Friday, September 14, 2012

Quebec City to Matane

St. Laurent at low tide
July 17.  I left Quebec city with overcast skies and periodic light rain and headed to St. Laurent so that the next leg would be shorter and I would not have to leave at 1am and go against the tide for several hours. Starting in Quebec city the tides are enormous, ranging from 12' to 16' and finding a marina that has enough water at low tide is limited.

Isle d'Orleans at low tide
July 18. Left St. Laurent at 4am and motored into the tide for 2.5 hours averaging a mere3.5 kts until it changed and then got to enjoy the current and tide moving me along at 8 to 9kts. During that time the wind was constantly on my back and rarely was stronger than my boat speed thereby requiring me to motor.  Each time the wind picked up I would toss out some sail to help my little engine which has been running erratically since day one.

The area of Isle de Coudres has the strongest current.  In this stretch I managed an average speed of 11kts with peaks as much as 13.4kts.

watching the sunrise while under way
It was in the area of Cap de Oies that the wind started to pick up and I was able to motor sail. This was good as now the tide was against me and the engine had bogged down a bit after having run quite hard for such a long time. With the increase of wind also came an increase in the size of the waves as I was now traveling against the tide. Cloud cover also started to increase and it was not until I was safely tied up in the afternoon at Cap a la Aigles that it finally started to rain. 




knot meter reads 13.4kts

Picture taken by Veronique and Steeve who saw me sail past while they were on holiday in the area and having lunch at the Le Manoir Richelieu

July 19.  Left early again, 5:45. It gets light very early. QC has the same time zone throughout the province even though   it goes into the Long. as the provinces that in the Atlantic time zone.  Winds were again, light in the morning and then increasing to 10 to 15kts in the afternoon. Crossing the river was fine. The water was flat and the tide and current were in the same direction allowing me to motor sail with the genoa only at a speed of 8 to 10kts.  Saw my first "sea monster" today.  A seal kept peeking up to see what I was and where I was going.  I arrived at Riviere de Loup an hour before low tide and the marina was totally dry.  In the guide book it didn't say that the marina is totally dry at low tide. The service dock was the only place where there was enough water. Luckily I was able to convince both the harbour master and then the owner of the tour boat operation, which owns these docks, that I could stay there as I would be leaving there the next day before the tide was up again.

12' tide: low tide, the marina is dry

high tide

seals of in the distance
July 20.  Left at 4:45am. Light out already, but cold. had several layers on, t-shirt, sweater, fleece sweater, fleece vest and foul weather jacket.  Another beautiful day with clear skies. Winds were light again and from the SW10kts and tide was with me and therefore enough to sail with the genoa at an average speed of 6.kts.  In the afternoon the wind became lighter and changed to the west, needed to run with the motor only. especially when the tide changed. Change in tide and opposing current created short choppy 1' - 2' waves.  During this time I also had the engine backfire three times. After which for the first time on the trip it ran without any problems.

cold weather sailing in the middle of July
During this stretch of the journey  I saw numerous whales and seals.  The whales were far off in the distance, the seals on the other hand were always close by, very curious creatures.  The water temperature is quite cold now.  The beer cans in the bilge are changing colour, cold certified beer.




July 21.  Ever since the engine backfired it continued to run fine.  Today was mostly motoring and some motor sailing as the winds were light and from the west.  Arrived outside of Matane just after noon but had to wait outside of the harbour for an hour until the tide was high enough to cross a sand bar in the entrance. As it was sunny, warm and the winds were light, at this time it was not a problem. Once in the harbour I was met at the dock by Catherine who had driven from Montreal that day to meet me. Catherine would be my ground support, interpreter and company for the trip.


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