Friday, September 14, 2012

Brockville to Quebec City


July 7.  Left Brockville with some light rain and light winds so therefore ended motoring to the first of seven locks on the St. Lawrence, the Iroquois Lock. After transiting the lock around noon the skies began to clear and the rest of the day was another sunny, hot and humid day.  Ended up stopping for the night at Chrysler Park Marina. No more free docking.

July 8. A clear day, sunny and hot again. The winds were from the NE at approx. 10kts and therefore had to motor into it.  Had a relatively short wait at the Eisenhower Lock as the lockmaster was waiting for another boat which never cam.  After the lock we continued to motor.  This time we had a current push us as well and averaged 8kts through Cornwall and 6.5 to 7.5 for the rest of the way.

An increase in wind allowed for some sailing for a few hours prior to heading to Valleyfield.


Tried to call Valleyfield Marina but got no response.  Figured that maybe no one was monitoring their radio even though it was a Sunday with many boats racing in and out of the marina. Once we arrived we noticed that there was a lot of conversation on the radio, apparently they only answered calls that were in French.  Although once moored the people in the marina were friendly.

July 9.  Again a hot and sunny day with light winds to start the day.  Motored to and passed through two bridges with little delay, had to wait a half hour for a freighter.  It was when we got to the locks that we had our longest wait. Two and a half hours as several freighters went through.

Rafting party in the locks
During that time several other boats joined us, four  powerboats and four sailboats. 
The sailboats were all travelling together.   They were from Kingston and were heading to Montreal.  After some conversation they suggested that we should try to go to the Royal Saint Laurent Y C instead of the Point Claire Y C as it had more water and could be easily accessed.  That was where they were heading.  So I went down below and called the club.  Ended up being on hold for some time because as I found out afterwards, they were talking to one of the people from the other boats that were calling in for us and added us to their group.

Once in the lock all the boats ended up rafting with each other.

Catherine's mother 'Mama" visiting
By the time we exited the lock the wind had picked up that we were able to sail close hauled with both main and genoa.  We had such good speed that we remained ahead of the group for the distance from the lock to outside the yacht club.  There we waited for the others to pass us and enter the club first as they had booked for us.

There we were met by Caroline and Mama.  Caroline picked up Oliver to go back to their house for Nicolas’ birthday celebration and Mama stayed behind for a while to enjoy a glass of wine with me.

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July 10.  Sunny and hot again.  Left later than planned as Oliver arrived late from the party, but it made no difference as we arrived at the last set of locks around noon only to find the boats that left earlier that day still waiting to go through the locks.  By this time the wind had picked up and made docking by the lock difficult. First time in a long time I had to try a couple of times to get to the last little space that was available, next to a work barge in front of all the other boats with strong winds and current.

After a two and a half hour wait we finally were let through. Again we rafted with the sailboats from the previous day.  As we left the lock one of the members of their group had engine trouble so they did not continue, all the other powerboats raced on ahead. We puttered along at our average speed and again caught up to the power boats as they were waiting to go through the last two locks.  This time the wait was only a half hour.
South Canal
Saint Lambert Lock and Bridge, Good Bye St. Lawrence Seaway

Once through the last lock and bridge we headed to Longueil Marina for the night.

Longueil Marina
 
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Good-bye Montreal
July 11. Waited for the marina to open so that we could get the deposit back for the washroom key. Another sunny and hot day with little to no wind. Fortunately the current averages 2kts, which really helped our progress.  Prior to Sorel we did get some wind from behind us allowing us to fly the spinnaker for the first time.

1966 original spinnaker
At Sorel marina we bumped the bottom a couple of times as we approached the fuel dock.  After checking in we were told that we could go to the other side of the marina for the night. As we approached the dock we ended up getting stuck in the mud just 15 feet from the dock.  After standing around and looking on, it finally occurred to one of the people on the dock that the marina staff could pull us off the sand bar with their work barge.  An hour later we were off the sand bar and moved back to the other side. 

The marina staff informed us that the water level has been dropping rapidly due to the lack of rain and hot days.

Sorel had a Metro within walking distance where we were able get some provisions i.e. Beer

Lac Saint Pierre

July 12.  6:00am Decided to get an early start as stronger winds were predicted that could make for uncomfortable sailing on the shallow lake St. Pierre.  Again we got stuck leaving the marina, though Oliver was able to push the bow of the boat so that we were able to motor out.

As forecast, the winds did pick up and once we were near Trois Rivieres we were able to sail without the engine running using only the genoa. 

The guidebook suggests that one should leave Trois Rivieres several hours before low tide in Quebec City. Based on our boat speed that would have been the time we were to be in Trois Rivieres and since it was early in the day and everything was going so well we decided to continue on to Quebec City.  With 15kt winds and the current and tidal flow we were able to do 10kts with only our genoa sail.  We continued like this for half the way when we started to fall behind the tide.  At that point we began to motor sail and maintained an average speed of 7 to 8 kts.

A couple of times along the way we encountered some freighters that left such a large wake behind that we got soaked in the cockpit as we crashed through their waves. 
Quebec City YC
By 8:30pm we arrived at Quebec City YC. We covered 98nm that day, our longest run so far.  There we were able to negotiate some reciprocal privileges, one night free and $30 per night for the rest. 

