Entry #49:
Saturday, June 1st: First, please accept my apologies regarding my reference to Cobourg as Colborne, Colbourg or Port Colborne. I am leaving Cobourg this morning. It is just east of Colborne. I was at Port Colborne when I was going down the Welland Locks from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Got it? Now that the confusion is straightened out, I left COBOURG this morning following a night of thunderstorms and rain while in my slip.
We started out with light winds from the SW with rain and lightening forecast out of the NW for 3 pm this afternoon. Based on current speed, I was projected to reach Oshawa at 5:30 pm! My plan was to make as much time as I could, hope the forecast would be wrong and if need be, seek safe harbor well in advance of any storm clouds or shift in winds. I was heading west into the forecast weather.
Poseidon was in a good mood and the morning and early afternoon turned out to be the best sailing of the trip – winds building to 12 knots out of the SW (my back), 2 to 3 foot waves on my stern, blue skies and, and (take a deep breath) 60 degree temperatures! I took off my wool cap for a full hour after taking a video.
Around 1 pm the Coast Guard had sent a weather alert, winds were dying down and the north western skies were looking ominous. Oshawa was still 24 miles or 6 hours at my current speed. Due to the lack of wind, I had let my sails down, so I increased my diesel to 2,400 rpms reaching a boat speed of about 5 mph. I cut my arrival time to 4:30 pm.
Around 3 pm, the clouds on the horizon appeared to dissipate. Good, I am now looking at a 4:15 arrival time to Oshawa. Then I heard the Coast Guard announce to seek cover – but I missed where. I called the Oshawa Marina to announce my projected arrival time requesting a slip. I got instead the Oshawa Harbor Master saying that the only marina in Oshawa closed down over 10 years ago. Nobody told me!:) Where’s the nearest marina? Whitby but its east of Oshawa another 45 minutes. I was beginning to see skies building up in the north west. Dam.
I reset my waypoint for Whitby, called them and told them my projected arrival time. They confirmed the storm threat but I would be arriving after hours and the office would be closed. They were kind enough to assign me a slip and put a key under the mat so I had access to the bathrooms and dock re-entry.
I don’t have the imagination to make these things up!
The northwest winds and waves slowly began to pick up but I made it to harbor around 5:30 pm with the storm just about to hit. Whew, too too close for comfort. I need to re-access my decision making process.
Never Too Late For 