What happens to the cabin in the rough stuff!
copyright adam killick 2005
7.19.2005
7.18.2005
Cape Race... nah, just kidding
...or How To Sail More Than Forty Nautical Miles and Still End Up Where You Started. So we left at 7:15, excited about the prospect of a westerly wind and a close reach to Cape Race. No such luck. Rather, it was 25 knots on the nose, eight-foot seas and a very rough ride. Until the motor broke -- again -- just a few miles from rounding the cape. The choice was to spend the next ten hours beating into the wind to get around Cape Race -- which I couldn't see for fog -- or to turn and run for four hours back to Port Kirwan for repairs. For safety's sake, there was only one choice. It's getting pretty depressing -- the weather isn't supposed to be like that at this time of year, but, as Gerald O'Neill, a fisherman here and, with his wife, Carol Ann, is one of the nicest people you'd ever care to meet, told me today after catching my lines: "There's nothing normal about this year." So I have to get the motor fixed -- I think it may be an air intake problem -- and then try again. That's all I can do.
A.
A.
7.17.2005
Port Kirwan, Newfoundland
Well, I tried to get out of here. Honest. Friday, resigned to the fact that I am going to have to take strong winds on the nose whenever I leave, I set out for Trepassey at eight a.m. Motoring into the wind, I was somewhere near Cappahayden when the motor slowly lost compression and died. It's quite a feeling to be bobbing out there, with no motor. And it's not a terribly attractive feeling. I was left with two choices: Tack my way down the coast for the next two days to get to Trepassey, or turn around and sail back to Port Kirwan, and hope I could make it alongside the wharf under sail. I chose the latter, and had a pleasant run back to Port Kirwan, which I have taken to calling the Hotel California. Fortunately, the motor fired up as I approached the wharf and I managed to dock under power. So now I'm well behind schedule, but learning to accept the things I cannot change. Thanks to the help of Pat Aylward, who was an engineer aboard the Marine Atlantic ferries for 35 years, the motor is back on track. She was a little low on oil, it turned out. I had planned to make a long trip to catch up -- nonstop from here to Burin -- with Jim Miller, a friend from Holyrood and the man who runs the sea school there, but he had to back out. So my host here, Carolyn Adler, has graciously offered to take his place. So we'll try to leave tomorrow, and make the 30-hour trip in a 10-hour and a 20-hour segment. Meanwhile, the fog continues. But I was screeched in last night, and have the headache to prove it. And I'll get my second Port Kirwan jig's dinner today!
A.
7.13.2005
Port Kirwan, Newfoundland
I'm still in Port Kirwan, thanks to a nasty southeasterly, thick fog for three days and the remnants of Hurricane Dennis. But, since this is possibly the nicest village I've ever visited, it's hardly difficult. I don't think I'm going to make my goal of getting to St. Pierre for Bastille Day, but I am learning patience. And, hey, I won $25 at bingo on Monday night! Hopefully I'll be on my way tomorrow.
A.
A.
7.11.2005
Port Kirwan, Newfoundland
Finally well underway! Sorry for the delay in updating. A connection to the internet isn't always an easy thing to come by on a boat. So, with my friend David Allsebrook, who came from Toronto to help me get the boat launched and on its way, I sailed last Wednesday from Holyrood to St. John's. A fair bit of motoring off the top, and then great sailing until rounding Cape St. Francis, where we were promptly flattened by gusts flying down off the headland. Twenty uncomfortable minutes later, there were two reefs in the main, and the genoa was replaced by the jib, and we had a great close-hauled trip to St. John's. After a couple of days at the Queen's Wharf, where Cook also anchored, I continued alone down to Bay Bulls, where I had a lovely dinner with Rick and Bonnie Johnstone. Now I'm "up the shore" at Port Kirwan, which is quite possibly the nicest seaside community I've ever visited. I had jig's dinner yesterday, and fresh crab, and the people, most of whom were born and raised in the cove, are incredibly friendly. I'm planning to leave tomorrow, but I think I could easily stay here all summer.
Miles sailed: 91.
Whales sighted: 22 (plus a dolphin who rode the bow wave on the way down to Port Kirwan from Bay Bulls).
Puffins sighted: 1. Strange, as I sailed right past their nesting colony in Witless Bay).
Items dropped overboard: 1. A red bungee cord.
Next stop: Trepassey.
6.30.2005
Holyrood, Newfoundland
Still here at Holyrood, getting the boat ready. I'll post another picture as soon as I get a chance. It's a little cold here, about 7 degrees at the moment, but things are getting done. Hopefully I'll be on my way by Sunday. This is just a short message -- the wind has died down a little and I have to get back and climb the mast to attach a radar reflector. The fun never ends!
Adam
Adam
6.27.2005
6.21.2005
Another test
This is merely a test of the remote e-mail client and filing the blog
this way. Did it work?
6.20.2005
Test
This is purely a test of the blog. I'm heading to St. John's in five days, and, heck, I'm almost ready to go and live in a small room that's only about five feet in any direction!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)