Log Cabin Chronicles Robert Gervais' Away All Boats feature

LOG CABIN CHRONICLES

AWAY ALL BOATS

Bob Gervais
Posted 05.08.14

COBOURG, ONTARIO | When sails are full of wind, the boats dance on the wavetops. But where do they go when the water turns to ice?

I had never asked that question, until one April weekend, I saw them marshaled along the pier beside the hushed harbor in Cobourg, Ontario. Little did I know that, by the end of that day, the harbor would grow a forest of masts and spars and the wind would whistle through the rigging of the boats, anxious to have the boats come out to play.

There were two obvious groups:

those putting boats in the water

the residue crew

Those in the first group carefully cradled the boats to the crane and guided its passage into the water. Once the boat was safely away, the residue crew loaded the temporary stand onto a flat-bed truck and hauled it away to a storage facility in the town to await the return of the boats after a summer of fun.

Here are various stages of this operation. The photo of the truck shows a little of the nautical vocabulary necessary for a sailor.

And ready for another season of fair sailing...