Cruising the channel in comfort
BY BRUCE HEIDMAN
For Wild Northerner
My wife doesn't fish, and I'm a fishing fanatic.
However, our free time together still works because we share a love of the outdoors, and, more importantly, a love of the water and boating.
I fish while Colleen stretches out a lawn chair in our fishing boat, soaking up some rays, reading a magazine or taking in the sights. She has become a master with the dip net when called upon, as well.
For many years, our summer weekends consisted of packing the fishing boat to the gunnels and beyond with all manner of gear, and heading out on the North Channel to carve a spot out of the bush to serve as a campsite. More often than not, our destination of choice is the North Channel of Georgian Bay. It offers plenty for both of us - great fishing, spectacular scenery and wildlife and an endless variety of unique places to go for a good view or to set up for a few days.
For the last couple of years, however, we would watch as yachts and cruising boats went past our camp site, envious of the comfort afforded by the spacious vessels.
You see, we both recently passed 50, and the older we get the more comfort seems to rise up on our priority list. The effort of getting in and out of a tent in the morning, along with all the lugging and hauling that go along with wilderness camping by boat, seemed to be getting more labourious with each
passing year, and completing the many mundane chores became that much more intensive.
So, midway through this summer, after another weekend of watching comfy boat dwellers slip past our camping spot while we used half the day to stretch out on the rocks and sticks that we had slept on after yet another air mattress went flat during the night, we joined their ranks.
The 24.5-footer, with fore and aft cabins, a full galley and head, was more than we had originally dreamed of, but a deal we could not pass up. It had lots of room for us and our two daughters and their boyfriends and our two dogs. We could once again include everyone on or forays, something we could no longer do with our fishing boat.
Surprisingly, I had never been to Killarney prior to seeing our new boat, where it was docked at a local marina. The town is set up to take care of and service boaters from across the globe who flock to the North Channel to enjoy world-class boating and sailing,. The experience at our marina, and everywhere else in town, has been top notch.
Our maiden voyage was a nervous one for the first while, : so much to remember with the new boat, a pile of new protocols to recall and perform, and the vessel was much different in handling compared to our 17.5-foot fishing boat.
However, my nerves somewhat dissipated about three-quarters of the way down Lansdowne Channel, and were forgotten completely when we rounded the point at the end of Lansdowne at Creak Island.
There in front of us was the North Channel we were familiar with, having always launched our smaller boat from near Manitoulin Island. It all stretched in front of us:, the familiar wind turbines behind Little Current on Manitoulin Island an obvious landmark, Fraser Bay to our right, the entrance to Baie of Fine on the far point of Fraser Bay, Heywood Island pretty much directly in front of us, McGregor Point and the beginning of McGregor Bay in the distance.
Now at ease with our surroundings and whereabouts, we made our way for another hour to a favourite camping spot and anchored there for the night, ; the familiarity of the land and water there making us that much more comfortable for our first night on our new boat.
Anchoring was a new skill still being mastered. The thought of waking up in the middle of the night crashing on shore was enough to make anyone double and triple check their ropes throughout the day and evening.
The dingy that came with the boat has had several workouts already, serving as a fishing vessel as well as the only way to get the dogs ashore to do their business. It's not always a lot of fun rowing and trying to find a decent spot to land ashore in the pitch dark at 1 a.m. when one of them decides they need to go, but it's an adventure to be sure.
Friends and family have joined us for day and overnight forays, and the new boat has drawn an enthusiastic thumbs- up from all who have boarded.
There's only about a month or so left to spend in our new vessel to explore the North Channel, and, to be honest, the jury is still out whether the new big boat is the way to go for our outdoor adventures, but we have decided to take full advantage throughout next summer and re-evaluate come season's end in a year's time.
We will keep Wild Northerner readers up to date beginning next spring.