August 11, 2011 Port Dover

When I returned from my early morning shower it was obvious that the wind was still strong although less than yesterday. I did the blog update and checked the NOAA and Environment Canada forecasts and also looked at the buoy data off Port Colborne. The winds were forecast to be from the WNW at about 10-20 knots. This meant that if we left we would be going into the wind and waves.

We did decide to leave and shoved off about 8:30 for the 50 mile trip. Unfortunately, we thought Kerry would certainly be sick for most of the trip. She is a trooper though and said that if we left she wanted to go all the way to Port Dover and not stop at Dunnville which would have been only a 15 mile trip. Going out the channel Kerry took Dramamine, put on her wrist bracelets, made her bed, got her crackers, water and barf bags and was ready for the trip.

She slept for the first couple hours of the trip which were the worst. We were really going up and down waves, and every once in a while, really banging into them. Much to our pleasure though the wind and waves gradually decreased throughout the day, making the overall trip pleasant. Kerry did not get sick, and even made us lunch. The wind never moved off our bow enough to open the mainsail. We pulled into the marina at Port Dover about 4:00 PM. I bought fuel and got a pump out. While I did not really need to fill up, there are not many places I can get into for fuel in our remaining ports. Now I can go all the way to Vermilion without worry.

One strange thing occurred on the trip over. About 4 times we heard a low rumble coming from beneath Excalibur. It made all of us pretty nervous. We looked everywhere but could find anything that appeared to be wrong. I did find a motor mount nut under the engine which gave me quite a bit of heart burn at first, but we finally decided it was left over from the motor mount replacements done over the winter.

Excalibur and the Schiefersteins were going for a red buoy off Tecumseh Reef, about 4 miles ahead. We noticed that Gretchen starting going really south, out into the lake. We talked on the radio and she said she saw the buoy. She ended up going about 1 ½ miles south of us. We finally called and questioned where she was going, although we suspected we knew. There was a sailboat with a red spinnaker coming down the lake much south of us. She thought that was the buoy and was heading for it! It was kind of funny, and allowed Excalibur to keep up with Windchaser while motoring upwind, which does not usually happen.

Kevin Schieferstein made it to the Port Dover Yacht Club before we did. He informed us that there was one boat there already. There are only 3 spaces on the wall for transient boats, but you are allowed to raft. This meant that we could get it which was great. The PDYC is really nice and in a beautiful setting. It’s much more pleasant than the Harbor Marina where we stayed last year. Lew and Kevin got on the wall and I rafted off Lew. The other boat there is sailed by a chap named Erkel who we met last year at Rondeau Bay. It was good to see him again, and he joined us for drinks on Windchaser. He came here yesterday from Erie when we decided not to travel, and he said that was a very smart decision. Erkel said he saw a water spout about 2 miles wide and a mile away. He had to turn on his engine and motor away because the wind was pulling the boat toward the spout. He said the center was perfectly calm, while the water outside it boiled.

After drinks and cleaning up we walked to the Erie Beach hotel for dinner. It’s always a treat to go there for their perch and salads, and we never miss it when we go to Port Dover.