Quebec City
The next day we went into the city where I said good-bye to Oliver, who headed back to Montreal, and I did some shopping at the waterfront Marché.  After the trip into the city it was pool time.
Because of the tide and the current in the next stretch, I decided to wait a couple of days so that I would not have to got through the night, but would be able to travel in day light. This allowed me to enjoy a couple of the hot days by the pool of the club.

Race night @ QCYC, fleet races and tacks through the mooring field then heads accross the wake of a freighter and up river with the tide and then back against the tide, very entertaining.

Good-bye Quebec City


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Oakville to Brockville

June 27, most of the preparations are done. Time to start the trip. First stop was Lakeshore Yacht club where I stayed for the last few days of school. It was a very pleasant commute to work, sailing along at an average speed of 5.5kts, arriving at work in time for the morning staff meeting.

June 29, the real start of the trip.  Left the school right after the morning meetings, passed up on the luncheon as the wind was a 15 to 20 out of the west and made for an easy and fast sail to Cathedral Bluff Yacht Club with an average speed of 6kts using only the Genoa sail. Hot, hazy and humid, the start of summer holidays.  Met with Catherine, who brought beer and food to the boat.  Had a lovely evening at the club.
(Good-bye Toronto)

The next day saw a gradual decrease in winds throughout the day. The winds changed to the SE and once past New Castle the winds died completely at which point I began to motor. The ride was somewhat uncomfortable as the waves were still close to 1m but they too flattened out by the time I got to Cobourg.  Cobourg was bustling with excitement as they hold one of the largest waterfront festivals on the July long weekend.

July 1, left Cobourg at 6:30am. The water was flat as glass and the winds were light. Motored to Presquille bay and through the Murray Canal. Once I got out of the canal there was a bit of a breeze which helped with the heat and I was able to sail as far as the bridge by Belleville using the genoa only.Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at Belleville YC and watched the very spectacular Canada Day fireworks.

(Canada Day in Belleville)

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July 2. Another sunny and hot day. Since it is a short trip to Picton from Belleville, I had decided to sleep in. Winds were light again in the morning and gradually increased throughout the day. Long reach channels the winds resulting in sufficiently strong winds to sail at a good speed.  Unfortunately it was mostly dead on so I needed to tack up the Reach. As I got approx. 3 miles out of Picton the wind picked up and ended up having to motor into 20kt gusts. Since the beginning of the trip the engine has been erratically. This hard motoring did not seem to agree with it.  I stayed in Picton for a couple of days, as it is a great day for provisioning and getting fuel. Everything is close by.  
(tall ship leaving Picton)

July 4. Left Picton at 5:45am with overcast skies that gradually cleared and turned into another hot and hazy day. Westerly winds 10 to 15 kts allowed for good sailing. Thunderstorms were in the forecast for the day and it looked like a storm was going to form until I got to Kingston when the weather cleared.  Pulled in a Trident Yacht Club at around 2:00pm. A beautiful quiet club and in a lovely setting with very friendly staff.  It was great to get out of the burning sun and sit in the shade.
Trident Y C

Trident Y C

Leaving Bateau Channel

2kt current in the narrows


July 5, a cool start to the day with light clouds and winds requiring me to motor or motor sail all day.  Near Rockport Bridge a 1kt current started to help my progress. This current became approximately 2kts in a Brockville narrows. Since the engine was still running erratic I was a bit concerned about docking in Brockville with the current, but this proved to not be an issue as there is little to no current close to shore and by the marina.  Checked into Brockville Yacht Club where the members were very friendly.  One of the members gave me a half dozen hard boiled eggs, as he had received too many from a friend who works an egg processing plant.

Brockville is another great place for provisioning. Beer store and a large grocery store are within easy walking distance.

At this point I have reached the end for the Ports book. My Richardson charts book of the thousand islands will still be of use for another couple of days.

After Brockville comes the first of several locks on the St. Lawrence River.  In order to transit the locks a minimum of two people are required on board.  I sent out a request for crew to my friends and it was Catherine’s nephew, Oliver, who said that he would love to join me for that stretch, and would be able to get a ride to join me the next day.
the sailing school kids enjoyed bouncing of the waves from the freighters


Friday Yannick stopped by to visit as Caroline and Jean-Pierre were going to come and bring Oliver.  Had a great visit with everyone.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Woodwind leaves Oakville






After a week of preparations, Woodwind is set for its trip to Halifax. First stop is LSYC for a couple of nights until the end of school.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Port Dover to Oakville, June 14 to 16

Port Dover - Dovercraft Marine

Preparing the iPad




7am leaving Port Dover




Port Colbourne 4pm

2:30am departure.  Welland Canal at night






Lake Ontario 9hrs later


Arrive in Oakville 4pm

moored at the Oakville Club

33hour trip (10 wait to enter the locks) 95.5 nautical miles
Photos courtesy of Jonathan Ho. Thank you for joining me on the trip and the many wonderful photos.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012




After three years on the hard, "Woodwind" is finally back in the water and being readied for it's trip to Halifax.