WINDY WEEKEND

The forecast for rain on Friday and rain on Saturday, didn't really come to fruition, but I think it might have made a few people change their plans for a weekend at the lake, because we sure didn't have much of a turn out here. 

 

 

 

We had a bit of cloud cover off and on for those two days, but pleasant temperatures and no rain until overnight on Saturday. 

 

 

 

 

It was a bit windy though, on Sunday. So for the most part, those that were here did not venture too far. 

 

 

 

 Even the Pelicans were looking for shelter from the wind, in the inner harbour.

 

Those that stayed home for the weekend, don't know what they were missing.  We sure hope we get a better turn out next weekend for the August -long. 

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER PLEASANT WEEKEND IN BCYC

 

 

 

 

BOATING IS ABOUT ATTITUDE

 

Be Shore of Yourself

 

Come Out of Your Shell

 

Take Time to Coast

 

Avoid Pier Pressure

 

Sea Life's Beauty

 

Don't Get Tide down

 

Make Waves


 

 

HOME SWEET HOME PORT

We have finally arrived at our home port of "Boundary Creek  Marina".  

 

The bottom and top left corners of the attached photo is the lake .    

 The marina consists of what we call the outer harbour, the inner harbour and the back harbour. 

The grey toned area is where the creek runs from the back harbour through the marina and out into the lake. 

 

The wonderful thing that is so enjoyable about Boundary Creek Marina is the Park like setting and the wild life.  And the general pulse of nature that you become so aware of once you spend some time there.                                


 We have Grey Herons, White Pelicans, huge Carp, Bass, Pickerel, you name it. 

Occasionally we will see a beaver or two and the odd muskrat.  


Plus of course the easy access to all that Lake Winnipeg has to offer, whenever you want to enjoy it. 
 

 

This is a wonderful place to live, in the summer time and a wonderful port to cruise out of.  With lots of wonderful friends to socialize with. 

 

 

 

WE ARE FINALLY HOME FOR WHAT'S LEFT OF THE SUMMER OF 2014

 

 

 

 

 

OUR JOURNEY NORTH FROM RMYC

We departed RMYC at 7:30 am for our long journey north . 

 

 

Just after 8:00, we were approaching St. Andrews Lock and Dam.  We had heard from the Lock master that there was not much water in the navigation channel, but we were shocked to see how little the entrance to the channel had.  The Pelicans were a good indication of where the shallowest part was so we ran hard over to starboard and slipped safely into the channel with 2.8 ft of water under our depth sounder. 

 

 

We cruised on in nice and slow, but the rest of the channel ranged from 3 to 4 feet, so it was no problem.   

 

 

Once inside the lock, we could certainly tell water levels were low.  This is usually what it looks like when you are heading up river, not entering to be lowered down. 

 

 

You can tell by the wet mark inside the lock that they only had to drop us about 4 feet, from the so called high side to be down at the so called low side. 

 

 

Then of course the next challenge as they opened the lock gates, was to shoot the rapids created by the rush of flood waters that they are letting through.  Dan gave her full throttle and plowed through those rapids as quickly as we could.  It was quite a  RUSH!!

 

I was sooo excited I forgot to take a picture while we were right in the thick of it.  Just suddenly remembered as we were pulling away and I was starting to relax.  Dan wasn't the least bit worried about that part, like I was. 

 

 

The rest of the journey is just a long, long trip, with each bend in the river showing just another bend in the river.  it's very tedious.  By noon, we were approaching the delta, which can be a little confusing when the water is really high like this.  It all looks a little different with high water.  Some of the little grassy islands you're used to seeing, have suddenly disappeared. 

 

 

But, all the channel markers were there for us, even extras that weren't there last fall, which was quite helpful as the concrete channel markers are underwater with just the light standards sticking out of the water.  Within an hour Winnipeg Beach harbour was in sight.  All in all a long but good journey north. 

 

 

 

WITH ALL THE HOLD UPS WE HAVE HAD THIS YEAR, MY SUMMER CAN START NOW

WE ARE LAUNCHED

We got all ready to launch yesterday, but then we were cancelled. 

But we got there nice and early this morning and were soon enough backing on down the ramp. 

I've never been on Thunderbird when she has been launched.  That has always been Dan's duty, but this time he needed me as a deck hand to do lines when we came into the dock, and the only way to do that was to be on board when she launched.  

 Although the current in the river is still running very fast, we managed to get Thunderbird launched.  Now all I have to do is get a few groceries, stock the bar and we will be ready to cruise north. 

 Well, here we sit at the dock and ready to roll in the morning, but it turns out Bill wasn't able to solve the transmission problem he had yesterday, so he will not be travelling with us.   

 

IT WILL BE PARTY TIME FOR ME WHEN WE GET THERE

 

 

 

WE DIDN'T GET LAUNCHED TODAY, BUT BILL DID.

Bill Phillip, purchased a used boat from the yacht club when his Southern Cross was written off, by his insurance company and him and Tom Watson have been working on it since last summer.   

