The Boatin' Page
Mike, Andy and I did the 3rd Annual Hershey's run on July 6th, 1996. Not a bad way to spend a summer day, cruising from Kemptville to Smith's Falls by boat. Not to mention that there's always CHOCOLATE for the trip back. Fortunately, it was slightly overcast for most of the day so it was not unbearable to be out for 9 or 10 hours on the water. We are already planning our 4th annual run. Unfortunately, the boat is only so big so we can't invite you all.
The week following was the annual boat trip from Kemptville into the Hope Beach Volleyball Tournament. We both have friends that are part of some team or other so we stop in to say hello. The scenery was good as always.
The other annual ritual is the Fall lunch cruise. This is typically the last trip of the season and consists of four sets of locks, lunch at the Dow's Lake Pavilion and then four sets of locks back. Making sure that we reach Long Island locks (at Manotick) before they close, for the season.
The other fun thing is to take unsuspecting people (especially of the kid variety) for an innocent "tube". Here are a couple of pictures of my Niece Emily's first time out.
Hopefully it's clear enough to see that she is actually still smiling at this point......
Here we can't really tell if she's still smiling but at least now we know what the bottom of the tube looks like.
And fortunately, she survived her first spin on the tube. Well, her mother thought this was a good ending. :-)
Hope Beach 1997
Emily and I got up early, packed up some cokes and some munchies and headed out to Mike's for our scheduled 8:30 am start time. We got there about 9:00 and headed down to the boat with life jackets, cooler, cameras and munchies. All looked good for a day of cruising and beach watching, it was hot and promising to get hotter. Well, along about Manotick (an hour into the trip) we heard a fairly loud "pop" from under the engine cover. I opened the lid to see the coolant return hose (from the overflow reservoir) had blown. It must have sounded like a .22 inside the engine compartment. At this point, Mike noticed that the temperature guage was way off the top of the scale. We shut it down and drifted off to the side of the channel and threw in the anchor. We called a friend of Mike's who lives on the river near Manotick for a tow. After a bit, we had the boat tied up and ready to go, unfortunately, by the time we had the rope all set up, Keith had drifted into a shallow area and ended up hitting a rock with his prop as we were starting to move into the channel. By this time we had been stopped for about an hour so we just fired up Mike's boat and drove it the couple of hundred yards to the public dock. Mike went with Keith back to his place so that Keith could drive Mike home to get his truck and trailer. Emily and I waited in the sun to be 'rescued'.
The end result is that we did not get to the 15th annual Hope Beach Volleyball Tournament. We ended up going back to Mike's and vegging in front of the tube in a nice air conditioned room. Emily got picked up by her Grandmother and went to a friend's birthday party instead.
Maybe next year we'll have a more successful trip.
Well, the summer of 1998 hasn't been the best for boating. Mike finally found out at the end of last season that there was some sort of coolant leek in the boat. It wasn't until early this year that he found out that the head was cracked and had to be replaced. After finding out that the spare head he had was also cracked, he bought a couple (pair from a used automotive parts place) and had them re-fitted for marine use. The first one was installed and the boat was ready to go on Canada Day. We took it out on the river and manouvered around slowly at first as we knew it was a 'new' head. Unfortunately, it didn't run worth a hill of beans. After some diagnostic work and futzing around for about an hour, we deduced that there was no compression in one cylinder. The boat went back to the mechanic and sure enough, the Exhaust valve in #2 cylinder had been bent. Marvy! The second 'new' head went on and a couple of days later Mike put the boat in again. It was running well enough to get him to his dock a mile or three up river, but not well enough to go for a good cruise. So, there hasn't been much boating this summer...yet.
Hershey Run 1999
Well, it's summer 1999. Mike got a new boat this year (pictures later) and he has been enjoying the river again. This past Saturday, July 17th, Mike, myself, my brother Sandy and his wife Edelin and my neice Emily (above tubing pics.) took off in search of CHOCOLATE !
