posted February 18, 2005 12:09 PM               

Life afloat this winter in Toronto Harbour has been mostly uneventful. Only one short power outage so far, and not too much snow. Our two de-icers are doing a great job keeping the hull ice free. Once in a while a small iceberg breaks free and the current from opposing ice eaters push it back and forth from one boat to another. It rattles along the hull all night right beside our berth.
Our silent 3200 watts of oil-type electric heaters keep us warm and cozy. There's a fan-forced heater in the engine space which keeps it and the cockpit lockers around 15C
The semi-clear heat shrink plastic boat cover gives a solar gain on sunny days. You can sit in the cockpit and read the Saturday newspaper wearing a T-shirt.
It's pretty noisy inside the boat 'tho. Constant gurgling underneath.....like living in Captain Nemo's submarine "Nautilus."

Some winter boat neighbours haven't grasped the concept that the community fresh water hoses will freeze if left out on the docks overnight. This denies the rest of us of an easy way to fill our water tanks. However, most people are very friendly and considerate. We regularly have coffee and dinners in the boats. Our pier six has 10 friendly dogs!

I'm very pleased with the progress of our little ham radio class every Thursday night. Three neighbours and Lynn. Amateur radio while at sea is great entertainment, and it can provide free e-mail using a high-frequency short-wave ham transceiver.

In March I'm giving a CPS marine radio course to the Toronto City Centre air controllers. That's the Island Airport dead smack in our harbour. Tall vessels over 60ft must call the tower on Marine VHF Ch-12 to prevent interfering with the aircraft glide path.
http://www.torontoport.com/PortAuthority/port_notices_content.asp?id=110

Lynn and I took the island ferry last Sunday to visit our dock and locker at the sailing club. The giant bergs pushed aside by the ferry appeared to be about 10 inches thick. People were skating on the lagoons and also on the thick harbour ice. Back in 1900 the whole harbour was an ice-boat haven. It really WAS colder back then!

Best wishes from...Ken & Lynn aboard Silverheels III

P.S. Only 4 pumpouts 'till Spring!!!