Trent Severn Waterway - Big Chute to Victoria Harbor

Monday - July 30, 2018

Well the big day is finally here on any Loopers cruise.... the BIG CHUTE!!!!

Good thing we took lots of pictures and a video, but the video does not work on this site, because this is difficult to explain in words. It seems that as they were building the TSW, at the closing of WWI, there was not enough money to build an actual lock so it was decided to build a temporary marine railway that would descend into the water thus allowing boats to float on to the carriage. Once on the carriage, each boat would be supported by two big straps that hold the boats in place as the carriage is now moved along a railroad track up out of the water, across the street (gates halt traffic) than down the hill to the next body of water where the carriage then descends into the water allowing the boats to re-float and drive off on their way. You got to see it to believe it!

This is our day for the Big Chute. As with all the locks they open at 9:00 am. Another Looper was on the Blue Line, this is where boaters wait until they are called into the chute. Being this was Monday there were no other boats waiting so we took our time getting to the Blue Line, in fact from where we were docked we could see the Big Chute so when it took the first boat up and over we then fired up the engines and made our way just across the channel to the Blue Line wall. Before we could tie to the wall the lock-master was calling us in to take our position in the carriage. I must say, I have been anticipating this day for 3 years and frankly was not at all nervous.  Now, I am not sure Lou Ann shared those same feelings.

 This is the Looper that was in front of us.  Since we could take pictures of Zoey's Adventure entering the Chute we have to use pictures of another boat.

As we slowly approach, the carriage staff takes great pride in taking great care of all the boats they transfer to the next body of water. Keep in mind we have a lot of running gear under the boat that could easily be damaged if not supported properly. We also weigh more than 35,000 pounds with fuel, water and ALL the gear on board. Once we are in/on top of the carriage the staff starts to adjust the holding straps, engines still running they ask me to just nudge the boat a few inches forward. Then the straps are made tight and the staff asked to shut the engines down (can't run the engines when the boat is out of the water).  Next thing we know we are on our way up the hill, across the street and down to the other side as the carriage begins its slow and steady journey.  In all we traveled about 1/8 of a mile out of the water and dropped 60 feet to the lower level. What a ride and it all took less than 5 minutes!

 This is what the Chute carriage looks like, similar to a marina travel lift.  If you look carefully, there is a smaller boat in the Chute.

The Chute is in the water and we are entering. 
Keep in mind that this Chute can hold 2 larger boats or 4 small boats

This is the Chute operator in charge of lifting the boats out of the water in 2 slings.

 The Chute has started its journey up out of the water

This is our view as we are up out of the water

 The Chute is traveling across the street.  This view is looking back from where we came out of the water.

We have now crossed the street and are heading down the hill to the next body of water.  It is a little daunting standing on the boat looking down hill.  It's almost like the first drop on a roller coaster only this car goes nice and slow and stays level, which is a feat in its self.

Almost to the water

Looking back at the rail that we just came down.














Now there is only one lock left on the TSW at Port Severn. This lock is the smallest of all the locks. Again the government was running out of money at the end of the WWI so this lock was downsized.
Once through this very crowed lock, even on a Monday, we are the facing our final obstacle... Potato Passage.

This is a very narrow channel leading to the open waters of Severn Sound. At one point we stopped the boat to be 100% sure we were in the correct channel. Not only is it narrow but it makes not one, but two, 90 degree turns within only a few hundred feet. With this behind us we are able to get Zoey's Adventure up to cruising speed heading to Queen's Cove Marina in Victoria Harbor, ON.

 Views between the Big Chute and Port Severn.  These are not of Potato Passage.  We had to concentrate to hard to be able to take pictures.

Quick call on the VHF radio for a slip assignment and soon we are secure to the dock. Here we plan to spend three nights. We chose this marina because the owner was at the Loopers meeting in Trenton, the beginning of the TSW, and offered to meet with any Loopers interested in reviewing the charts of Georgian Bay and the 30,000 Islands. It's always a good thing to have some local knowledge when cruising in new territory and that's what we got. Robin, at the marina dropped off a complete set of paper charts with preferred routings highlighted as well as many recommended anchorages and a few places to avoid ROCKS. We then joined two other Looper couples and went over, in detail, the charts that we would be using for the next week as we head north up into Georgian Bay.

Not sure if I mentioned what we are using for navigation. In addition to paper charts (mandated by Canadian Coast Guard) we also have two different GPS chart-plotting systems. One is on the boats Garmin system and the other is on our IPad. Each day before heading out we both sit down and review, very closely, the paper charts and the area we plan to cover. Lou Ann follows along on the paper charts and I mostly use the IPad and we cross check often. Of coarse, it's easy on the TSW, because basically you can't make a wrong turn. On both paper and GPS there is a red line to follow, like the old AAA Triptik. By the way, Georgian Bay is about 3 or 4 times larger than Long Island Sound. It's not a body of water to take lightly.

One other thing, for the past few weeks there have been several forest fires burning, mostly out of control, in an area above Parry Sound resulting in the closing of some of the areas we had planned to cruise through including Collins Inlet. Not sure if this is any relation to the Collins' of South Windsor, CT?

To recap our journey on the TSW. We left Trenton, ON, on July 3rd and ended in Victoria Harbor, ON, on July 30th. We went home for 10 days so that leaves 18 day to travel 240 miles. During that time we locked through 41 locks, 2 lift locks and 1 rail carriage. From the time we left Lake Ontario, we went up 596 feet and by the time we exited the last lock at Port Severn we dropped 262 feet. Most of the 240 miles was at almost idle speed. The TSW is a series of interconnected Lakes, Rivers, Canals and cuts it way better than I had ever could have imagined. It was beautiful scenery, cute towns and villages and very friendly and gracious people.

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