Stories from Behind the Beach: One Kickass Kid.

"I'll be swimming when you're all asleep, I'll be swimming when you're all awake..."
                                                                                                -10CC

About two months ago, NextBoat was delivered from Erie, Pennsylvania, across Lake Erie to Port Dover.  As cruises go, it's no great feat- it's 75 miles, give or take, a couple of hours via SeaRay, a long day via sailboat.

But to swim it?

That's major.

That's happening right now.


Here's the story:


Anneleise Carr is the hardest working teen I know.

She swims.

A lot.

And she's damn good at it.

                                                                                                                         image courtesy myFM

At oh-dark-early this morning, 5:21 am, if you want the exact time, she slipped into the water at Presque Isle on the south shore of  Lake Erie, and struck out for Port Dover on the north shore.



In 2012, she became the  youngest person to swim across Lake Ontario, and her goal, by Saturday afternoon,  is to be the youngest person to swim across Lake Erie.

Oh yeah, and along the way she's raised a little money, for Camp Trillium, a camp for kids with cancer.

 Since 2012, her efforts have raised over $310 000.

THREE HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.

One kid.

That is kickass.

Her Lake Ontario swim raised $200 000.  Her goal for the Lake Erie Crossing is to match that total.  As I peck out this post, the current total is just over $113 000.  Got a couple of bucks to spare to support a great cause?

Please donate and follow her progress here:

http://annaleisecarr.com/


Go, Annaleise!!

Stories From Behind the Beach: Another Crazy Tradition

"You never take advice, someday you'll pay the price..."
                                              -Foreigner



Happy New Year!

Some of us spend the first day of a new year recovering from the night before.

Other, more diligent, types take the time to prepare lists of resolutions.

Yet others decide to start the New Year with a refreshing swim.

Most of those people happen to be enjoying the Southern Hemisphere summer, or near the Equator, where the water is warm and the breezes warmer.

But in Port Dover thousands braved the cold to watch a hundred or so braver souls partake in the New Year's Day traditional polar bear dip.

Yep, people will clamber across the ice to slip into the just-above-freezing water.

On purpose.

Some have been doing it every year for over a quarter century.

As a sailor, this is completely anti-instinctual.  My goal is to stay warm and dry and out of the water, not vice versa.  But, I figured I'd check it out, because it is another of our great weird regular events down here.

The 80s were a time for unorthodox traditions to take hold in Port Dover.  Just as riding your motorcycle to town on Friday the 13th has become a longstanding and proud tentpole event for the town, so has the New Year's Day dip.  According to local lore, the dip dates back to 1982, when a handful of hardy souls tokk the plunge to raise funds for the town's arena.  Since then, the event has become an anticipated annual spectacle, with funds raised for a different local cause every year.  Spectators are encouraged to dig into their pockets and toss coins and bills into buckets carried by volunteers working the crowd.

  This year, the air temperature was decidedly brisk:

   -9 Celsius.

  The weather during the past week also added yet another sadistic twist to the Dip.  Ice.

   See, this event is not a simple Start-at-the-edge-of-the-beach-dip-your-toes-in-and-climb-into-a-warm-towel-blanket-car-sauna-whatever  sorta thing.

  Uh-uh.

  Half the adventure is just getting there, because the mentally disturbed participants gather at Knechtels restaurant, behind the beach  at the end of Walker Street.  Then they have to run/walk/slip/slide hundreds of metres through the crowd...

...just  to get to the water's edge.

   The weather warmed up on the weekend and then chilled off quickly, making the normally snow-covered beach ice-covered instead.

  Which made for a very slippery dash indeed.

  Conditions didn't deter the masochists brave swimmers.  About a hundred, of all ages, dove in.

 

    See the ladder?  More on that in a bit.

Then once you actually get to the water....

 .... It is so shallow you have to wade out  to get deep enough to immerse yourself.

   You can almost hear them, can't you?  "Ohmigodohmigodohmigodohmigodohmigod!!!!"

  For some, simply plunging into freezing (literally) water isn't punishment enough.

  No, for years these two brothers have brought their ladder  so that they can belly-flop.

  Just looking at that picture makes my testicles want to hide behind my liver.

  Dippers started to run into the water at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and by 1:45 it was all over but the shivering, and a few thousand dollars was raised for the Port Dover Public Library.

  Nobody has ever raised any money writing a resolution list.

  Next year, I might have to step out from behind the camera and do it myself.

   As one shivering blanket-wrapped swimmer said, "Do this on the first day of the year, and it makes whatever happens during the rest of the year easier to handle.

   I've got 364 days to prepare.

   That's about 350 days longer than my resolutions' lifespan.

Who's gonna join me?


"Talk the Dock!"

