I sail on Lake Ontario. I like to do long distance cruising usually out for one to two weeks. I utilize the advantages of being a member of the yacht club by going to some of the other yacht clubs on the lake, with reciprocals, spending the night for free; eating and drinking at their facilities.

My yacht club is the Cathedral Bluffs Yacht Club in Scarborough. I like to sail through Hamilton, Yonge town, Rochester, Couberg, Kingston, 1000 Islands, Hard Islands.

The boat has everything that we need for 2-3 weeks of sailing. We just have to make sure that we have food. Most of the time we eat shore. The boat is a 36-year old, Hughes Columbia, it was built in Whitby, and 31 ft long. She sleeps seven, but I wouldn't want to exceed 3-4. Its heavy enough, and big enough to take anything that Lake Ontario will throw at us, considering the gales and squalls, hit about 45-60 knots. When you see them coming, brings the sails in.
She is well built and just under 10000 pounds, and she can take anything thats thrown at her, but the lakes are dangerous.

The one thing I have learned why sailing on them is that term lake is in the summer, it should be ocean, because we can have as rough of water, as they get in the Atlantic, in Lake Ontario. And Lake Superior is large enough to have its own tides. These lake are big, and people I think forget that. I know on my chart plotter, I know that Lake Ontario, is just over 300 miles long, 60 miles wide, and 860 ft deep, in its deepest.

My favourite sailing places is Rochester, New York. The yacht club was built in the late 1800’s. It is well established, the people are wonderful. The city of Rochester itself is a great way place to go visit. There are a lot of museums and things to do. Because we’ve been going there for a long time, there is an enterprise there that will pick you up at your boat and drop you off once you’ve finished your rental.