Is this the right forum for a canadian sailboat owner

[PuttingDoctor]

There are even expat Canadians here too. I left Toronto and Lake Ontario Sailing a long long long time ago. But my passport is Canadian and my boat is registered in Canada.

Welcome to the worldwide Sailing resource.

[BarrieRobertson]

Francois, I am a past sailer but now the captain of a 108 ft. cruise ship running between Kingston and Quebec City. I have a few suggestions about winterizing your boat ashore:
1. drain all the water from the engine and your domestic systems and add lumbers antifreeze where the water used to be. You should have a bypass on the hot water tank so you don't have to fill the hot water tank to get antifreeze to the taps.
2. It is best to unstep the mast so you can inspect and repair any electronics and standing and running rigging. With the mast out, your boat will be less vulnerable to be toppled by strong winds and take the radar, radios, GPS, chart plotter etc. home to keep them warmish and dry.
3. If you have a conical mooring buoy, like a starboard hand channel buoy, the freezing ice should push it down and eventually be under the ice. (the river freezes at the surface first)

[MarkusK]

Salut Francois,

Another Quebecer here.

You are in the right place.

[robgsailor]

Salut Francois,
en tant que Québécois vivant en Australie, je te suggère la voile dans l' hémisphère sud. on peut en faire a l'année 😉

[francois.lavoie]

Wow! Thanks so much (merci beaucoup) for that cheerful and enthusiastic response. I am used to other types of forum, I have never seen such a well mobilised community. First time ever. It seems that boat owners are heartfully invested in their activity.

I would surely install my mooring on the coasts of British Columbia in the Pacific, or on those of the Eastern provinces on the Atlantic, really any for the salty smell of the sea, or next to the shore of one of the Great lakes. And if everything goes fine, I will sure do at least temporarily with this first boat of mine or in any other way.

I imagine also that I am not the first one dreaming of a transaltlantic sail adventure. But for now, lets begin exploring the lakes around Montreal, and then progressivement heading north-east to the Gulf of St-Lawrence or south-est to the Great lakes.

[BarrieRobertson]

Francois, it sounds like you won't need a mooring buoy with all those travel plans. Before you head to the East coast, Would suggest you spend some time in the Thousand Islands between Brockville and Kingston Ontario. There are plenty of marinas and yacht clubs around because anchoring is not easy on a rocky river bottom.

[francois.lavoie]

@Barrie:
I have a catalina 250 with a swing keel. The standard equipment is not sofisticated, and the motor is an outboard honda 9.9 hp.
https://www.cruisingworld.com/sailboats/catalina-250
The waters in the bay in front of the cottage are rather shallow. The slope from the shore is rather small, and it takes around 200 feet to get 5 feet deep of water. Thus I think I will appreciate the 1.8 feet of minimal draft of this sailboat.

The electronic equipment is a VHF that I just removed. Is removal of the depht meter as critical?

Thanks.

[francois.lavoie]

@Barrie:
I have a catalina 250 with a swing keel. The standard equipment is not sofisticated, and the motor is an outboard honda 9.9 hp.
https://www.cruisingworld.com/sailboats/catalina-250
The waters in the bay in front of the cottage are rather shallow. The slope from the shore is rather small, and it takes around 200 feet to get 5 feet deep of water. Thus I think I will appreciate the 1.8 feet of minimal draft of this sailboat.

The electronic equipment is a VHF that I just removed. Is removal of the depht meter as critical?

Thanks.

[SuW]

Hi François!
We live and sail along the St. Lawrence/1000 Islands in Ontario. Great cruising country, lots of summer fun!

Today the river is frozen over, but there will be a Canadian icebreaker through the Seaway in a week or so. And yesterday I saw flocks of white geese heading your way!

Seasonal cruising in a small boat, with simple gear and being as self-sufficient as possible is our aim in life!

If you're ever passing by Morrisburg/Iroquois to the Great Lakes, you can contact us!

Sue & Don.
Bufflehead.

[francois.lavoie]

Hello Sue. As soon as I reach your neighborhood you will hear from me. Thanks for the invitation.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by francois.lavoie

Hello Sue. As soon as I reach your neighborhood you will hear from me. Thanks for the invitation.

Hi François,
You can email me: secretary@tiyc.ca
I'm in the Thousand Islands Yacht Club.

[emilecantin]

Hi François,

Fellow Québécois here, a bit further down the St-Laurent. The sailing community in Québec hangs out in a few Facebook groups, you might have more success there with questions specific to sailing in Québec.

Feel free to ask away here, though, looks like we're a few hanging out here.

Here are a few things I've noticed that seem to be specific to the area:
- Osmosis issues seem to be non-existent, as our boats spend 6+ months out of the water every year
- Half the sailors in Québec have their boat on Lake Champlain. The other half are on the St-Lawrence, and then there's small lake sailors which are doing their own thing.
- The St-Lawrence below Trois-Rivières has very strong tidal currents, you really have to time it just right.
- The St-Lawrence above Trois-Rivières has pretty much a constant current of around 2-3 kts, so plan for twice the time going up vs down.
- If your boat is small enough and you keep it in your backyard in the winter, it's probably going to be covered by your home insurance policy. Give them a call, though.
- Marinas charge by the season, not by the month like they do in FL
- Sailing season is usually May to October.

Hit me up if you're planning to go downstream from Trois-Rivières, I can probably answer a few questions.

[SuW]

Hi everyone,
In case we have anyone new to sailing, for advice on marinas, anchorages while cruising, I suggest that you look at ActiveCaptain.

Now owned by Garmin, it is a crowd-sourced interactive cruising guide with integration with Navionics charting software.

We use it all the time, because we anchor wherever we go. Both sides of the river. The guide is pretty good for the St. Lawrence, Ottawa River, Rideau Canal, Lake Ontario, to my certain knowledge (I put in a few anchorages!)

I know Barrie* mentioned that there weren't many anchorages because most areas are rocky, but we've found suitable places every few miles, certainly in the 1000 Islands.

*Hi Barrie! Do you have a cool job, or what?
Big thanks to the professionals, guys - someone like him even took pity on me and slowed down for my little rowing dinghy near Gananoque last Fall!

[Mike OReilly]

I found AC to be useful on our journey out to Newfoundland, but its database is pretty thin once you get much past Quebec City. I guess that’s to be expected, given the few number of recreational boaters who travel the river.

We anchored almost all the way along. Some of the anchorages mentioned in AC I found to be unusable. And we located many more that weren’t listed there. I found the best tool was the charts, and the french Guide du tourism Nautique.

[offline]

Seems like it.



Active Captain is my first stop for information.