Makina had been docked for three days in Gaspe, PQ. It is a lovely and picturesque town, which is full of friendly people, yet that was not my reason for remaining there that long. My reason was my reluctance for continuing the passage without crew. Ironically my biggest concern was docking itself. With a momentum of 16,000 lbs before adding provisions, tools, personal belongings, etc., Makina was a small planet in the frictionless medium of water. Managing the helm full time during a docking was critical for the safety of the vessel let alone those with which she was coming into close contact range.
After reading a great blog posting about a Yacht Club in Summerside who had sent staff to meet the couple at the dock to help in the process, that issue was moved way down the list of priority concerns.
You see, Pierre had been called away due to commitments nearby. A friend was having a showing of his art work and they were making a weekend out of it. My feeling was that, after our day in the spin cycle of the St. Lawrence's tides, currents and winds, he was in no hurry to feel the Atlantic in possibly its full potential.
The options which life was presenting were not that attractive to me.
Pierre made a valiant effort to fill the hole which his departure had left. He reached out to some contacts which offered professional support. That is, sailors which do vessel deliveries for a fee. They are a talented group, by and large, both accredited by certification or simply by the list of experience on their CV. They generally come with a heavy costs, which seems totally except-able if one chooses to use their services. That was not the case for me. The reasons were two fold.
Yes, there was probably some ego in there most likely. It's one thing to take new friends on board, those who wish to share that magical experience called sailing. It has been fun to watch through the passage thus far what life chooses to present to me as crew. Although my confidence has grown since leaving Scarborough it must be said that managing a 36' vessel solo is no easy task. It has been explained to me that learning ones boat is a process.
Jason and Lori
The first passage from Scarborough to Kingston had been shared with my instructor Jason and his lovely partner Lori. Money did exchange hands between Jason and myself yet it was solely in the capacity as instructor which included things like repairs, installation of things and instructions how to do so. Also some basic navigation to try kicking on some muscle memory from over 50 years ago. Sitting in the cockpit enjoying the wind in our sails was not being done for payment.
They treated it as a vacation and were given the forward V Berth as you would for any guest couple if single yourself. That's my custom anyway, but there's also that old fashion custom of opening doors in my repertoire. 🙄
Pierre
A friend, met in a group class instructed by Jason over the summer, had put me in touch with Pierre. Ann and myself had been crewmates as well yet on Jason's boat Bridget. She does visit me virtually though and in that regard was on board during the crossing to Summerside, not to give away any/many spoilers.
Pierre is an incredibly giving fellow who has recently retired at a somewhat early age. He seems in little need for additional income and likes to share in his passions with any who share them; so long as they are good company. My hope is that he found me so.
He has a wide variety of hobbies. They include an avid flyer who owns his own plane, likes kayaking and has done some of this very coast along Gaspe with a kayak. He hikes and of course loves to sail. He will put the sails up if someone sneezes to catch its breeze. Was Nuclear Engineer mentioned? 😳
He became affectionately referred to as The Admiral because the man's a fucking genius. Was my spelling of genius correct? 🤓
We figured we had been shipmates for about 3 weeks by the time he signed off in Gaspe. He had been incredibly helpful, not only in the movement of Makina but in little things that needed doing that he had the skills to deal with. There was little not on that skills list.
He would and will be missed. Yet he tried to fill the hole which was caused by his leaving. He reached out to contacts of the more professional nature. They are known as Delivery Captains. My guess is that he knew that my race was against the season and that the option to lay around letting life have a direction in the passage, like earlier in the summer, was getting short and that my goal should be to get Makina back to Halifax and on the hard asap.
The ones which he put me in touch with where in the $3000 price range for the 500 remaining sea miles of the passage. Such a cost may have been contemplated by me expect for the fact that my house closing had been delayed until Nov 15th to allow us more time to pass on a lease arrangement being offered and to get out of the house completely by that date, which my lawyer had negotiated into the buyers paying us the value of a 2 year lease they had made in their offer onto the buying price instead of taking them up on it. Who needs a lease when you have a floating condo? Right? Well providing you get it to Halifax.
Because of the delay in the closing date on my property the boat kitty would have to be budgeted carefully in order to deal with Yacht Club fees, hauling and storage of Mikana for the winter, diesel, docking fees and supplies needed for the next 500 NMs without selling more crypto just before leaving Rektember when number go up. Three thousand dollars did not seem too much for what one was getting yet it seemed too much for the financial budget put in place last July for the project.
