Painting, Waxing, Cleaning and……Bugs

In the cooler climates of North America, the annual spring rituals that involve vessel maintenance and preparation are usually times of anticipation and excitiment for the coming season.  As we look forward to the next phase of our extended cruise along the Great Loop, these feelings have certainly been at play for both the Captain and the Admiral.

In early May, with help from Doug Pringle (His Idea’s trusty and accomplished First Mate), John made a 10 day trip to Kingston to prepare and launch His Idea. Ria decided to remain at home, a wise decision given the number of unwanted guests that showed up to ‘help’ us (Admirals are wiser than Captains, that’s why they’re Admirals). With no previous exposure to what spring in Ontario is like, we were unsure of what to expect in terms of weather. Fortunately we were blessed with clear, calm and relatively warm conditions for the entire time we were there. Some days it even felt like summer.

Perfect conditions, yes? Not so fast! We had forgotten this is Ontario, land of the Canadian Shield – miles of forest, hundreds of rivers, thousands of lakes, and…..zillions of bugs! In this case, Mayflies. The good news was they don’t bite, but that’s the only good news. The bad news was they were everywhere – all over the canvas, all over the decks, all over everything. In the air, in the cabin, in the paint, up your nose. Our usual mantra of  ‘wax on, wax off’ became ‘bugs off, wax on, wax off’ (and then bugs back on again). When we asked the locals if this was normal, we heard ‘oh, this is pretty good, you should have been here in ……(insert decade)’. When we asked if they would go away soon, we were reminded they were Mayflies, and that this was only the beginning of May. Oh good, only 30 more days to go! At this point the Captain swore he would never again complain about spring showers in Vancouver.

But enough complaining about being bug challenged. Preparations and launch mostly went smoothly and were completed on time; we had no major mechanical issues to deal with (many thanks go to Henry, Billie and the team at DC Marine for their friendly service and quality maintenance work); His Idea performed very well during her test run; we even had time for a cruise through the Thousand Islands to Gananoque. And we had fun!

So we’re ready to go and will return to Kingston to begin on May 30th. Our cruising plans this year include the Trent Severn Waterway, Georgian Bay and the North Channel of Lake Huron, south along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan to Chicago, and then down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to Kentucky. We hope you’ll continue to check in on our progress from time to time, and comments to the blog, cheeky or otherwise, are always welcome.

A few pictures of our time in Kingston follow, and our next post will be sometime in June from the Trent-Severn…..

A typical day and view from Portsmouth Harbour Marina while we were there; very few of the 125 boats have yet been launched.
A typical day and view from Portsmouth Harbour Marina while we were there; very few of the 125 stored boats have yet been launched.
A rather mild picture of the infamous Mayflies; oftentimes they were manytimes thicker than this.
A rather mild picture of the infamous Mayflies; often they were many times thicker than this.
Aftrer 5 days hard work, His Idea painted, waxed and ready to go......
After 5 days hard work, His Idea painted, waxed and ready to go……
.....except for some last minute touch up to the fresh, new bottom paint by the Captain.
…..except for some last minute touch up to the fresh, new bottom paint.
Our favourite lunch spot and watering hole. the Portsmouth Pub, adjacent to Portsmouth harbour; serving thirsty sailors since 1864.
Our favourite lunch spot and watering hole. the Portsmouth Tavern, adjacent to Portsmouth harbour; serving thirsty sailors since 1864.
And in she goes.
And in she goes.
Escape to Gananoque (Rich Pringle on dock, Doug on bridge), where the bugs were scarce enough.....
Escape to Gananoque (Rich Pringle on dock, Doug on bridge), where the bugs were scarce enough…..
.....to enjoy the evening outdoors.
…..to enjoy the evening outdoors.
Exploring one of the many Thousand Island channels; this one was deep enough for passage, but judged too narrow to risk bumping that fresh bottom paint.
Exploring one of the many Thousand Island channels; this one was deep enough for passage, but judged too narrow to risk bumping that fresh bottom paint.
If you have a dock here, bright and multi-hued Adirondack chairs are a must.
If you have a dock here, bright and multi-hued Adirondack chairs are a must – they’re everywhere!
If Doug ever decides to jump ship, Rich will be a good candidate for a new first mate.
If Doug ever decides to jump ship, Rich will be a good candidate for a new first mate.

 

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2 Comments

  1. Nice to see the blog up and running and I look forward to the next installment. I scrolled down and looked again at the pictures from the end of last year’s trip. It is hard to believe those shots of the Portsmouth Harbour in the storm are of the same placid waters we experienced this year. I had a blast fullfilling my First Mate duties this year and hopefully all of our hard work has set you up for an enjoyable cruise as this year’s adventures unfold!

    Cheers,

    Doug

  2. Excited to see you two back on the water and the blog back up. Loved the update, well except the bug photo! Looking forward to more stories. Enjoy. Kay

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