 

 

I was sure Bill was not willing to miss another summer in Gimli harbour, so he has opted to cruise north with us on Saturday. 

 

 

This boat has been out of the water for a number of years, so the refit has been a big project this last year. 

 

 

But, today was the day to get her bottom wet again.  As you can see by the mud on the ramp the river is finally down within some range of normal. 

 

 

One engine was a little finicky at first, but that was solved

 and she was soon fighting that current.   

 

 

 

The wind came up substantially during his launch and there was a further little problem with the shift levers, but she is now sitting at the dock and has all day tomorrow to work out any other kinks.   

 

But with the wind up, another boat to move out of the way of ours and that mud to be power washed off of the ramp, our launch has been postponed until first thing tomorrow morning. 

 

 

 

THEN, TOGETHER WE WILL BE CRUISING DOWN THE RIVER ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON

 

 

 

STILL WAITING AND WATCHING

Here we sit, still waiting and watching the river for a launch and cruise opportunity. 

Meanwhile we are puttering with anything we can think of to do to keep ourselves busy.   The river is down just slightly.  The current is still running quite fast, but there are four boats awaiting the chance to head to the lake. 

We are, Bill Phillip with his replacement "Southern Cross", Dan and I with "Thunderbird", plus a couple of other RMYC members, that want to tag along with us, being fed up with the ups and downs (mostly ups) of the Red River.  We will have a flotilla, with lots of help if anyone of us runs into trouble. 

We are making tentative plans for possible Thursday/Friday launches then a run down the river to the lake on Saturday. 

 

 

THAT'S THE PLAN ANYWAYS

 

 

Wish us luck. 

 

 

 

MY TRAVELLING SPICE RACK

Having to maintain three households (Texas, Condo and Boat) created a bit of a problem in keeping spices on hand for cooking.  I was constantly replacing spices.  When I would return to any of these homes and try to plan a meal, I could never remember what I had on hand.  I would muse.  "I think I have chili powder on the boat, or was that down in Texas that I just bought that."  and if I did remember exactly what I did have on hand I would find the spices that I left last year, would be stale.  So, now I have a solution.  My travelling spice rack. 

 

 

I purchased this spice rack from Lee Valley and it hangs on two hooks.  As shown next to the stove on my boat. 

 

 

I have installed sets of these hooks in all three households, so this spice rack can be moved along with us as we travel.  I now know exactly what is on hand and how fresh the spices are. 

 

 

 

IT WORKS FOR ME !

 

 

 

 

CRUISING NORTH TO BOUNDARY CREEK

RMYC to Boundary Creek Marina is a great cruise. 

 

 

It is only 45 minutes by car, but it takes hours by boat.  The meandering of the river and the fact that we only cruise at 71/2 miles per hour makes it a considerable, but enjoyable cruise. 

 

With the great wind and weather forecasting that is available now on the computer we don't have to worry about what conditions we are going to run into when we reach the lake, we will know what's going on in advance. 

 

 

Years ago that was always a concern.  Some of us boaters have been know to go all the way to the lake from south Winnipeg, then sit it out at the government dredge dock or in the East or West Channel near the mouth.   

 

 

 

(as you can see that we did in this picture of our LINDAN from back in the day)  You might get stuck there for 24 hours or more waiting for the lake to go calm. 

 

Now, if you keep an eye on the computer you will have an idea what your going to see when you pull out onto the lake. 

 

 

We are more than ready to go.  As soon as we get the word for our launch and for the locks. 

 

 

 

 

I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TRIP 

 

 

 

 

THUNDERBIRD LAUNCH 2014

We are getting to the end of the todo lists for this year, this is as good as it gets for now. 
 

So it should be time to think about making arrangements for the launch of Thunderbird for 2014.   

But then the boat would be all dressed up with no where to go. 

The problem is, the river is so high, that the launch ramp is under water and they are not launching boats right now. 

This is the 3 to 4 ft. tall light fixture that is on the new concrete Jetty along the shore, at RMYC so, as you can see the water is pretty high. 

The river is still running far too high and fast. 

 So the curtains/gates at St. Andrews Lock and Dam are wide open, leaving the lock channel not operating. 

There are also no navigation buoys in the river or the mouth.  So here at RMYC is where we have to wait.   I will now do an inventory of our drawers and our closet and bring some needed cloths on board.  I will clean, clean, and clean.  I will check the cupboards and fill the larder and fill the fridge and the bar.  

 

   Once I hear the locks are operational and we have a launch date, I will start watching for the weather that we will need to get to our home port. 

Almost anything weather wise is easy to deal with other than North West winds for days on end.  We don't have to worry about a repeat of the horror that we experienced coming home from Gull Harbour last August.  Because, at the mouth of the river, there are plenty of places to duck into, to spend some time waiting for the lake to calm down if we have to. 

Once we get the word, Lake Winnipeg, here we come.  We have already missed a whole month of our "Summer at the Beach". 

 

 

 

 

OUR TRIP NORTH CAN'T COME FAST ENOUGH FOR ME