Lock Stars!

We left Hastings Sunday bright and early.  Leaving the town I had a major brain fart.  There is just no other way to put it.  For some 1200 miles so far I have had the red channel markers on my right, “Red right returning”.  For some weird reason, I left Hastings running a straight line just to the right side of a row of red buoys.  The first “clunk” I heard I wrote off to a slammed slider in the cockpit below,…the second, and third, happening in quick succession, caused me to throw the boat into neutral and glide quietly as I gathered my wits.  Thank God I was only doing 5 knots.  I was lucky, I think.  I can feel no vibration that would indicate extreme propeller or shaft damage, even at high RPMs.  Whew.  My first “grounding”, all my fault, and I think I skated.

The Admiral was pretty rough on me, not understanding how this could possibly happen.  “What were you thinking about”, she asked.   God was smiling on me later that morning when she directed me to go to the left (wrong side) of a green marker.  I just glanced her way, smiled, and said, “Are you sure, honey”.  She knew something was up, and when she realized she had made the same bonehead error I had earlier, well, my job was saved…for now!

We headed for Peterborough, hoping to get through Lock #21 before Dad and Dee left for home.  The reason for this is that Lock #21 is one of the two famous “Lift Locks” on the Trent-Severn.  It is totally different from any of the others we had encountered.  I hope our pictures do it justice.  Basically, it is two huge “pans” which operate like a counterweight scale.  The pans are full of water and after boats enter at the top and bottom pan, 144,000 gallons of water is added to the top pan and the weight lowers that pan and raises the lower pan 65 feet!  We were lucky to be last in the lock so the view off our stern as we went up was pretty remarkable.



This was taken on our fly bridge on the way up!

In the lock I stuck up a conversation with two young couples on jet skis who were doing the lock for fun on a Sunday outing.  They said they loved our boat.  Justin, the most outgoing of the bunch (reminded me of Sarah’s Jeff) said he’d like to come along on our loop trip and be our boat washer.  I told him if his wife, Gillian (whose nickname since high school and very appropriately for this blog was “Gilligan”) could cook, we might have a deal.  The other couple, Jeff and Jamie, was just as eager to look through Once Around.  So, I told the four of them to stop off for a beer at the top, which they were happy to do. 

My Canadian jet ski friends

Once atop the lock, we moored on the lock wall for the night.  We really enjoyed our visit with our new young Canadian friends.  I hate to admit it, but, I think I needed a 20-30 something fix.  Yes, Dina, Darrin, CJ and Leo, I guess I really do miss you guys and the excitement you and your friends bring to our lives. 

 

Jeff, Justin, "Gilligan" and Jamie

And, when the beer ran out, I learned an important Canadian fact that all the old boaters I have been around seemed to have overlooked.  These kids informed me that in almost every Canadian town they had a local service they nicknamed, “Dial a Bottle”.  I couldn’t believe it, but a short time later, the local delivery guy brought my order for a couple of cases of beer, some Grey Goose, Jose Cuervo and some mix, right up to the boat.  After that, we had pizza delivered.  This place is totally civilized!



Our berth for the night at the top of the lift lock

And, I know I have talked about the Canadian lockmasters before. But, I need to tell you about the crew at this lock.  (Tom, my Florida buddy and loop mentor, told me by the time you left Canada, you would feel like family with the Canadian lock folks.  I thought he was nuts; sorry Tom, you were right on the money).  These guys were awesome.  They really treat boaters as their guests, and are as helpful and informative as you want them to be.  We learned all about the operation of this lock, which is the tallest of its’ kind in the world.  They are proud of their jobs and their Country, and really do make you feel like part of their family.  Just before they went home for the night, and only half joking, I said, “I would love to run that lock”.  They promised me that in the morning I would have my chance.



John, Sean and Rob, three real lockmasters, and great guys

As luck would have it, when they invited me into the control tower, Tropical Breeze and Moonstruck were waiting far below to enter the lower pan.  Of course, they had no idea who was running the show up top…well, pushing the buttons anyway.  John, the lockmaster who was instructing me step by step which button to push, switch to flip, etc., suddenly handed me the mike for the bullhorn.  He had just welcomed the three boats to the lock and instructed a houseboat to enter first.  Knowing that the next two boaters were friends of mine he said, “Do you want to tell them to enter?”

