{{{ {{Trailer Sailors Association North Channel Cruise}} {{Clary Cove to Eagle Island to South Benjamin Island to Little Current}} }}} July 16-18, 2007 – Days 4,5,6 – Personal Log – Jimmy Harrell {{July 16, Day 4: Cleary Cove to Eagle Island.}} 16 miles straight line, sailed/motored 18 miles, wind out of the west at 10 to 15 with a fetch of about 50 miles, 1 to 2 ft swells increased to 3 to 4ft, air temperature in the mid 60’s. [Google map of the area sailed. Clary Cove on left and Eagle Island on right.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=116651256621430826857.000436e50f20b5b75de9a&ll=46.122273,-82.462692&spn=0.284128,0.529404&t=k&z=11&om=1]] Both Jerry and I are early risers, so we were up way before the radio net. I’m not quite as early a riser as Jerry is and when I awoke he already had the water boiling for coffee. I still had remnants of a headache from the day before but Jerry convinced me that a little Bailey’s Irish Cream in my coffee would help. It worked and shortly I was ready for a little shore time. It worked so well that we had Irish Cream in our coffee every morning for the rest of the trip. Henk told us that previously he had been able to use his cell phone from atop a rock hill next to the anchorage. We had poor reception at Spanish so we rowed ashore. Henk was close behind in his kayak. The three of us climbed the hill and sure enough were able to call and check in with the home front. There were blue berries everywhere, so we picked and ate our fill before returning to the boat for the 9 AM radio net. The blueberry bushes were different than I had seen before. They were seldom more than a foot tall and usually nestled between adjacent rocks that were higher than the bushes. In Georgia, wild blueberries are ofter 4 or 5 feet tall. I suppose the harsh winters had something to do with the size of the bushes. Also there were a lot of juniper bushes, white pine, hemlock, spruce, cedar and maple. Also saw a few trees I think were oak. Very few of the trees were very big compared to similar trees I had seen in SE Alaska. We left Clary Cove about 9:30 AM. After clearing the cove, we were able to sail downwind all the way to Eagle Island and started the motor just to get inside the anchorage. It was a beautiful, cool day. Conditions couldn’t have been much better for sailing. We arrived at Eagle Island about 1:55 PM. (Note to self: This headache, lousy feeling thing has happened before when I had a drink at the end of the first day of a cruise, probably a combination of motion sickness, dehydration, and alcohol. So, don’t drink at the end of the first day and always bring along a bottle of Bailey’s just in cast.) {{July 17, Day 5: Eagle to South Benjamin Island}} 2.9 miles straight line distance, sailed 7 to 8 miles (estimated since I failed to save the track log), Air in mid 60s early to lower 80’s by late afternoon, water 65 degrees, wind 0 to 5 mph. [Google map of the area sailed. Eagle Island on the left and South Benjamin the right.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116651256621430826857.000436e50fe82c61338bf&ll=46.09847,-82.275753&spn=0.071063,0.132351&t=k&z=13&om=1] Again we rose early and were ready to go before the 9 AM radio net, but waited to get words of wisdom from cruise leader Brian Childs before we headed out. By 9:15 AM we had sails hoisted and were sailing out of the anchorage. Jerry hates the motor and I don’t like it very much either so we decided to try to make this leg of the trip totally by sail. Winds were light at the start and dropped to nothing about 2 hours later. It was a short sail and we were not in a hurry so we kicked back and watched the other boats motor by while we imitated what we call “Shake and Bake” down South. The difference is that the Bake part when in the North Channel is very pleasant. After a while the wind picked back up and we sailed the rest of the way and into the anchorage. Wind inside the anchorage was light so we ghosted around the anchorage under sail, which by now had more than 30 boats, until we found the perfect spot and dropped anchor at about 2 PM. A few others who also shunned their motors sailed in after we arrived. We noted that today we had seen only the second house on shore since we left Spanish. Later in the cruise we saw only a few more houses except in villages of Little Current and Kilarney. We also noted that on this leg, we had picked up some black flies but they did not seem to be the biting kind or at least Jerry and I were not very tasty. Mosquitoes, just after dark, were also worth noting. They were big and persistent and the extensive netting that Jerry brought was worth its weight in gold. Benjamin had a lot of good places to land a dingy and cliffs overlooking the anchorage and the North Channel. Jerry and I dinghied ashore and hiked to a cliff overlooking the