Stories From Behind the Beach: It Ain't Easy Being Cheesy

"You were never the same way twice, I'm falling in love..."
                                                           -Blue Rodeo




  I was wrong.


  I know, Constant Reader, as you will no doubt remind me, I am often wrong.  The frequency of incidents of my demonstrated wrongness is depressing and occasionally alarming.

 Yet, I continue to point it out, Constant Reader, because if I don't, I know you sure as hell will.

  I have the emails to prove it.

  This time, though,  I was wrong about something important.

  I was wrong about food.


  More precisely, I was wrong about cheese.


   Until quite recently, I hated most cheese.   Couldn't stand the smell, the texture, the taste, any of it, all of it, whatever.
   Cheddar?  No thanks.
   Colby?  I'll pass.
  Muenster?  Yeahno.
  Limburger?  See above.
  Et Cetera, on down the list.

   I didn't start eating cheese on pizza until well into my 20s, when I discovered that the mozzarella-esque cheese on most pizzas is essentially flavourless topping glue.

   So, with my aversion to most curd-n-whey related foodstuffs well and firmly established, I saw little reason to wander into...

 

    ...Until the owners invited me to stop by and check the place out.

     Yale and Jenny Lowery  love Port Dover.  Originally From Guelph, Jenny moved to North Carolina, where she graduated from high school and went on to college, graduated from Appalachian State with a marketing degree, met and married Yale, then bounced around North Carolina and Tennessee before moving north to Canada.  Mostly in that order.

     While living and working in Brantford, the Lowerys made a trip to Port Dover one summer day a couple of years ago, and that was it.

    They'd found home.  They knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives living in Port Dover.  The couple found a house, settled in, and lived the life of normal sane people, commuting to work at corporate jobs in Brantford every day.  Life was good.

    Then, one day, in September, 2013, Jenny decided she needed some cheese.

    And everything changed.

    Jenny is an admitted "cheese nerd."  Combine her love of cheese with her love of her new hometown, and she's not  driving to the grocery store to pick up a package of Kraft Singles.

   Nuh-uh.

   She's keeping it real local, and real tasty.

    She stopped into her favourite (and only) local cheese shop in downtown Port Dover.  While making her purchase, she started talking to the owner. She learned that he had decided that the cheese business wasn't for him, he was selling the business and starting over...
... in Australia.

    A few conversations and negotiations later, Jenny and Yale dove headlong into the world of the retail entrepreneur.

     If  you're a local, I know what you might be thinking:

    They bought a specialty business, in downtown Port Dover...at the END of tourist season?


    Hey, we don't always get to pick the timing of our opportunities.  But, we can determine what happens after.


     Jenny and Yale aren't complete greenhorns.  Jenny has a solid marketing background, Yale has a solid sales background, and both aren't afraid to work long and hard to achieve their goals...

... and it is paying off.


    In their first six weeks of business, with little advertising or fanfare, they are ahead of their sales projections.

    Walking into the store, it is easy to see some of the reasons why:

    It's a small space that doesn't feel cramped.  It is clean, uncluttered, organized, but inviting.

   The case in front of the owners is the "Canadian" case:  All local cheeses, all the time.  Norfolk's own Jensen Cheese is represented, along with Gunn's Hill from Woodstock and Bright Cheese from, as the name suggests,  Bright, Ontario.
     The case to the right is filled with cheeses from around the world: Stilton, gouda, swiss, brie, camembert, mozzarella, romano...

   you name it, they've likely got it. And if you name it and they haven't got it, they'll get it.

      They don't just sell cheese- The Dover Cheese Shop also sells cheese accessories, like cutting boards and brie bakers (at $8, a seriously good deal.  Need a quick gift this holiday season?  Stop in, pick up a brie baker and a wheel of brie, and Wha-bamm! You are a hero with discerning taste, my friend... and change from a $20.)....

 ... And a selection of snack foods from nearby farms and suppliers, like The Cider Keg and Barrie's Asparagus .

   
   Kettle chips, teas, salsas and dip mixes, all of  it available right here on the....

   "Okay," Interrupting Constant Reader interrupts, "We get it- the place is clean, has lots of selection, yadda yadda, big deal-  any big supermarket is like that.  Why should I shop here?"

   Because a supermarket has never made me enjoy cheese.



    With an overview of the store and it's origins out of the way, Yale started pulling out cheeses for me to sample. I held up my hand  and dropped the bomb:

     "I don't like cheese."

    Jenny didn't miss a beat.

    "No problem.  Everyone's palate is different, Yale's favourites are different from mine.  Everyone has different tastes. Try this and let me know what you think."

    Okay- I'm here, they're nice folks, I'll try it just to be polite.
      I popped the proffered sample of Bright's four year old cheddar in my mouth
     Not bad.
     Not bad at all.
 