Now, I am not exactly shy with a mike in my face, so John was a bit taken aback, as were my boating friends, when they heard over the loudspeaker, “Tropical Breeze and Moonstruck, you will need to give us the correct password before we can allow you to enter.”  I wish I could have seen the expression on their faces.  All I could see from 80 or so feet above them was their blank faces looking skyward.  I had to quickly tell them, “Hi guys, this is Frank from Once Around, just kidding, come on in”.  I think I recognized some of the Italian hand gestures from Doug on Tropical Breeze.  Judy on Moonstruck had a few choice words for me as the pan reached the top of the lock!  As they passed, we wished them good cruising and told them we would see them up the river in a few days, or whenever.



Lock Star, or Mad Lock Master's Apprentice?

Tropical Breeze and Moonstruck after entering the lock

It was time for Care’s dad and Dee to be picked up to get to the airport in Toronto, so we walked down to the bottom of the lock and waited for their car.  Our first class passengers left us at around 10:30.  We had a blast with them aboard.  Dad got his fill of locks and a bit of fishing.  We hope to see them aboard again somewhere down the Loop.



My bride and the father of the bride

Seeing Dee and Dad off to the airport from Lock 21

As we climbed back to the top of the lock, we looked down and saw Terry and Lauren on Blue Highways, the friends who went to the Yankees game with us over a month ago.  They were surprised to see us since they thought we had taken the Montreal/Ottawa route.  Trident, with Bill, Carol and Monte, their Bernese Mountain Dog, were also passing through, and we learned that Jolly Tolly had gone through while we were down at the car with Dad.  Carrie got her chance at the lock controls and the mike as these friends were in the lock.  She’s not quite the ham that I am, but she did tell them to be sure not to hit the beautiful blue boat at the top of the lock.

We stalled around for an hour or two, washing and cleaning the boat, before we reluctantly said goodbye to our lockmaster buddies at Lock #21.  We made it through another five locks Monday afternoon and settled on a lock wall near Lakefield, Ontario.  We found another looper, Dockers Inn, here who we will probably be travelling with tomorrow.  We took a refreshing swim in the river, as the heat today was near 100 degrees and humid as heck.  A quiet dinner for two and…night-night.

Tuesday we were up early and along with Dockers Inn headed the five miles up to the next lock.  The locks were pretty busy and I think it was the next one where they stuffed Jolly Tolly, Dockers Inn, Tropical Breeze and Once Around into the lock.  There was hardly room for a jet ski left over.  I had to keep tapping my bow thruster to keep from ripping the rigging off that held Jolly Tolly’s dinghy.  Jan kept urging me to put my anchors through her dinghy, as she wants a new one!



I'm talking tight quarters in that lock!

The scenery on the Trent Severn seems to get more and more beautiful the farther north we go.



A typical view from our fly bridge

Another typical view from the bridge...and one I will pay for sharing with you all.

Following Jolly Tolly and Tropical Breeze through the maze of islands.

We found this odd; This church marks the entrance of a section called, "Hells Gate" by boaters.  I wonder how the pastor feels about that?

How about this?  A real honest to goodness glass house in the woods.  No rock throwing children.

After about a 38 mile day and several locks we ended up in Bobcaygeon, Ontario at Gordon’s Yacht Harbor.  I played electrician again for a while helping Moonstruck get power and afterwards the four of us along with the crew of Jolly Tolly had dinner together in town.  I think both of those boats are headed out in the morning.

It was windy today and the forecast is for worse winds tomorrow.  That’s one excuse to take a down day and spend another night here.  The second (and real reason) is that the US Women’s soccer team is playing in the World Cup semi-finals against France at noon tomorrow.  We have already staked out a pub as our first choice to watch the game.  If not there, the marina here has a boater’s room with cable access.  One way or another, we hope to watch our girls make the finals.

Good luck Steph, Megan, and GO USA!!!