Returning North to Autumn

Returning from South Carolina was a shock. Our yard was covered with leaves - maple and elm. The linden hasn`t dropped yet. Cold and rainy, 10C. Brrr! Our visit to Myrtle Beach started out cold (it`s all relative I know) and we had some great golf weather. Then it warmed more and we walked the beach and touched up our tans. Water 74F but I never got up the nerve to swim in it. MB has wonderful long, fine sandy beaches you can walk for hours. Sadly Ocean Annies closed the moment we arrived one evening - apparently the cost of a live band and licence was too high for the small numbers of tourists. (At Easter it`s a happening place on the beach, which beach condo owners have mixed feelings about.) Then it started to drizzle so we gave up and went back to the condo.

It`s odd not to have the sailboat to work on in the fall. We used to spend weeks taking our sailboat apart for winter, removing sails, canvas, rigging, lifelines, etc. then rigging the mast cradles fore and aft to hold the mast. We unloaded the boat and winterized the engine, cockpit drains, holding tank and water system. Then after Thanksgiving we took the mast down. We rigged frames for the tarp, then wrapped the boat like a sausage with lines holding the tarp to the steel boat cradle. This year we went golfing and walking the beach instead and wondered how the new owner was making out. (We got an email from him in SC asking a few questions, but you can`t put 24 years of experience in an email)

It must be July! Every boater I talked to this week is fed up, not just with the rain, but with inconsiderate boaters. Everything from people "saving" park docks in the Thousand Islands to boat congestion on the Rideau. You can't legislate common sense unfortunately. I saw a boat drag a water-skier through a weed patch - he is now "green" and very lucky not to have a family of ducks pasted to his face! And yes, it was within 100' of shore, so it was also illegal.

Everyone says it's amazing no one has died on our section of the Rideau Waterway (now a world heritage site), south of Manotick. There are just too many speeding boats, PWCs, kids swimming, people fishing and canoeing. Boats going 40 kts (74 kph) belong on the St. Lawrence, not in a narrow channel. Cruisers throw huge wakes, especially towing tubes and boards. I finally sold my runabout after it nearly sank right at the dock! I can't swim or paddle anyway, until I get rid of painful 'golf elbow'.. I mean 'sailing elbow'!

Blogs and News

Why not? Have a look at my first blog "Boating in Canada News" <boatingincanada.blogspot.com>. I created it because it provides RSS feed service - the news at Boating in Canada <boatingincanada.com> was just a web page. It's easy for people to subscribe, but first they must have a "news/RSS" reader. Thunderbird <www.mozilla.com> is my choice - read all your mail, news and RSS accounts in one place. You can also subscribe to feeds in Firefox web browser or get a separate reader. See my downloads for free stuff at the PDQ Library <www.pdqwebdesign.ca/lib/download.html).