PK's sailing posts: (12) An early start... St.Peter's, Cape Breton Nova Scotia to St.John's NF 29/06/2014

Preparing to leave St.Peter's canal Sunday 29/06/2014

(12) An early start... St.Peter's, Cape Breton Nova Scotia to St.John's NF 29/06/2014

The boys have been running round the walking/logging tracks in the vicinity of the canal and spending time sucking up WiFi at the local Tourist Information Centre. There's only one chair inside so they took turns. Michael and I shopped for fuel & oil filters (successfully) at the local automotive supplier about 100 meters up the road run by a very helpful, knowledgable lady and then paid a visit to Tim Horton's ("The coffee Canadians drink at home") for a little snack and to suck up some not so free WiFi.

Afterwards we paid a visit to Wallace MacAskill's (1887 - 1956) home. He was born in this house and his marine photography work is widely published. The home has been turned into a museum, and contains copies of much of his work as well as much of his original equipment. His "Starboard Lookout" is probably his most widely published photograph and his take on the famous local fishing schooner Bluenose appeared on the Canadian 50 cent stamp. His work was popular as wedding presents and was coveted by home sick Nova Scotians serving abroad in WWII.

Mike returned to the boat via the supermarket and I set myself up at Tim's again to download some software updates for Mike's laptop and catch up on some photo editing and backup.

As I sat in Tim's I began to notice that many of the diners were dressed in impeccable leathers, the sort that only weekend bike riders wear. Sure enough when I left to return to the boat the streets were full of very shiny, noisy Harleys. I thought it must be some sort of Harley convention. I was wrong! As I approached the canal I came across our friendly lockmaster polishing the most shiny Harley I've ever seen... My friend was only too happy to talk about his favourite "machine". A passing comment from me was returned by a 45 minute tour de force of every component, its source, cost & provenance: It seems that every Nova Scotian worth his/her salt is or aspires to be a "Harley" owner! My friend the lock-keeper proudly showed me his "Chrome Dome" (helmet) that carried the words "I'm not turning gray, I'm going CHROME"

The Helmet

The lockmaster and his Harley...

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Later Mike did his magic stuff in the galley and without seeming to lift a finger produced a splendid roast beef dinner for four. Some rum and Jameson was splashed about and we all retired a happy crew.

Sun 29/06/2014: This morning we were up and about at 0500 local and after a short wait to check the latest forecast we slipped the lines and bade farewell to the canal. We made our way out of the harbour in glassy conditions and threaded our way through the many of fish tap and lobster pot buoys sprinkled throughout the harbour including the channels. Must be hard to make this harbour at night without tangling with one or several.

By 0700 we had cleared the last marker and turned onto what will be our course for the next few days, 095M and St.John's approximately 400 miles away.

At about 1100 the breeze filled in from the SW and we hoisted the Main and rolled out the Genoa, later, about Midday, we rolled out the Staysail as well and were soon making 6 plus knots towards St.John's. Michael killed the diesel and the silence was a welcome relief as I came off watch, Matt did his Sandwich thing for lunch and Michael got out the photo's for an afternoon show and tell session.

Sometime before dinner we rolled up the Genoa and Staysail and started the Diesel as the wind had died and probably not make another appearance before mid morning Monday. Matt busied himself in the galley and with a little help from Rossco presented us all with a very tasty Bangers and Mash with a Wasabi twist, DELICIOUS! I'm getting the recipe for my collection for sure... Michael, usually very parsimonious with approval gave it a high mark... " You can cook that again Matt" high praise indeed!

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Our Second Ice Berg, the first was too far away to photograph.

Mon 30/062014: Daylight streaming into my cabin woke me at 0445, we are getting more and more daylight as we move north. It's hard to believe that we are at the same latitude as the atlantic coast of France and yet the days here hardly get to 20C and that's on a clear day. If it's foggy or overcast and raining then we see the maximum in the low teens. The water is getting colder, now hovering about 4C and we expect it to get colder still as we approach the ICE limit below St.Johns. We are taking bets on when we sight our first ICE. The Canadian ICE service reports more than 100 Bergs in the area.

At about 1500 local we crossed the Canadian Weather Service ice limit advisory and are now officially in iceberg country. Matt, our Ice Master seems unconcerned and as yet we have not set an ice watch. We are however playing games.... Guessing our Noon to noon distance, young Rossco won todays contest with a spot on guess of 123 miles. Now we're betting on when we will see our first Ice Berg!

The wind has been helping since early this morning when we rolled out the both headsails and shortly after the Mizzen went aloft for the first time this trip. We've been slipping along for most of the day at a fair old clip.

Michael's in the the galley working his magic on what looks like Salmon steaks, yum! The wind is dying so we will be motor sailing again over night.

It's now about 3 hours later and the wind has filled in and we are sailing again. Some clouds on the horizon to the west so we might be in for a blow. And Murphy has struck again and it's my watch!