North Channel – Just Wow!

As we begin our 3^rd week cruising the North Channel, I realize that I am ruined for Lake Ontario.  Now, to be clear, I love Lake Ontario and we’ve sailed it end to end, Hamilton to Gananoque, both the New York and Ontario shores.  I love sailing in Toronto, through the harbour with the impressive city-skape framing the water, dropping the hook in the Toronto Island lagoons and going for a bike ride, or the serenity of Humber Bay.  A year ago I couldn’t imagine better place to spend a summer than on the boat in the Thousand Islands (for you non-sailors, the far east end of Lake Ontario and the start of the St. Lawrence River), with the seemingly endless rock islands and clean flowing water.  However, I’m done with that now.

I mentioned in my previous post that we had heard of people describing the North Channel as one of the 10 best sailing areas in the world.  We’ve spoken to some who don’t put in just top 10, but at the very top – the very best place to sail in the world.  And this is coming from seasoned sailors, who have extensively sailed the world, Caribbean, Europe, South Pacific, but they keep coming back here.  I can’t even count how many have told us they have been coming back here every summer for 20, 30 or more years.  Why the appeal?

If you’ve been reading my posts, then you know that Allen and I are in complete awe of the natural beauty of this area.  Pink and white rocks, dense forests, the clean scent of pine, fjords and endless places to hike or kayak.  Water so clean and clear you can see the bottom to 15 feet and could probably drink it, and if you like the words “refreshing” or “brisk”, it’s a great place to swim.  It also appears to be a good place to fish, though as we are not into fishing, I can’t provide any first-hand commentary.  There are lots of fishing boats, families spending their evenings fishing from the docks, fish farms and every restaurant in every town features white fish specials, so it must be good.

It’s also a place where power and sail boaters coexist quite nicely (non-boaters may not know this, but this really is a “thing” – power and sail boaters usually don’t mix well).  All kinds of boats can be found in the Little Current harbour, jet skis, small fishing boats, sail boats of every size and vintage, big power boats and really BIG boats, some 70 feet in length.   Many are from the US, including Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Minnesota as well as fairly local boats from Michigan and Illinois.  Today we were treated to seeing the tall ships, Playfair and her sister ship, the St Lawrence. 

Toronto Brigantine Inc. operates the Playfair as a training vessel, as it was built solely for this purpose. A brigantine is a two-masted square-rigged sailing vessel with fore-and-aft rigged sails on the mainmast. The name comes from the Italian word brigantino meaning a pirate ship and was associated with the vessels favoured by them in the Mediterranean. It was built in 1974, was christened Queen Elizabeth II and aside from captain, the entire ship’s crew is between 13 and 18 years of age.

Local residents are friendly and helpful and we don’t sense any resentment that folks living in tourist areas sometimes seem to feel.  They are always willing to offer advice or information and one woman, seeing me emerge from a grocery store with arms full of shopping bags, offered to give me a lift to the docks. 

One of my farourite things is waking up just before 9 am to tune into the Little Current Cruisers Net that broadcasts daily on VHF Channel 71 and can be picked up across the North Channel.  For 15 years, Roy Eaton has been hosting the program from Little Current, broadcasting weather reports and sailing conditions, local and international news, local events, historical trivia, sports scores and the best of all, asks all boats listening to call in with their boat name and location.  This broadcast has provided us with valuable information on wind warnings, potential hazards (such as bears seen prowling anchorages) and has given great tips on what anchorages we should visit.  If we hear several boats calling in from one spot, we know it’s probably a great anchorage, even though we may lots of company.  All boaters are welcome to join Roy for his broadcast, and last week Allen and I had the pleasure of joining him.

Perhaps one of the most unique qualities of sailing the North Channel is being able to do just that – sail.  As in sails up, main and jib, sometimes spinnaker, sometimes for hours.   There are wide open spaces where you can sail, with no obstructions for dozens of miles, yet you know there will be another breathtaking anchorage waiting at the other end, offering safe harbour from the strong winds and currents.  One can spend a decade of summers here and still not see every corner.

Next week we start our journey west, another week or so in the North Channel and then onto Lake Michigan. When we embarked on this journey we thought we’d make it to Chicago, but we will run out of summer long before we get that far. So, Northern Michigan will be our end point and the beginning of our journey home.