July 2, 2011 Hanlans Point, Toronto

It was cool last night as it has been. We used two blankets. One night last week we used three. I made a pot of hazelnut coffee and sat out to watch the developing day. The wind had shifted and we were close to the bank opposite from the one we were close to when we retired. The anchorage is small and I decided we had not drug anchor but just changed position.

Kerry made a great breakfast for us today - Rosemary’s quiche, Canadian bacon and toast. We used this contraption we bought at a boat show years ago to make the toast on a stove top burner. It’s a metal cage you put on a flame burner and it toasts the bread on top of it. It worked pretty well.

At first it appeared we would be at anchor all day but then Kerry noticed that boats were leaving and space was available on the wall. We had two spots before you could blink.

A fellow docked ahead of us helped us secure our boat. A Canadian Customs and Boarder Patrol boat watched us dock and within 10 seconds of having our lines secured we were again inspected. At first they are not friendly at all, rather intimidating actually. Once we produced our reporting in number and our Nexus cards they lightened up and became personable. We passed inspection again.

While chatting with Dave who helped us secure Excalibur I asked if he knew anyone good at electrical work on a boat. Turns out he did. And the person he recommended worked on Saturdays and Sundays. I called Robert (pictured) at Puddle Duck Marina, told him our problem and he agreed to come out shortly.

It turns out that the problem is not related to the electrical storm that fried Finnbar’s instruments as Kip I and thought it might be, but rather a short in the line to the combination steaming and foredeck light, probably caused by normal wear and tear. Dwayne went up the mast to inspect the light fixture lighting and it was OK. The temporary fix was to disconnect those two lights. Robert suspects there is a chafe in the ground wire going to those lights just above where the line enters the mast, but it is impossible to tell until the mast is pulled and inspected. It should be fine for the remainder of this trip. So after 2 weeks out, I have 2 deferred issues; the pitch on the prop and the wiring in the mast, both which need to be addressed after haul out.

Kerry, Lew and I had a nice bike ride before cocktails and dinner, which were on Excalibur. On our bike ride, Lew bought us Nestle drum sticks and was shocked to learn they were $5. After dinner, coffee was on Windchaser. Shortly before we went to bed a tour boat full of sadomasochistic dressed people went by. From a distance we thought is was a wedding party. When they got close we saw differently. I was so busy gawking that I missed what would have been some very memorable pictures. I took a couple of pictures as they went by on their return trip, but definitely missed the best ones.

Tomorrow we go to the RCYC. It will be good to have WiFi again after 3 days without it.