Ed and I are 126 days into America’s 6000 mile Great Loop. Since I last wrote we have gone from Big Chute to Midland; Midland to Parry Sound; Perry Sound to Britt; Britt to Killarney; Killarney to Baie Fine; Baie Fine to Drummond Island; Drummond Island to Mackinac Island; Mackinac Island to Mackinaw City; and Mackinaw City to Beaver Island. At Drummond Island, Michigan, we went through Customs and re-entered the United States.

There is so much to share especially about Bain Fine, a freshwater fjord off of Georgian Bay, part of Lake Huron, where hometown hero Frances Langford and husband Ralph Evinrude brought their yacht the Chanticleer. In fact, since the Great Chute, I feel like I’m a movie star experiencing a “Great Rest.” But today, I am not going to write about rest, but rather the stress and incredible experience of taking Finito through the Big Chute.

The Big Chute is second from the end of the 45 locks system of the historic Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario, Canada. At this point although the trip had been beautiful, I was exhausted from all the locks and feeling raw.

So what’s the Big Chute? Well your boat is taken out of the water with you staying on it. It is a railroad car over a 60 foot hill for boats. The only one functioning in North America. Getting on the railway carriage is achieved as a vessel moves onto a submerged hoist and track. The boat is then floated onto the deck of the railroad car and cradled by straps. Then the carriage is slowly raised out of the water and the boat settles into the straps for support.

(A boat in front of us)

(The boat rail track down to the other side)

Next the carriage is hoisted up the slope by wire ropes attached to winches on a railroad car that keep the boat straight. Once the boat is at the apex of the 60 foot summit, the carriage is lowered into the water by wire ropes. The boat is floated off the sling and continues the journey upstream.

This was all constructed to overcome a final obstacle, a giant hill. The earliest marine railway to take boats over the hill was constructed in 1917. The railway was rebuilt in the 1920s. In the 1970s, there was more boat traffic and it seemed time to take the approach of the rest of the Trent-Severn, blowing-up hills and waterfalls with dynamite -this time to create a super-lock. (This man over Nature thing is killing me!) Interestingly enough, this was decided against due to an invasive species that would have decimated a nearby fishery if a lock had opened to the bay, the sea lamprey. An ancient blood-sucking eel like creature that can grow up to two feet long had entered the Great Lakes to which the bay below the hill connects. How did this creature, and since the 70s many other invasive species, get into the Great Lakes in the first place? Through locks, especially the locks that opened the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and beyond through the “pride of North America’s” St. Lawrence Seaway.

So to say the least, I was impressed that Canada had chosen to keep the Big Chute railroad operating to keep out the giant sea lamprey, but I was rather terrified of the chute itself. Perhaps my fear led to self-fulling prophesy because Finito did not make it over the first time. It’s kind of new boating territory and currents are intense due to a nearby waterfall and power generation plant.

So on the morning of July 13, after spending the night on the “blue-line,” with many other boats, Ed and I were ready to guide Finito and her 68,000 pounds onto and over the Big Chute – with Luna and Okee inside. The chute tenders allowed 6 jet skis to go ahead of us. When it was our turn to go in, Ed maneuvered Finito into the shoot carriage appropriately. He says he lost sight of the jet skis under the bow and slowed down a bit as we entered. That maneuver caused the swift current to catch the stern and drive us at an angle into the Chute. The chute tenders tried to help, by lifting the straps to center us. Unfortunately, one of the straps caught the stabilizer and did not allow us to move either forward or back. Once they released the strap, We were instructed to back off while the park’s employees checked for damage.

The current caught us again while we backed out, scraping the rubberized wires that separated the chute from the waterfall and power generating river. Falling right into all the angst I’d had about this in the first place, I had visions of the wires breaking and Finito towering over the falls. I yelled to the parks people asking if we could go around the nearby 40 or so people on jet skis waiting on a floating dock. The park service said “no” we had had to turn around completely because if we went around the floating dock there were huge rocks. Somehow Ed maneuvered away. I begged him to dock the boat and check the hull and bottom for damage. Ed said he already had. With a surgeon’s precision he stated over the headphones, “We are going in again.”

“Again?” I incredulously responded.

“Again,” replied Ed.

I opened the doors to the salon and unzippered the screen: “Get ready Luna and Okee!”I  could not believe it. I took a deep breath. The park’s people were waiting for us this time with no Jet Ski riders. The blue-line was filled with boats waiting their turn, people were out on docks watching. One lady made the sign of the cross and I did the same in her direction. Finito had experienced every boaters’ nightmare, “not to make it,” and now after only a few minutes of regrouping we were going to try again.

Shaking like a leaf, I  stood port side to inform Ed of distances. Right away I saw the wood post we had busted on first try.

“One foot from the wires. Heavy current.” I said as calmly as possible into the headset. Ed did not reply. With great force Ed gunned Finito onto the submerged railway car. Finito clicked into place. The strings held us. My eyes filled with tears. Horns blasted and boaters cheered and clapped from the sidelines. Ed walked out of the pilot house. We looked at each other and smiled…

Video #1, second try

Video #2 Arriving at the bay on the other side of the hill – 60 feet down to the bay of the Trent River not Georgian Bay as I state.

The Canadian Park Service gave me a necklace. I wore it for two weeks even though Captain Ed was the one who really earned it!

Next  post coming soon…