Included as one of the top 50 world cruising destinations

Before we head south to find great cruising places, I thought I would share a couple of world's best cruisng destination pics from the North Channel from our 2008 trip with friend's Robert & Georgina -a typical sunset in the Benjamins.

Getting ready to leave

Before we could execute on the plan we had to sell (aka give away) our beloved C&C 36 ' Frigate , a classic sailing yacht from 1970, which had served us well with many memorable cruising adventures on cruising Lake Ontario and the 1000 islands the last 12 years. She sold just a few weeks ago to a fellow who plans many more upgrades and will sail her on lake Nipissing...she surely will be one of the prettiest boats on that lake...here is her picture

Another task was to retrieve Tango from her Charter duties in the North Channel. I will do a future post sometime on Tango herself but you can see the factory pictures  of her at http://www.sailtango.com/.

We had an out of water survey  done which came back with an "Exceptional Condition" report.  Overall she was well maintained by Todd and Ken at Canadian Yacht Charters http://www.cycnorth.com/.   In late October we departed Gore Bay for a 3 day trip to southern Georgian Bay to get her ready for the trip. 


We repaired 2 minor tears in the upholstery and recovered the forward cabin cushions.  We also purchased motor lift to provide mechanical assistance to get the dingy 100lb motor onto the mother ship. I researched this item and found one at |Barrie's Stainless Steel Outfitters http://www.stainlessoutfitters.com/handilift/handi/handi.html for a reasonable price of about
$400 and change (in boaters parlance - a small boat unit - boat units are a price proxy generally related to the size of the boat, every time you go to a Chandlery (boat store) you spend 1 or more boat units - this makes life simpler and easier to accept).  Tango is pretty well equipped, but we will add a more few items in the  US when we see what we really need/want.

Last Tuesday at 7am Tango departed Queens Cove marina in Victoria harbour to motor over to Bay Port Yacht Center on Midland Bay..Brenda drove the car over to meet me…it was dark, very cold and wet with a brisk NE/E breeze and 3 ft waves going over and a cold lousy day to take the mast down but with Bay Port’s James and Eric we successfully got the mast down, de-rigged and wrapped it in saran wrap for the voyage south. Thursday we loaded Tango onto the transport truck operated by Andrew’s Trucking Ltd, specialists in large boat transport.

We will fly to Richmond, Va and cab it to Deltaville to meet the truck at Norton Yachts who are the apparently rated as top US Jeanneau dealer. But first we must Party! The kids threw us a Bonn Voyage  Party last night which we looked forward to and thoroughly enjoyed…thanks everyone for your kind wishes and thoughts...

How did we get here

It’s hard to know where to begin this story.   When we loosely planned it seven years ago in purchasing Tango, when it became more  important to do 2 years ago after my CABG*7 (major heart surgery), when Brenda asked me about going or when the boat was loaded onto the truck this week.   Lots of planning goes into making something like this happen but if determined, anything is possible.  Basic steps included:

1.    Learn to sail – this began when we were 18 and I learned to sail on my friend Robert’s father’s Bluenose 24

2.    Get a boat – bought a 10 foot dingy, then a 36 foot C&C Frigate, then a 40 foot Jeanneau Sun Odyssey(instantly dubbed the “go south” boat)

3.    Get some experience – sailed to the 1000 islands a dozen times,twice single handed; multiple lake Ontario crossings including several single handed; 3 years club PHRF class champions as crew aboard my friend Richard’s J’24;  skippered a successful completion of the Lake Ontario 300 aboard our C&C 36 Frigate Big Fun; two multi-lake 650NM + deliveries, one as skipper; Brenda and I  also completed formal sail training with CYA, US Sailing and ISAF certifications Steve and Doris Colgate's Offshore Sailing School 

4.    Dream a plan, Lived vicariously through sister Leslie & husband Tim as they sailed off 14 years ago and remained off the grid for 5 years; convince myself and my partner we might do something someday

5.   Plan the Dream – this involved an intense 2 -3 months of organization of the trip itself, plan for maintenance of personal financial and land based obligations as well as my mom’s affairs while we will be away

6.   Live the Dream – this is the beginning of that ...cr