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There is nowhere for a Canadian quite as good as Canada. We may have a bit of ice, but this is the Great White North; enjoy it! I encourage you to explore the waterway resources we have in our own back yard. There is now a new Cruising Canada crew aboard and the 2004 adventures will set us appart from the "wanta be" club house stories. 
Cruising Canada is We live aboard an ice capable trawler with trans-ocean range. At this time we are completing a refit for deep Arctic service on the boat. The specfications and requirements for this documentry expedition are quite exceptional and far beyond the average cruising boat. My favorite net grumble is: There continues to a person claiming to be the oldest, or one of the oldest sites. I would love for them to PROVE what they were doing on the internet in 1995, or who OWN'S and maintains the vessels they claim to have sailed on. In 1995 I had hung up my delivery skipper hat, and went ashore after over 10 years of live aboard cruising covering some 10,000 miles. My and Cruising Canada's internet creation began while working for a 5th Avenue New York City Internet Company, as well as freelance web design. www.cruising.ca began in New York City in 1995 as imgdesign, Cruising Canada and my sailing logs began in 1984 when I turned Prism One south. 
Robin's career has been largely corporate communications. In the 70's and 80's Robin was responsible for production of hundreds of programs a year, using traditional animation cameras, live shoot film, slide, and video. Creating a variety of commercial presentations ranging from point of purchase to national sales meetings and entertainment extravaganza's. Prior to retiring and sailing south in 1985 Robin was awarded the " Lifetime Achievement Award " by AMI for significant contributions to the industry to add to a Master of Photography in 1971. 
During the early 1970's Europe and ex-fishing fleet vessels were the magnet of Robin's attention, entering joint ventures with several others to rebuild and sail these craft. Balancing the time between free lance film making in Los Angeles and Esberg in Denmark resulted in many experiences with real boats. 
Returning to Canada in 1977 Robin worked in multi-image as a photographer then succeeded in the development and partnership of a post-production lab. This financed a small wooden cutter, then in 1979 Belle Argo a 32' plywood hulled Dickerson which was pretty much rebuilt from the frame's out using epoxy's and current technology. 
As the post production lab became famous and money flowed in, the desire to a get away and own outright a cruising boat returned. Prism One 1983 to 1987 was the dream boat during the film lab years though my driving passion was to sail south forever. Prism was a Sampson C-Quence ketch built of Ferro cement with stainless steel frames. Her dimensions were LOA 41', LOD, 37', Beam of 13', draft 6'2", displacement 15 Tons. The long voyage from Canada began with the first move to NY while establishing another lab location. Rather than rent expensive shore side digs, living aboard was the obvious choice. This was the first baptism of life aboard wintering at City Island in the worst winter of the decade seeing many weaker boats sink in the ice. In this marina you had to be entirely self sufficient with a vessel capable of retaining livable facilities in the dead of winter. 
Spring finally came and cruising the surrounding waters of Long Island Sound and north to Boston forever endeared me to the eastern seaboard. The NYC job completed, it was time to move on. Many of the stories of the voyage south and in the Caribbean are extracted from Robin's logs. The entire voyage is still the subject of the future book and PPV which will one day, when time permits, be completed. The voyages carried me south to the windwards and throughout the Caribbean. Unlike some cruisers the well beaten track and beautiful beaches soon became too tame. Now cruising is NOT totally safe. Above the weather and normal requirements of voyaging there is always the risk of pirates, or sneaky boat boys trying to rip you off, or outright kill you for your boat. I met many interesting people who were part of different cultures living in the ghetto's and mountains. 
Visit Centaur 1988 to 1991 & life aboard 1929 John Hanna designed motor sailor or as described in her papers a motor vessel built in Feraninda Beach Florida. Her Dimensions were 65' LOD, 16'Beam, draft 6' Displacement 65 Tons. Primary propulsion GMC 871 Diesel. 
During the early 90's while living on Centaur I was active in the general NYC and east coast commercial charter and deliver trade. 
Naughty-Lass is an older 33' LOA traditional wooden motor yacht with a Trawler hull & and twin diesel's, custom designed in 1976 for use on the Trent Severn Waterway. Because of her draft and our advancing age it was time to consider an easy to handle vessel with shoal draft to fully explore Ontario's waterways. Naughty Lass was sold after Ed's death and I finally had the opportunity to purchase the current vessel.For now and the next year, it is major refit time. TODAY = 2004We live aboard an ice capable trawler with trans-ocean range. At this time we are completing a refit for deep Arctic service on the boat. The specfications and requirements for this documentry expedition are quite exceptional and far beyond the average cruising boat. In the past three months we have added almost 3 tons gross in new systems. They include: 
Seen on the now shrink wrapped aft deck is the ESPAR and the distribution manifolds. Most critical was a long lived fully functional heating system for the ice. This turned out to be an ESPAR 120,000 BTU hydronic furnace. This is not the 35,000 BTU hot air version, but a system big enough to power a 3000 square foot house. The install requires a journeyman gasfitters full attention, and is still underway. We will bring you more of the quest for a warm Canadian winter vessel. If any of this sounds familiar let us know. For further information on vessel heating and consultation or to purchase a custom system for your boat, let us know. Vessel Electrical 12VDC primary/gen start:=2 group 31a 12VDC seperate 2 engine alternators.
The vessel is constructed of 3/16" steel, to full commercial scantling and Coast Guard passanger carring rules. To achieve our operational range I calcuate we burn 2/3 gallon per hour, making 10 knots; verified by GPS, by 500 + fuel equals a theoritical service range of 10,000 miles. 
No expeditonary craft is complete without deck boats. In our case this is a 14 Aluminun fish boat, and a Wavereunner Jet Ski. The "Men of Steel" as I call the guys are still playing regulary with both even now on the 21st of November. Ther are many stil nights, tucked in the exposure suits we clear the breakwater and drift for an evening break in the now cold waters of Lake Ontario. 
Our cruising family consits of two warm bodies and two cats. Cruising Canada lives here using several computers and intigrated systems including a complete digital Martox RT 100 EDITOR system using a 2.4 P4, with 100 gig of RAID storage, a 80 gig 2.2 laptop, nd several lesser computer systems. 
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