Lake Ontario Crossing

Before I start this instalment of our trip from Turkey Point, I would like to point out some of the errors that were made.

• The charts that were loaded in the new chart plotter were incorrect. It seems that I had accidentally overwritten the CMAP card as the write protection was not enabled. That having happened, we relied on the base chart.
• The GlobalMap plotter already had charts for the area that we were travelling in. I just needed to change my navigational area in the menu. I did not realize this until our arrival at Cobourg.
• Make sure to take the time and plot your course before you head out, don’t rush through this step.
• Take frequent breaks and set up a helming schedule. Get some rest when you are off and don’t just switch your task from helming to navigation. Your brain needs a break!
• Have your paper charts ready so that if you need to refer back to your charts you can.
• Throttles and Shifters should be clearly marked with color coded leavers.
• Have phone numbers handy for all marinas where you plan on making landfall. We relied on radio and it seems that both Port of New Castle and Port Cobourg did not use their radio until after we searched for their phone numbers and called.

We had been at it since 4:00 am that morning working our way through the Welland Canal. We had transited the canal in about 6 hours which was exceptional. Once we had refuelled at Port Weller, we decided to make the best of the good weather and cross Lake Ontario. We had dropped off Barnacle, as he had left his car at that marina the day before.

Zebra, Karen and I made our way out of Port Weller and into Lake Ontario. The wind was directly on our bow but the waves were only a few feet in height, which Tropical Horizons handled well. This is where I made my first mistake in not setting out the course properly ahead of time in the chart plotters. I figured I would do this on the run while Zebra or Karen would keep the boat on course. I had looked at the GlobalMaps unit and saw that the chart did not cover the area that we were heading into, so I moved over to the new HDS 12 unit and looked at the charts only to find that the C-Map charts were not there and I only had base charts to work with. This was not an ideal situation to be in. I headed below decks and grabbed a chart book of the area we would be going through and figured out the latitude and longitude to head towards. I set a course to our first choice of destinations, the Port of NewCastle. As the GPS calculated our time of arrival we decided to add a little more speed so that we would arrive during daylight hours and so off we went.

At this point during the day I had been at the helm for quite some time and decided to hand the helm over to Zebra while Karen brought out some food and drinks to re-fuel ourselves. I had a bite to eat then took back the helm while Zebra had some food. Although I did not fully realize it I was exhausted.

The trip across Lake Ontario was fairly straight forward with a short stint through US waters. As we made it past the middle point and were within radio range, I started to hail the Port of NewCastle on the radio to make sure that they would be there for us and that they would have a slip for the evening. After many unanswered hails, we decided to look at the paper charts for other ports to make landfall. We decided that Cobourg would serve our needs and in the worst case, we could always anchor in the outer bay. We figured out what our course should be and altered towards our new destination, Cobourg. Again, we hailed them on the VHF and no answer. Once I was able to get into cell phone data range, I looked up the phone number for the marina and spoke with the harbor master who assured me they were monitoring the VHF. I didn’t realize what the problem was until I checked into the Marina.

We spotted the breakwater and lights that marked the entrance to the Cobourg Marina and this is where it all went horribly wrong. There was an incident that led to an accidental shift from forward to neutral. The engines were running at about 3500 rpm under load when this happened. The shift into neutral removed the load from the engines and all of the sudden we were running at 6000 rpm. This is not good for big block 454’s. I hit the emergency shut off switches and we were bobbing in the water, adrift. My next action was to drop the anchor right away to keep us off the rocks and breakwater. Zebra headed down below decks and opened the access hatch to the engine room to reveal a smokey mess. We ventilated the engine room and took some time to regroup. My heart sank with the smell of burnt oil as I knew it wasn’t good. We had a look around the engine and there was no oil leaking out of it so I had a small amount of hope. I gave the engines some time to cool off, still ventilating the engine room before trying to re-start them. I started with the Starboard engine which did not start, then the Port engine, which started up right away! Well we had a single engine and a working bow thruster, with a stern thruster that worked intermittently. We contacted Cobourg and let him know that we were in some mechanical trouble. He waited for us patiently at the fuel dock as we arrived on a single engine.

While the boat was being fuelled up, Zebra got on the phone with his brother who happens to be a mechanic. He did his best at trying to raise my spirits. “Maybe it’s only a blown gasket. Engines are all hydraulics; you just over pressured it, that’s all. We’ll fix it and my brother can get the parts you need, it’s just a standard GM block.” When we came to leave the fuel dock, we turned over the Starboard engine while Zebra had a listen and he could hear some noise from the top end. Hmm, this was not great news. After he checked the oil, there was water in it. That was even worse news. Using the single Port side engine, we headed out to the slip that we were assigned by the harbor master where we tied up for the night. I was tired and frankly depressed. Zebra did his best to keep an up-beat attitude and drag me out of my funk. Karen got supper ready, we ate, had showers , and called it a night.

The next day Zebra was ready to tear apart that engine. We soon noticed that I would need some other tools to get the job done. So what did we do? I would like to say we improvised and made tools out of a beer can but no, that wasn’t the case. We headed to the marina office and asked if there was a hardware store nearby. One of the girls working the counter offered to drive us there (Zebra’s handsome charm comes in handy at times), but we opted to sign out a couple of bikes and just bike out to the store. Zebra took first dibs on the only men’s bike, it was black. I, on the other hand, grabbed the next bike in line, a purple woman’s bike with a lovely basket on the handlebars. As he laughed at me we headed out and Zebra quickly realized that his rear tire was flat. So he exchanged his bike for another purple woman’s bike… I had a good laugh. We were heading out to the hardware store on what we called “The Purple People Eaters”. So one thing I should mention about Zebra, he is in excellent physical shape. Keeping up to an amateur tri-athlete is not an easy task for someone who doesn’t exercise as much as he should. The first hardware store we went to did not have the tools we were looking for, so we cycled across town on our Purple People Eaters to another larger hardware store which, it seemed was all uphill for hours. I made it there without throwing up….gold star for me! We found what we were looking for and made our way back down to the boat. The good thing about the return trip was that it was all downhill. At one point during our search for tools, Zebra looked at me and said “The adventures I get in with you”. All I could do was laugh about it.

Back at the Marina, we returned our Purple People Eaters and started tearing down the engine. We didn’t get very far as there was lots of water in the oil pan and after removing a valve cover, we found a well bent lifter rod. I knew that the engine would be coming out; this was to be a complete re-build. Zebra was stranded with us in Cobourg. Fortunately for Zebra, his uncle lived in nearby Trenton and was available to come out and give him a lift back to his truck that was parked at the Trent Port Marina.

Karen and I remained in Cobourg as the winds were churning up Lake Ontario and creating some sizable waves. There are far worse places to be than Cobourg.  You can view a slide show of this adventure on our YouTube Channel by following this link:  Cobourg Slide Show