.

I will spend tomorrow ( Friday, June 10) doing some 'boat keeping' chores, cleaning, looking at the fuel line problem, etc.

Detroit is having a heat wave- over 90 degrees F when we got to the dock, forecast to last through the weekend. I expect I'll stay here a couple days, then on to Lake Erie.

Back to the Trip Log

	I watched the sun rise at 5:38. The route up the bay first passed a couple fairly large islands, past this light at Hope Island, then headed in a NorthWest direction for over 60 miles of open water. There were some waves, and fairly quickly we were getting spray over the windshield. I closed all the hatches and continued. The boat rode fairly comfortably, the wind was almost directly on the nose. I amused myself by keeping a log, watching the instruments, and generally keeping a watch. The autopilot worked OK, but I'm still not convinced its completely right.
	As I aproached Cabot Head I began to get concerned over the fuel use. It is still only drawing from the port tank, and by the time I reached Tobermory the gauge was bouncing on the bototm. But I made it to Big Tub marina just in time to fuel up before it closed. 218 liters, but on this run up to about 2.5 gal per hour. I was pusing it to 2500 rpm to hold 10 mph all day, a total run of 9.9 hours This is the light at the entrance to Tobermory After a short walk I decided it was time to have a look at the fuel line problem. I opened the engine hatch and shut off the port tank. The engine continued to run fine, so I know there is no clog in the lines, its simply a matter of pulling the fuel over the path of least resistance. I intend to change the valves to someting I can control from above the engine hatch. I also changed the Racor fuel filter, after about 50 hours it was rather black. I mamaged to drop a wrench into the lowest part of the bilge, under the engine.
	This bit of grafitti was painted here in about 1965. The Katherine II was the first big boat I sailed, a 65 ft gaff topsail yawl, built in 1891. It was owned by a very good friend, Joe Pica. He often ran to Tub with groups of Sea Scouts, and I recall him telling me about this painting, but it was quite a pleasant memory to see it. It was partly those memories of Joe and the Katherine II sails in Gerogian Bay that helped me decided to take this route.
	A quiet night in Big Tub, I was up again at 5:00 AM. Just in time for a good thunderstorm. I watched it pass, then walked over the the Coast Guard Station and asked to see a weather map. The storm that had just passed seemed to be the last one, so I decided to head out. The first couple hours were a bit breezy but that soon died, leaving a confused and lumpy sea. It was unconfortable rolling and wallowing, but the boat maintained the 10 mph. By late morning it flatened out and this is what it looked like.
	I had intended to stop at Kincardine, but when I passed there it was just 12:45 and since the water was very flat I decided to take advantage of the calm and go to Goderich, another 35 miles. This made a total days runs of 11.1 hours and 110 miles. I was a bit tired, but its good to have that distance behind me.

	About 6 hours later I was passing under the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario. This is one of those bridges I've been over a hundered times, that I want to go under on this trip.
	This is the Fort Gratiot Light at the southern end of Lake Huron. Just a couple miles down the St. Clair river I entered the Black River and stopped for Fuel, and the required call to Customs. After the usual telephone menu tree I got through to an Officier, and eventually was cleared to continue without inspection.
	My Father and Brother arranged to meet me at the town of St. Clair, about 10 miles down the river. They enjoyed a ride down the St. Clair and across part of Lake St Clair.