long over due

Long time has passed by so some updates are in need.
The furler is installed
the new sails are on the boat
did a full clean up in the interior, marine cetol was used on all the wood
lines were replaced, new sail cover has been ordered and will be ready next week.
Kami and I spent the day cleaning and reorganizing inside and out, removing items that were not used or needed. Slimming down what is inventoried and carried onboard made a big difference to space as well.
Electronics were tested, some wire management will be in order over the next few weeks.
Also I will have the dodger remade over the winter and am looking for a new anchor.
Bow roller is being picked up tomorrow while we are in kingston and I will see if it can be installed while on vacation during the next week.
The BBQ needs to be replaced with a larger grill and propane as well. The charcoal is just too small and has a habit of dying out prior to fully cooking the dinner.
The go pro was picked up and I am playing with it while sailing.

Were In...

Were in, were launched, we are tied to the dock and so begins the completion of the winter refitting.
So as mentioned before we have the ESP Furler by Harken to install, the new standing rigging is being made as we speak (so to speak). Running rigging has been replaced and the new halyards, sheets, dock lines, are all sitting in a bag waiting for the new rigging to arrive so it can be put into place when we re-step the mast.
I took the opportunity to also add a second foresail halyard and a topping lift.
Lazy Jack lines were replaced and so were the reefing lines.
The anchor rode was new last year so that is good but I added a 50 ft chain to the 200 ft rode. This will give me better holding with the ground tackle and I get the stretch from the rode as well.
The interior was totally re stained and varnished, a second counter that folds away was added to increase preparation of meals and to assist cleanup.
The next big project is to again go through the stuff on-board and remove what has not been used in the last year to make some more space. Cooking items, plates, silverware and such to be removed and only enough for 4 people will be left.
meal planning will be different and provisions will also be less this year. Unlike last year I removed four grocery bags off at the end of the season so my new improved provision list will be put into effect.

My old working jib will be cut down and a bolt rope is to be added which will make a great storm sail for the furler if bad weather is lurking for more then a day.

When I got the boat everything was led to the aft, this is no longer the case, some items are now back where they belong, Foresail is at the mast due to furler, main is at mast again as I have the reef point there so I can lower the main fix the tack point of the reef and tighten, then head to the cockpit to adjust the leach of the reef point.
Boomvang now leads to clutch and topping lift as well with the new DRS foresail halyard, slightly different but well thought out.

Clean wax and polish

The season is in the beginning stages and cleaning and waxing the boat are paramount to getting ready for launch date May 5
The deck needs to be pressure washed, hull waxed and anti fouling applied.
The weather has not been the best so getting a decent weekend to accomplish all that needs to be done can be somewhat grueling in-itself.

The list of cleaning solutions and the respective use's are long seems when you own a 40 year old boat it takes more time, energy and solutions to keep her clean. From decks, to wood, to pots and pans, ropes, lines and fenders everything and anything needs to be wiped, scrubbed and some done for a second time.
I like the teak oil, it is a twice a year application and like anything on a boat requires some time and care

Tablet is here

Just got a tablet, Motorola 32 gig with the ability to add another 32 gig with an sd card.
I downloaded a few nautical themed apps  and will be testing some out and will update the results over the summer.
1) Marine Navigator
2) Nautical Routes
3) Predict Wind
4) Log Book
5) iAIS

I am just learning how to get these working and setup.
Maps will need to be downloaded and then unpacked or placed into the respective directories.
It could prove interesting on how they work and the info that is given and that is actually usable while underway.

Furler Update

Spent a couple hours at Marine Outfitters and with their knowledge and guidance it has been decided that the furler will be the ESP unit 0 instead of the Mark IV unit 0 which had been recommended to me from a few people.

Main reason was cost and as I reminded a few people, Knotty Gurl is only a 26 footer and not 28 as my friend had originally thought.
So now we have the proper unit ordered and on it's way to the chandler which should be 3 - 4 weeks out.
Th ESP still has the aluminium extrusion which is a bonus and is more geared for the cruiser, where the Mark IV is more towards the racing end.

Standing rigging was also discussed and a some what ball park price of just under 1200.00 to do the complete boat was quoted which included new turnbuckles for the fore stay and the addition of a back stay adjuster/tensioner, again another upgrade that should prove helpful in sail shape and trim over all for the boat.

Fall is gone

Wow, what a year it went by so fast this summer, I was busy with work and it seemed that my Sundays were working and not overnighting as much as I had hoped for this summer.

