Kiskadee's big trip

March 2008

We lucked in and found a fantastic boat-hauler on uship.com named House of Boats. They are from Texas but haul across the continent. They locked our move in for a little over $11K. This was far better then the lowest Canadian hauler's quote of $19K.

Kiskadee was loaded at SYC on a bitter cold and windy day by a bunch of great friends. Pat took charge and everyone jumped in and had her craned on and strapped down before frostbite set in. Being in charge, Pat spent the day walking around with the check-list... But it was so cold that his eyes froze and Gary had to help him read it.

Sagadore Cranes, as always, did an excellent job handling an difficult load in high winds.

A lot of friends showed up and made things go quicker in the bitter cold.


Eleven people made it a light lift to hang the mast on the trailer.

Loaded and heading for the highway.

Pacific Bound

February 2008.

Dee and I moved west in February. Dee has accepted a promotion within Investors Group to become a Divisional Director in Victoria. (More $alary = more boat stuff!) We drove across and Kiskadee will come later by truck.

We bought a house in Langford. Prices are not like Halifax, but the math is easy. You can get half the house for twice the price.

We joined CFSA Esquimalt and will have a temporary spot for Kiskadee once she arrives.


We drove across through lots of snow and temps as low as -37 on the Praries. In BC Avalanche Control had all of the major highways closed so we spent many extra hours on muddy backroads in the middle of nowhere.

The last day before Vancouver was a very long one, but we had to push on as the Vancouver Boat Show had just started and we didn't want to miss any good deals!

Another winter on the hard...

With the engine not being ready until mid-summer we had long decided to call the trip south off for this year. We spent the rest of the season harbour sailing and enjoying club races. All too soon it was all over and Kiskadee was once more left cold and dry in her cradle.

Our new winter cover worked very well, shedding snow and standing up to some big winds.





In November we travelled to the west coast to visit Dee's relatives. Here we are in Gibson's Landing. This trip was a sign of big things to come, but we had no idea when we posed for the picture.

Two more weeks in Mahone Bay.

OK, pretend it's still late August...

After a good night sleep I awoke, well rested and still quite satisfied with the single-hand sleigh-ride from Halifax. I sailed into Mahone Bay town and hooked up with Rick and Shirley aboard Tide-N-Knots. They had come down a couple days earlier, while I was home. We enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Mug & Anchor, which is always a good feed spot. Dee came down late in the day and we spent the night on a town mooring for $15.

The photo at right shows a beautiful sunset, viewed from the town mooring. You can see the "Three Churches" ahead and the town on the left. That's Tide-N-Knots alongside the town marina for the night. The Mug & Anchor pub is the dark red building, third from the left. Check out our new ProFurl C350 furler that Dee bought Kiskadee. This is the nicest little town with a very friendly and welcoming personality and great shopping.

We spent the next two weeks with Dee running back and forth to work in Halifax and friends coming and going.

Marge and Chuck came during two of the foggiest days on the bay. We sailed from town and visability was often up to several miles... Enough to give us confidence to head back to Cross Island. Half way there it really closed down with less than 100 yards vis and light winds. Chuck went for a nap as we motored on. Half way in the channel to the Cross Island mooring , at 4.2 knots, I found the first hard grounding since we bought Kiskadee. I slip 1.5 inches skyward on a table-top rock and the currets held her from turning to motor off. I paddled out a kedge anchor but it fouled just as the bow was coming around. Our saviour, Wayne, came out in his 16 ' open aluminum boat and towed us off using a halyard. I fiollowed him in and the deep channel was along the southern side of the channel, almost against the rocks. When I showed Wayne the pilot guide that said to stay in the centre he said, "No wonder I haul at least one boat off those rocks every week." Chuck woke well rested as we tied to the mooring ball, wondering what we were talking about... What grounding? I the picture Marge is getting her camera ready in the main saloon.

Peta came for a day sail on Sep 2nd. We went to Lunenburg Yacht Club for fuel, ice and fast showers. A stop at BAckman's Island let Dee paddle Peta ashore for a quick tour before we went up to Chester and back. In the picture we're heading west towards Round Island Nubble.

We did lunch with Rick & Shirley (Tide-N-Knots) at LYC. Our daughter Terri drove down and picked Dee up to return to work in Halifax. I spent the night at Backman's Island, peaceful but lonely. I enjoy my solitude but I also enjoy Dee's company... Ah, life's quandrys.

