The War Hammer and End of the Locks

Ile du Grenadier to Skelton Island, Brockville - 75 nautical miles sailed, 3 locks

Today, we had great ambitions. Like our friends on Hibiscus, our other friends Cathy and Perry on Panacea (who have consistently been a few days ahead of us since Troy) have been feeding me information on the route which has helped immensely, reinforcing the fact that this adventure of ours has truly been a team effort. I call it the Cruising Class of 2025 as it feels as if all the cruisers are working together to help each other, like a family, like a gang, like a community, but a short term one for a specific purpose. There will be a new cruiser class next year, but many of the friendships we have developed will endure.

There were three locks remaining and we hoped to complete all of them and make it to Brockville. But that would require traveling more than 75 miles against a strong current, not hitting delays at any of the locks, and doing it all through forecasted rainstorms and heavy winds. But we are nothing if not ambitious.

When I pulled anchor at 5 am it was pouring rain outside and there was limited visibility. Fortunately there were no other boats on the water so I sailed to the chart and stuck my head out the enclosure once in a while to look for boats. I let Magnus sleep in as there was no need for both of us to be up. One thing I'd been noticing is the increasing populations of bugs. It seems the closer to home we travel, the worse the bugs get, and I do remember them being quite nasty in the Thousand Islands area from previous trips. But, you take the bad with the good.

Magnus and I had breakfast together and talked for hours. One major topic was what to do with the custom war hammer Curtis had brought out with him and given to me for my birthday. In recent years he has become an expert wood craftsman and decided to make mallets for both me and my brother Marty for his recent 50th. It is an incredible piece of work and my inclination was to hang it in our home kitchen as an artwork, maybe next to the magnificent guitar-shaped burger flipper which has never been used. But Curt would have none of it - it was a gift meant to be used. So, the next question was, what to do with it. Magnus and I decided there were two options. First, it could be a carpentry mallet, which would be very useful in our upcoming deck rebuilding project. Second, it could be a meat hammer, also very useful for upcoming pork schnitzel projects. A third option, and one which we fiercely debated, was using it for both. A multi-purpose tool would be good, but the downside could manifest itself in long cedar splinters poking out of the layer of sauerkraut on your pork cutlet (or worse, your guest's) or splatters of pork meat scattered on and between the new deck boards. In the end, we decided to use the war hammer as a carpentry mallet and continue to use the rolling pin to smash meat. We also agreed that the war hammer could be used as an actual war hammer in the case of attack or burglary.

We arrived at the Snell lock at 10:15 and had to wait just over an hour to get in. I had found a website showing the schedule of boats at this lock for today and it was spot on - we got in right where I'd seen the gap in freighter traffic. While waiting at the lock we tied up to the one powerboat there, who was a captain doing a boat delivery for a 50 Sundancer from Marco Island in Florida to Midland in Georgian Bay. While we were chatting he mentioned the boat’s twin 1200 horsepower diesel engines burned 600 gallons of fuel in a full day. This is why it's great to have friends with powerboats.

Both lifts went perfectly and the locks were far better than the Canadian ones as they had designated and numbered positions on the wall where you tied your midship line to a huge cleat inside the wall that rose up and down with the water level, making awkward tossing of ropes unnecessary. They also answered the radio when we called, and accepted cash at the lock (Canadian at par!) or you could pay online. It was a much smoother operation than what we'd seen in the previous Seaway locks.

From there it was a long haul to the final lock, on the Canadian side, called Iroquois, scheduled to close at 6 pm. The instructions for this lock on the Seaway website were again extremely confusing. I radio'd them at 5:15 pm and was shocked when they answered. They told us there would be plenty of time to get us through, and when we arrived I understood. The doors opened. We went in. The exit doors opened at the same time so we just motored through the lock and didn't have to tie up or even see anybody - both sides were at the same water level. I wasn't sure to be thrilled or pissed that we had to pay $25 for the experience.

With that, the locks for the trip were complete and it was a straight run to our anchorage in Brockville. Along the way I assembled a decent pork gumbo for dinner then Magnus and I each assembled our dream super bands, identifying musicians, producers, album themes, and features. My band was called 8 Track - a single album trip metal prog project between Les Claypool from Primus on bass and vocals, Danny Carey from Tool on drums, Joe Duplantier from Gojira on guitar and vocals, and whoever it was in Portishead that played keyboards and made all those deliciously creepy sounds. Magnus went through about ten iterations of what he wanted, excited as hell, but changing people, moving them from instrument to instrument, identifying featured artists, taking them out, putting them back in, then realizing many of the artists he'd chosen don't play much for instruments and are just expert producers, so in the end he couldn't nail down his dream band...but I think he'll keep working on it.

So after 75 miles, 3 locks, and 16 hours on the water, we dropped the anchor at Skelton Island at 9:45 just minutes before the remaining pale light of day was completely extinguished.