[Public-List] Misery Trip of 2015
Gordon Laco via Public-List
public-list at lists.alberg30.org
Mon Nov 2 07:48:55 PST 2015
I’ll see if I can send you a link to a better map than you’ve seen...
SURPRISE has an Atomic IV engine with the direct transmission. I don’t
recall the pitch and diameter of the narrow two bladed prop but it’s the
standard Whitby Boatworks supplied.
G
On 2015-11-02, 10:45 AM, "Jonathan Bresler" <262alberg30 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Gord,
>
> Congratulations on a exciting Misery Cruise. Wish Google maps gave me a
> better, more detailed view of the area.
> (Where should I be looking, other than buying Canadian charts?)
>
> Getting up to 40 knots is....wow!
> What engine and prop are you running in Surprise ?
>
> Jonathan
>
> On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 10:06 AM, Gordon Laco via Public-List
> <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>> So, it¹s over now.
>>
>> Several weeks ago I received a polite invitation from our friend Larry who
>> sails the Whitby 42 STARSHINE that SURPRISE would be welcome at what he and
>> his friends call ŒThe Misery Trip¹ this fall. This invitation was a
>> significant thing.
>>
>> For many years SURPRISE, as did TOUCH WOOD before her, conducted a late
>> season sailing trip we began calling ŒThe Misery Trip¹. The early
>> expeditions were done in Lake Ontario when we still lived in Toronto.
>> Unkown to us, another group had begun doing the same thing here on Georgian
>> Bay, much later, I hasten to point out. One time we and the other group
>> bumped into each other up the coast, each on our own ordeal, and somehow MY
>> name for the trip began being used to refer to both traditions.
>>
>> Now I¹m adult enough not to feel miffed at this clear appropriation of
>> intellectual property, but there it was. Beginning about five years ago
>> people at our club would ask me Œdid you on the Misery Trip this year?¹ to
>> which I¹d reply yes and say our date. People would look confused because
>> they¹d heard the trip was on another date and many boats went.
>>
>> The tension each fall was not overt, but it was there.
>>
>> Well this year I accepted the olive branch, and while our expedition will
>> still be a solitary one in some years, this year we sailed in company with
>> the crowd. It was a lot of fun, fairly miserable, but not the same, I have
>> to add.
>>
>> We packed up and set out at 1030 Saturday morning in company with our
>> friends John and Bill in John¹s lovingly restored 22¹ wooden sloop named
>> JAGUAR. John got the boat for free with a tree growing through it¹s bottom,
>> and in a remarkably short time transformed it to a better than new little
>> sailing yacht. Since it has no engine, we ended up towing JAG behind
>> SURPRISE. We trudged our way out of Midland Bay at 5.2 knots and headed
>> north with a very light following wind. Off Penetanguishene Bay the breeze
>> strengthened enough that we cast off the tow and began sailing at 3-4 knots.
>> We eventually reached what locals here call Œthe pins¹ at Minnicognashene
>> (love those Ojibwa names) and we worked our way inside from outside and
>> ended up close hauled beating back down around Hotchkiss Rocks toward Frying
>> Pan Harbour on the northern part of Beausoliel Island.
>>
>> Frying Pan has a good harbour, and better yet, has a park site where there¹s
>> a perminant roof over an iron woodstove so while on our and their Misery
>> Trips it¹s possible to sit round a blaze in some comfort no matter what the
>> weather.
>>
>> After short tacking into the harbour (I think we made nine tacks to gain the
>> entrance and finally glide up to the wharf) SURPRISE and JAGUAR had arrived
>> to a cheer from the crews of STARSHINE, SPECTRUM, STARGAZER and a trawler
>> yacht whose name I don¹t recall. There fifteen people there including one
>> woman the later a rarity on these trips.
>>
>> Everybody had brought some split wood so we carried it up to the shelter and
>> got the fire going. I saw an advance party had already wrapped the pillars
>> of the shelter in plastic complete with hanging curtains at the two
>> entrances... It seemed that we had the interior warmed up to shirt sleeves
>> temperature in no time at all. Food was brought in, pots and frying pans
>> were placed on the stove and all hands turned to and ate a great feast.
>>
>> Later we started story telling around the fire tales of the previous
>> season¹s racing and cruising; I recited Eskimo Nell mostly by heart. (thank
>> heavens for iphone google searches)
>>
>> Around about 11pm the crowd thinned; a smaller group ended up aboard
>> SURPRISE, where we had our woodstove cheerily going. That mini-party broke
>> up about midnight with a toast to the end of the 2015 sailing season.
>>
>> Aboard SURPRISE we got up at about 730 and scrambled eggs which with coffee
>> made breakfast. What a lovely morning bit of mist on the water, several
>> yearling loons moping about and even saw a family of muskrats busily stowing
>> winter food under the wharf. A contingent of about half the participants
>> decided to go on a hike on the island; I elected to stay home so once they¹d
>> left I started up SURPRISE¹s stove again and read a HW Tilman book (Ice With
>> Everything) in solitude. Wonderful. I felt very clever and pleased with
>> myself when it began to rain...
>>
>> At one point I idylly googled the Southern Georgian Bay weather buoy on line
>> and saw a red banner on the page followed by a description of 37 knots of
>> wind and two meter waves. Hmm, perhaps some misery to come after all.