Pierre had also come across a kijiji ad by James, a buddy boat we had convoyed with coming down from Kingston to the locks. He was still further upstream at Trois Riviere, looking for crew as well. The idea occurred to me that he may get more than enough responses to be able to throw one my way. After all what was really on my wish list was a simple deck hand who had skills enough to simply jump ashore with a docking line.
James
After giving James a call he passed my contact info on to a less expensive captain from NY which had contacted him asking for a fee. His price was $1500 which was manageable, however it would be my preference to see it spent on a used radar or electric anchor winch no matter the cost.
Mr. Fish
Although not on the crew for very long and with a great deal of head butting between us, Mr. Fish must get a mention for sticking by me after Pierre's first sign off in Quebec city. He acted as navigator for two days of the most tricky sailing of the St. Lawrence River. For that he has my thanks.
Anne Bonny
Then came the repeated mantra that James had fallen victim to, the well meaning intervention. That is when one or more fellow sailors approach you to suggest a passage is too much for you and that pulling your vessel on the hard to perhaps try this again with a new season and/or crew. Mine came from Ann, who was a fellow student during my instructions with Jason in Meaford, ON. It had the opposite effect on me which turned out to be my catalyst that something must be done to finish the passage. More on that later.
As previously mentioned, Ann was never a part of my crew yet we were shipmates as part of Jason's crew. She took it upon herself to try a one person intervention. She more or less was telling me in the call to put this dream away as it was too much for me. Her advice was to put Makina on the hard and come back next season with a crew.
Call it ego or call it a boost in self confidence, yet my decision was that this was not going to be the end of this dream. Besides how hard could it be, if the weather was planned, to motor the whole way to Summerside, PEI like Pierre and myself had done from Sainte Anne des Monts to Gaspe in our 122NM overnighter.
With Ann's call having the completely opposite effected as intended; although her concerns were likely felt for the best of reasons. Instead of making arrangements for Makina's haul out the diesel jugs were filled as was the main tank and Environment Canada checked and found to be predicting fair weather for the next two days. At 1:00 (am) on Monday, Sept 30th departure was made from Gaspe on what was planned to be a little over 35 hour passage to Summerside, PEI. It turned out that Environment Canada adjusted their forecast when someone arrived at their offices just as Makina was leaving the Bay of Gaspe and heading to open waters. More on that a little later as the passage was underway.
The sun rose just as the Bay of Gaspe was being left behind, and probably just as Environment Canada was issuing their weather warning.
Upon departure from the Bay of Gaspe into the Gulf of St. Lawrence proper a powerful swell was forming under a strong wind which by my estimate was putting in at around 15-20 Knots at times. Checking with Environment Canada again they had indeed updated their forecast since my early morning departure. They were now issuing a wind advisory. It turned out the wind was what Pierre and myself had been wishing for since leaving Saint Jean Port Joli, blowing in a southerly direction pretty much straight for PEI. With no crew and a still weak shoulder sailing seemed an added risk with a blow starting up. Instead we motored on. And by we it's meant me and Mikina.
During the day it was kind of fun surfing down the swell which happened to be rolling in my exact direction. This meant some great speeds with the wind and waves adding additional push. Like always, videos and pics tend not to give the true feel of wave actions yet an attempt shall be made to share it with you, the reader.
The swell kept building throughout the day and by nightfall it was a good thing the swell was running in my direction as it would have been dangerous to run cross to it. A couple of waves actually broke into the cockpit during the night and my wardrobe was reduced to my Sunday Best with wet gear on top.
There also appeared to be a glitch with Ghostie the autopilot. My feeling is that when a wave tossed it around before GPS location could be calculated that Ghostie seemed to then take on the altered course. It took me taking the helm to put him back oncourse by riding the course for a minute or more use the good old fashioned compass course. The night sailing was unnerving at times.
[NOTE : It has since been explained to me that Ghostie does not use GPS but has an actual compass so my theory was wrong. Sensitivity can be adjusted in it's menu and Jason thought that may be more the issue.]
The first night was a short one from 1:00 until 7:00. The second night was a full one from 19:00 until 7:00. Things began to settle down a little bit once in the Northumberland Straight, yet glad it made me feel to follow the markers into Summerside and the dock provided me by the wonderful Summerside Yacht Club.
It is there that we remain, at present, with Halifax nearer in my mind and heart than it has ever been on this passage.
May the wind be at your back!
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