Lake Ontario to The Bay of Quinte - May 28th to 31st

It's still cold and I'm not sure winter is leaving us this year... I have my doubts!!! Here it is almost April, -20 last night , snow still on the ground and Cork is still on the hard....sooooooooooo what else is there to do but dig out the charts and cruising guides :)

It's time to start thinking about sailing this summer. I think I'm like most sailors ...I find that planning a trip is almost as fun as sailing the route you choose.

A co-worker and good friend of mine wants to go on a sailing trip with me this summer. He has never sailed before but is an avid fisherman and has his own boat and doesn't get sea sick so I immediately said yes. We needed to book time off work but can only get a few days so we've planned a 4-5 day trip to The Bay Of Quinte and back starting May 28th..

The entrance to " The Bay" as it's called is about 50 miles east of our starting point at Newcastle Marina on Lake Ontario. We'll enter the bay from the west end of the lake and have to transit the Murray Canal to enter the Bay itself.

The Bay of Quinte is the small craft route leading down Lake Ontario to the Thousand Islands. It allows boats to avoid the exposed  "outside route" which can be nasty in a 20 knot wind. There are a lot of shoals and not many places to hide on the outside route when Lake Ontario decides to start acting up. Throw in the large cargo carrying ships that are called "Lakers" that use the outside route to get to and from The St. Lawrence River and " The Bay" has a lot of appeal :)

Now I'm planning the route and working on Cork and hoping that old man winter leaves soon so I can get Cork launched in May.

See you on the water!

Tom
S/V Cork