Sailing on a light misty morning

I did do my day sails and one nighter's  but weekending at different places and touring around for a week straight just didn't happen for us.
Next year I hope will be different but as the saying goes you make hay when the time is right.

So the boat is on the hard for the winter, cleaned up, gear removed, tarps on her and waiting for some warmer weather.
I am going to build the cabinets this winter to place along the quarterberth for some added storage.
I am very interested in looking at what is involved in building a hard top dodger for some solar panels.
The roller furler will also be researched this winter and priced out with a new sails.

This year has been very hectic and just got in the way of my sailing season, elements outside my control just went bezerk and somehow managed to swallow alot of my time energy and resources, not to mention that work although fun was rather demanding this season as a couple clients just seemed to want to meet up on Sunday noon as the perfect time, so 8 of the 10 weekends were eaten up with meetings and that prevented me from doing any long distance sailing this year.
2013 will be my year for entering the LO300 as I am already making arrangements to have the boat there and also the time to actually do the course twice, as I have to sail the entire length to  start and once finished will sail back home. so this could mean 7 days almost non-stop sailing.
Looking forward to the next season. I will be posting my research findings and how we go about figuring out what and where to buy the new toys for KnottyGurl.

MayDay at the ferry

Got to the boat late Friday night, put up the food and cleaned up some, readied the beds and made some popcorn for the kids, Jiffy pop is at times entertainment all in its self and we settled in to watch the hunger games.


7am and we were up and having coffee when I realized that I had left water and propane back at the house, so guess what I did for an hour round trip, yep collected the items.  We buddy boated with Alan and Suzanne from Drumroll, after rounding the point we headed towards Picton and were moving along quite well upwind at 4.5 knots. A few hours into the sail winds died down and I made a quick sail change to the number 1 genny and we managed to maintain 4 knots for most of the way.
As we cleared the ferry there was a May Day over the radio and it happened to be a boat just behind us a mile or so, guess he had lost power and felt he was going to get into trouble with the ferry's by sailing through the lane. I spun around and offered assistance to Prescott Coastguard in case he needed a tow. Prescott CG had me on standby as they were in contact with the other vessel. Prescott came back and asked us for size and description and relayed to the other vessel, guess the hunter 36 did not want to be towed by a Grampian 26 because all of a sudden he managed to get his sails up and then changed to a pon pon for a tow to the harbour (Picton). Prescott CG thanked me and then I spun back around and continued to my destination.
All this spinning around and offering to help cost me an hours time and the wind was getting lighter as dinner time approached.
As were sailing up the channel towards haybay we had some wind in our favour and started to skirt along at 4.8 - 5.2 so we started to make some good progress again, rounding the point we saw Drumroll on the hook and Alan called on the cell to say the ceasar's are now being poured and waiting for us.
I dropped the hook and we rafted up, had a sundowner handed to us and relaxing began in full force.
Matt decided to do some swimming, bentley had to be rowed to shore to take care of business.
Dinner was roasted peppers with zucchini in a balsamic vinegar, Mrs Dash original and a touch of evoo, jerk  spice on the chicken and shrimp with garlic roasted potatoes. A nice wine with dinner and it was a feast to be remembered.
We laughed and chatted late into the evening and crashed around 11 pm.
Coffee was served at 8:30 in the morning and then we headed back to home. The sail was fantastic, 15 - 20knts wind out of the west, this gave me a chance to try out that new reef I had put into the main. If you didn't know Grampians have the roller reefing boom which does not work very well and you can't have a vang this way. Slab reefing is so much faster and efficient, and it worked awesome, with our avg speed at 5.8 we were home in a few hours.
A clean up and remove some items left us heading to the house with a fairly full load and feeling happy about the weekend of great fun, food and a sail that matched.

Weekending In the Bay of Quinte

This weekend is always a great weekend for me, its my wife's birthday and Canada Day rolled into one weekend. So its always great to get away and have a party all weekend celebrating my wife's birthday but Canada's as well.
This year we were in the Bay of Quinte, Hay Bay at Ram Island for Saturday night. We met up with Al & Suzanne did some swimming and lots of sundowners made an incredible surf n turf of shrimp tails with filet mignon. Roasted veggies as a side and it was just tasty. A few more drinks with lots of chatting.
morning came and it was pannacakes as Katy calls them with a great skillet fried potatoes with sausage, peppers and onions miked up with eggs. A regular breakfast on the boat and quickly becoming the house breakfast.

