As Kathleen wrote in the last post, we spent a lovely thanksgiving weekend in Sodus Point.  In many ways this was a peek into the future;  a long sail to a new port in a foreign land, a tour of the town by bike.

Our sail from Kingston was a little over 61 NM as the crow flies, we left at first light, picking our way out of the marina and motoring up Kingston harbour shadowed by S/V St Laurence II   With a north wind we sailed south for Sodus Bay, as the day passed, the wind eased and we motor-sailed.  We wanted to arrive in daylight so we had to maintain a reasonable average speed.

Arriving at the entrance to the entrance to Sodus Bay we radioed to the Sodus Bay Yacht Club and got our assigned slip.  Motoring through the bay we were impressed with the pretty houses and the protected waters of a sizeable bay. As we approached our slip a group of members appeared on the dock to grab our lines and welcome us to the club.  This is not the norm as they do have dock hands during the summer, but if you arrive at beer o’clock on a Friday night, volunteers from the club are happy to come out from the bar to help.  The Club is small but has great facilities and they could not be more welcoming.  Our dock mate was this 8 Meter racing boat, a great example of a meter boat.

 

This is our first trip to Great Sodus Bay, it is on the edge of the Rochester Area and was served by a passenger rail line from 1900 until 1929.  Sodus Point, the village at the entrance to the bay has served as a port on Lake Ontario with both ferry service to Coburg Ontario and a coal trestle  connected to the Pennsylvania Railroad.  Coal was shipped from Sodus Point to Canadian and US ports on Lake Ontario.  The coal trestle operated from 1896 until 1967 and it was destroyed in a fire in 1971.

 

The silos in the background of the postcard above are the Genensee Malt House that supplied malt grains to many brewers on Lake Ontario.  The Malt House is still standing and I am sure someone will eventually redevelop the site to include the main buildings.  Sodus Bay’s role as a port declined in the 60s and 70s and with the loss of the trestle, dredging stopped and the bay has entrance silted quite a bit.  We had no issues with our draft, but it is a long way from the depth it would have been in its heyday.

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Since the recent acquisition of folding bikes, our set-up is now complete: two bikes (red and blue Bromptons) and a boat (S/V Kinship, a Saga 43).

Our weekend sailing trip to Sodus Bay NY saw the bikes serve for the first time in their new role as land transportation for expeditions ashore. A ride to the beach, around town and  down the #14 bike route, exploring this lovely spot on a warm indian summer afternoon,

before being tucked away neatly in the aft cabin till next time. Looking forward to many more adventures, discovering new places by land and by sea!

In common with many nascent cruising couples we have a lot of enablers, but chief among our enablers are Paul and Lisa.  Paul and Lisa were the folks that invited us on the fateful trip to the Annapolis boat show.  Paul and Lisa are also planning to run away to sea, but a year later than our plans so they have been living vicariously through our adventures.

A couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to take them out on Kinship for a good sail.  We met them at Prince Edward Yacht Club in Picton on Saturday night and sailed back to Kingston on Sunday.  PEYC is a great little club in an amazing location.  Picton harbour is a narrow inlet that leads right into the centre of Picton, PEYC has great access to the town and the water, friendly staff and great docks.  We were on the wall on the town docks, a bit tight to get in and out but very sheltered and very quiet at night.

The sail, down the Adolphus Reach and the North channel was great, winds were 10-15 knots from the South and in the shelter of  Prince Edward County and Amherst Island the water was quite flat.  We started with full sails on a beam reach and Kinship was barrelling along with the lee rail a few inches above the water.  We reduced sail when crossed the gap between Indian Point and Amherst, the boat was more upright but nearly as fast. We were pleasantly surprised that the reacher/genoa kept a reasonable shape when furled by about a third.  Just about the perfect fall sail with bright sun, blue skies and just a hint of chill in the air.  A friendly race with Gord on Wandlust just added to the fun.

After a pump out at Portsmouth and heading back to Confed, we drove Paul and Lisa back to Picton to collect their car.  We had dinner together at the County Canteen, a new-ish restaurant on the main strip in Picton.  The food was very good and the beer selection was great including some home brews from a tiny on-site brewery, sadly we passed on the beer as we had a long drive back to Ottawa.  Next time!

Paul and Lisa have had the Saga on their list of boats since before we bought Kinship, but this is the first time they had  sailed one.  They might just be hooked.