July 1-2 Grand Bend

On Canada Day we sailed from Goderich to Grand Bend. It was a nice sail, with the winds increasing as we went but we got in before the real blow began. It was a harrowing, bumpy entrance. Imagine a beach with crashing surf, and a small harbour entrance along a breakwater pier. We were bouncing up and down and all of a sudden - thud - our keel hit the sandbar. This was an unpleasant surprise. The swell picked us back up and then dropped us again - thump. We hit three times but the wind and surf were blowing us in the right direction and we got through. Fortunately Heartbeat's solid construction stood up to this pounding, which could have caused serious damage. We were annoyed that we weren't warned about the shallow entrance when we'd called in for reservations. Heartbeat has a 6.5 foot draft, and big bouncy waves can change the water depth by a metre or however high the waves are. We went very slowly and carefully after that to our slip along the narrow river, a very pretty spot next to a boardwalk with overhanging willows.

Grand Bend was busy for Canada Day, although their annual fireworks were cancelled this year again due to the pandemic. But we were treated to a house concert in the cottage community next to our berth - a fiddler was playing and singing Van Morrison songs on his porch to appreciative neighbours gathered in the back lane. It's a real beach town, with a main street lined with ice cream shops, beach clothing stores, mini-golf, restaurants, and lots of young people. We noticed a police presence too. The town is divided by a small river and all the partying was on the north side. The south side has the yacht club and an upscale subdivision called Southcott Pines that was developed in the 1950s. There are beautiful old trees and homes on large lots with no fences, very leafy and peaceful. We stopped in at the yacht club after dinner to get some "local knowledge" about the harbour entrance. We were worried about getting back out. It turns out the harbour is due for dredging and the person we spoke to was shocked we came in on a CS 36. He told us to hug the pier on the way out rather than go through the center, but we were left feeling very anxious.

The winds were due to keep blowing so we stayed 2 nights in Grand Bend. Another transient boat, a power boat, joined us on the guest dock and we shared stories about the bumpy entrance. They didn't touch bottom but they were very glad to get off the lake and out of the wind. They were a young couple from London and moving their newly-purchased boat from Lake Simcoe to Sarnia. They too were waiting for the wind to subside and we both had escape plans for the next morning. We planned to leave at 6am, they at 7am, and we joked that if they saw we were truly gone and not returned, then they would know their boat could make it out, having a much shallower draft than ours.

Did you know that Grand Bend does not refer to the bend of the beach along the lake? That's what I'd always thought. In fact it was named after a hairpin bend in the Ausable River, which meandered north then bent sharply south to empty into Lake Huron miles away from Grand Bend. The river was rerouted in the late 19th century after settlers grew tired of its flooding, and so what's left of the Grand Bend is a historical plaque marking the spot, and a waterway now called the Old Ausable Channel with more or less stagnant water but an important wetland habitat. We walked along it towards The Pinery Provincial Park and entered the park via the beach. It continued very windy, and we saw kite surfers enjoying themselves. We walked one of the park trails and then circled back to town, a nice long walk of 4 hours.

July 3 Hillsborough Beach

We escaped Grand Bend! Neither of us slept well the night before with worry, and the boat bumped again a few times on the way out, but what a relief to be out into deep water. The wind started light but increased and we enjoyed what Andy calls Goldilocks sailing. Sunshine, gentle breezes, time for napping in between tacks. The wind died and we did not make it to our target destination past Sarnia, and instead anchored off Hillsborough Beach and enjoyed the blue-green water.

July 4 Stag Island

We left early to get the wind while it lasted. Andy tried out the new preventer he had rigged - it is for use in downwind sailing which is tricky because the mainsail may jibe unexpectedly and slam across to the other side. The preventer stops this unexpected jibe. It worked nicely and we drifted along until the wind died altogether and we had to start motoring. This was our day to go under the Bluewater Bridge between Sarnia and Port Huron on the US side. It's a massive structure, visible for miles as a bulge on the horizon. Once there I could see why it was named Bluewater, as the water is a striking shade of bright blue. It's also very choppy and wavy, due to all the water pouring out of Lake Huron and into the St Clair River. There were all sorts of power boats playing in the waves. We chugged through determinedly, and I added a short video to the photo album to give you a sense of the dancing waves and current.

This route is part of the main shipping channel and so we started to see lake freighters, great hulks of ships gliding through the water. Andy has set up Automatic Information System (AIS) which lets us see other boats on the navigation chart program we run, and know when a big ship is approaching. We transmit AIS from Heartbeat too, so the other boats know of this comparatively fragile little sailboat.

We anchored in the St Clair River just off Stag Island, in Canadian waters of course. There is a marine law called "right of innocent passage" that says you're allowed to enter another country's waters as long as you are travelling from A to B in Canada and don't anchor along the way or go ashore in the US. So part of our trip was definitely in US waters, and a lot of the pleasure boats we saw on the Canadian side were Americans.

