GL: Trent Severn Water Level

[Ski Grumboski]

John and Judy,

You hit the nail right on the head when you said how beautiful it is on the 
Trent Severn. You miss the mark completely when you say people are wandering 
off channel. There are many loopers this year who have hit in the channel 
because of low water levels. No one is "bad mouthing" the area they are 
telling people what they are seeing this year which is what this list is all 
about.

You can tell everyone how great a trip you had a "few years ago" but your 
information is OLD. I met a man in Cambelford, ON who's boat was on the hard 
with a bent shaft. This guy lives in Peterborough (sp?) and has spent 27 
years on this water system. He keeps his boat near Buckhorn Lake. He hit a 
crib just North of Cambelsford, this year. As most problems occur there was 
more then one problem. (1) a lower water level then normal and (2) a missing 
marker.  Someone in the TWS admin made a decision to remove markers they 
didn't think were necessary. Hundreds were removed. I've seen them removed 
in the "narrows" area also. So it can be hard to stay inside the marks when 
you might only have one. This marker has been put back in and I think the 
TWS raised the water level in this area.

Since they have lowered the water level that may mean that even if you are 
between the markers if your not "dead center" you might hit something, i.e., 
the may have to move markers and narrow a channel. A task I know they won't 
do.

Don't be so quick to judge how people are piloting their boats on the TWS 
this year, since you don't know this waterway anymore. It has changed and 
information people are putting out is for everyone's benefit. I refer you to 
Ron and Molly's email to the great-loop list on the 27th of July as "good 
information for people on the TWS this summer.

You did give us a great tip about using the MOB button to mark the lat and 
long for the rest of us. I'd also give that information to the lockmasters 
since they are suppose to have teams to investigate and fix.

One last thing there is also reports of problems when boats follow other 
boats across some of the lakes where dead heads get stirred up by the first 
boat and float up a foot or so and get hit by boats following. These dead 
heads eventually fall back to the bottom, but take some time doing so. I 
wish the TWS would just follow a large trawler thru and drag us these 
puppies.

Cheers,
Ski aboard the Susan Darlene docked at the top of the Kirkfield lock in 
Kirkfield ON.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John & Judy Gill" <twojscom at quadnet.net>
To: <xplorer at cahillenterprises.net>
Cc: <great-loop at lists.samurai.com>; "Wayne Prichard" <wprichard at tds.net>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 4:43 PM
Subject: Re: GL: Trent Severn Water Level


> The Trent-Severn Waterway has a controlled depth because of the 42
> locks and the marine railway at big chute.
>
> A few years ago, we had the same issue of people bad mouthing this
> beautiful part of the Great Loop.  Why, it is because they wandered
> off the channel, did not pay attention to staying between the buoys,
> did not pay attention to the changes in the Lateral System (Red Right
> Returning / Green Going -- from the Sea or Going Upstream).  They
> relied too much on their Chart Plotters and some didn't even bother
> to buy current paper charts.  Yes the bottom in this part of the
> world is hard granit rock, not sand and mud like the Chesapeake.
>
> There is an old adage taught in boating courses -- the best
> Navigation tool is two pair of eyes looking forward at all times.
> You can't be reading a book or taking a nap when doing the TS or the
> Rideau Waterway.
>
> As I said to those reporting all the problems a few years back --
> When you clobber a rock, hit the MARK button on your GPS and tell
> everyone where God planted a new rock, so we can put the correction
> on our charts.
>
> By the way, when you get to the Georgian Bay and everyone tells you
> how low the water is, remember that the water level is consistent
> with what is printed on the charts which were done when the water was
> low.  As a former Summer resident of Moon Island near Sans Souci, I
> can tell you that the Georgian Bay has a 40 year high/low "tide".  I
> know because I took off the top of crib docks and raised and lowered
> them several times!
>
> John and Judy Gill
> Two J's V
> AGLCA Loopers
> Members off Pennsway Power Squadron, USPS
> Members of Orillia Power Squadron, CPS-ECP
>
> =============================================
> _______________________________________________
> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop
>
> To modify your Great-Loop subscription options (change email address,
> unsubscribe, etc.) go to: 
> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/great-loop