SUNDAY JULY 2, 2017: Arrival in Kingston
Arrive in Kingston via train. Drop off supplies (mostly clothing) at boat. Jeff and Marie, previous owners of Freedom, help us motor to the fuel dock at the marina to top up the diesel and empty the head so that we know the procedures and locations of these important features. Then they take us to downtown Kingston, first for lunch at the waterfront, then for victuals for our journey. Jeff takes Mike to Canadian Tire to buy a fishing rod while Marie shows me last minute details around the boat, such as how to work the alcohol fueled stove.
They return home, leaving Mike and I to explore (boat and city) and have a bit of supper. We settle in for our first night on the boat while it rains overnight. So far, no leaks.
Arrive in Kingston via train. Drop off supplies (mostly clothing) at boat. Jeff and Marie, previous owners of Freedom, help us motor to the fuel dock at the marina to top up the diesel and empty the head so that we know the procedures and locations of these important features. Then they take us to downtown Kingston, first for lunch at the waterfront, then for victuals for our journey. Jeff takes Mike to Canadian Tire to buy a fishing rod while Marie shows me last minute details around the boat, such as how to work the alcohol fueled stove.
They return home, leaving Mike and I to explore (boat and city) and have a bit of supper. We settle in for our first night on the boat while it rains overnight. So far, no leaks.
MONDAY JULY 3, 2017: Kingston to Trenton
Jeff and Marie arrive around 8:30. Jeff will come with us for this first leg of the journey--in part because he just loves the boat, and in part, to help us become acquainted with Freedom and to answer any questions we might have about the running of our new floating cottage--and Marie will pick him up in Trenton.
To get out of this Kingston marina, we must pass under a lift bridge that opens on the hour when required. So Mike gets the motor running and does a little practice maneuvering in the harbour while we wait for the clock. Jeff likes everything just so (read really OCD) and he has a set way of doing things. This includes getting the bumpers up and stowed ASAP for a long journey. I'm used to just popping them up on the deck, making sure they stay clear of all the lines. I'm also used to keeping the emergency horn in the cockpit and making sure the radio stays on. Jeff only uses the horn to signal to the bridge master, and only does a call to Prescott Coastguard Radio for a radio check. Things will go differently on the rest of the journey, but for this day, we follow Jeff's routine.
I sound the 3 long, 1 short blasts of the airhorn to signal the bridge master that we intend to make the 9 am bridge lift. After no movement occurs, Jeff calls him on his cell phone, and we see the guy amble over from his shelter to the bridge controls. The bridge lifts and Mike punches the motor, beginning our week-long trek. Marie waves from shore, then it's just the three of us, motoring into the wind.
Kingston to Trenton via sailboat is a rather long stint. Like 12 hours long. Into the wind (what little exists). We do manage to put the sail up twice during this stretch, for a total of about 1/2 hour. But at least this gives us our first look at how these sails work.
A previous owner of Freedom Four-Two had rigged that boat to make it easy for solo sailing. Freedom does not yet have this luxury, although I'm sure it's on Mike's list of things to change. To put up the mainsail, you need one person at the mast (Mike) to haul on the halyard, and one person at the wheel (me) to make sure you don't smash into anything (the wheel and rudder tend to shift more, especially with the inboard motor still cranking the propeller to give us any momentum and keep us facing into the wind for raising the sail). The jib, you can work completely from the wheel single-handed if you want, so I guess it is possible to sail Freedom solo, so long as you don't want the mainsail up without any fuss.
Anyway, once we got the sails up, the bit of wind finally in our favour disappeared completely. As we did have a timetable to try to keep to (remember that 12-hour thing?), we didn't wait for it to start blowing again; just started up the motor and hauled in the sails.
Travelling mostly by motor, you'd think maybe we'd have smooth going--no wind to play with the sails and heel the boat over at any crazy angles or anything. Turns out, boats move a lot more side to side when only a motor pushes them along. After a bit, my stomach complained, but so long as I steered, I could handle it.
And then we hit the Bay of Quinte, and encountered whitecaps. With the wind directly in front of us. We closed up the dodger to keep most of the spray from swamping us, yet even so, I got wet. Jeff and Mike went below so that Jeff could show Mike various interesting and useful tidbits about the functioning of Freedom, leaving me on deck to follow the chart-finder. After a bit, they re-emerged and Jeff took over steering so he could have a smoke break, and Mike figured out the working of the alcohol stove (par my verbal instructions), leaving me with nothing to do except enjoy the wind-tossed waves. I did not have much in the way of food that evening as we worked toward Trenton, completely freaking out Jeff (or perhaps it was more the pale green shade of my face?). Mike knows my tells, and just let me carry on. Smart man.
Luckily, I had booked most of our stops a couple of weeks in advance, because we gave a confirmation call in to Trenton just before 7 pm (or 19:00 in sailor [and military] speak) to inform them of our late arrival time, and, as they closed at 7, they just gave us our dock number information and left us to it. When we approached, Jeff and I got the bumpers out and reattached (NOT a fun thing when your stomach heaves as much as the boat), then we tried to follow the info in our 'Dock Guide' book, only to discover that the marina I had thought I'd booked online (Fraser Park) no longer actually existed. In it's place stood the new marina (Trenton Marina), which we eventually figured out was the one with our reservation. Being close to 21:00, we could not call them, but we found the indicated slip, saw the key card they had left for us, and surmised we had come to the right place after all. Yay!
