Century Club: Kati & Harry Keith

Chaumont NY to Hill Island ON 

First sailing since coming up the New Jersey coast from Cape May to Sandy Hook.  Beautiful sailing with the spinnaker on the eastern end of Lake Ontario from Oswego to Chaumont Bay. 

A really wonderful exploration of both the American and the Canadian islands and sides of the Thousand Islands.  

Tour of Boldt Castle on Heart Island. Grindstone Island Winery.  

Couldn't get marina space in Kingston Ontario for Canada Day (July 1), so checked into Canada on July 4th instead.  July 4th fireworks on July 3rd in Clayton NY, a super cute beachy resort town.  The traffic on the American side of the St Lawrence through the Thousand Islands this holiday weekend (Friday = Canada Day 7/1, Monday = Independence Day 7/4) was ridiculous.  Made NYC Harbor look tame.  Pontoon boats, jet skis, tour boats, "Great Looper" trawlers, charter fishing boats, SUPs, and a freighter every now and then to keep it interesting.  

Our super trusty Rocna anchor dragged 3 times in the sea grass here in the crystal clear waters of the Thousand Islands.  Until someone told us the trick, always anchor in at least 20 feet of water because the sea grasses don't grow at that depth.  From then on, anchoring was fine.  

Harry's mother, Malinda, joined us at Waterford to do the canals with us.  It was a really enjoyable trip with lots of sightseeing too.  

We started at the Waterford Flight, then progressed through the canals all the way to Oswego NY on Lake Ontario.  Some memorable touring at Fort Stanwyx, a pre-Revolutionary War fort in Rome NY, a classic car show at Sylvan Beach NY, and Fort Ontario in Oswego. 

The mast went back in at the Oswego Municipal Marina.   

The start of this summer's & early fall's adventure.  The Down East Circle (DEC or DECL) with an extension up to Newfoundland. 

This leg... Up the Chesapeake, thru the C&D Canal, down the Delaware, around Cape May, Atlantic City, Sandy Hook, NYC, up the Hudson to the Erie Canal entrance at Waterford NY.  Pulled the mast in Catskill NY.  .  

This is the entry taking up the 10 days of boat work that count toward the Century Club, though there were a lot more days already done this year!

Here's some of what was done in January thru March, 2021 in order to prepare for the Down East Circle this summer:  I'm not putting the technical details in here but you can reach out to us ([email protected]) and Harry can provide any details you may be interested in...

• Full solar upgrade designed, ordered, and installed - new, large panels with support modifications.
• New upgraded inverter w new inverter control switch.
• Lots of electrical control upgrades to support the new solar and inverter.  
• New main halyard.
• Sails taken to North Sails for annual inspection & some repairs, then put back on when they were ready.
• Fridge/freezer repair.
• Repair & rebuild windlass.
• Remove all anchor rode for both anchors, lay out on the dock, and re-mark the 25' increments.  (and we have 300'+ on one anchor and 200'+ on the other)
• Hull rubbing compound, wash & wax.
• All the boat cleaning!  deck, external canvas, cockpit cushions, internal cushions, woodwork, non-woodwork, floors, ports, etc.