>>
>> Finally the hikers came back and we set about getting set to go. Decisions
>> had to be made. With the now hard blowing west wind, the best way back down
>> the sound would be to motor and sail back north to Minnicog, back out
>> through The Pins then roar southward past Adams Point, Gin Rocks, round the
>> Penetang shoal buoy and beat westward into Penetanguishene Bay where we were
>> to be hauled out this week. John aboard JAGUAR confessed he wasn¹t
>> looking forward to the stretch of this course open to the west where there
>> would be significant wave action, not to mention a hell of a stiff wind. He
>> asked me if I¹d tow him down the inside passage to Honey Harbour where we¹d
>> squirt out of the islands much further south, and he¹d never be exposed to
>> the open waves. I agreed, although that would mean we¹d have a wicked beat
>> directly to windward for about five miles into the teeth of the wind in
>> order to gain Penetang bay. One of our friends said Œyou¹re a very generous
>> friend¹ - I retorted ŒI find him easier to deal with when he owes me
>> something!¹ We all laughed.
>>
>> So, we set about dismantling the boats from their moorings at the wharf.
>> SURPRISE had to back out around the bows of the big trawler but as usual she
>> was docile and predictable in reverse (now I am boasting, but it¹s true) as
>> we cast off, backed away and hooked her stern to starboard to avoid some
>> rocks. We got her head into the wind and held her still while JAGUAR got
>> clear and with a shove from many hands glided up astern of us and received
>> our tow line. Away we went.
>>
>> We motored at 5.2kts out of the harbour, then south through the channels
>> past Deer Island and the rest till we got near Picnic Island. Picnic Island
>> is home of a small gas dock and general store which achieved international
>> notoriety last year when the Sierra Club published a picture of the business
>> as an example of so called dissasterously low water in the Upper Great
>> Lakes... The showed a photo of the back of the building with bare dry
>> pilings going down onto rock with a caption saying that just a few years ago
>> people brought boats there to puchase fuel. The truth is that the photo
>> showed the back of the building where there is never water to float a
>> boat... And the fuel dock was in full operation at it¹s normal place at the
>> front. The business formally protested but of course the Sierra Club was
>> not to be denied...
>>
>> Anyway. After a shouted conversation with JAGUAR, we decided to try running
>> the Big Dog Channel which would bring us out of the islands a little further
>> north than if we went past Picnic we hoped that would make it easier for
>> SURPRISE to beat to Penetang and for JAG to beat to Midland. We hadn¹t gone
>> through the Dog for years because of the low water (yes, the water was low
>> but that¹s normal on a 63 year cycle, according to the records...) We
>> made it through, chugged out on the sheltered side of Beausoliel Island and
>> as we got back to Severn Sound, cast off JAG. The eased sheets and set away
>> a bit south of west for Midland, we hardened sheets and climbed to windward
>> somewhat north of west for Penetang.
>>
>> I shouted to Clint, who was my crew this year Œdoesn¹t seem so bad¹. He
>> nodded. Then we got past the end of Beausoliel and the wind and waves hit.
>> The first scream of wind in our rig sounded like a horse neighing. It
>> really did. Although we were sailing under just the genny we were laid
>> over. I shouted Œno good¹ to Clint and we started the engine. In came the
>> genny on it¹s furler after some wild flogging. And we had a problem. I
>> thought I was prudent in setting up my furler spool so that it could make
>> five more turns furling the sail than were required for normal fair
>> weather... We ran all the line off the spool and there was still about two
>> meters of sail out in the air flogging madly. Because of the weight of
>> wind, the sail wrapped much more tightly than usual. I was afraid we were
>> going to flog the clew out of the sail so we hauled both sheets taut to calm
>> it. SURPRISE didn¹t much like the effect of the scrap of sail so far
>> forward and it was a struggle to hold her head to the wind even with a fair
>> bit of throttle. Then I discovered that the amount of helm I needed to keep
>> her head up meant we were semi-hove to.
>>
>> We crabbed our way across the sound to the windward shore at Watson¹s Point
>> where we found a bit of a lee and taking advantage of a lull in the blow let
>> the genny out (which laid us on our side even with no sheet tension) then
>> hauled it back in. This time we got nearly all the sail in. We turned
>> SURPRISE away from the wind and let her scud at about 5 knots while I went
>> forward, untied the sheets, wrapped the rest of the sail by hand then put on
>> sheet back on to hold the sail on the wrap.
>>
>> Back into the blow we went, and as we crept around Watson¹s we felt the
>> weight of the wind again. I think it was 40 knots. It was hard to look to
>> windward from the wind and spray, but with full throttle we were able to get
>> SURPRISE up to 4.5 knots. We¹d come upon a series of waves that would slow
>> us to 2.5, but she¹d always gain speed again until another large series came
>> up. SURPRISE never put her nose quite under a wave, but she was certainly
>> throwing a lot of water into the air. Clint, who¹d grown up in motorboats,
>> was amazed at how there was utterly no slamming.... At one point he shouted
>> to me Œlike a rocking horse!¹. I replied Œremember the scenes in the
>> movie Das Boot when they are surfaced and chasing a convoy?¹ I made a
>> mental note that if SURPRISE was slowed to below 3 knots three times, I¹d
>> give up and try to get to Midland (also to windward but a little more
>> shelter) but it never happened.
>>
>> As we made our way up the bay the fetch got shorter and of course the waves
>> got smaller... I was able to back off the throttle when I noticed we were
>> getting up to 5.6 knots, and we continued at 5.
>>
>> Once at our winter berth marina (Dutchman¹s Cove in Penetang) we found a
>> jetty to make fast to and again as usual, SURPRISE was quite docile with her
>> transmission in reverse and the hard wind holding her head down. We were
>> able to remain stationary in the channel while lines and fenders were sorted
>> out. Someone ashore shouted to ask if we were aground, so steady was she.
>>
>> So, that was the end of the trip. Not so much as a sailing ordeal as a
>> motoring one. However I have to say I was extremely pleased with the way
>> SURPRISE was able to perform under power in such conditions, despite having
>> the standard factory supplied and much maligned two bladed prop. I¹m not
>> changing it. Good girl.
>>
>> Gord #426 Surprise
>>
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