Skippers Log of 1st trip on Pegasus

[beene]

Trip Log

Day 1 Sunday June 10th
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We wanted to leave in the afternoon and head for the Narrows at the top of Lake Simcoe and stay at Hot Knots. As usual, we ended up leaving much later than planned. Not what I wanted as it meant navigating across the lake at night, pitch black, nil moonlight that night. All I had to go by was my charts and handy GPS. I just kept looking for lighted landmarks, flashing reds/greens/yellows etc, til we got to the Narrows. It was midnight by the time we got there so staying at any marina was out of the question as they were all closed up for the night. I decided, since the rest of my crew had gone to sleep hours ago, that I would take us to the protected bay of Big Chief Island for the night. This would be the first night at anchor on the new boat for us. Worked out well and we made it there despite the darkness.

Day 2 Mon June 11th
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I woke up early, excited by the trip ahead, so I let everyone else sleep while I hauled up the anchors and headed through Lake Couchiching to the entrance to the Trent Waterway System.
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Due to the early hour and apparent lack of wind, the water was like glass and the air was cool.
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The sides of the system were lined with trees and no homes at this point. Very peaceful and very quiet. I wanted to wake the rest of the crew to share this beautiful sight, but decided to let them sleep.
We encountered our first swing bridge before hitting the lock, but we fit underneath it with ease.
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We arrived at Lock 42 at 7am. There were 2 other boats tied up at the blue line, still sleeping peacefully, so I snuck in as quiet as I could, which our Merc seems to exceed at. I tied her up and went for a walk to explore the lock and what lay ahead.
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Once the lock system opened, we paid for our day pass and entered the lock. We were joined by the other boats that were waiting and a large Cat showed up at the last minute. 2 couples from Texas brought their older Cat up the Great Loop and traded her in on a brand new one. Must be nice. 18 foot beam. More than double the Mac…..anyways…. once the lock closed behind us the water level quickly dropped and we felt a bit of tunnel effect as the walls got taller around us.
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Once the water was at the right level, we headed out through the long section of 7 mph speed limit that seemed to last a lifetime. It was quite narrow so we all played follow the leader til out on Sparrow Lake.
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To get out on the open water again was a welcome feeling as the air was heating up fast and we needed a breeze to cool off. The 75 provided plenty of breeze and attracted many stares of amazement as we kept up with the powerboats across the Lake. Once past the lake, we went in and out of speed limit and no wake zones off and on with open bays in between were you could open it up again and get cooled off.
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The slow zones were never longer than 5 min so we were never there long enough to get too heated up in the sun.
Next lock for us was Lock 43 at Swift Rapids, the tallest lock in the system.
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After that, it was more winding waterway with on and off speed limit zones, very beautiful scenery everywhere you looked. The next stop for us was Big Chute, a marine railway lift that was designed to keep the fish from migrating from one water system to another.
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After Big Chute, we headed into Gloucester Pool, a very nice area where you could open her up and weave in and out around several small islands. We stopped for gas in Port Severn once we had the last lock in sight. Understand we were under a time constraint to make it through the locks before they closed for the day and we would be stuck in the system. Not necessarily a bad thing, but we wanted to make it to Honey Harbour and Beausoleil Island for 2 nights of camping off the island. Once fuelled up, we headed through the last lock, #45, and headed onto Georgian Bay.
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The next few miles were very scary indeed. If you were to look at this area of open water, without charts, you would think you could just open her up and head out onto the open water without a care in the world. You would be wrong, DEAD wrong. There are hundreds of areas where vast sections of rock are just waiting for you, inches beneath the surface of the water. Many skippers have had their craft meet its demise in this area. I was white knuckled on the wheel the whole time due to the fact the buoy makers were hard to see in the bright sunlight. Do I need to tell you how important it was to be on the right side of either the red or green markers? Sometimes the way the sun hit them, they just looked black until you were close enough to see them better.
We made it to Honey Harbour and got off the boat for a much-needed break, especially for the skip who was having trouble removing his hands from the wheel.
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We got the kids some ice cream, as that is all they seem to ask for in the summer time, picked up a few grocs and headed for the island. We arrived at our camping location a short time later.
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As this time of year is still considered off-season, there were no other boats on our pier. There were a few other boats anchored out in the bay that would use their zodiacs to get to shore when they wanted to visit. A couple of the larger sailing yacht skips came over to us and had a little chat about our boat and how we liked her. Very nice folks. There was also a cruiser skip that I had a nice chat with about the Mac. He had several sightings of various versions of Macs he had seen over the years, just not this latest model. His main comment was about how nicely on a plane we were and how fast we going when he saw us coming into the bay. Said he’d never seen a Mac go that fast and did not think he’d ever seen one up on a plane with the bow down like that. He was impressed.
We had BBQ for supper and were pretty much exhausted. It turns out the sun had sapped all our energy and it was all we could do to clean up enough room to go to sleep. It was only 7 pm so I looked at it as a nap, but it turned into an all night affair.

