Wellington Cruise (July 3 to July 5, 2019)
6 boats left PYC around 11:00 am on Wednesday July 3rd in light winds. It took 5 hours of motor sailing to get to the mouth of Wellington’s harbour. We picked up a boat from Quebec who saw us travelling together and decided we knew what we were doing, so they joined our fleet. We entered the harbour one by one in single file with Tomfoolery in the lead. Even though you could see the bottom of the canal, no one touched it. We all carefully made our way past the docks and along the shore until we made a quick right turn just past the “No Wake” marker. After getting the weeds off our props and rudders, we continued to the small opening into West Lake. After making it through, we chose a beautiful spot to anchor close to large sand dunes. We felt we were in the Bahamas with all white sand and warm water around us. After securing our anchors we all met on Tomfoolery for a celebratory drink or 2. We watched a beautiful sunset with friends and talked until the wee hours of the morning.
The next day was a day of exploring and swimming. Several of us rowed ashore to explore the sand dunes. After a brief walk around the dunes, we reached Lake Ontario where we had a quick swim before returning to warm West Lake. In the afternoon 2 more PYC boats joined the fleet. It was great to see more people enjoying the cruise.
“Oh Buoy” (Maggie C) was kind enough to take almost everyone to Wellington for dinner to a local pub. After a quiet night on anchor, it was time to head back to PYC. The trip home was uneventful, and windless. We all motor sailed home (about 5 to 5.5 hours). Everyone made it home safe and hoping to return to West Lake soon. It is well worth the effort.
Michele Coxhead
