Jackrabbit cruises the Baskatong
by Burton Blais - Eastern Ontario - Canada

Auguest, 2006

This pictorial essay is one chapter in an on-going living saga featuring the adventures of a small lug-rigged open sailboat (designed by John Welsford) and her romantically-inclined skipper. I built and launched Jackrabbit (JR) in 2005, with a view to using her as a diminutive, seaworthy trailer sailor capable of taking a small crew of adventurers to different sailing venues. Since her launch I have enjoyed several journeys with JR, including a cruise in eastern Lake Ontario with a friend and several on the Upper Ottawa River with my kids. The following essay describes a recent journey on the magnificent Baskatong Reservoir in Quebec, Canada, illustrating the simple pleasures of beach cruising in a small open boat.

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Launching

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Launched and ready

Launched and ready
A heavily laden JR just launched and ready to set off from Pointe-a-David, on the huge Baskatong Reservoir. On board were provisions and camping gear to support two adults on a 4-day excursion. The Baskatong Reservoir is a large body of freshwater located in north-western Quebec comprised of many long bays, several clusters of islands, and an expansive open water basin. The area is mountainous and exhibits a typical Canadian shield landscape. This launch point is one of the few populated enclaves on an otherwise pristine lake.

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Underway

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Island exploration

Underway
We set off for a 4-day cruise among the unspoiled islands located at the northern end of the basin. Our first task was to find a suitable spot to establish a base camp from which we could explore the basin, its islands and remote shorelines. The strong winds and choppy waters offered by this lake were experienced from the moment the boat was launched. It took a while to become re-acquainted with JR's lively manners under such conditions.

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Feeling our way

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Camp

Feeling our way among the islands
The northern portion of this immense lake is studded with wild islands, most of which presented a forbidding granite-lined shore. The few sandy beaches seen along the way were either too exposed or already occupied by like-minded beach cruisers. Notwithstanding, this body of water is so immense that the presence of other boaters is barely noticed.

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A promising spot

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Swimming

A promising spot
Finally, we reached what appeared to be the entrance to a small cove on one of the larger islands, heralding a good potential landing place...

Camp Cove
Carefully making our way in, we were delighted to discover a secluded little cove, which we named Camp Cove, where we established our base camp. Among other amenities, this cove provided a swimming rock featuring an eight foot drop-off bottom and a shallow underwater ledge to aid our egress from the water.

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Mouth of cove

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Camp cove

Camp
A perfect beach cruising camp, providing a well protected anchorage, level spot for a tent, seclusion and, of course, excellent swimming.

Skipper
A very satisfied skipper-builder, steering JR across the expansive basin on an exploratory day excursion to the eastern shore (where we poked into a nice protected bay harbouring a small cluster of sailboats on their own beach cruising adventure). Note the lifejacket, which I would never be without on such a large and blustery lake. The first reef was tied in most of the time, though JR handled the gusts and chop very well indeed.

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Skipper

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Open basin

Open basin
The large open basin provided consistently gusty winds and a sharp chop, which along with the semi-wild and remote aspect of the place created an exciting sense of adventure. This image captures the beginning of a long beat to windward taking us back to our island camp from the southeast corner of the basin where we had completed an exploration of a long bay fringed with sandy beaches.

Evening campfire
A typical scene at the end of a good day's sailing. This prospect is exactly what I had in mind when I built Jackrabbit, and its memory will warm me in the coming months when I am out slicing through the snow on my cross-country skis in the wintry Canadian hinterland.

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Evening campfire

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Early moring still

Early morning still
For the first time in days, we awoke to a calm lake on the last morning. It was with heavy hearts at the prospect of leaving this charmed place that we broke camp, and motored the 5 miles back to the launch. It was a peaceful ending to a memorable beach-cruise. I shall return to this amazing place, and the wonderful state of mind it has conspired with JR to create.

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