Marie was stuck in traffic, but arrived about 1/2 hour after we did. I checked out the nice facilities (having a working head on board is great, but sometimes you just want a real flush toilet that doesn't move) and we bit the former owners farewell (they only had to return for one forgotten thing about 20 minutes later, but basically, this was the end of the line for Jeff).
It wasn't until I brushed my teeth for bed that I threw up.
At least I felt better after that. And we had our second night on our boat, trying out different berths to find the best sleeping arrangements for us.
Jeff and Marie arrive around 8:30. Jeff will come with us for this first leg of the journey--in part because he just loves the boat, and in part, to help us become acquainted with Freedom and to answer any questions we might have about the running of our new floating cottage--and Marie will pick him up in Trenton.
To get out of this Kingston marina, we must pass under a lift bridge that opens on the hour when required. So Mike gets the motor running and does a little practice maneuvering in the harbour while we wait for the clock. Jeff likes everything just so (read really OCD) and he has a set way of doing things. This includes getting the bumpers up and stowed ASAP for a long journey. I'm used to just popping them up on the deck, making sure they stay clear of all the lines. I'm also used to keeping the emergency horn in the cockpit and making sure the radio stays on. Jeff only uses the horn to signal to the bridge master, and only does a call to Prescott Coastguard Radio for a radio check. Things will go differently on the rest of the journey, but for this day, we follow Jeff's routine.
I sound the 3 long, 1 short blasts of the airhorn to signal the bridge master that we intend to make the 9 am bridge lift. After no movement occurs, Jeff calls him on his cell phone, and we see the guy amble over from his shelter to the bridge controls. The bridge lifts and Mike punches the motor, beginning our week-long trek. Marie waves from shore, then it's just the three of us, motoring into the wind.
Kingston to Trenton via sailboat is a rather long stint. Like 12 hours long. Into the wind (what little exists). We do manage to put the sail up twice during this stretch, for a total of about 1/2 hour. But at least this gives us our first look at how these sails work.
A previous owner of Freedom Four-Two had rigged that boat to make it easy for solo sailing. Freedom does not yet have this luxury, although I'm sure it's on Mike's list of things to change. To put up the mainsail, you need one person at the mast (Mike) to haul on the halyard, and one person at the wheel (me) to make sure you don't smash into anything (the wheel and rudder tend to shift more, especially with the inboard motor still cranking the propeller to give us any momentum and keep us facing into the wind for raising the sail). The jib, you can work completely from the wheel single-handed if you want, so I guess it is possible to sail Freedom solo, so long as you don't want the mainsail up without any fuss.
Anyway, once we got the sails up, the bit of wind finally in our favour disappeared completely. As we did have a timetable to try to keep to (remember that 12-hour thing?), we didn't wait for it to start blowing again; just started up the motor and hauled in the sails.
Travelling mostly by motor, you'd think maybe we'd have smooth going--no wind to play with the sails and heel the boat over at any crazy angles or anything. Turns out, boats move a lot more side to side when only a motor pushes them along. After a bit, my stomach complained, but so long as I steered, I could handle it.
And then we hit the Bay of Quinte, and encountered whitecaps. With the wind directly in front of us. We closed up the dodger to keep most of the spray from swamping us, yet even so, I got wet. Jeff and Mike went below so that Jeff could show Mike various interesting and useful tidbits about the functioning of Freedom, leaving me on deck to follow the chart-finder. After a bit, they re-emerged and Jeff took over steering so he could have a smoke break, and Mike figured out the working of the alcohol stove (par my verbal instructions), leaving me with nothing to do except enjoy the wind-tossed waves. I did not have much in the way of food that evening as we worked toward Trenton, completely freaking out Jeff (or perhaps it was more the pale green shade of my face?). Mike knows my tells, and just let me carry on. Smart man.
Luckily, I had booked most of our stops a couple of weeks in advance, because we gave a confirmation call in to Trenton just before 7 pm (or 19:00 in sailor [and military] speak) to inform them of our late arrival time, and, as they closed at 7, they just gave us our dock number information and left us to it. When we approached, Jeff and I got the bumpers out and reattached (NOT a fun thing when your stomach heaves as much as the boat), then we tried to follow the info in our 'Dock Guide' book, only to discover that the marina I had thought I'd booked online (Fraser Park) no longer actually existed. In it's place stood the new marina (Trenton Marina), which we eventually figured out was the one with our reservation. Being close to 21:00, we could not call them, but we found the indicated slip, saw the key card they had left for us, and surmised we had come to the right place after all. Yay!
Marie was stuck in traffic, but arrived about 1/2 hour after we did. I checked out the nice facilities (having a working head on board is great, but sometimes you just want a real flush toilet that doesn't move) and we bit the former owners farewell (they only had to return for one forgotten thing about 20 minutes later, but basically, this was the end of the line for Jeff).
It wasn't until I brushed my teeth for bed that I threw up.
At least I felt better after that. And we had our second night on our boat, trying out different berths to find the best sleeping arrangements for us.
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