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This is a blog about Peggy and Bob's Great Loop adventure which began in September 2008 in Lake Superior aboard "Baby Grand," their 32' Grand Banks trawler.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

AGLCA Rendezvous at Bay Moorings Marina in Penetanguishene 7-28-10
















Bob and I have never been to an AGLCA rendezvous as we were never in the right place at the right time but here we are now in Georgian Bay with Bay Moorings Marina hosting a get-together. This marina is all about service and making sure you have a good time. Amanda and Linda organized an amazing array of activities starting with a wine and cheese reception on Monday, a pre-race lunch on Tuesday before the fun cardboard boat race, and a barbeque on Wednesday with a Georgian Bay/North Channel chart presentation by Ken MacDonald. The van was available for provisioning trips to town as well as excursions to Discovery Bay and local shrines. The pool was just the right temperature for relaxing and all of this could be had for the very reasonable price of $1.50 per foot which included a free pumpout. We vote Bay Moorings Marina our #1 marina on the entire Loop!

We had a fun time building our cardboard boat with brand new Loopers, Dave and Brenda on The Old Grouch, a Nordic Tug 37, and veteran Loopers, Mark and Linda on Lolligag, a 32 foot Nordic Tug. We knew our cardboard boat would not last long and thought of it more as a dunk tank for Dave but don’t let him know that. It was great to see John on Emery El from the Looper class of 08-09 and he sends his regards. Our paths have intertwined with Lolligag along the way and since our boats are both 32 feet, we have a lot in common in living LARGE in a small area. We’ve traveled the canals with a few mid-Loopers and here is a picture of Jim and Linda from Selah (far right next to Bob) as well as Brenda and Dave (far left) and Mark and Linda rounding out the middle.

Most Loopers will be going through this area for 2 weeks as they head down to Chicago for 9/1 but we have the luxury of time and will explore the 30,000 islands of Georgian Bay/North Channel for the next 4-5 weeks. It is so much like our homeport of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior times 100 with the addition of 3 sided anchorage protection. We may have found another home.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Ready…Set…Go on the Chute 7-26-10





























This is the big one…the lock of legends. We decided to wait until Monday to do the Chute justice and let the weekend traffic of 120 boats go ahead of us. We had a great night at Swift Falls Lock and journeyed down the narrow Mc Donald’s Cut with power boats that were not waking us for a change. We entered the Chute basin and circled around for 10 minutes and took our place on the blue line. Boaters here are eager for the ride, everybody is helpful moving boats up and we finally moved up to the front of the line for our turn on the Chute.

Here we are entering the marine railway on the Chute, being cradled securely with slings for a 7 minute ride of a tenth of a mile across the road and down a roller coaster track to the other side and splashing down and free into the water. We were so excited with Bob taking a movie and me taking a picture of him. Here’s the track that we traveled—pretty amazing low tech solution to forge the distance and try to keep the lamprey and zebra mussels out of the Trent. We can sense the difference as we get closer to Lake Huron—clear skies, less humidity and clear water is ahead. We are coming home…

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Baby Grand