Heading East
Alison just informed me that we have 136 people looking at this blog!! Holy smokes!
We put it together with the goal of keeping our family members and friends up-to-date on our wanderings (expecting maybe 50), but 136…that’s really cool. We hope you have as much fun reading it as we do writing it.
With that in mind, I would like to reach out with a request. It is summarized in our page called “A Request”, so I will leave you to read it there.
Deplacer Vers L’est = Heading East!
Despite our trepidation on the last anchorage at Ile Grand Basque (good holding but moderately exposed) we both got a good night’s sleep and planned the next leg to Mingan Provincial Park. The winds came up in the day (25-30knts). We delayed our departure until the winds settled down (around 7pm).
Ile Grand Basque, PQ
Monday, June 16
It is 100 nm from Sept Isle to Mingan, so a 12-17 hr run at 6-7knts boat speed. For those of you wondering why we seem to keep doing long overnight runs (just gluttons for misery?). Our decisions revolve around tides/currents, wind and arriving at a new location in daylight. For this trip, the key was arriving in daylight, knowing that we are going to be tired (having done 3 hour shifts all night), so that we anchor carefully.
We set off at 7:05pm with the winds blowing 23 knts out of the SW, expecting the winds to drop to 10-15 knts. We hoisted behind the lee of the island, 20-25 winds, main only and 7 knots – nice. However, the wind gradually died. Our rule is boat speed >5knts. So, we got to “enjoy” the rolling, following sea state for 5 hours. It turned into another long, cold motor through the night with heavy cloud and limited navigation aids. It was the darkest and felt like the coldest run so far… like a dark, wet blanket over Tikaani. The horizon was barely discernible from the sky and the only lights for hours were our own red and green nav lights reflecting off the pitch-black water.
Fortunately, it is summer solstice time. Short nights are welcomed. Nautical dawn at 3:30am, sunrise at 4:30am. Approaching the Mingan Islands, fog was intermittent, sun breaking through, Minke whales surfacing closer to shore and there was an overwhelming smell of fresh pine. As we entered Ile Quarry harbour we disturbed a large colony of seals.
Tuesday June 17th
We arrived about 10:30am to grey but clearing skies. The bay was empty except for a Parks Canada boat on the small jetty. We got the boat on anchor, showered, had breakfast and grabbed a 90-minute nap to wake to a new world. The skies had cleared, the sun was warm, and the park jetty had 2 tour boats and people walking on the beaches. Opportunity awaits – got on our hiking gear, lowered the dinghy and went off to explore the island. Iles Quarry is renowned for unique coastal rock formations. We geeked out on botany, birds and geology!
Sailing Geek Warning (bunch of geeky sailing stuff, if not interested, skip paragraph).
One of the things we have been working on is improving the characteristic of the boat on anchor. We approach an anchorage with our keel at least partway up. Tikaani has a flat bottom so the boat has a tendency to “sail” on anchor (swinging slowly back and forth on our chain like a lion pacing in his cage). It makes for a less settled sleep and creates the risk of dislodging the anchor in a really good blow.
We are trying out a solution suggested by John Harries, Attainable Adventure Cruising (anyone planning on cruising should subscribe to this website – best, cheapest advice you will ever get). We are attaching a drogue (a cloth funnel) to the chain about one meter below surface, below the bridle. The resistance of the drogue slows the swing right at the bow, and has markedly reduced our “sailing” on anchor. While Tikaani still tends to wiggle her backside in a good wind, she is way more stable on anchor now.
Wednesday, June 18th
We had planned on 2 nights here to avoid some strong winds due the next day. The next day was grey and rainy so we tackled some small maintenance/cleaning, made soup and baked Bannock. We tried to solve the issue with the bow thruster, emailing the MaxPower service dept in … Italy! Have to shake your head when a Finance Guy and a Physio try to tackle complex electrical/hydraulics…Yeeesh.
An unpleasant NE storm was headed our way, so we elected to abandon our comfortable anchorage and take refuge in Havre St. Pierre, just 11 nautical miles down the coast. It is the last of the “larger” towns on Quebec’s north shore, with an Ilmenite shipping facility, an active fishing fleet, and it is the base for the Coast Guard and Parks Canada.
Thursday, June 19th
Adding to our maintenance list: as we raised anchor the windlass (hauls up the anchor) decided not to. So Steve manually winched up the last 30 feet of 7/16 chain plus the 80 lb anchor while Alison manned the helm…. will be cancelling the gym membership. Need to get that windlass fixed!
The HSP marina is small, sail and motorboats, with 2 visitor docks all of 60ft each and clearly not used to have visitors this early in the season. They were kind and gracious and found us a slot where we settled in for a couple of days. The marina hosts a 25 boat fishing fleet, about 6 tour boats, and ~7 Parks Canada, Fisheries and Coast Guard boats.
In the Cruising Guide the prior visitors raved about the great facilities, the showers, the laundry -so our hopes were high. Ummm, nope. The marina offers nothing but a dock, power and water. There is, apparently, a facility that opens in 2 weeks, that may offer amenities but we will not find out!
Friday, June 20th
Well, the forecast was right. A solid, rainy east wind came overnight on the 19th , but we braved the elements and trudged to the nearest (only?) restaurant where we gorged on seafood and local beer. Amazing. To be repeated!
Never to waste bad weather, we tried to tackle maintenance, so Steve got up at 3 am to email liaise with MaxPower re: bow thruster (their technical support is based in Greece). Bad news, the main control circuit board is fried; 3 weeks to get new one, $2100. Guess they have a “defined” life and this one ended. We can manoevre Tikaani without it… but difficult in tight spaces and added windage.
Despite the meager marina facilities, we are happy to be hunkered down in Tikaani, warm (deisel heater!), dry and secure. We were offered free laundry access and will use the power and water well (Tikaani has a nice, dedicated shower). Bought some warm gear, groceries, frozen fresh fish. We will take the time to plot our next leg, that will either be hopscotching up the North Shore or making a roughly 300 mile run to the west coast of Newfoundland.
Sailing Tikaani 
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