And we are off

We left Ottawa this past Friday, September 28th. We had a very eventful day. It all started out early at 6:30am in the morning to get to an 8am appointment with Geoff's surgeon at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital to check out his leg. Dr. Charles was happy with the progress, but he did warn against any unexpected sudden falls which would stress the tendon.

After the appointment, we went back to Britannia Yacht Club (BYC) to meet the crane and truck which were going to move the boat across town to Mooney's Bay. The crane arrived on time but the truck was a little late, so we lifted the boat out and placed in on the ground so we could start the work of getting our ceased thru-hull fixed. The valve was ceased in the closed position and our engine wasn't getting any cooling water. The photo shows Neil doing what he does best - fixing boats!

We moved the boat across town at lunchtime. At Mooneys' Bay things went smoothly and once we were back in the water, Neil and Terry got to work at getting the rest of the cooling system back together on the boat, while Geoff's mom ran off and got us lunch - thanks mom!



We left Ottawa's Mooneys Bay around 3 pm in a rush to try to make it through the first set of locks on the Rideau as the locks close at 4:30pm. We made it through the Black Rapids locks and then stopped at the Long Island locks as they were closed for the night by the time we arrived. We spent a very quiet night at the lock with barely even a sound from the nature all around us. Thank you, Scott and Luigia, for finding us in the dark and wishing us well on our trip.

Ready Set Go

After a week of crazy busy days and very late nights, we think we are ready to go. The crane and truck are booked to show up tomorrow (Friday) at 10:30 to take the boat across town to Mooney's Bay, where we will start the trip down the Rideau to Kingston. We hope to be on our way tomorrow afternoon.

Back on track

Geoff is now up and walking around. His staples came out a week ago this past Wednesday, at which point he stopped walking with crutches and started using a cane instead. This past Friday during physio (they are so great at the Queensway Carleton Hospital - thanks Raphael!), he gave up on the splint and started walking without any support. He is still a bit shaky, but getting stronger every day. He is ahead of the surgeon's "schedule" for his recovery.

Now that Geoff is mobile, we have started running around and dealing with the last few to-do items we had put on hold. We are also working on putting our mast steps on (shown in photo), so that we can climb the mast should that ever be necessary.

Our plans for leaving have just become solidified over the last few days. The date for our departure is now set for this coming Friday the 28th of September, which will leave us about 12 days to make it to Kingston before the locks on the Rideau Canal close on October 10th.

It could have been worse...

Last Friday Geoff was walking his bike up the ramp from the dock to the shore and slipped on the last step onto the shore. He fell into the water, bike and all. On the way down, he hit a sharp rock in the water (luckily this was the only thing he hit other than the water). The rock cut a 3 inch gash in his leg. Luckily Karen was just arriving (Geoff was going out to meet her at the gate) to drive us around to run errands for the day, so after getting Geoff hauled out of the water and putting some bandages on him, we went to the emergency department at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital. We spent the better part of the day waiting to been seen by a doctor. As the emergency doctor was cleaning out the wound she found bits of gravel pushed up into the wound. She was unsure whether she could get all the dirt out, so it was decided that Geoff should have surgery to open the wound up and be sure all the rocks were taken out.On Saturday morning, Geoff went in for surgery which went well - it turns out he had also cut 60% of the tendon attaching his quad muscle to his knee.

We are now staying at Geoff's mom's as he can't bend his leg while the tendon and the cut heal. His leg is supposed to be in a splint for two weeks, and then there'll be two weeks to regain movement (10% a day). After that, assuming all goes well, the surgeon says he's cleared to move back onto the boat.

Given all this, we are delayed at least 4 weeks while Geoff recovers. We will know in a couple of weeks how things are going and when we will be heading out. Given the delays, the route has changed and will no longer go via Montreal and Lake Champlain, but instead via the Oswego and Erie Canals. We wouldn't have time to get through the locks on the Chambly Canal north of Lake Champlain before they close in mid-October .