Mile 479: Sarnia

Pushing water ...

The trip from Windsor to Sarnia was uneventful and hot.  No sailing involved for this leg.  The light winds were on the nose, and this is NOT sailing territory.

One of many large lights
along the Saint Claire dredge

This stretch is the sheet pile capital of the world.  A solid 2/3 of the shoreline was neatly sheet piled.  At least the American side was.  For the most part, the Canadian side was undeveloped marsh and relatively undisturbed shoreline.  The American side was a continuum of posh to modestly expensive waterfront mansions, each with their own water slide, boat lift, boat house, etc.

Lake Saint Claire was two GPS legs.  Both straight as arrows.  We passed one freighter, a handful of fishing boats, and two sail boats (heading for Port Huron like us).

Where old marks go to die ...

The Saint Claire river eventually turned into an industrial flanked playground for swimmers.  Large industry increased on both sides (mostly on the Canadian side), interspersed with shoreline homes.  On the final approaches to Sarnia, the smoke and burn off stacks turned into a forest of their own.   Not quite as dirty looking as Detroit, but I'm sure the pollution is able to keep pace.

Pink Floyd?

We are now at the Sarnia Bay Marine.  We chose that for it's proximity to the US side (Black River Marina) where we will head in a day or so.  We are the ONLY sailboat here.  Nice place, clean, nice amenities, but all motor boats.

Enroute to resuce a C&C we passed earlier

The temperature is a little cooler, but still warm and humid.

Hey guys, this is where her breast
implant were made!

Look closely ... a spill boom and launch are
at the end of this pier ... comforting ..

Thoughts of the race to come ... The Chicago/Mac race included some unfortunate events (see this link), and that certainly encourages caution to the weather and thank fullness that I added the full WX weather option to my GPS.  We've been checking is regularly, and will continue to do so during the race.  Being able to watch the approaching storm cells is very valuable.

Cheers

Black River Marina ... 

Chris (Linda, John)