Pat came while Dee was at work and we spent the day exploring the bay and then raced across from Chester to Deep Cove in a 20 knot stern breeze. We entered the cove at 7.2 knots on half of a jib. Deep Cove was beautiful as always and we enjoyed a hearty feed and much rum. We shared the cove with S/V Galatea V, another Hughes 38 that was custom built between 1979 and 1982. Her dark hull was very attractive... But Kiskadee shall remain white.

The right hand picture was taken by Pat and shows how close our stern was to the rocks while moored. There was still 5' under the rudder at low tide. This is a great spot.

We left Deep Cove and went to explore Backman Island. The left hand picture shows Pat on the Island and Kiskadee in the background. It was sunny but cool.

On Sep 6thDee came back as Pat left. We spent a night alone at Backman's and enjoyed private baths in the warm waters... Enough said. On the 8th we took a day off and rested at Backman's. It was a great recharge and we really enjoyed the break.

Graham and Lynda joined us on Sep 8th. After a quick detour to LYC for fuel we headed for Chester. We enjoyed an excellent meal with beverages at the Rope Loft restaurant. We docked right alongside at the restaurant's marina. What a great spot.

After lunch we headed over to Deep Cove for the night. The next day Graham took over the helm and piloting. I got to relax as he took us across the bay and back to Mahone Bay town. He took Kiskadee alongside like he'd been doing it all of his life. Once a seaman always a seaman. Graham and Lynda left for home and unfortunately so did Dee. Back to work to pay for this life.

I spent the night at Backman's Island and changed the impellor, trying to cure the overheating problem. The next morning, Sep 10th, I slipped at 0756 to head for home. The winds were fine at fiorst but came around to the 10 degrees off of the rhum line, so I motored most of the way. This single-handed trip wasn't half the fun, but it was very relaxing none the less. A whale came up for air a coujple timesright off the stern then headed out to sea... Lucky whale.

After rounding Chebucto Head I saw Dee on the shore waving. She'd driven out to watch me come in. With my spirits raised I brought up the revs and motored towards Halifax at 6 knots. Just after passing Maughers Beach the over-temp alarm went off. I shut off the engine and unfurled the job, to run in with a light stern breeze. While avoiding several outbound sailboats (heading upwind) I swapped around cooling lines and switched her over to raw water cooling in minutes. She started and immediately ran cool... Grrr.

S/V Acushla, withBob and George aboard, met me as I approached SYC. Dee was waiting on the dock and it was good to be home. A couple days later I finally took the ends off of the heat exchanger and found it half full of eel grass... A left-over from last summer's overheating. Once flushed clear iit ran strong and hasn't run hot at all. A reliable engine at last!

Singlehanding to Mahone Bay

Another overdue post to catch up on the summer's events.
Imagine it's August 28th...

With Dee back at work we'd been home for two nights when I was wishing I was still in Mahone Bay. Then I remembered... I'm retired! I could still be in Mahone Bay. I told Dee the plan and she quickly agreed. I'd single-hand Kiskadee back to Mahone Bay and she could drive back and forth as work permitted.

On Tuesday, August 28th, I spent much of the morning loading provisions and prepping the boat. I slipped from SYC at 1030, hoping to make it to a mooring at Backman's Island before dark. The wind was light from the south and was expected to come up to SW-15 in the afternoon. I still had some blockage in the heat exchanger so couldn't run much above 5 knots without overheating after 30 minutes, so a long motor sail was out of the question. I expected to spend much of the day tacking into the SW wind. I ended up sailing out of the harbour with every tourist boat afloat. I should be charging tourists to be in so many of their vacation albums. I made it to Chebucto Head by 1245 and ran Sambro Channel, only needing the engine for 30 minutes once past Sambro. The wind was up and down so I made several trips to the mast to put in or remove mainsail reefs.

The GPS trip computer was showing my ETA as 2330 hrs so I decided to open her up under full sail. With winds SW 15-20, and 35 degrees of heal, she averaged 7.5 knots heading west towards East Ironbound Island. I kept my offshore harness hooked on for the entire trip. (If I'd fallen overboard Kiskadee would have let her auto-pilot guide her most of the way there without me.) Here's a short video of the trip.

