Delivery Day
Presqu'ile to Kingston
Lake Ontario
Friday, July 1
Sailors take warning?
Canada Day. July 1, 2016. We awoke to perhaps the most colorful sunrise of the entire trip - a saturated conflagration of colors with a core that was very nearly blood red. Knowing the old saying about "Sailors take warning" when the morning sunrise is red, we check the forecast. Indeed, unlike nearly every day before this, there is some inclement weather on the way, scheduled to hit around or after noon, and with the possibility of localized thunderstorms.
Our planned route would be taking us around the protruding bulk of Prince Edward County. We would be particularly exposed to the weather and the broad open expanse of Lake Ontario along this section, and Roland hoped to get past this region before the bulk of the weather hit. To that end, we were off with remarkable efficiency, pulling the anchor at 5:42 a.m. and motoring out of Presqu'ile Bay shortly after 6.
Simply Awesome
For the time being, the morning was still pleasant - low wave heights and sunshine were still the order of the moment.
We proceeded along the cove-and-points of Prince Edward County, never too far from land. Sandbanks - one of Ontario's most popular provincial parks - slid by off the port side of the boat. We rounded the southernmost point of the county at Point Petre at about 11 a.m. Here, a tall navigational marker and an array of towers and electrical equipment are emplaced - apparently for use by the nearby Canadian Forces Base at Trenton, ON.
Point Petre is also supposedly where the 'Marysburgh Vortex' is centered - a Bermuda Triangle sort of thing that is supposed to ensnare ships and aircraft. We were happy to be past it - not because of its sinister reputation - but because it meant we could now turn northeast, soon to be sheltered by land from the western reach of Lake Ontario. In fact, this was happening none too soon, as we could look back now and see a line of grey clouds approaching from the west. Accompanying the atmospheric change was a hydrospheric change - in the form of ever increasing swells. Soon Simply Blue was cutting some fairly impressive bow waves through these swells.
A squall line passed over us shortly after 1pm, but apart from a brief twenty minutes of on and off rain, it didn't really amount to much. Looking at the radar map of the area, we could see that the severe cells were passing quite a way to the north of us. By 3pm, as the line of weather receded off to the east and as we continued to angle up on the lee side of Prince Edward County, conditions returned pretty much to what we had been encountering for nearly the entire trip - sunny and pleasant.
Lennox Generation Station
On the distant horizon ahead of us, a forest of white, rotating wind towers rose out of the waters of the lake. These were the wind turbines of the Wolfe Island Wind Farm, and they looked like they were rising out of the water only because of the Earth's curvature. As we approached, the line of the island upon which they rested came into view.
The sighting of Wolfe Island meant that we had reached 'home territory' - the normal sailing stomping grounds for Roland and Stephanie in and around the Kingston area. Soon the taller buildings and structures of Kingston itself came into view. Kingston and its environs was an appropriate sight to see while sailing today - on Canada Day, for Kingston was very important in Canada's early days. It was the first capital of the "province" of Canada (as it was known then) and played a significant role in the early military history of the country. It was also the home of Canada's first prime minister, John A. Macdonald.
Kingston Military college and the 1840s-era Fort Henry came into view on our left as we headed out of Lake Ontario. The mighty Saint Lawrence River starts here, emptying the combined waters of all of the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. The river is quite wide here - more of a 'neck' at the end of Lake Ontario than a true river.
Roland started pointing out familiar landmarks as we neared our destination. We turned Simply Blue into the wind for one last time to furl the sails, then carefully motored in through the narrow neck of deep water that sheltered the Treasure Island Marina - Simply Blue's new home.
Click below to watch a video wrap-up for July 1:
Video wrap-up for July 1
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Presqu'ile to Kingston - click map to view
July 1 - Presqu'ile to Kingston
Start Time:
5:34a.m.
End Time:
7:48p.m.
Duration:
14h13m
Distance:
131.68 km
(81.82 mi)
Average Speed:
9.3 km/hr
(5.8 mph)
Start Elevation:
247ft
(75m)
*
Max Elevation:
280ft
(85m)
*
Min Elevation:
223ft
(68m)
*
End Elevation:
259ft
(79m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
70ft
(21m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
65ft
(20m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