We decided to motor out to the narrows a 30 min run at 5kns to where the ferry crosses from Adolfuston to Glenora, after passing this section due to micro bursts and directional changes from the other day I wanted to make better time to our next place for the night.
I hoisted the DRS and set the blocks way back this time and put out the spinnaker pole and a nice westerly took us from the ferry all the way to Kerr's bay in a what I will call an awesome sail, tiller pilot was in lace course set and we basically went on that take till I had to round the point at Kerr point to enter the bay.
It allowed us lots of time to chat and laugh we feasted on cheese n crackers, different dips and veggie trays, only downfall was as we were on a run I couldn't fly my kite as the wind was almost dead astern so the string would have fouled the rigging with the kite.
We motored to the western end of the bay and found a small place where we would tuck in close to shore so Bentley had an easier time being rowed ashore for his potty breaks.
One of these days I hope he figures out that a potty break in the cockpit or on the forward deck would be welcomed so we didn't have to plan out so many breaks for the pup.
The fire works started around 9 10 and was finished around 930.
A couple rounds of sequence and it was lights out.
PB&J's for breakfast on the run with an early start and by 11am we were in our dock and cleaning the boat up for the next weekend and unpacking and reloading the truck up.
It turned out to be an incredible weekend after all with some great swimming at Ram Island and a good firework show in Kerr's point.

Where to go next weekend is the question at hand now...

Were home

Were home now and the real work begins, a full inventory of equipment, spares, food, booze, reading material, DVDs.
Lets start to install the chart plotter on the cabintop and run some wires off the panel.
Hmm this is going to need some upgrading as well, add wire to shopping list, fuse block, terminate block and  2 new batteries as well.
So material in hand I begin re wiring the boat, tracing wires, pulling, fishing wires and a few nights of moonlighting Plotter installed, VHF installed and talking to plotter for DSC configuration.
New lights are on the list as well and a oil lamp to be installed for next week.

When I bought the boat

The following week the lamp is installed, lights moved as the wires were loose and once I removed them I was able to repair and restore them for daily use. Next is some counter work and move a few shelves and add some shelves for better stowage.
Also on the list is a repaint of the topsides as no matter how much I buff with restore and cleaner she just wont shine, the paint is too far gone, that's on the haul out list for a winter/spring project.

New head lines, and the smell is now finally gone, A bigger water tank is installed under the soul of the cockpit and I now have 30 gallons as opposed to the 12 that was there, this is good for longer stays at anchor.
After the rewire I notice that the house system seems brighter and lasts longer then before, guess it was not being charged from the outboard as the PO suggested and I now have it charging both banks as it was supposed to be doing all along, instead I was flattening my starter battery to charge the house I guess.
This is another good thing and I will install a dual charger for the separate banks.

Bringing her home

I show up to get my new boat ready to bring home to Picton, ON. So lets review quickly,
1) I am in Port Dover

Port Dover wind storm with its damage.
picture taken by Brian Jones

2) Home  port is Picton, ON
That's a sail down to the end of lake Erie, down the Welland canal and then all the way to the eastern side of the lake around 350 miles.
3) anti foul needs to be applied
4) provisions to be purchased and loaded
5) gear stowed

you can see my boat in the back line had these fallen the
other way things could have been different.
picture taken by Brian Jones

The actual day I show up is a wicked wind storm, wind blowing 75 plus miles an hour, in the marina along 4 boats have been blown over in their cradles. It was freaking windy and hard  to get supplies, remember that bad wind...... Power failures all over Port Dover, basically without power, possibly for the next 3 days no power.
No problem I have a gen set with me, but the stores don't. Essssh so we are now really working hard to find places open that can supply me some basic food so I can at least eat something on the boat, slim pickings with this going on, so lets clean up the boat, Wash it, wax it, start sanding the bottom and more sanding, then paint on 2 coats of anti fouling, which to get any work done that day. I resolve to tryingtakes 2 days and I am now on food scraps and still no power in Dover.
After 4 days of cleaning painting, sanding, washing and waxing were ready to launch.

Painting the anti fouling
picture taken by Brian Jones

fresh anti fouling washed and waiting for the lift

I get dropped in the water and tied off at the transient dock, where I really start to stow gear and work the logistics of sailing home, the wind is still blowing hard, and the charts that I thought were on board are no longer on board.. Matter of fact NO charts are to be found, cruise guides are no longer on board either seems to be missing them now, I call the PO and no answer, get provisions, half a dozen stores later I have some food again and it looks as if I will be leaving in the morning winds should be down to 10 - 15 knots.

