See, I’m even running out of witty subject lines. This cruising stuff really rots a writer’s brain.
I didn’t hear from my friend with the repaired engine all day. It was a beautiful afternoon though and I just couldn’t work up any annoyance at missing a sail to somewhere on a perfect day. The beach about 100 yards away was full of sunbathers which helped dispel the feeling of having been north for a long time and I was content to just sit and enjoy the fact that the long slogs were behind me. Little did I know.
I woke up early to fog and mist. By the time I had motored half way down Barrington Bay, the wind was strong enough to sail. It was a particularly easy decision since Strider is very dry under sail and as wet as most boats punching under power. The wind was right on the nose however, Somehow, I seem to spend most of my time either beating or bucking the tide.
The clouds were low and threatening but the visibility was at least a few miles as I beat our around a point with a huge radar dome on it. A close reach took me across the bay of Port La Tour between low, unmarked ledges breaking menacingly at intervals infrequent enough that it would be easy to go up on one. It was then back to beating dead to windward around a very ugly looking, nearly awash, island named the Salvages. I wonder where that name came from?
Just as I reached the bell off the Salvages, wham, the fog closed in like a dump truck of mashed potatoes spilling onto my head. I fell off onto a broad reach listening to the waves crashing on the rocks nearby and thinking God bless GPS. Radar too.
One of my cruising skills is having great weather luck. The wind came on very strong just as I rounded Negro Island onto a dead run. It would have been ugly on any other course. I ran all the way up to the head of the harbor past Squaw Island. “Squaw Island” in “Negro Harbor”. I guess the Canadians don’t have our obsession with changing all the less than PC place names.
I anchored securely in wet cement like mud in a large open bay, glad for all the room as I listened to thunder rumbling. The storms missed me but people were talking about the severe storms when I went ashore this morning.
This morning, I motored around in light winds and left over swell to the delightful little tourist and museum town of Shelburn, birthplace of Donald McKay, which has some significance to a retired naval architect. I love reading in books how he had the eye for the subtle difference between a fast clipper ship and one that was just ordinary and his genius. I look at his lines and the ships are all different. There is no progression of design. He was just throwing ideas at the wall and experimenting with other people’s money. The genius was in the marketing of getting the ships into the hands of hard driving captains. There were far better clipper ship designers, technically.
I’m going to stay here I think until I see some sun. I saw dim outlines of Nova Scotia this morning but, after coming so far, I’d like to really see the coast. I'm sitting now in a restaurant with WiFi so here are the few good pictures. Neither this weather nor singlehanding are conducive to photography.
Photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1701588719995.70652.1846284215&l=c3cb932b3a&type=1
I didn’t hear from my friend with the repaired engine all day. It was a beautiful afternoon though and I just couldn’t work up any annoyance at missing a sail to somewhere on a perfect day. The beach about 100 yards away was full of sunbathers which helped dispel the feeling of having been north for a long time and I was content to just sit and enjoy the fact that the long slogs were behind me. Little did I know.
I woke up early to fog and mist. By the time I had motored half way down Barrington Bay, the wind was strong enough to sail. It was a particularly easy decision since Strider is very dry under sail and as wet as most boats punching under power. The wind was right on the nose however, Somehow, I seem to spend most of my time either beating or bucking the tide.
The clouds were low and threatening but the visibility was at least a few miles as I beat our around a point with a huge radar dome on it. A close reach took me across the bay of Port La Tour between low, unmarked ledges breaking menacingly at intervals infrequent enough that it would be easy to go up on one. It was then back to beating dead to windward around a very ugly looking, nearly awash, island named the Salvages. I wonder where that name came from?
Just as I reached the bell off the Salvages, wham, the fog closed in like a dump truck of mashed potatoes spilling onto my head. I fell off onto a broad reach listening to the waves crashing on the rocks nearby and thinking God bless GPS. Radar too.
One of my cruising skills is having great weather luck. The wind came on very strong just as I rounded Negro Island onto a dead run. It would have been ugly on any other course. I ran all the way up to the head of the harbor past Squaw Island. “Squaw Island” in “Negro Harbor”. I guess the Canadians don’t have our obsession with changing all the less than PC place names.
I anchored securely in wet cement like mud in a large open bay, glad for all the room as I listened to thunder rumbling. The storms missed me but people were talking about the severe storms when I went ashore this morning.
This morning, I motored around in light winds and left over swell to the delightful little tourist and museum town of Shelburn, birthplace of Donald McKay, which has some significance to a retired naval architect. I love reading in books how he had the eye for the subtle difference between a fast clipper ship and one that was just ordinary and his genius. I look at his lines and the ships are all different. There is no progression of design. He was just throwing ideas at the wall and experimenting with other people’s money. The genius was in the marketing of getting the ships into the hands of hard driving captains. There were far better clipper ship designers, technically.
I’m going to stay here I think until I see some sun. I saw dim outlines of Nova Scotia this morning but, after coming so far, I’d like to really see the coast. I'm sitting now in a restaurant with WiFi so here are the few good pictures. Neither this weather nor singlehanding are conducive to photography.
Photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1701588719995.70652.1846284215&l=c3cb932b3a&type=1
