The alarm sounded at 0400. I was already awake and Jorge was already up. Were we excited about crossing Lake Ontario or what! We received a text from Gilbert and Diana, they were up shortly after us. We weighed anchor at 0500 as planned. Jorge was on the bow giving me directions to avoid the mooring balls and the few boats who did not put out anchoring lights. The water was calm, the night very dark and the air still. We motored for about an hour getting out of the cove and around Indian Point. The sun was beginning to rise and the day promised to be as expected. Then it happened! The engine began making a sound like it wanted to stall. I looked at Jorge accusingly, like what did he do. There was a moment of total disbelief between the two of us. Then it happened again! We immediately cut power and radioed Gil and Diana to inform them that we had a problem. At lower RPMs the engine appeared to be okay but then it sputtered at that RPM as well. We changed hats, Jorge becoming the master mechanic and me the gopher. Jorge ripped apart the quarter berth and the starboard lazarette to gain access to the engine. He changed the primary fuel/water separator filter (which was already new). The diesel looked clean and everything appeared fine. We restarted the engine but the sputtering happened again and again. After a brief discussion with Gilbert and Diana, we decided to head towards Kingston to search out a mechanic. By this time, Jorge was thinking it was an electrical problem. Okay, he had to gain access to the port lazarette (aka the basement). We had not put away anything from the quarter berth or starboard lazarette so you can imagine the stuff strewn about the boat! It looked like an explosion had taken place. The first thing Jorge checked was the connection for the oil pressure sensor. He found it had become loose. (Joanne Scharf warned us that “everything shakes loose“.) A tightening of the connection fixed the problem and all was well! The engine purred like a kitten at every RPM to 2500. We radioed Gilbert and Diana to let them know we had found the problem and corrected it. We changed course and headed towards Oswego again. We had lost about an hour but poor Jorge aged about 10 years in that time. It was a sickening feeling to have the mast and sails down and engine problems just as we were facing Lake Ontario but it was reassuring to know that Gilbert and Diana were close by.

The winds picked up by late morning and the waves increased in size as well. By the time we had reached the middle of Lake Ontario there were even a few white caps. The prediction was for 4 to 6 knots and waves less than 0.5 meter. The winds were probably slightly higher but the waves were roughly 1 meter. There was a definite difference in the waves from Lake Simcoe, coming much further apart and I am sure once we reach the ocean we will see another difference.

We averaged close to 6 knots an hour during the crossing, arriving in Oswego around 1430. Check in with the Nexus card was uneventful. We tied up at the wall before the lock and had a congratulatory drink of fine scotch on CS’ta Time with Gilbert and Diana. We made it! We then went through the lock and tied up on the other side for the night. Diana and I went in search of showers and found them near Wright’s Landing Marina, about a mile away. Well worth the walk! We sat on Serenada, continued with congratulatory drinks, and finally decided to order a pizza (neither Diana nor I were much into cooking).

Jorge and I retired around 2130. We were asleep before our heads hit the pillows.

(It is Monday and we are at Verizon, trying for the 4th time to get internet and phone service. It is a jungle out there!)