0530 and I rise to the beep beep of the utility truck at the top of the hill repairing the line, no sooner does that poor guy hook it up the transformer down the road at the next pole goes KABOOM, and I'll tell ya what it sounded like a cannon went off and sparks were just flying all over the place. Made for a great light show and coffee time had a different start to it.
Make a few spamwiches and set more ice in the cockpit cooler for the pop and cream.
Cast off and motor down the fairway heading for the entrance, round the light house and hoist the jib, then the main kill the motor, lift it in tilt this time and start setting the sails, 5    4   4.5  3.5 3.2 2.2 what the hells going on wind was supposed to be 10 - 15, well this sucks no wind now

Leaving  Port Dover PO took picture and sent it to me. 

drifting for an hour maybe 1.5 - 2 knots and not much else, so in goes the iron spinnaker were back up to 5 knots and making headway to Port Colburne fast forward  to 4 PM and were just pulling up to Colburne, head in to the marina and it's closed, so I find a slip which was easy as I was one of  boats on a dock field that easily held 300 plus boats so it was spooky to say the least.
BBQ some chops and hit the sack early to do the Welland Canal.
0700 and coffee is brewing to fill the thermos for the day, buddy shows up at the phone booth at lock 1.
We head up and contact seaway control they inform us 15 min wait as biggy is on way to our lock and we can sneak in after he passes.
Sneak in ???? like do we have to gun it and squeak under the bridge after this guy passes by... So this massive laker slips by us and we head towards the drop bridge clear it and then the bells are ringing lights a flashing and then this bridge starts falling a sight to see for a first timer..
We pull up to the marker at lock one and were greeted by a fella tossing brochures at us and yelling all info is in the book and sign and give to lock 3 dock master.   Yelling you ask, well I guess i forgot to mention I was luckily able to test my new west marine foulies today, the rain and thunder was so hard and it was incredible. so I start to fill in the form that the seaway has all do, vessel name, length, destination, blah blah, and have 300 cash  or credit card ready for payment at lock 3.
We cleared the lock 8 just after 4 pm that afternoon where I tied up for the night at the base of lock 1 at lake Ontario side next to the phone booth. Buddy was picked up and I paid him a hundred bucks for riding the canal as my second to meet the requirements of minimum 2 crew.

Wet cold and tired I got the genny running and set to drying out for the night, heater running dinner cooking and my cloths hanging on a makeshift line by 9 things were getting dried out and getting some sleep was well deserved.
0600 rise and starting on a good breakfast the course is north east  to clear the line and not cut across the USA Border, I didn't have the boat in my name to be legal yet just a bill of sale and was not looking to test the waters with the USCG. So north east we go it's raining steady but not hard so with the dodger and the tiller pilot an autohelm AH800. A dodger or spray hood as they are called is like a windshield in a car and helps to keep the water spray and wind and rain from hitting you.  It also gives some cover where as you can sit under it and also store items on the cabin top and keep them dry. The tiller pilot is a unit that is attached to the cockpit seat and the tiller is attached to the unit. Then once under way with sails trimmed you turn the pilot on and set it's bearing with small adjustments of degrees till you are sailing the heading you want then engage the autopilot and it will keep a course based on what ever bearing you are heading on.


So with the boat basically sailing itself I was able to start to do a few other things, I was able to go forward and really watch the rig as we were moving along at 3.5-4.1 knots minimal wave off and on wind so this was nice to see and get to really investigate the boat and rigging.

My original proposed course

The fog had totally lifted by 830ish and the wind was maybe 8-10 knots coming out of the west so we were beam reaching our way towards the Toronto area for a while, around noonish I gybed her and started heading more easterly and we were making about 3.5 - 3.8 a slow but steady pace. At this speed it would take me around 36 hours non stop to reach my home port. At 5 + knots it would only take 22 - 26 hours which is what I was aiming for as I had commitments the day after which meant I had to be home tomorrow.
This means that I will have to hit landfall tonight then and hop along the shoreline and call in for a pickup and leave her for a night or two and then continue to bring her home. So I find myself at bluffers park for the night, there were a few boats in the water most were the liveaboards as seasonal had not launched as of yet.

New adjusted route due to lack of wind

I wandered up to the office and paid for my night, got the codes for the door and then walked up the road to the store for some more fresh food, last time I had been to s grocery store was 3 days ago and I provisioned light so a treat to go walk about and see Scarborough from a different angle.
Found a great Chinese shop on top of the hill and got some nice tea and spices with fresh fruits and some veggies, then headed over to C Tire to see what deals if any could be had, found some wrenches and screwdrivers on sale so the boat now had it's own tools which is a good thing.

