Saturday, October 14

Lake Ontario took another unwary sailor last week. A nice new 33' Hunter with 3 on board went aground off Long Point in light 15K winds and only a smattering of waves. Whatever the misjudgment the unhappy captain ran onto the shoal and washed ashore at the foot of the Long Point Light House. The damage is extensive with nothing left of the port side of the boat and the keel a twisted pretzel.

We have been getting the forecast 60 kmh winds with freezing °. The cold rain seems never ending as it beats against the cabin side. John has been putting the mooring to it's test as these are pretty high sustained winds with serious gusts. A 42' Hunter sailboat is aground on Long Point. The Great Lakes salvage rights are currently held by Kingston Salvage, but may be relinquished to Waupoos as Rick has a plan for recovery and this is a serious beach salvage case. You have to do this from the shore with shore equipment not the water. Success or failure will revolve around mechanical advantage and "non stick" surfaces to ease the friction. Drop the keel , swing the boat and pick it up. Sounds so easy doesn't it? Not on your life, this will be very tricky with dozens of let fields to work around.

October 15: John, Dingo and and the "Joy B" ride comfortable on my new mooring. THe weather has turned now and even the hardy John has become fed up with the bad weather and longs for a winter harbor and shore power.

The November Gales have arrived on Lake Ontario and Prince Edward County in early October. Most of the Niagara region is without power, and Buffalo is in deep poo pah. Anywhere from 12" to 24" of wet heavy snow hit the region over the last 36 hours along with freezing temperatures. Here at Waupoos we avoided the worst of the snow although it has been dark and blustery with a cold driving rain making life downright unpleasant. I have focused on late season navigation as moving a fair distance in this weather has been a distinct possibility, and this is BAD weather. try to come up with a operational winter bridge deck structure for Defiance.

I have been doing double duty on the car helm, putting some heavy road miles on as I try to recover from the loss of my winter mooring in Belleville and come up with a plan B.I have my mooring off WAupoos with the shore side landowners blessing. There is a 29' finger as a winter refuge within 120 K of thge shop in Kingston. But that is almost $500 additional cost on the re-core job. First and foremast, I should be starting on this job in order to avoid spending huge amounts to heat the palce to 60F.

The weather has turned and southern Ontario has had a 12" hit of an early snowfall that has brought the Niagara region to its knees. Buffalo had 2'! Perhaps once again the forecasts are wrong and the weather has gone nuts due to warming. We will only know in another 50 years. Whatever the case winter misery is here now and Defiance is still at Waupoos.

Stillwater Basin cancelled my winter booking at the last moments. So for good or bad I make my stand at Waupoos. Rick is being much better and perhaps there is a deal to be worked out. I could not care less about an empire. This quest is all about survival on the home I live.

Wednesday, October 04

Day 6, no Internet connection   email Cruising Canada here - :

The weather forecast is calling for heavy rain and 60 KMH winds from the north along with a drop in temperature. The forecast weather was not with me today at dawn. The sky blushed red and the clouds began to glow as I greeted the day in the hot tub (104°C). I will miss this place. But do not have to dream very hard to be waking up on my own spot with a battleship anchoring system.

I have plugged back to shore power satisfied that the reserve systems are all functioning properly for the trip. Next weather break I will do the final bits on the Wharram and work out what to do with my pallet of winter construction materials. Work is waiting at the shop and my objective is to wait for the perfect weather window of several days after next weekend at which time Defiance picks up the lines.

Sunday, October, 01

I still have no Internet access and expect that this is a Waupoos terminal end By the time you read these Blogs I will probably have been out for the mini cruise and have moved to winter harbour at Stillwater Basin. I am looking forward to having a bit more companionship and community that the hermit life at Waupoos offered and financially it will make little difference overall to my per month cost.

It was cold and rainy over the night and as dawn came to Waupoos there was little to promote its as a tropical get a way. A couple of boats came through with their masts down but once again they were waiting for daylight for the crossing. I keep telling snowbirds on the way south the fall Lake 'Ontario crossing is best done in the dead of night. Wait until the wind lets up say 23:000 EDT and drop your lines. On the average it is usually calm during the dead of the night and the wind will not pick up until the sun returns.

My game plan is to wrap up work here at Waupoos this week and begin to look for a good weather window for the mini-cruise and move to Stillwater Basin. This will be my winter 06/07 home.

Wharram Cat Wakarua

Wakarua is 99.5% done.

I still have to put a red strip on and the rough glass down by the cross beams is not sanded for the sake of time as trying to sand them with a stick and sandpaper is way too time consuming. The white paint had to be thinned and will need another coat, or for that matter the entire boat could use a super pressure wash and paint. BUT DONE.

How to salvage a sunk boat

I have heard an amazing amount of BS from insurance companies about salvage costs, particularly about steel vessels. I have been told that underwriters want surcharges on steel boats because they cost more to salvage, which is outright BS. Think about it. It does not matter how much the boat itself weight it is the water that is heavy. True the following set of photos are only a 20' boat. But the same principal applies.

I am in the business of boat repair and have been a live aboard cruiser for over 30 years, with over ten years "gone cruising". In this case the first off bottom lift could be accomplished with a 30' lever made of pipes and the boarding ramp of a barge. I have been doing salvage diving since the 70's and it is no mystery.

In the case of a bigger boat, virtually any pleasure size to 60'. The first thing you do is plug any big holes underwater, and yes it requires diving but I consider my dive equipment and underwater repair a part of serious cruising. Then you use air bags to provide buoyancy for the lift to the surface unless you have a barge and crane, where in heavy lifts you will still use air bags.

Once you get the boat to the surface you get the pumps on board and start to remove the water. The trickiest part is keeping all the hull above the water level as you repairs and move the boat to the shore for remedial work. END. Not difficult. barges and lift cranes, can take many forms from old stationary on a barge to a excavator or back hoe. but heavy equipment is the name of the game.