Three + Weeks Cruising 2003
by -  Arlyn Stewart

Part Nine – Recognizing My Recklessness
Lin had not seen Killarney yet and it became a stop for many reasons including Customs, pump out, fuel, ice, fresh water, groceries and of course… fish n chips.  A nice sailing couple offered a raft up at the docks near the famous Herbert’s Bus.

Our dock host inquired about our Texas registry and where we had put in.  When told about the Lake Huron crossings he offered that they were a bit more aggressive than his sailing venues even though his boat was much larger.  After lunch we made our way toward an evening anchorage at Covered Portage Northwest of Killarney a short distance. 

At this my second visit to Covered Portage, my second cruising pet peeve was found.  The first was during the '99 cruise while anchored at Club Island.  There, the wind had blown strong through the night and crew on another boat had not arrested a slapping halyard.  This second, was the power cruiser anchored just upwind who's stern exhaust went splat splut split splat all night long.  The skipper ran the diesel to drive his air conditioning to avoid opening the boat to the mosquitoes and this during less than 75 degree temperatures when going to bed which dropped to the low 60's by morning. Gees,  for far less than the cost of running the diesel and air conditioning, he could have screens and enjoyed the sounds of the loons and not caused me and likely many others to miss a nights sleep.
Destination the next day would be Baie' Fine via the Lansdowne Channel.  The passage interestingly offered some perspective about the previous passage while sailing with Art.  Remember that Robert had offered that we had missed some day marks; well I now agree that his observation was correct.  While traversing the channel with Lin in reverse, I recognized that Art and I had made one of the northern marks of the channel on the north side when indeed it should have been south.   My simple explanation for this is that as we entered the long channel, Art was at the helm and I looked on the chart to tell him which side the marks to take.  Evidently, I looked at the channel to the north (Baie Fine), which also ran west to east and called off those markings, which are opposite to Landsdowne.  It appears that we had been fortunate that the mistake hadn’t caused grounding.  I do not remember, but it’s very likely that we indeed took all the marks on the wrong side.  I do remember however that we hadn’t experienced any water less than six feet.  I simply say… I got away with a major mistake that could have been costly.
As we entered Marianne Cove, I was very aware of the Rock hit there two years previous, the only grounding in six years of cruising on the Great Lakes. When making Marianne Cove from the west, give the turn a good wide sweep as the rock lies northwest of the entrance.  After some lunch, Lin, Ayla and I set out to climb Frazer Hill.  Lin began in her deck shoes, the same that had produced the blister in previous days.  I offered to carry a daypack and stuffed her light duty canvas shoes within.  Even with band-aids to insulate her heels, the shoes hurt her feet.  After changing to the canvas shoes she lamented not doing it sooner.  We enjoyed the climb… especially Ayla.  She had perhaps the greatest time of the vacation during that hike.  The trail was fairly well marked and trampled down so she would run ahead as to say common guys, then return to encourage us that she had found the way.  She enjoyed side trips to tree squirrels, a favorite pastime of hers.  One squirrel however had her number.  Each time she would return from trying to find it… it would chatter at her again which went on for four rounds.

Lin in one of the trails chasms
The view from on top of Casson Peak (Frazier Hill) encompasses a great deal of the North Channel.  On a clear day (this was not) it’s quite a sight and well worth the moderately strenuous hike to the top.  If close to the area, don’t miss it.  The climb has a little of everything to offer.  Part is along a wash, other sections are through ferns and mixtures of various hardwoods and softwoods, there are large boulders to get over and around and even a couple of chasms to walk between.
Wanting to show Lin “The Pool” which lies at the end of Baie Fine, we decided to dinghy, as it would be faster.  Our sport boat inflatable has an 8 hp motor and we had it on plane eastward and noticed another inflatable gaining on us astern with what appeared to be three occupants, two men and a lady.  Lin was facing aft so was watching them.  A powerboat westbound at full throttle in the channel forced a rather large wake that I altered course to take head on, going airborne which resulted in a hard impact landing.   The boat behind us did the same but at their greater speed Lin said that they cleared the surface by what appeared to be several feet and seemed to skid around to an abrupt stop.  We stopped and waited ahead of them to see if they wished to flag us (we were beyond hailing range) for any assistance.  After a couple of minutes they had not and seemed to be regrouping and turned around and headed back west.  We don’t know if there was an injury but Lin thinks they really landed hard and that the lady was thrown about.

Post story notation: Following our cruise, I had a painful lower back but credited it to a bed softer than I was used to.  The pain continued for well over a year however and undoubtedly was the result of the impact as we landed after crossing the large wake.
  
After a pleasant and lazy motor around The Pool, we headed back and took follow of a powerboat departing the eastern section of Baie Fine.  At the narrows that separate the two ends of the bay, a sailboat lay at an unusual angle that at first I thought was waiting for us to clear the channel but then realized it was aground.  The powerboat ahead was large and the skipper stopped within hailing distance to offer assistance.  We carried his line to the sailboat which was quickly hauled clear.  The crew on the sailboat were very appreciative and requested knowledge of the channel.

Marianne Cove was traded for Browning Cove for the evening anchorage.  That evening while ferrying the little girl to the bank for ablutions, a pleasant conversation was enjoyed with a Canadian who was an avid swimmer who had snorkeled across the cove.  He asked if I was the Texas boat, which is rarely missed because of the Texas flag flown from the masthead.  He somehow introduced our President to the conversation. 
This had not been the first Canadian to do so and wasn’t the last during the cruise.  It seemed obvious to me that Canadians are a rather forthright people who have no apology to make for the decision of their country.  I readily affirmed that I was in the camp of respecting both our neighbors to the north and south who called them like they saw them.  The conversation was very pleasant with no overtones or feelings.  The young man was very forthright and sincere.  A nice sunset was enjoyed this evening looking out of Browning Cove.

Not far east of Little Current is a favorite channel passing Strawberry Island and its charming light house.  We'd done our best to compete getting there against a Mac 26 and succeed in reaching it first.  When west of Strawberry Island, a look at the watch showed we had to hurry to make the 10:00 am bridge opening and we dropped sails and barely made it.  In fact, the operator delayed opening the bridge for some time so we could get in line and indeed were the last thru.  Met during the bridge passing  was the Catalina 25  Jabberwocky
At Little Current, we stopped for a few hours to eat fish n chips again though they were not as good as at Killarney.  They did provide enough chips for the next three meals.  The fish was not White Fish however.  We walked the waterfront town area for a while and then hiked up the hill to the grocery for a case of cokes.  While there we got some fresh bell peppers and onions.  Back at the wharf ready to depart for Croker Island, I listened to a conversation which included one of the staff of a cruise boat that had just docked.  Business was a little better, but they had suffered many cancellations during the earlier part of the season due to cooler than normal weather.  He related that most of the berths had to be filled or they couldn't afford to run.