     Much better than I expected any food that was four years old to taste.

      Next  I sampled a really nice Wisconsin produced gouda/swiss blend with a little touch of Merlot added- nice smooth, mild, a great sandwich cheese, I thought.  Then Jenny introduced me to "dessert cheeses."

      Mango and Ginger Stilton- Off the chain!  What a great  flavour combination.

 See, here's the deal:  Yale and Jenny have an enthusiasm for cheese which is infectious.  They are cheese evangelists.  From the moment you walk  in the door, you start to understand and share their passion.  If you are standing in line to buy a pound of cheddar, the Lowerys are going to ply you with samples of any  number of cheeses, and every cheese has a story.
    You aren't leaving with just the cheddar, and you have enjoyed the experience, and you will discover cheeses you never even knew existed.  Like this one...

   okay, you might want to pour yourself a drink and sit down...

    ...Ready?...

   

    Chocolate Cheddar.

    It.  Is.  Amazing.


    Yeah, I'm digging this cheese thing now.


    Need a cheese tray?  No problem, The Dover Cheese Shop can build you a custom cheese tray, and short notice orders are no problem.  They will even put it on your tray- THAT is a brilliant idea.  I am not one to worry overmuch about aesthetics, but when SWMBO puts out the Tiffany silverware and the Wedgewood plates, nothing spoils the "Ain't we fancy" mood than a big ol' plastic tray of cheese in the middle of the table.

   Next spring, The Dover Cheese Shop is going to do something really, really clever:

     They are planning to offer "Boat Baskets."  Call ahead and they will prepare a picnic basket for you to pickup and take with you to the boat. It is a brilliant concept for provisioning daytrips, especially with guests you want to impress.


   Do yourself a favour- stop into The Dover Cheese Shop.  They're open Wednesday through Sunday  at 318A Main Street, just down from Stoney's Hardware.  Check 'em out on facebook too.

 
 

Stories from Behind the Beach: Low-Buck Breakfast Quest

     "Never seem to get a lot..."
                      -Supertramp



     Port Dover is not lacking in eating establishments.   Within two blocks of the beach one can find hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, ice cream, onion rings, onion chips, onion soup, burritos, nachos, perch, pickerel, clam strips, steaks, chicken, ribs, salad bars, salad carts, Salada tea...

    But breakfast?

    Not so much.

   For breakfast you have to get Behind the Beach.  This season SWMBO and I set out to try the regular breakfast joints in town, and compare the fare.

    Our testing criteria was simple- Eat the same meal at each establishment and compare...
    Price
    Portion size
    Service
    Appearance
    and
    Ambience
   
    ....To determine which joint offers the best overall value.


   
      Our recon of the Port resulted in a Best Breakfast Challenge shortlist that is really short.  
       Total breakfast joints in town: three....
      ...and a half.

     The Dover Dairy Bar, The Coffee Shop, and Angelo's/ Angelo's Side Door Bistro were the contenders.  The "half" is the Brant Hill Inn, which serves breakfast only on weekends, only during the summer months.  In the interest of being able to provide accurate useful information year-round, we left the Inn off the test roster.

You're welcome.

     To keep the playing field level, we ordered the same meal at each restaurant, opting for the BCB ( Basic Complete Breakfast):  Two eggs, bacon, toast, potatoes, coffee.

     Here's the results:

     Third Place:  Dover Dairy Bar
   

       For years, the Dairy Bar has been our go-to breakfast joint.   The grub was cheap, and the scruffy furniture and carpet was overshadowed by the dozens of historical photos of the Port that adorn the walls, giving the place the feel of an informal archive of  Dover back in the day.   The service was always friendly, and while not quick, you usually got a meal that was tasty and hot.

   
     This summer, though, we found ourselves underwhelmed.  The breakfast and the service and the decor aren't suddenly horrible, but the Dairy Bar is slipping.    A paint job and new carpet wouldn't go amiss, and the service could be a little more polished...I'm not expecting waitstaff to recite a mouth-watering array of specials  from memory  and my water glass to never be empty, but make sure that  tables are served and coffee topped up before retreating behind the counter to text.  The portions are smaller in subtle ways- the eggs are medium, not large and the bacon is thinly sliced, for example.

    There are better options for breakfast.

   (Having said that, the DDB remains the best choice in town for ice cream-  lots of flavours of hard ice cream served in generous portions that overwhelm the cone underneath,  cheaper than anywhere else in town.)

Second Place:  Angelo's

    This was a tough call.