We left Mike's dock at approximately 8:45 am and headed up river to the locks at Burritt's Rapids. We had to wait 15 to 20 minutes to get locked through so Edelin took out her fishing rod and tried her luck for a few casts. Nothing!
We headed up river through Nicholson's locks and then Clowes without too much of a problem or wait. However, when we arrived at Merrickville we found out that they had been having trouble with the swing bridge and boats locking through had been delayed. Marvelous. We had at least an hour-and-a-half, maybe even 2 hour wait as the previous group of boats got locked up, and those waiting to come down, got locked through. Sandy and Edelin took a short tour of Merrickville while we kept vigil on the boat. We got locked through with a couple of other boats and spent the 45 minutes it took to go through, yakking with them. You meet nice folks on the river.
We ended up getting to the locks at Smith's Falls a few minutes behind schedule so we didn't have too much time to waste at the factory itself. We all did our 'shopping' in about 10 minutes or so and walked back to the dock enjoying a Mr. Freeze. And let me tell you. It was welcome! It was in the mid 30s (mid 90s for you Farenheit folks) for most of the trip up. Now, we had to make it back through the five sets of locks before they closed for night and left us stranded. We had to get back to the Burritt's Rapids locks by 6:30 according to the Lock Master, so that we could get locked through.
We made the first two locks on the trip back without incident. However, when leaving the second locks heading back to Merrickville, the Lock Master there informed us we'd have to do the 12 miles in about 6 minutes to make the next batch going down. Otherwise, it would be a 2 hour wait and we'd probably be late getting back to Burritt's Rapids. We told him we'd try, and Mike opened it up.
Well, we made it in about 12 minutes! And they were just thinking of closing the gate when we appeared in the channel leading up to the lock. Great! We just got into the lock and were being lowered when the dark sky that had been behind us, caught up. WOW! What a storm. The Lock Master and workers informed us that they were going to "suspend operations" during the lightning storm, but that we would be safe at the bottom of the lock. (Gee thanks.) Well, it poured and stormed for about 20 to 30 minutes. Mike valiantly tried to put up the rest of canvas top, but we were already soaked to the skin by then. Sandy and Edelin had disembarked and took shelter in the Block House Museum while Mike, Emily and I were getting soaked. Nice timing! I was trying to hold both bow and stern ropes while Mike got the canvas out and organized.
When the storm finally passed, the lock crew came out in their bright yellow slickers and got things going again. The lighning was still striking several miles away and the sky was lit up every few seconds with new flashes. It was great to watch. In fact, since it had been VERY hot for most of the morning and afternoon, the rain was almost a welcome relief.
We headed out of Merrickville holding towels, shirts, jackets and everything else we could, in the breeze so that they could dry. For now. We arrived at Clowes locks and got through without incident and headed on down river to the Upper Nicholson Lock. After the other boats caught up to us, we were locked through to the Lower Nicholson Lock. Just as we were about to get let out, the sky broke again. Another 20 to 30 minutes of rain, lightning, thunder and this time, hail! Fortunately, the hail only lasted about a minute or so and didn't cause any damage to the new boats upholstery. Again we waited for the lighning to let off so that the lock staff would be able to let us through. This time, the rain was a little cooler and maybe not quite as welcome as the last session, but we made it through.
We got to Burritt's Rapids Locks shortly after 7:00 and since the lock operators are in constant contact as to what boats are going through, they knew we were coming and were able to lock us through to the lower side so that we could continue on to Mike's place.
To top it off, there is a great little restaurant across the road from Burritt's Rapids Locks. (Michael's Restaurant if you ever get out that way, check it out. Great home-made food.) So we ordered a couple of pizzas and by the time we got back to Mike's, it was just the right temperature. Although some of us were a bit chilly and still wet from the storms.
All in all a pretty good trip. We got our 'treasure' from the Hershy factory and we had an adventure on the way.
