July 27, 2011 Sackets Harbor

Jola was up first, then me, then Jim. I had preloaded the coffee pot last night so it was easy to get today’s pot going, just by plugging in the cord. It was a beautiful morning to travel, by car for the Karpinski’s, and to travel by boat for the Myers and Albaneses.

Jim and Jola left about 8:30, after a breakfast of Rosemary’s breakfast bars and cereal. Jim regretted the fact that there were no pistachio cookies left, his clear favorite. I enjoyed a chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie. We really enjoyed their visit. Jim said he left Excalibur in better shape than he found her, and I agreed. They plan to join us again for the return trip through the Welland in exactly 2 weeks.

We had little problem leaving the dock even though about 1’ of our keel was in the mud. Lew pushed us off which helped us get going. When we originally docked we could not get closer than 2’ to the dock, but the wind yesterday had pushed us up against the dock so I had been a little worried about leaving. Just before we left, Jim called and said he was already at the Navy Point Marina in Sackets Harbor which is where we were sailing to. He gave a good report on the facilities.

The trip to Sackets Harbor covered 36.4 nm, our longest for some time, and took 6 hours. After about 14 miles we were leaving the St. Lawrence River and the 1000 Thousands. We passed Wolfe Island with all the wind turbines. Kingston Harbor was just across the island. I have attached a picture of the light house we passed when leaving the St. Lawrence River and sailing into Lake Ontario. Before we shoved off, I had opened the sail cover for the main and ran the jib sheets for the first time since we sailed into Kingston, a couple of weeks ago. We did have about 1 ½ hour of really good sailing in Lake Ontario.

Upon arrival at Navy Marina in Sackets Harbor we refueled with diesel and pumped out the head. Diesel was $4.99, which pretty much matched what we were paying in Canada. I only needed 15 gallons. That's all we used since we refueled in Portsmouth Olympic Harbor. We docked in a row of Tartans, a 3800, 3500 and two 31 footers. Tomorrow I will have to fly my Tartan flag. Lew is right in the middle of us Tartans.

Lew stopped over and said the cocktail flag was flying on Windchaser, so we headed over there with a cocktail and a plate of River Rat cheese, sharp cheddar and horseradish. Gretchen had some treats too. We decided to skip dinner in town, and just filled up on the delicious snacks. We showered before going to bed. Kerry lined up three bags of laundry for me to put in when I get up tomorrow.