The Wild Horses Shuffle

​Well, the leaves have started to turn, days are getting shorter and the geese have definitely got the order to start heading south.  For northern sailors, sailing season is ending and thoughts turn to removing gear from the boat, buying antifreeze and booking “haul out”.  For the crew of Wild Horses, it is an especially sad time – we thought that these “end of season” rituals were in our rear view mirror.  Ugh, not so.  We have six bottles of newly purchased antifreeze ready for winterizing our water systems on Wild Horses, part of getting her ready for another winter season in Canada.  Our dock at Trident Yacht Club gets removed at the end of September, signaling that “haul out” for Wild Horses is just around the corner.  Sigh.

Our dinghy at dusk, sporting its newly installed navigational lights at the bow and stern.

The dinghy navigational lights in action after taking Ocean into shore for her last bathroom break. These lights are getting lots of use with the days getting shorter and shorter.

​But, not so fast.  Mother Nature isn’t quite done with us yet.  She has handed us a late season heat wave along with a forecast for a warmer than normal October.  And water levels are staying higher than normal.  Hmmm, we may just have a recipe for a little adventure.

​I will explain.

With the US land border staying closed to Canadians for the foreseeable future, Mike and I will be staying in Canada for another year.  Our winter apartment is a cute little place in Gananoque, Ontario that is just perfect for our crew of three.  Perfect, except it won’t be ready for us until October 23rd.  And our dock is dismantled on September 25th.  Our original plan for bridging this gap was to stay the month with my fabulous, extra generous, wonderful big brother (thank you Michael!).  Since the October weather is forecasted to be so lovely, that is now Plan B.
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Plan A?  Here we go.  There are other docks at Trident that get removed just after Thanksgiving.  We have requested one of those slips for a few weeks.  We have also contacted Loyalist Cove Marina (where the boat will be stored for the winter) and hope that they can accommodate us for the final week or two.  The interesting part of all of this is that there are no guarantees.  

We are hoping for spaces that will work for Wild Horses (she is long and beamy so there are limited docks that can work for her). 

We are hoping that the weather forecast stays true (our boat furnace only works at dock so warm nights mean that we can spend some comfortable time at anchor).

Most of all, we are hoping that the water levels stay higher than normal for this time of year.  Our keel is 5 foot 7 inches so the water depths at Loyalist Cove Marina need to stay above this in order for us to make our final approach into the harbour. 
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Lots of hope but it will be well worth trying if we get to spend even a little bit more time on the water!

A wonderful light sail in the Thousand Islands

A stunning sunset at Beau Rivage

Ocean sitting under the cockpit table. This is a favourite spot for her on a hot day after swimming.