Crocs Away...or how a pension saved my arse

Cow Head proved to be a good choice as we were able to move from one side of the harbour to the other to obtain better protection from the wind. Though not from the company of minks which were everywhere. Having been regularly fed by the local fishermen they seemed to have little fear of humans (or cats) and wandered quite close to the boat. Toots attempts at harassment were met with disdain and they would simply duck into a small hole out of her way.

With Leslie raging on the other side of the island we had some wind but mostly rain and, with the wind, easing and backing we decided to head out the following day. It may have been a mistake as the winds were fitful and the seas still a little confused. By 2am the following day they had died and we drifted slowly northwards on the current losing about 4 miles before they returned and we were able to sail on down to Neddy Harbour in Bonne Bay. 17 hours for a 30 mile journey....not our finest performance!  We stayed for a few days, meeting with friends and awaiting a favourable wind. The weather looked set to remain out of the SW but a small window gave us  a day of south winds followed by a day of west winds and we headed out. I don't think we have EVER left or arrived from Neddy without a windless struggle and that night proved no exception. This time we lost well over 6 miles before the winds came in and we began the trip south proper. Initially the winds came and went but before long we were heading slightly south of east toward Anticosti Island, a hundred or more miles away. As the winds increased so did the seas and with a beam  wind we inevitably had seas come aboard. About 30 miles from the island we had a welcome wind shift from S to SE and were able to work our way south off the long bank that extends eastwards and as the wind shifted to the west were well placed to head down to, and clear, Cape North at the end of Cape Breton. Big, lumpy seas built up and broke over us as speeds increased. At one point the log said 8.6k whilst the SOG registered 9.4k with the help of a friendly current and 33knots of wind. Onwards under a double reefed main, stays'l and our miniscule spitfire jib we ran. Once under the shelter of the land the seas eased dramatically but so did the wind and progress became slower. Too slow really as we'd hoped, for once, to get to the "Narrows", the entrance into the Lakes with a favourable wind.

In the end we ran the engine to try and get there before the worst of the outgoing tide but might have well have saved ourselves the fuel. The wind meant we could keep sailing albeit hard on the wind as we came down the channel. But even with the engine running, the crew willing her on each time the rigging creaked to a welcome gust and Hannah heeling steeply from them, progress was slow.

Whilst the log said we were motor-sailing at 7 knots the speed was much less. Gradually speed declined from 6 knots to 4 and less. At one point we were down to 0.4knots as we approached the narrowest part but only for a minute or so and then we were through and approaching Kelly Cove for the night and a stiff drink or two.

Tues 18th Sept. On a bright, sunny cloudless day we began a long beat down the Bras D'Or channel toward our next anchorage. It was a wonderful sailing day although a little early for an entirely favourable tide. The first challenge was Seal Island bridge with its rips and currents. Our tacks took us right up to it and as we beat across the channel at 5 knots we were obviously going sideways as well as forwards and thus crabbed through the bridge and out the other side accompanied by a cacophony of truck horns from the passing traffic. In the far distance we could make out a yacht heading our way and an hour so later met up with George from Big Harbour and where we decided to anchor for the night. 42 tacks after starting we pulled into the anchorage and stopped.

Days later on a day of constant and heavy rain we hauled the anchor up and headed south. The forecasted SE was in fact NE and couldn't be wasted. Unfortunately the fog was thick and not much could be seen. With 3 miles to go we called the bridge keeper to warn him of our approach.....the wind is astern of us and we've got the full main up so the speed is never less than 6 knots and often higher. We call him again with 3/4 mile to go and he assures us he'll have it open......with 1/2 mile to go the barriers start to drop and as the bascule complete their opening we roar through the bridge under full main to the obvious delight of the bridge- keeper - all smiles and thumbs up as he lent well out of his watch window. Exhilarating for sure although we'd run the engine just in case the current which swirls about inside the narrow gap decided, as it did the first time we ever went through some years ago, that it would prefer if we were closer, much closer to one side than was deemed safe by the nervous nellies that count as Hannah's crew. The wind dropped steadily as we sailed further south and we opted to spend the night or two in Georges Harbour.