anchorage. It was easier finding our way to the top of the cliff than it was finding the trail back down. Every attempt to follow a rock path ended up at a drop off that was more than we wanted to negotiate. We could see where we wanted to go, but just couldn’t get there easily. Finally we decided to head down one of the ravines through dense vegetation, full of mosquitoes and spiders. By the time we got down, we were hot and buggy with remnants of spider webs all over. Even though the water was 65 degrees we decided that a swim to drown or freeze the critters clinging to us was better than the alternative. The afternoon sun had warmed the rocks so after a short and very refreshing swim we lounged on the warm rocks while others were playing Bingo. Dick and Char Travis had brought laminated bingo cards and grease pencils and prizes. In the past, the bingo had been Dingy Bingo with the contestants gathered around a mother ship in their dingies. The flat warm rock was so inviting that this year it was called rock bingo. Sorry, I forgot to take my camera shore so I don’t have pictures. Jerry posted some earlier on TSBB. {{ July 18, Day 6: Benjamin to Spider Bay at Little Current}} 17 miles straight line distance, sailed 21, Air in mid 60s early to lower 80’s by late afternoon, water 65 degrees, wind out of the east starting out at 5 mph then to nothing and then to about 15., air lower 60s. [Click here for a Google map of the area sailed. Benjamin Island on the left and Spider Bay Marina on the right.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ll=46.026528,-82.061691&spn=0.284622,0.529404&t=h&z=11&om=1&msid=116651256621430826857.000436f88fe440a250a9b] Again we were up earlier than most and had a little emergency. Jerry and I are compatible on most things but his preference for breakfast is oatmeal and mine is grits. (Jerry was born and raised in Alabama and he prefers oatmeal to grits; can you imagine that?) Jerry bought the food for the trip but I told him that I already had a package of single serving sizes of grits and that I would bring them. Turns out that Jerry had a few packs of grits in with his oatmeal and I had been eating them. But I had had the last package the day before. Not to worry, I would start using those that I had brought. After searching high and low, they were no where to be found. I’m fairly adaptable so I decided to eat oatmeal which we could re-supply in Little Current. That morning I had my second and last bowl of oatmeal. In addition to tasting blah, that much oatmeal so early in the morning doesn’t set well with my digestive system. Enough about that. We were ready to leave by 8:30 AM and since we had gained a little confidence in our navigation skills, we decided to head out before the radio net and listen in as we sailed. Wind was out of the east and our initial course was SE around Amedroz Island and then east to Little Current and Spider Bay. Wind was about 5 mph and decreased all morning to nothing about 1 PM. We were the first out of the anchorage but the whole fleet passed us before we finally started the motor and motor sailed for about 11 miles to Spider Bay Marina. About 3 miles from the marina, the wind picked up rapidly to about 15 mph and was on the nose. We decided to continue motoring and arrived at the marina to get the last available slip. Others had to stay at the town docks which were closer to shopping but was exposed to wake from passing boats. [Click here for close up of Little Current on Manitoulin Island. Spider Bay Marina is under the blue ballon.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&t=h&om=1&msid=116651256621430826857.000436f88fe440a250a9b&ie=UTF8&ll=45.978355,-81.925907&spn=0.035609,0.094328&z=14] The itinerary called for leaving Spider Bay the next morning for a fairly short trip to Heywood Island. Therefore, there were things to do and not much time. Laundry facilities were sorely lacking, the main problem being the inadequate dryers. Something had to be wrong with them. It took several cycles to dry a load. The grocery store was small but adequate except they did not carry grits, so I bought fruit bars. A meal of whitefish at a local restaurant was excellent. By early evening the group was abuzz about a storm forecast to arrive about noon the next day, lightening and high winds. Some thought about leaving early and making it to Heywood Island before the storm hit. Others thought about waiting until the storm passed before heading out and still others thought about staying a second night at the marina. Jerry and I got everything ready to leave the next morning depending on an update forecast the next morning. We did not get to bed until after midnight because of the slow clothes dryer. [Click here for photos of this section of the cruise->http://osyc.net/photos/July%2016-19%20Days%204.5.6.7/July_16_19_Days_4.5.6.7/]