Shake-Down Cruise

FRIDAY - OCTOBER 10, 2008- Dottie and I drove to French Bay Marina in Clayton, NY early that morning, (120 miles and a two hour drive) paid for the boat, signed the registration paperwork and she was finally ours. We spent the next 8 hours of daylight getting the exterior somewhat cleaned up. The boat had been stored in a covered slip since the death of her owner in August 2007, along with a large family of pigeons that lived overhead in the rafters....so there is no need to tell you what the boat had looked like.
Our plan was to leave Clayton the following morning at daybreak with our friend Doug Parkhurst, but by 7 PM the weather changed a bit and it turned much cooler. I knew we would have a fog in the morning, so I called Doug and changed our departure time to 8AM. We ordered out for some Chinese food, and spent the rest of the evening, till about 9:30PM, cleaning the interior of the boat....not too bad, just a year's worth of dust. By 10PM it was lights out, we were both exhausted. Our first night aboard the Lucky Find III was so peaceful and serene.



"Tumbleweed awaits our arrival on the main dock at French Bay Marina, Clayton, NY"

SATURDAY - OCTOBER 11, 2008 - Sunrise was at 7:05AM this morning, but by 5:30AM we were awake and filled with anticipation of the cruise from Clayton to Sodus Point, a distance of just under 80 miles, in our "new to us" boat. The weather forecast for the day was ideal. Winds out of the southwest at less than 5 knots, wave heights less than 1 foot and temps in the 70's without a cloud in the sky. Perfect....better than perfect really, for this time of the year in the Thousand Islands Region of NY....but we all know how incorrect forecasts can be, or how quickly it can change on Lake Ontario.At 7:45 AM Doug and his wife Donna arrived at the marina. Donna had drove from Oswego, NY, to drop Doug off to crew along with us. She was going to meet us back at Oak Park Resort Marina when we arrived. After giving them a quick tour of the new boat, we were off....right on schedule.

"Doug & Dottie ready to cast off"

We left the dock and headed out into the St. Lawrence River. ( A big thanks to Donna Parkhurst for giving us a good push off the dock....it helped quite a bit.)Actually the fog was not too bad, we cleared the first buoy out of the marina, and were able to get a good look south down the river....it was OK. We had at least 1 mile visibility in the light fog. Well, the weather forecast was right on . As we began the 25 mile cruise down the St. Lawrence Seaway to Cape Vincent, the weather just kept getting better and better....and most of all, warmer. The fog burned off by 9AM. The river was like glass, not even a ripple.
We saw one private vessel heading north the whole way, and it was easily a 75 footer, after that we met two freighters traveling in the opposite direction, and that was to be the traffic for the day..
We rounded Cape Vincent at about 10:30 AM and entered Lake Ontario. To put it in the words of Doug, "This has to be the best boating day ever; I can see the plume of steam from Nine Mile Point, ( the nuclear energy plant in Scotia, NY) and that has to be 35 miles away"He was right, it was just spectacular. Waves were less than 1 foot, the lake looked like a sheet of molten glass, and we were already into the mid 60's temp wise. This was the type of day to put the autopilot on, sit back and relax.

"Leaving French Bay Marina"

Well, that dream proved worthless.....I pushed the button for the autopilot, and nothing...nada....zip. It worked fine during the sea trial. I sent Doug down below to get me the instruction manual. Another useless thought, as the book only said "Set your course, and push the button labeled auto". After about 10 tries, nothing happened. Doug was determined to see why it would not work, so he took off for down below, and Dottie came up and sat in the flybridge with me. About 20 minutes later, the boat suddenly veered to starboard and no matter what I did with the wheel, she would not respond. I throttled down to a crawl, and heard Doug coming up the flybridge ladder laughing his butt off.....I found the problem !, he said, as he just kept on laughing. Apparently the autopilot is wired to the windlass circuit breaker...who would have thought?.....and while he was trying each of the breakers, he accidentally tripped the breaker for the windlass, and that powered the autopilot on. Sure enough the red light was on, showing the autopilot had power. I turned it off, got back my steering control, set my course and pushed the button. The autopilot took over, and it was time to relax a bit. I determined that during the sea trial, the surveyor had turned the power on to everything for testing purposes, and that is why it worked fine.

"Doug gazes out over the horizon to see Oswego, NY about 25 miles off our starboard bow"

Crossing the lake from this point forward was actually uneventful. Dottie made us some lunch, and we picked and nibbled on junk food while the autopilot brought us right on course to Chimney Bluffs, 5 miles from the Sodus Point Lighthouse. Temperatures had climbed into the low 70's by 1 PM. We entered Sodus Bay at about 3:45PM, 5 miles from our final destination. By 4:30 PM we were tied to the dock at Oak Park Resort Marina, and the Lucky Find III was now in her new home....safe and sound and "none worse for the wear". Donna was there to greet us, and grab a line. We tied up, and a few other boaters wandered down the dock to see the "new" boat.

Synopsis

Not a bad day after all....we covered 80 miles in 8.5 hours, and burned about 42 gallons of fuel.
By 6:00PM, we were sitting in Connelly's Cove restaurant, enjoying our shakedown celebration dinner.
A Special Thanks to Doug and Donna Parkhurst for making it a special day for us.

"Lucky Find III at the dock in Oak Park Marina, Sodus Bay, NY"

The Lucky Find III was hauled out of the water for winter storage on October 13, 2008.
We are anticipating a Spring 2009 launch date of about May 7th
Please, check back after that time.

Thanks, Al & Dottie Baris

The Boat:

Is a 38' PT (Performance Trawlers) built at the Cheer Men Ship Yard in Taiwan.

The Lucky Find III is powered by twin Perkins 6.354M diesel engines.

She has all the amenities that we need for extended cruising, including a washer/dryer, 6.5Kw generator, bath tub/shower air conditioning, and a queen size bed.

Built with a solid fiberglass hull, superstructure and a 13'6" beam, she rides solid and comfortably in most seas.
This is an ideal two person boat, easy to handle and dock, with it's full walk-around deck. The guest stateroom has twin bunks.
Also on board is full suite of Raymarine electronics, including radar, chart plotters, fish finders, depth sounders and VHF communication radios.
The large flybridge can accommodate up to 8 additional guests if needed.

Hopefully, she will fulfill our dream.

The Crew:

We are Al & Dottie Baris.

Both of us, would like to one day, cast off and complete what is known as the Great American Loop, (click here to learn more) which is the continuous waterway that encompasses the eastern portion of North America – including the Atlantic and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, the Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America’s heartland.

We have 3 grown children and 1 grandson.

Currently, we are both employed. Al is a self-employed funeral director and has owned his own funeral home since 1981. Dottie is a insurance under-writer for a local insurance company. She has been employed in that capacity for over 24 years.

Retirement looks to be a few years away as of yet, ....God willing.

We searched for over 3 years to find a affordable, comfortable and sea-worthy vessel.