The wind veered WSW just as I turned WNW to pass between East Ironbound and Flat Islands, again making for an easy sail without having to do much trimming. The trip computer was now telling me that I'd arrive at Backman's just before sunset... Could this day be any better? Well yes... I dropped sail about a mile from Backman's Island and started to motor in. Looking ahead I saw a beautiful sunset and looking astern I saw a more beautiful moonrise with a full moon. Unfortunately I deleted the sunset picture but here's the moonrise:

I tied to a mooring ball in Backman's Island at 2038 hrs and secured the boat for the night. I tossed a steak on the BBQ, poured myself a Goslings dark rum and coke, then settled back in the cockpit to unwind. Damn this is a good life and I'm a very lucky man to have enjoyed the gift of such a great day. A couple other boats shared the cove but it was a very quiet night, and after the long sail there I slept like a log. I did feel a bit greedy about enjoying the day so much and not having shared it with Dee... But we'll share others.

This is a panoramic composite picture of the cove at Backman's Island, a favoured spot.

A sailing season at last.

Long overdue update...

The engine arrived and started a two week period of waranty issues. It leaked coolant and oil from several areas. The new impellor was destroyed from it having been spun backwards during the rebuild. The engine had never been run up promised, and was not close to being ready. Once I got her sytarted she was throwing oil from a very loose output shaft flange. After I completed several other repairs I called Nova back in to finish. They removed the plain bolts and installed the correct manifold studs. They removed the 2:1 Paragon reducer and returned in two hours with it repaired. (I think they dropped it during the rebuild and knocked out a beraing retainer.) They did a few other jobs and she is ready-enough to go. The Nova Automotive mechanic said that 70% of his work was warranty issues form improperly assembled engines. He said that they now send most engines across the street for reassembly and, depending on the skills of the mechanic, they could be perfect or crap. I guess I got the apprentice assembler. Ah well, except for a monir oil leak from behing the lifter access plate she's running well.

We finally got it sorted out and went for test sails on August 2nd and 3rd. On August 4th we were loaded and off for Mahone Bay, hoping to catch up with the folks from SYC on our club cruise. The engine ran well, but would run hot if held above 5.5 knots for long. We were in consort with Tide-N-Knots but they had to turn back early on. The picture is us following them past Sleepy Cove. Our son Brian came for the trip and we made it to Mahone Bay in good time. With darkness approaching we decided to head north to Deep Cove, rather than cross the bay. We spent a quiet night on a friend's mooring and crossed the bay the next day.

This was Brian's first time aboard any of our boats. (He'd never had the interest.) He caught on in a flash and in barely 24 hours on board was able to do most everything. He brought her across the bay steering for best winds and keeping her at speed. He only had to watch something being done once and he could repeat it perfectly every time afterwards. Damn smart young man... He must take after his parents!

We caught up with friends at Backman's island, where we spent the night. The next day we went half way into back harbour Lunenburg to find a quiet spot out of the west winds. We rafted up on our anchor with Judy aboard Altair. This was followed by a trip out to Cross Island with Altair, Southwind and Allons-Y. What a beautiful island with a tricky narrow entrance.

During a hike around to the southern side to see the lighthouse we found a small field filled with Monarch butterflies.

After two weeks criss crossing Mahone Bay we headed home to Halifax so that Dee could return to work. Sitting home didn`t last long as I wanted more. I`ll cover part two of the Mahone Bay vacation in the next entry.

My Kingdom for an engine... AKA Lord of the 0.010" Rings

S/V Kiskadee was launched almost six weeks ago and still sits without engine and mast. I wanted to wait for the rebuilt Atomic-4 engine before stepping the mast, so that the backstay wouldn't be in the way of the crane. However, the engine delays are excessive so I may drop in the mast soon. The engine has been at Nova Automotive for a couple of months... So much for the one-week rebuild estimate. First it was my spare block being useable then un-useable, then useable, now un-useable. They used their spare block but for a month they've been waiting on 0.010" oversize piston rings. Today I learned that their supplier is out of stock and may have to wait until a better excuse is available. Nova has been great on previous jobs, so I'm giving them time to pull this one off. Still, had I ordered a Moyer Marine engine I'd have been sailing a month ago.


This extended delay has allowed us time to catch up on a ton of maintenance. Dee has completely cleaned and oiled all of the teak interior. And there is a lot of teak. I've installed a complete new head and plumbing system and repaired a decades old crack in the holding tank. The deckhead leaks are fixed, except for one drip at the saloon hatch. I need a dry day and it'll be done as well. Four new halyards are ready to go into the mast along with a new wind speed/direction unit and cabling. Two dozen other jobs are done and the boat will be much better off when she leaves the dock.


With only a week until the Canada Day Sailpast it's looking like the second year in a row with a boat stuck alongside. Still, the list of boat-jobs continues to shrink each day. Hopefully the next entry will see her off the dock.