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OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, July 30, 2009 · 10 Retirees pick stormy summer to sail the Great Lakes By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Last weekend offered high winds, pouring rain and lightning streaking the sky. Not ideal for sailing, however, and exactly what Mike Bickerstaffe and Bob Dumond found themselves in the middle of as they sailed to Oakville on Sunday, completing a fivemonth circumnavigation of the Great Lakes. The longtime friends from Long Sault left St. Catharines for Oakville early Sunday morning following a weather report that thunderstorms were possible late in the afternoon with a greater likelihood of them in the evening. It didn't take long for the two sailors, travelling in two separate sailboats, to realize the reports were wrong. "It was beautiful in St. Catharines when we left. We had a good hour and a half, I'd say, of good sailing. The wind was blowing in the right direction, we were heading straight for Oakville, no problems," said Bickerstaffe. "After an hour and a half though, you could see the sky starting to get gray and then it got black. Then we could see the clouds forming and oh shoot, she just hit us, she hit us pretty good." Dumond noted they recorded winds of up to 47 knots during the storm, which were accompanied by large waves and rain so heavy it was impossible to see anything around them. Fortunately, their GPS systems kept them on track and in the end, they reached Oakville harbour safely at around 3 p.m. "It went pretty good. The boats really handled it well. It wasn't a real scary day, but there was a lot of rain. You couldn't see anything," said Bickerstaffe. "I don't like being out there with the lightning because I don't think that's very smart, being out there with the aluminum mast, but other than being worried about the lightning it was an interesting ride and it was no worse than being at Canada's Wonderland on the best ride there." "And it's free," joked Dumond. DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER SAILING AWAY: Mike Bickerstaffe and Bob Dumond stand beside Dumond's 27-foot Mirage sailboat docked at Oakville Harbour. The pair just completed a more than 2,500-nautical mile circumnavigation of the Great Lakes. Bickerstaffe made the journey in his 29-foot Bayfield (not seen here). Oddly enough this was not you head out, you tend to get the worst storm Bickerstaffe used to the weather." Before the pair left Lake and Dumond encountered during their journey with a far Erie they would have another greater storm taking place as wild weather experience -- the pair sailed across Lake Erie. involving funnel clouds. During that storm, the pair "We were on our way to Putexperienced eight and nine- In Bay and again the weather foot waves, which lifted the just changed. It just changes so boat up and then buried it in quickly and right to the back of the water. This storm got so the boat you could see these bad Bickerstaffe and Dumond cones forming out of these returned to land for two days to clouds, almost like what water wait it out. That storm was dif- looks like when it goes down a ficult to recover from noted drain," said Bickerstaffe. Dumond. "You could see these `water "After sitting there and spouts' forming, coming down thinking about it for a while, from the clouds and all of a you kind of get uncomfortable sudden there were three of them. The one good-sized one about going again," he said. "You get paranoid a little bit formed about a half mile and you think, `Ah, Jeez. Do I behind us and you could actureally want to do this again?' ally see the lake water being but once you're out there and sucked up inside this funnel." The next thing the pair saw you get up every morning and were a number of high-powered fishing boats speeding past them in an effort to get back to shore and out of the way. As Bickerstaffe and Dumond's boats were only capable of about five nautical miles per hour there was no way they could do the same. "I was just concentrating on where I was going ahead of me. I wasn't bothering to look behind anymore," said Dumond. "I figured if they were going to hit me, they were going to hit me, just keep on going." In the end the funnel clouds passed the two sailboats, causing no damage. Bickerstaffe would have taken a photo of them, but his camera battery was dead. But not all their memorable moments were weather-related. For Bickerstaffe, an experience near the Slate Islands in Lake Superior had the greatest impact. "We were heading out between the islands and you could see in the water what appeared to be logs. So I put the boat in neutral and turned around, but they seemed to be everywhere. Then as I got closer I could see they were antlers. It was a whole herd of caribou making their way from island to island," said Bickerstaffe. "I've got a motorcycle and I'm always worried about hitting a deer at night, I never thought I'd run over a caribou with a boat." The journey was the fulfillment of a dream the pair had to celebrate their mutual retirement. Beginning in Cornwall on May 12, they sailed more than 2,500 nautical miles to their destination in Oakville. On July 27, after a brief stay here, the pair headed back to Cornwall. When asked what he loved about sailing, Dumond noted it was the tranquility, with nothing to hear out on the open water but the wind and the waves. EXPERIENCE THE BEST PATRICK MAGUIRE MANAGER CHADD LOCKWOOD DEALER "The only deal we can't beat y is the one we don't see." oakvilledodge.com VIEW PHOTOS & VIDEO OF OUR ENTIRE INVENTORY ONLINE @ OAKVILLE DODGE CHRYSLER JEEP & 270 Oak Park Blvd. T R A FA L G A R D U N D A S 905-845-4211