cobourg2001

Our plan this year for our long Memorial Day weekend was to take the Lady Jane across the lake to the town of Coboug, Ontario. After perfoming all of the required engine maintenance, the Lady Jane is in ship shape and ready to go..

Friday, May 25th - We arrive at the boat around 5 pm and start loading our gear. Since the boat is pretty well set for equipment, we don't have too much stuff to load other than food and personal gear. Once settled, first order of business is to top off the fuel tank. We filled the Lady Jane when we launched her, today we just need to top off. $60 of fuel and we are full. Gas is currently $2.00 a gallon at our marina.   After fueling, we motor back to our slip and moor the Lady Jane for the night. We had a dinner of pizza and chicken wings and then watched a movie. Our slip nieghbor, Frank, came down at around 10:30 and infomed us that he wouldn't be able to make the trip with us. We offer to take his son over with us for the weekend, he is the same age as our son, Rob. Frank thinks that will be great, so he will bring him down in the morning.

Saturday, May 26th - We awake rested and refreshed at 5:30 am to the smell of brewing coffee. Jane bought a Black and Decker coffee maker last year that turns itself on and starts brewing coffee at the time you select. What a great way to wake up!
After getting dressed and coffee, we take Coco out for his morning duties. He is happy to sniff every thing in the marina, gotta love a little dog! Back to the boat and a check of the weather forecast - SE winds 10-20 knots, 1 to 3 ft waves.   Sounds like a go to us. Frank comes over and tells us that his son is sick and won't be able to join us. Rob is a bit disappointed.
At 6 am, we fire up the Lady Jane and cast off. Our trip today will take us 49 miles across Lake Ontario, compass heading of 355 degrees.   We motor out into the lake, it is very calm, no waves at all. We throttle up to around 3700 rpms, about 20-21 mph according to the GPS. After 10 miles of running, we hit dense fog. Not only that, but the temperature has dropped into the 40's! The lake water this time of the year is only 42 degrees, and the air can be just as cold. I go below and put more clothes on. Jane has a pair of gardening gloves aboard for locking, I put those on as well. Back up to the bridge and I throttle back to around 2500 rpms, 9.5 mph. We will run this speed the rest of the way across, even with radar I don't feel comfortable running fast in fog. We pass a ship in the middle of the lake, we never see it, but it is clear as day on the radar. After around 4 hours of running, we are close to Cobourg. However, visibilty is now much less than 100 ft. Real pea soup. Our GPS is indicating we have hit our waypoint, and the radar shows the breakwall dead ahead, but we can't see a thing. Suddenly the rocks of the breakwall appear, no more than 50 feet in front of us! Spooky for sure. We make our way into the harbor and call the marina for slip assignment. Once secure, we check in and phone customs. Jane decides to go and do some shopping in town, Robbie and I go back to the boat and relax for a while.   Jane returns with chinese food, which we take care of in short order. After lunch I take care of some small things on the boat while Jane reads a book.   Around 2 pm, the wind comes up and blows the fog clear. It turns out to be a nice day. Sunny but cool.   Around 7pm a thunderstorm rolled in, lots of rain. Coco hates the thunder, he hides behind me.   We finished the day with some margaritas and a rented movie.

Sunday, May 27th - We awoke once again to the smell of coffee at 7 am. Looks like it may be a nice day, the sun is out already. Coco is eager to go for his walk, so we load up our coffee mugs and take him out. Happy puppy.   Today we spend shopping and just walking around town. They are redoing downtown Cobourg, the main street is closed to traffic. They are putting all new sidewalks in and paving blocks between the sidewalk and road. Should be a nice facelift when they are done.   For lunch we buy a large container of french fries from the "Chip Truck" The canadians have a real love of french fries, and they do know how to make a great fry. Be sure to try them with vinegar! Rob goes into town later in the day and returns with a remote control boat from Radio Shack. He has a ball with it, it is fun to watch him control it. Around 5, a huge thunderstorm rolls in. The winds increase to close to 40 knots, our boat is really rocking at the slip! I took some pictures of the cloud formations as it approched, I'll post them when we get the film back. After the storm subsides, we talk with the owners of the boat next to us. They are from Point Breeze, which is about 25 miles west of our home port. They have a Calfornian trawler named "Sea Free".   Rob decides he is going to use his remote control boat again, he is working it from the dinghy when he decides to get back on the Lady Jane. SPLASH! - Rob is in the water. Well, he needed a bath anyway.. Rob reports that the water is quite cold this time of year!
Dinner tonight is steak and potatos cooked on the grill. With a nice bottle of red wine, we had a feast fit for a king.   Right around dusk, a pontoon houseboat pulls into the marina and ties up in front of us. We find out that they are on their way to the Trent from Toronto, and that they rode out the thunderstorm on the lake. That must have been some ride!
We watch a movie later that night and Jane has a few margaritas. She says they are yummy!

Monday May 28th - It's raining today. One of those gloomy rainy days. However, there is no wind right now, so we decide to pack up and head home. We are underway at 9 am, the lake is like glass. I am driving today from the lower station, nice and cozy down here compared to the bridge. Very uneventful crossing, we saw no other boats or ships. We pull into Braddocks at about 11:30 am, it is still raining. We pack up our gear and go home for the day. All in all, a nice trip!