Too busy to Blog

During the past two weeks Trish Kelly and I sailed to Niagara on the Lake to celebrate The 1st of July our national birthday then drove to Cornish New Hampshire to celebrate The 4th of July our good neighbours to the south national birthday.

I will cover the trip to NOTL first then later the trip to Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.

Our sail over to NOTL was uneventful. We sailed about half the way and motored the other half. Upon our arrival we had the traditional wine and cheese. Terry O,Connell announced that there would be on winner of The Norman Trophy since no yacht had sailed all the way and arrived before 4:00. Terry also indicated that there were several possible winners for the Beaver Shield which would be announced next Spring at the Spring Dinner.

Niagara on the Lake is a quaint little town just across the river from Youngstown New York. Prior to our departure we were informed that the Canadian government in an effort to make all of us safe had written a new rule. If a yacht goes from one Canadian Port to another Canadian Port without landing or anchoring or in any way interacting with a foreign country, but "may" have strayed into foreign waters they must then check in with Canadian Customs and Immigration upon their arrival "back into Canada".

My wife called the CANPASS number and had a ridiculous conversation with a very nice Canadian Official who had no idea what she was talking about. He kept asking did she have anything to declare, had she bought anything while in The States. Obviously the Canadian Government has too many committees.

Only saw one freighter on the way over.

Pipe Dream entering The Niagara River

Fort Niagara a French Fort captured by the British, capture by the Americans, captured by the British and given to the Americans after the war of 1812

The main street

Trish on her shopping tour

A very nice way to get around on a hot day

The trip back for most was a little rough. The wind was from the North East thus having a fetch of about 100 Miles. The waves were reported to be 1 metre, but were 1.5 to 2 metres every once in a while. The new Irish Mist made flattened the water and sailed across at 8.5 knots. We do not have any pictures of IM yet but here is one of our good friends the Campbells in Stowaway a Niagara 35.