Day 3 Tues June 12th
We woke, very slowly, and decided today would be a good day to go to Midland for lunch and some shopping for the girls.
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I plotted a course using both the paper charts and the GPS, creating waypoints I wanted to follow for a safe route to Midland, then we headed out. The weather was fantastic again. No clouds, no rain, lots of sunshine, warm temps, could not have asked for better weather the whole trip. It turns out Midland is actually a very short trip away from Beausoleil Island. We have been to the island many times in the past, but never to Midland because it meant a multi hour trip in open water with the Sandpiper 565, the admiral was never into that idea. Pegasus did it in 20 minutes. Nice!
We ate at a very popular spot right on the water in downtown Midland called Scully’s Crab Shack.
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After Lunch the girls went into town for some shopping and the skip went for a much-needed nap, did I mention I don’t do shopping, I do like naps though. After the girls got back and told me all about their exciting adventures in the town, we headed back to our personal space along side the island. Still no other boats on the pier. It was the Admirals turn for a nap while I took the girls for a walk along the beach. We discovered a chair made from the rock in the area. When you sat in it, you would have a nice view of the secluded bay.
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We headed back for another BBQ supper and yet another early turn in, that sun really sucked our energy away. The girls would talk all day about how they were excited about cooking marsh mellows over a camp fire, but when the time came, they would fall asleep on the boat before it would get dark. The Admiral and I were not far behind them.

Day 4 Wed June 13th
Another beautiful day.
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We got up and underway by 830am and made the first lock by 930am. We gassed up at the same place in Port Severn, and headed home. We made good time, as the skip was a pro navigator now… lol… and got through all the locks in about 4 hours. I decided we should stop in the bay at Big Chief Island, as it was known as a great spot to go for a swim. We were not disappointed. I anchored in 2 feet of water over a vast area of a white sandy bottom. Ahhhh at last, my first chance to squeeze past the Merc and climb down the swim ladder for a swim. I can’t be sure, but I don’t think the Admiral was impressed with the lack of room back there. She requires more…. ummm…. room than I do to get between the motor and the well area. Nuff said about that. While we were swimming, a storm started to sneak up on us. There was thunder to the north and it started to cloud over and spit. We hoisted the anchors and headed for Lake Simcoe at WOT, it was only 10 min away at that rate. We outran the storm and the sky cleared the more we headed south and west back to Barrie. I asked the Admiral if she would like to try the helm, and she asked if there was anything she could hit out here, I said no and she took the helm.
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She did a great job getting us the rest of the way home as it was her very first time at the wheel.

We had a great trip. A very relaxing and interesting experience to say the least. The next day I got the mast and mounted it back on the boat where she belongs. I don’t think I will make another trip without it, but never say never.

We look forward to more small trips with 3 day 2 night stays at anchor all around our Great Lakes. I do not get more time off than that all summer long, until I retire that is. I look forward to the day when I can do the Great Loop and take my time to enjoy every minute.

Fair winds

G

[Idle Time]

Well done, really enjoyed the trip with you...we always found we were ready for bed as soon as the sun went down...unless we were sailing at night....relaxing day on the water can be very tiring....we've been out for 3 weeks and never missed the TV or radio and didnt have a DVD player...actually had trouble staying awake long enough to read more than a few pages....and boy do you ever sleep good...unless, of course, you drag anchor and the unusual motion of the boat wakes you...

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Nice trip. Don't be shy about leaving the sailing mast home, the Mac is a great cruising powerboat as well. For short trips like yours saving the setup time both coming and going can make the trip much more enjoyable.

A note about marina's and arriving late. Around here, and most anywhere I would think, if you arrive late after the management has closed up shop it is perfectly fine to pick a empty slip and tie up for the night. You just go up in the morning a pay for the night you already spent. We've slid in after midnight before and I'd much rather get space at the dock than anchor in the dark in an unknown place.

[beene]

Hi Idle Time

Glad you enjoyed the trip with us, as that was my intent.
We brought the laptop so the kids could watch DVD's, but just like you said, we never had to get it out. They just loved playing on the beach, walking on the rocks, or taking in the scenery. And yes, we did sleep very well indeed. Thanks.

DD

True about the mast at home thing, but I found it was quite a chore getting it off and on. It seems every time you disconnect something on the Mac, you risk loosing it or breaking it. You have taken it off so many times now, you have most likely mastered it and therefore it's no PITA anymore. My family definitely appreciated the extra room up there, especially considering the option of the mast being down for the trip up and back, there would have been no room up there at all.

You are probably right on the money about the marina being no problem even though it was after hours. I am just one of those guys that HATES to be an inconvenience of any kind to other people. So the thought of pulling into an unfamiliar marina, not knowing where to go, then having the staff knock on my boat in the morning and ask just what did I think I was doing parking there.... just not me. I would rather have done what I did and not be a bother to anyone. You are probably right though, they would just ask me to move to the right spot and pay up once they opened for business. Still, sneaking slowly through the night to the anchor spot was kind of exciting, and it was very quiet as there are no houses or anything at all for miles. Kind of added to the fun of the whole trip after all was said and done.

Cheers

G