posted November 08, 2005 03:07 PM               

I trailered ShortWave to Georgian Bay's fabulous North Channel area back in 2000
I launched her in Killarney and over a three week period, sailed as far north-west as Little Current. Killarney, as pretty as it is....has a single rough & ready launch ramp with a minimal rigging area. The gyrations I went through backing down the launch ramp! There are hi tension wires stretching over the area between the rigging lot and ramp. It took 45 minutes to twist the car and trailer around and access the ramp. The low high voltage cables were crackling and snapping in my ear all the while.....they're lower than the masthead while the boat is on a trailer. Seems like the whole town was watching. One fisherman type (well lubricated) offered to jump into the car and do it for me. I have no problem manoevering boats on trailers, but it's hard to do when avoiding low overhead wires, wooden hydro poles with wire guys, ice cream shacks and parked cars.

My advice is to drive west on Trans-Canada Hwy 17 past Sudbury, then turn south at Espanola on Hwy 6 to Little Current on Manitoulin Island. Spider Bay Marina has everything you'll need.
http://omoa.com/listings_marina.asp?myNav=1&mid=153

It's right between two lovely cruising grounds. Southeast toward Killarney are some great places to explore. Frasier Bay is one of the prettiest places on Earth. This is "Group of Seven" country. Baie Fin and "The Pool" lies nearby. Late afternoon you'll spider your Sandpiper into a small rocky cove, which larger boats would never even notice or consider. Climb the trails to the top of a quartzite mountain to watch the sunset. Watch out for Mr. Bear on the way down!

The area west of Little Current is nice too. I toured that area in 2002 in a larger boat, a C&C 27

posted November 09, 2005 11:05 PM               

The marina we stay at on Georgian Bay is still very busy. There seems to be larger boats on the water this year in the 50 to 60 foot lengths, twin-engine cruisers with side thrusters. A lot of these come from the eastern states like New York, Rhode Island, etc These cruisers are more like floating condos with all the comforts you can think of. I love their prestigious look and design but I don't envy them. They must stay between the markers and follow the trail, and they miss the beauty of the backcountry bays and inlets that a smaller boat can find. It seems as you travel deeper in the back bays, one inlet only leads into another and each holds its own secret in beauty.

Navigating into uncharted areas is slow with a good depth sounder and one person on watch at the bow for those rocks that seem to loom from the deep in front of you unexpectedly. Some times it's just best to anchor the boat and take the dinghy to find a safe route into a protected harbour. I have ordered a hand depth sounder for this type of charting. Once you have found a safe anchorage, it just might be better to tie off to a rock or tree on the shore, solid rock bottoms won't hold an anchor too well. Every trip into a back bay is different, different bottoms, different circumstances. If there is adequate turning room, I like my heavy Danforth anchor for rocky bottoms and the fluted Bruce for sand or mud. I sometimes ignore what the experts say; it's all in what you become comfortable with.

A couple of years ago with a swing keeled boat, we managed to crawl between a few small islands where we tied the bow to a tree, backed off and ran a line to two opposing rocky coves in a triangle. This was a beautiful spot, although the deerflies came with the territory. We could land a dinghy in any direction and look for those hidden images that haunt Georgian Bay. We stayed for three days without getting bored.

A summer afternoon squall kept things exciting for a few moments as the bay jerked us back and forth and the thunder rolled, but our three anchor lines to the shore held us secure. In the evening a small black bear sniffed one of our lines as we watched from the safety of the boat. She must have smelled the pork chops on the barbeque. It seemed most of that night loons echoed from every bay. I would like to visit this same area again but there are so many other intriguing spots to discover - I know we probably won't.