Wilderness Rally 2008
By Thursday, July 24, 2008, 41 boats had gathered at the Keyhole Island anchorages, Collins Inlet, Georgian Bay, for the GLCC wilderness rally. Thursday was spent exploring the anchorages—just inside the west entrance to Collins Inlet—with a big happy-hour shore party Thursday evening. (See photos here) (And here) (And here)
Friday featured a morning dinghy trip to the Chikanishing River 2 miles west and a hike on the Killarney Provincial Park nature trail.
Friday afternoon's main event was dinghy races. The classes included outboards of 4 horsepower and smaller (won by Jay Barnhard on Janally), 4 to 10 hp (won by Sharon Dutcher of Turning Point), 10 to 25 hp (won at first by Wrong-Way Steffans but then by Gregg Cayce of Gracie), and then the humongous-hp dinghy class (won by Joe & Karen Messenburg of Put 'N Call).
The sailing dinghy race was won by Vern Yetman in his Fatty Knees dinghy off Happiness. The large kayak-class races were won by George Bartlett of the power vessel Lucretia. The blindfold dinghy rowing race was won by the Springers of Westwind.
The evening featured a different sort of “shore party” on 10 different boats in the anchorage—everyone choosing a boat with hosts that they didn't previously know. The host boats were Alona Bay, Blue Heron, QB3, Vision, Aerie, Windy Affair, Reverie, Class Act, Fairy Tale, and Glider. Almost everyone met fellow cruisers whom that hadn't known before—a great time.
It was a gloomy and very windy Saturday, but capped by a shore pot-luck at 6 pm featuring stews and chilis, as well as a bonfire and singalong led by Turning Point's Dennis and Sharon Dutcher, Morning Light's Phil Doolittle and Donna Creighton (Donna's a real singer—see her web page www.donnacreighton.com), and Research's Tom Lyons.
In the event's other contest, both Sin Sal and Summer Wind correctly identified the signal flags flown by Wyndancer (surprisingly reading “WYNDANCER”).
Sunday morning was departure time, with boats heading every which way. With the 2009 Rendezvous set for Lake Ontario, it's certain we'll have at least one wilderness rally in the North Channel or Georgian Bay next year.
Joan and I were really sorry to miss the Rally. As many of you know, Seagull has been on a seemingly permanent maintenance cycle since June 26. There still is no end in sight. We did spend the Wilderness Rally on the boat - but it was on blocks in the parking lot of Mertaugh Boat Works, not in the water. We had a beautiful view of Hessel Bay, and at Happy Hour drank a toast to all Rally attendees -but it isn't "cruising."
Seagull had her engine out for the second time last winter to replace some oil seals (which was supposed to be done the year before), and, as long as it was going to be apart, to have a complete internal rebuild. We were to get the boat on June 27. However, something was amiss, and to fix it the engine came out for the third time. When it went back in after bench testing, we found it would not run at cruising speed. It would simply stop. That meant pulling the engine out for the fourth time to open it up. A piston and/or cylinder liner (both new) were found to be very slightly out of spec and had to be replaced. Finally we are back in the water and the engine has run for three hours. However, with all of the in and out the tachometer has quit working, along with the oil pressure gauge. We are waiting for new ones. Also, we had a new Ray Marine auto-pilot installed, but got a bad computer/controller. Now the replacement computer refuses to work. Looks like we have had two bad computers in a row. Each step takes days and days.
It's like being shipwrecked. The days pass by with no end in sight, and no way of knowing what tomorrow will hold (except on Saturdays and Sundays, when no one works). The strangest thing is that there is nothing wrong with the boat itself - it's the replacement stuff that is causing the endless problems!
Regards to all,
Richard & Joan Miller