Boating With Boogaboo

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

All She Wrote :-(

Looks like our final chance to do some On-Water boating is behind us for the 2009 season, as almost all of the boats on B Channel are now out of the water :-( Graham & I dropped in to the marina today to warsh the bottoms of our boats. Graham even sprinkled some ferris induced H2O on Water Wings;

So, from now on in you are simply going to have to check right here for your weekly boating fix. Heck, I think I already have another fun filled post ready to go - but let's not go too fast. It'll be much better to take our time and savour each special moment in all it's splendor . . . Ohh, I'm getting so excited ;-)

Friday, October 23, 2009

End of Boating Season - Then The Depression Set in ;-)

"And then depression set in in . . ."

There was a movie made in 1981 called 'Stripes,' staring Bill Murray. In the opening scene his girlfriend leaves him, despite his failing objections. The point being made was that the leaving was inevitable and completely out of his control. Kinda like the end of summer and all that means for us boating types. That's when he uttered the line quoted above. For some reason, that line came to mind recently. Quel suprise? (And French isn't even my 2nd language).

So where am I going with this. you ask? Follow along and I'm sure you'll pick up on the sentiment. After all, I am a sentimental kinda guy (in case you haven't noticed). Sorry for all the pictures, but as the saying goes - 'a picture says a a thousand words'. Well, I have a lot I want to say - so pay attention. Please. It's Friday night and the season is over. Kaput. Just a memory.

No more rushing to the boat. No more BBQs;

No more sitting around the fire with good friends and passing the time engaged in deep, meaningful conversations - or plain old story telling; No more dinghy rides; No more spectacular sunsets; No more fast boat rides; No more slow boat rides; No more on water sunsets; No more tying to shore; No more dinners under the gazebo; No more dinners at Henry's; No more dinners at Rawley Resort; No more goofing around on the deck; No more Lagoon City; No more rafting; No more anchoring out on Chicken Bay; No more sunsets behind 'B' channel; No more emergency pump outs. No more Maple Leaf; No more HOT fires; No more Georgian Bay dinghy rides; No more swim showers; No more 'Mid-Bay' ice cream deliveries; No more returning to port; No more boating;

Sunday, October 18, 2009

On Our Way To The Bay!

It's that time again kids - Holiday Pictures!! Hey! Stop the groaning. And no whining, as this is going to take quite a bit of time to get through, so you might as well get comfortable while I take you all along for the ride. And this is only the first of many parts to come . . . Pre-Departure Check. Sanja goes over the charts one . . . last . . . time the weekend before we all headed out to make sure she finds her way to the rendezvous location on Georgian Bay. Will she make it? Will she run out of highlighter? Will we see her studying these same charts again during our holidays? You'll have to look for the upcoming episodes to find out.

4:35 PM, Friday, July 24th - 'Boogaboo' departs slip # B5 and WE ARE OFF!!!!!!

Not a lot to see in this video clip, but the sound of my voice says it all. Watch and listen;

Wow, look at that lake. Calm as glass as we put 'er up on plane to cross Simcoe.

Still not out of the woods from bad weather though, as this is the reason I pushed the throttles forward. That rain in the distance is just off of Georgina Island. Luckily, we were able to get ahead of it. Too bad that wasn't the last rain we would see, as we saw lots of it the over next few days. But heck, we were on holidays & MOVING!!

I was dead tired from the previous couple of weeks of overtime work, so we decided to pull into Orillia for the night. I think we were in bed by 8:30 that night.

This video is the next day as we left Orillia behind us and continued moving northward;

The 'Bowling Alley' at the top of Lake Couchiching;

For your entertainment I have will share this time lapse video of us locking through Couchiching Lock. Yes, I know I did this last year at this spot, but this time it's even longer. Wow, eh? Yes it is. Hey, if you had anything more fun to do, you wouldn't be watching this right now . . .

Next lock, #43 at Swift Rapids;

As we had a few minutes to wait to take the boat through the Swift Rapids lock, I had some time to do some video capturing. Much like I am capturing your imagination with these intriguing moving pictures. Admit it - it IS both intriguing and imagination catching ;-)

I took this shot after exiting the lock to show how much water was being released from the dam beside it and to give an idea of how much excess water was in the system. In case you didn't notice, we had lots of rain this season & all that extra water pushing it's way along showed itself in the narrower passages one had to drive through with some really strong currents;

Arriving at the Big Chute, we found that were already ten boats ahead of us waiting to go over. Given the time of the day, I figured we wouldn't get a chance to make it over the big train ride, so we went right to the overnighting docks to call it a day. That night (???) we were again in bed really early;

The next morning we awoke to see that a number of boats that were there the night before hadn't been able to go over the Chute. So, at least we got a really needed good night's rest.

Check how far out this boat on the marine railway is sticking out. The boat is a British made 'Broom'. The skipper was so nervous about taking his vessel over the big train, that he spent the night with the boat on the dock while he walked back and forth to see how the thing operated and to make sure there wouldn't be any problems with his baby.