    Angelo's wins on price- $4.95 all in.
    Angelo's wins on portion size- there wasn't any room to spare on a large plate packed with big eggs, a heap of homefries and slices of thick cut bacon, all cooked perfectly.
   Angelo's wins on service- our meals were served fast and hot, and our cups never went empty.
    BUT...
    Angelo's is a bar, and it feels like a bar, even at 9 am, UNLESS you wander around the corner into the aptly named "Side Door  Bistro,"  which feels like a stripped down version of the Dairy Bar- less history on the walls, more history on the floor.
   And, Angelo's is only open for breakfast on weekends.

 which means that...

    First Place goes to The Coffee Shop.

     The Coffee Shop is small and comfy, clean and brightly lit.  The food is good, portions large and SWMBO and I both agree they have the best toast in town.  The only quibble is that the hash browns are sometimes a little undercooked.   Service is efficient, and when you see what goes on behind the counter you may be amazed at the results.
    This place has no fryers, no broilers, no ovens, no flattops, none of what you would expect to find in a restaurant kitchen.  There are two countertop electric griddles.  You may have a similar one at home, that you may also cook breakfast on.  That's it, as far as cooking gear goes. It's unorthodox, but seems to work just fine.

     The Coffee Shop is a little more expensive than Angelo's, but breakfast for two will still come in under $15 with tax.  You won't go away hungry, and you will come back.


     Come on down and join us for breakfast some time.  Coffee's on me.




  "Talk the Dock!"

 
   
         

The Wet Side of Friday the 13th

     "And in the lonely cool before dawn, you hear their engines roaring on..."
                                                                           -Bruce Springsteen



    Port Dover is a fishing port.
    Port Dover is a beach town.
    Port Dover is a retiree community.
    Port Dover is a bedroom community.

    And every Friday the 13th Port Dover becomes a motorcycle magnet.

     The legend is now well-known:  Thirty years or so ago, a bunch of buddies rode their bikes to a bar.  They had such a good time they vowed to do it every Friday the 13th, and invite their friends.

     Who in turn invited their friends.

      Now, Friday the 13th attracts thousands of motorcycles to Port Dover, and tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of visitors.  The town becomes, for all intents and purposes, closed off to any vehicular traffic that rolls on more than two (or three) wheels.

      That means a lot of walking and shuttle buses and hassle, if you aren't two wheeling it into town.

      But, got a boat?  If you can find room to tie up or raft up on the wall, you're in.

      This year, the weather was...less than promising.

     

  If there's no room on the pier, you can always drop anchor inside off the beach...inside the marked swim area.

   Cool or uncool?  I dunno.  Nobody is swimming, or likely to be swimming, but.  it seems like it's a little like parking in a handicapped space.  Yeah, sure, nobody else is using it now...


  Pontoon boats, sport boats, new boats, old boats, big boats, small boats,  runabouts, bowriders, cabin cruisers, dinghies,  fishing boats, trawlers, tugs...

 

   ...all represented.  

    And one lone sailboat.

    Whiskeyjack, sailing deep to represent the blowboaters!

     

    I managed to nab the last open spot on the waterfront with enough keeldepth, right behind the shuttered Misener's fish processing plant. It's kinda eerie:

  

  One of the things that I really like about Friday the 13th is it's run-what-you-brung-it's-all-good vibe.  Showbikes, ratbikes, tourers, cruisers, cafe racers, crotch rockets, sidehacks, scooters, all are welcome. 

   

   The boats reflect the same vibe.  This shot sorta sums up the day for me:

    More boats:

    An impressive staircase on this Carver:  

   Normally found on the end of Dock 4.  The name is an acronym.  

    

    Looks like Lord Vader's Imperial Cruiser lurks in the distance:

   Thee was the de rigeur police presence, both at the Provincial level:

    and the Coasties had their BlackBoat out:

  The presence was obvious but largely good natured and not intrusive.

    And kinda picturesque:

     

  As we have learned over the last century, when one assaults a beachhead by both land and sea, it behooves one to have air cover. So it goes here.  

   

    Constantly overhead throughout the day, fixed wing:

   And rotor air support:

   In an effort to win the hearts and minds of the locals,    Canadian comedic gadabout Rick Mercer showed up. 

 "I'm going where?  For what?"

 When the CBC sends Mercer, you know you've arrived.

  (Actually this is the second time that Monsieur Mercer has moseyed down to our little burg: he was here in 2009 as the result of a tremendous fundraising effort by Port Dover students.)

   Okay, this guy...

 ...says I need to post some bike pics.

    

     

    Temporary campsite, at the former Doverwood Public School.  Hundreds of tents and trailers.

   

     

     The fun continues tonight, with more live music down behind Bridge Yachts.

     Come on and join us some time. 

     Bring your bike. 

     Bring your friends.  

     Bring earplugs.

      And don't forget to...

     "Talk the Dock!"