This was our first time travelling in a current. You can tell how fast it is by looking at the boat's knotmeter and it might say 4 knots, and then the GPS on our navigation program on the tablet says your speed over ground over is 6 knots. It was also our first time anchoring in a current. Instead of turning the boat into the wind to anchor, you turn it into the current. We quickly realized we were not going to shore, as we wouldn't be able to row against the current, nor could we go in swimming. We cooled off by standing on the swim ladder suspended off the back of the boat, holding on with both hands, and letting the current take our legs back. Don't let go!

July 5 St Clair River, Lake St Clair, Windsor

Before this trip I wasn't too sure how Lake Huron connected to Lake Erie. Now I have a sense of Lake St Clair as a bead on a necklace, with two rivers on either side forming the chain. We motored down the St Clair River, enjoying the sights - riverfront homes and cottages, big trees, lake freighters. Eventually the river empties out via a marshy delta into Lake St Clair. Once the water was deep enough we left the main shipping channel (which itself is dredged to a depth of 32 feet) and began sailing. We had several hours of wonderful sailing, with lots of sailboats out on the US side, a happy sight.

The wind was increasing beyond comfort just as we approached the end of the lake and Windsor-Detroit. The anchorage we'd planned was much too exposed and wavy, and we tried hailing a marina but they had no space for transients. So we bobbed around uncertainly, not really wanting to proceed because it was getting late in the day. In the end we anchored next to Ambassador Park in Windsor. This was the second time anchoring in a current, and this time the current and wind were of opposing minds, battling it out over who would take Heartbeat. We moved in random directions all night but the anchor held. Andy slept in the quarter berth just next to the cockpit, in case the anchor alarm went off and he had to take quick action. It was a windy but scenic anchorage, with the long green park next to us with people fishing and strolling, and the Detroit skyline in the distance.

July 6 Pelee Island

We started motoring down the Detroit River that connects Lake St Clair with Lake Erie. The Detroit skyline grew nearer. There are three tall black towers with strips of lights around the top that change colour from red to blue to green. We went under the Ambassador Bridge, and into the industrial district with gravel piles on the Canadian side and what Andy called Satanic mills on the American side. It's true there was one factory that was black as soot and built out of bending tubes, and a stack with flame burning out the top, looking like something from Victorian times.

After a bend in the river the wind was in the right direction and we started sailing. The industrial sites gave way to scrubby treed land and the river split into multiple channels at its delta to Lake Erie. We sailed past Amherstburg and a Coast Guard base and heard birds singing in the sunshine. We were able to keep sailing, slow and steady, and reached Pelee Island late in the day, around 7pm.

We anchored and hoisted the dinghy off the deck - we were going to set foot on land for the first time in days. The past 3 nights had been in anchorages where we couldn't get to shore for one reason (it was too far away) or another (the current was too strong). Pelee Island is charming - around 30km long, reachable by a 1.5 hour ferry ride, and is its own quiet world. There is a fishery and a winery and some other small businesses, and summer homes. We walked along a dirt road along the shore, lined with cottonwood trees, and enjoyed the rural feel. We considered staying for 2 nights and renting bikes to explore the island, but alas the wind was good for the next leg of our trip and we have to take the wind when it presents itself. So maybe we'll go back to Pelee Island by car and foot one day.

July 7-8 Erieau

We had a long sail from Pelee Island to Erieau. How many town names end in 4 vowels? I'd wager there are not many.

Partway through the sail the wind died. The navigation app on the tablet has a frustrating display of the estimated time of arrival at your destination. Frustrating because, as our speed is not constant, the ETA can be very depressing. It was showing 10pm, and there were thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon. We did some motoring and then luckily the wind picked up again so we were back to sailing. Now the ETA showed 6pm, much better. Our next worry was the rain and possible thunderstorm. We could see the sky getting darker behind us and ahead we could see two small fishing boats converging from different directions to the harbour entrance. We saw some dramatic clouds and a small squall moved through just as we arrived but all was good and the harbour was wonderfully calm and deep. The skies truly opened just after we had docked so we ducked inside and watched the raindrops pummel the water.

One interesting interlude in the middle of the sail was our encounter with a sparrow fleeing a group of gulls. We heard squawking, saw gulls circling, and then suddenly a sparrow was resting on our lifeline. It had its beak open - I didn't know a bird could pant but this bird was clearly exhausted. It stayed around five minutes, hopping over to perch on the main sheet, and then once it had collected itself, headed off again. I suppose it was headed for Ohio on the other side of the lake.

We didn't know what to expect in Erieau but it's a lovely summer community on a long spit of land with Lake Erie on one side and Rondeau Bay on the other. The marina is friendly and has picnic shelters, nice washrooms and showers -- we love showers after four days anchoring out. There's a fishing derby going on so there are lots of sport fishermen with boats and big nets. The neighbor sailboat next to us on the guest dock is from Port Stanley which is where we're going next, so we've been chatting with them to get advice. We stayed in Erieau two nights, as today was on and off rainy, and the wind turns in our favor tomorrow. Today we ran, walked, filled the water tanks, and went out for fish dinner that I assume was caught locally. We're well-rested and ready to leave early tomorrow morning.

Photo album: Grand Bend to Erieau