Some people worry waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much;

Weeeee, it's our turn to go over! See the hook on our railing to the right? That's from my buddy Cam helping out. This is the easiest lock on the system, as they take your lines and do all the work. All you gotta do is drive your boat to where they say and they do the rest;

One of the most fun parts about going over the Big Chute Marine Railway is watching all the pedestrians who are all watching you! A good time for funing with them, as well as the guys operating the railway;

Another 'Stern Shot', this time leaving The Chute. Again, you can see how much water is being released through the chute (at the right). Hey look, it's Adrian behind us in his Bayliner;

One more storm to race, this time it's just before the last lock. Well, our luck wasn't as good as when we left home because we got caught in this one. Nothing to do but pull the throttles back and hit the wipers;

The rain was still coming down when we got to lock #45 at Port Severn. As a matter of fact, the rain was there when we arrived, while we waited 1-1/2 hours to lock through and when we got onto Georgian Bay. Actually, that last part was a full blown thunderstorm;

Looking out from the top of the lock. That's Georgian Bay on the bottom side - the part with all the water rushing into it. Because the way this lock is situated, boaters transiting either way have to deal with the current from the main dam to the south, the outflow from the water control dam on the north side and the water rushing out for the lock itself. On days like this, it proves to be a challenging venture. But what a rush!

I'll be sharing the videos I took here - as well as us going through it - for the next installment of 'Boring Summer Holidays 2009' . . . . Fear not, there will be lots of SUNNY shots coming up :-) And lots of wonderful memories.

**** S T A Y T U N E D ****

Monday, October 12, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

I guess I should open this segment by asking; "What did you expect?"

After the cold, rainy, windy 'summer', it should have come as no surprise that this last long weekend of the year would be the same. Despite the weather conditions, us boating die-hards were able to make the most of it :-) Friday evening was a washout - with lots of rain and wind, but Saturday the sun was shining and I was able to get the dinghy out of the water and wash it for the off-season storage, all snugly at home;

On Saturday evening we had a nice fire, as I had brought a bunch of fast burning, heat generating wood from home. The only problem was that with dark descending on us earlier and earlier, when it seemed like 10:00 or later - it was only 8:00! It was actually a good thing that Debbie & Graham got back from their family visit later that night, otherwise we would have been back on the boats by 8:30! But wait - that's what happened on Sunday night:-( One by one, the cold took hold of everyone . . . It was actually ONLY 8:30 on Sunday when the last two of us went back to the boats. Too bad, because despite the frigid air temps, for this guy, it was soooooooo nice being there at the fire & realizing that it would one of the last times this season I really didn't want to leave. . . .

Here's a picture I took on Sunday evening, with the passing clouds dropping the first SNOW of the season! That's right, we saw a few flakes falling just after dinner. And no, the flakes I'm referring to were the fluffy, white, frozen precipitation type - not me or Graham;

We kept moving Monday with us all joining in for three boat trips to the gas dock for the final pump outs of the season;

With any luck, the weather will cooperate with us next weekend, as I'm really hoping to be able to take 'Boogaboo' out for one last run of the season. We kinda got a bit of a tradition started with that over the past couple of years and I'm looking forward to being able to do it again this year. So keep your fingers crossed. . .
Over the past eight years of this site and the 11 seasons we've been part of all of what makes Rotten Row & the Dock Crocs special is that fun comes in many forms ;-) And it's absolutely amazing how all those special memories come to be. With that thought in mind, I'm gonna share this with you. The dictionary defines the word 'Summer' as the following;

The usually warmest season of the year, occurring between spring and autumn and constituting June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere, or, as calculated astronomically, extending from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox.
A period of fruition, fulfillment, happiness, or beauty.

I hope we can head into the off season with a positive sense of fulfillment, happiness and beauty of the year - despite the weather. Don't know about you guys, but again I really had a wonderful summer. Sure it wasn't near close to a hot and sunny one, but I really enjoyed all that season brought. To quote one Mr. Von A; "the best boating plan is no plans . . ." I guess that, because of the weather, we were forced to adapt that approach to our boating - and I can say that I like the way it all worked out :-) New places, new experiences, new memories. And sometimes we didn't even have to leave the marina.

Yes. Thank you.

I'm gonna do my best to share some of our most recent memories - those being the ones from 2009. I've already got a whole bunch of pictures ready to go and quite a few video clips that I hope will bring smiles to your faces & a warm glow to your hearts :-)

Sorry if you're not a big fan of Georgian Bay, but I'm going to be doing a lot of reminiscing on that subject. For those of you who are fans, wonderful! Our time up there this year was again (. . . he said with a long pause while he searches his mind for the most descriptive term . . .) - GREAT!

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I hope we can all hear from each other from time to time right here on this site! I enjoy putting these things together and always look forward to your feedback! If you perhaps have some pictures or stories of your own - and your camera isn't at the bottom of Lake Simcoe - please feel free to post them here or pass them along to me. I'd be happy to share them on your behalf . . . Otherwise, please keep a lookout for all the fun to be posted here over the next few months!

What did you expect?

:-)