Kingston
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2001
1
13
45
Trip End
Apr 22, 2002
Kingston,
Ontario,
Canada
Friday, August 24, 2001
As we sailed closer to Kingston, the horizon was dotted with hundreds of sails. It was our luck to be sailing through the CORK races. CORK stands for Canadian Olympic -training Regatta at Kingston. It was a beautiful sight and I looked forward to seeing the different craft up close but I was also nervous about ensuring that we not only didn't get in any boat's way but also that our passage wouldn't create a wind shadow which might temporarily slow a boat. As we sailed closer, it was apparent that we would only be near one race as the other fleets were spread over the bay in different courses. When we bought the local paper we read that nine separate fleets were racing that afternoon.
We had the pleasure of watching the Laser Gold class go by. The wind strength was about 15 knots which can be a handful in a Laser. The top sailors leading the pack made it look like child's play but those who brought up the rear and obviously had less experience were having a lot of trouble with their craft and one couple almost overturned their boat as it wallowed in the swells.
We lived in Kingston during the summers of 1968 and 1969, as I obtained my initial teaching certification. Sailing past the city brought back many pleasant memories. We had never seen the city from the water and it was a memorable experience seeing the imposing structures of the Ontario Hospital, Kingston Penitentiary, and Fort Henry with its red tiled roofs.
We stayed at the main downtown marina called the Flora MacDonald Confederation Basin. Excellent place to stay as the main shopping area is only two blocks away. Kingston is a beautiful city with so many historic buildings. Kingston's city hall directly in front of our boat was home to the first Canadian Parliament and our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald lived and practiced law here.
August 23
Mac and Nancy Hall moved from Manitoulin to their new home in Gananoque when they retired and at 10:30am picked us up for a day of shopping and sight-seeing. I was able to go to my last Canadian Tire Store for the next eight months, a sad thought :-) and visited our last Canadian mall. They have a beautiful home beside the water and had we been going further east we would have been able to anchor out in front of their home as it overlooks one of the secondary passages of the St. Lawrence River.
While Nancy prepared supper Mac drove us into Gananoque, which is titled "The Gateway to the Thousand Islands". The town has done a lot of work to spruce up its waterfront with restored historic buildings, shops, red brick walkways and an excellent art centre. Margaret loved looking at some excellent watercolours. She has all her paints and equipment stored away for the time when we finally stay in one place long enough for some serious painting.
As we sat down for supper, we remarked how strange it felt to be in a home again after five weeks on the boat. Just think, this will probably be our last home cooked meal for a very long time so it made it even extra special. We certainly thank the Hall's for a wonderful day.
August 24
Only a few blocks away from the marina is the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes and the 3,000 ton retired icebreaker Alexander Henry. My cousin had served as First Mate on the Henry and I wanted to see his old ship. Volunteers staff the museum and acts as hosts on the ship. In order to try and generate additional funds for its upkeep, it offers an onboard bed and breakfast. The cost to stay in the captain's cabin is $75 and to stay in the regular crew quarters on a narrow double bunk is $15, which would be a good deal for young people backpacking on a tight budget.
The museum itself of course had many interesting exhibits of life on the Great Lakes but the item I found of most interest was a giant ship's wheel. It was over six feet in diameter. Through a complicated system of ropes and pulleys led aft to the rudder, the helmsman steered the ship. An illustration showed that in heavy weather he often had to stand on the inner spokes to make the wheel turn against the pressure of the sea and you could see the wear on the spokes where men had stood to maintain control.
As we left the marina, we looked forward to seeing more of the CORK fleet. We had read that the second series was starting featuring classes in Finn, International 14, 49er and the Tornado. The Tornado is a twin hulled boat and we read that this year they had increased the sail area and competitors were still learning to cope with the new speed. We were soon sailing near this fleet as they came down on us flying their spinnakers. Margaret went below to get the camera as she wanted a picture of all the beautiful coloured sails. When she found it and got back up they had already passed us. Not surprising since we were only doing a leisurely three knots under mainsail and they must have been doing 15 -20 knots.
A while later, two Tornado's which had been practicing came at us on their most powerful point of sail - a beam reach. This means the wind is coming across the side of the boat and with this pressure only one hull was in the water. High on the windward hull, trying to keep the boat from capsizing were the two sailors, fully stretched out over the water, connected to their boat only by a harness called a trapeze and the soles of their shoes. We took pictures of the one boat as it screamed by us only a few boat lengths away. The broad smiles on the faces of the sailors showed they were obviously having a great time and waved as they passed us in a spray of foam.
We decided to break the crossing of Lake Ontario into two parts and headed for Main Duck Island about half way between Kingston and Oswego.
When we arrived, six sail boats watched us try to find a place to anchor and stay out of their way in this narrow and shallow anchorage. Fortunately for us, a power boat couple advised us that as long as we drew less then five feet we could tie up safely at the dock across from them. Excellent advice and much appreciated from Joe and Wendy Walczyk, aboard Zu-Zah. We would soon meet their young son Dylan as he came aboard to see what the inside of a sailboat looked like. He is the first young person to ask to climb our mast steps and quickly scampered up the mast to the first set of spreaders.