Headed back to the boat and thought to myself I should get a small hand cart to haul this stuff, I was a good 2 - 3 klicks from the marina and I had a few bags which were loaded, I never found a cart while window shopping to the marina and walked the way back down that big hill which I forgot to mention on the way out.
Dinner was some BBQ chops with roasted corn and a hot toddy (Rum coffee).
After cleaning up I fired up my laptop and dropped in Black Hawk Down and another hot toddy in hand settled in for the evening. 1130 and I was hitting the sack. Around 0400 it started raining so I layed in bed listening to the sound and grabbed a few more hours with an early rise and some coffee and oatmeal with maple syrup for breakfast and I was ready to head out and get going.


Casting off alone in the rain has it's quirks to say the least but I managed and I was getting used to how the boat handled so the learning curve was quicker then expected.  Motored out and again light winds so I hoist the Jib, hoist the Main, start to trim the sails and I begin to feel that groove when she's talking to you. I scuttle closer to the dodger and leaning against the cabin next to the hatch I grabbed a book and did some reading. At first I was popping up and looking around every 30 mins or so and after a few hours stopped as it was very clear I was the only boat I could see on the lake. This was a an exciting feeling I had nobody around for as far as I can see with my binocs, very cool indeed. The rain stayed all day and we never got over 4.5 knots so I opted for Frenchmen s Bay for the night where I would have my wife pick me up as I had to be at work in the morning. I settled with the office for 3 days and would be back Friday night after work spend the night and early Saturday morning begin to finish the sail home.
 Saturday morning I headed out and with slightly better winds made for Coburg to spend the night there and hit the Farmers market Sunday morning. Sunday evening around 1am I was at Prince Edward Point where I anchored for the night and after breakfast and coffee finished the last leg to Prinyers Cove with my arrival at 1530 the gang was there to catch my lines. The kids did an inspection and told me they liked the boat, tidied up and closed her up for the night and we left for home and a nice BBQ.

The beginning ...

Suntack on hard April 12 2011

 Some background of where we are today, I found our Grampian 26 in an ad and drove out to Port Dover, ON to have a look at her. The day I arrived it was blowing 10 - 15 knots with gusts to 20. This was going to make for really good sea trials and get a good feel for the boat. I meet the Previous Owner (PO) and we chat for a minute or so and he is telling me it's to windy for his liking and wants to postpone for another day.
Another day, did he somehow forget I just drove 7 hours to get here.

It's all good I say, I'll single hand the sea trial then no biggy.
We drive over to the office and arrange the lift to drop her in and grab a few items that will be needed for the trial and as well for the sail back to Picton, ON. We begin getting the boat ready, installing and setting the main sail, then putting on the working jib. Fill the tank with high test gas, toss in some water in the tank, throw some water in the holding tank and flush a 5 gallon pail through the head. Spin the sea cocks back and forth tug on the hoses's to make sure there fastened tight and start looking for water in the bilge.

Launch time

The lift shows up and the fella says to me " You have an hour max or we wont be able to get you back on the hard. You will be stuck in the water for the night.

Curiously I ask why,, Well theres a big storm coming in and it may be too windy then to move you. Fair enough sounds as good a reason as any and I tell the fella No Probs be back in an hour so he starts to pick her up and trek across the marina to the launch dock.

Trekking across the marina

We get picked up, moved to the launch dock and dropped into the water, once in I say to the operator hold it there for a minute I have to check her for leaks before we drop the slings. A quick look shows no water yet so lets loose the slings and get started. The PO is with me and we board her together and make our way to the transient docking area where I can start to get ready to head out and drop the PO with lines to wait for me.

Hugh on the tiller, it was his last time at the helm.

Wind is easy 20 knots and I motor down the fairway to the entrance markers, and start raising sail, first the jib, then the main sail, shut down the outboard start trimming sails. Instantly we start healing and the sails filled with a good blow she feels like she just hole shotted out of the entrance and we were off, waves were 4 feet and getting bigger, wind was picking up sooner then expected and she was really starting to blow, a tack and winching were moving along and heading out to do a trial. Trial it was, I was now getting over powered by the wind and could feel it just a blowing right at me, so another tack and were heading in on a nice beam reach riding in the now 6 foot waves and just surfing fast stern raising high and that roll down the wave busting through the waves as it wiped by me. Great ride in she handled like a heavy weather boat should and reformed as I had hoped.

Back at the launch and she is picked up and dropped on the cradle.

I paid for her over our coffee at the local timmies and shook hands with Hugh, said my fair well and would call him next week when I come back to take her home.