Onwards to the Canal, a brief visit with Jack and Glenda before motoring through the 1/2 mile or so to the other side from where we left on Tues 25th Sept. for Glasgow Harbour some 20 odd miles away. Good sail tho a tad nippy saw us entering the channel for another couple of nights rest whilst we awaited a fair wind to take us along the Nova Scotia coastline. The harbour, whilst open to the east gives good protection from the winds we were having and the only sound was that of dozens of seals "barking".....well we think they were the ones making the racket. A brief, silent, visit from a local fishing boat was our only entertainment. The other advantage of the harbour is the close proximity of Andrews Passage, a narrow channel that lets you cut out a dog leg around the headland and, to some extent, much of the rough water that can be found off Cape Canso. We motored through the channel in smooth water opting to leave the sails until we'd reached a more open space. A wise choice in the end as at the moment we decided to raise the main and Bee was about to start hauling lines the wind blasted across the sea and went from 10-15 knots to something around 30.......we changed our minds and raised the stays'l, mizzen and the working jib and took off across the bay at 6 knots plus.....and settled down for what we hoped would be a quick passage. A few hours later the wind began to  ease and though we stayed under the same rig we knew we were going to have to change to the main to keep the boat moving well. Luckily the seas had dropped considerably and were now less than a metre. The wind was on the beam and we decided to get the main up. All went well until Bee tried to raise the boom off the gallows and found the main-sheet had jammed in the block allowing the main to clear the doghouse by a few inches only. As the boat rolled in the swell the boom, now free of the gallows, was able to swing back and forth although its travel was curtailed by the main=sheet still firmly cleated down. Normally I work from aft of the boom as being alongside the aft end is a dangerous business (booms are not called "widow-makers for no reason...) but this time I was alongside and simply fended off the gently swinging boom with one hand as I uncleated the sheet. The boom, now free of its restraint promptly increased its arc of swing from 30 cms to well over a metre and fending off became instantly harder and more dangerous. As it came back at me for the second time with increased force I moved aft to escape it, fending off with one hand and ducking to escape the worst of its intentions....and found myself falling. As luck would have it I was between the mizzen shrouds and was knocked backwards and through them. I remember thinking " Shit I could end up getting wet here" before I realised I was not only wet but upside down and under water, dressed in heavy clothing.......... Hannah was under the control of our self-steerer and whilst our speed was a sedentary 3.5 knots it still meant we were moving through the water at almost 2 metres or 6' per second.......
As I popped to the surface I realised with relief I still had the mainsheet clutched in my right hand and I'd broken the surface alongside rather astern of a, to a dumped sailor, rapidly disappearing boat. Of even greater comfort was the presence of Bee leaning over the capping rail, quietly encouraging me and, seemingly, calmly wrapping an additional line around me to stop me drifting away from the boat. Luckily the water was warmish but even so I could feel the desperateness of the situation. Hannah does not have a huge freeboard, that distance between the sea and the deck or capping rail in our case. But in water logged clothing climbing out was going to be a problem and I could feel mentally I was already beginning to think "hmmmm...I'm not sure I can do this." Bee, of course, was having none of it and with her help I was able to get my left leg high enough for her to grab the oilskins and heave. With a struggle I came back on board, perhaps a few minutes after I'd been dumped in. We were both shaken by the whole thing and knew that the outcome could have been so different. Had the seas been higher, colder, the winds stronger, Bee not on deck etc... I wouldn't be the first or last sailor to be lost overboard under similar circumstances and it has made us realise we need to close that gap between the shrouds before we do much else. Bee made light of it; telling me that with my pension due next year there was no way she was letting me out of her sight.....Unfortunately out of my sight were the size 11 pink Crocs I was wearing as they floated away in the struggle...so I'm now down to 3 pairs of the same...

Some hours later we got the main up and made our way toward Halifax. We'd hoped to clear the shipping lanes in daylight but the failing wind also began to head us and we began a slow beat to the west. Although the lanes were busy both before and after we crossed them the hour or two we spent crossing was quiet. We listened to a ship getting clearance to leave. It was Sept 28 and its next port of call was somewhere in Italy at 00:00 7 October!! As we watched it pass some 5 mile to the south of us at 20.2 knots we understood how it could be well into the Med in 9 days.

30th Sept. In Prince's Inlet on a buoy belonging to John and Phyliss of Morgans Cloud. (see site) They run an interesting website that has a wealth of info, sound advice and some excellent photo's. The weather when we arrived yesterday, like today, seems to be verging on torrential rain and the winds are either foul or light so well be in Mahone Bay for a while it seems. We had hoped to get here early enough to see the launch of the new "Bluenose", Nova Scotia's famed schooner but not to be. Our arrival not the launch which we understand went ahead in fine style without us.

As an aside: I can't remember where we were but I'd been off watch and sleeping but became aware that our motion had a more than normal tilt to it. I came up on deck to find Bee filming a charging Hannah as under full main we were thundering along with the rail under water! That is NOT a position I like to be in but Bee had found the whole thing exhilarating and in truth something the boat seems to revel in. Certainly cleaned the decks although I rapidly had order restored and a reef stuck in sharpish! Bloomin' youngsters!!

Greenland Pt 2

Our departure from Sisimiut on 8th August was delayed when we found the anchor firmly caught on something some 17 metres below us. We tried all the usual to no avail until I finally called Grendel on the radio and asked them to motor out and help. We made a couple of loops in a 3 metre length of chain, attached one end to a long line, fastened the other loop around the anchor chain and let it drop. We needed a large shackle to get it to run all the way down to the anchor but it finally came to rest securely around the shank. Grendel attached the long line to their stern and motored away. Seconds later Hannah began to move forward as they had successfully pulled the anchor clear of whatever was fouling us. They headed back into harbour and we made for the open sea....

Sunset approaching Sisimiut

The seas outside were lumpy and confused  and we struggled to make progress under engine as the wind seemed reluctant to play its part. But eventually we broke free,spent a few hours drifting and then the wind came and we were off. Racing toward Baffin Island at well over 7 knots on a glorious night. It couldn't get any better and we were looking forward to getting there in record time. But. 108 miles from the coast we came across our first berg and by Friday we were enveloped in fog and speed was down to 2 or 3 knots, no bad thing when fog and 'bergs are your companions. For several days as the wind shifted into the SE we'd been beating slowly; toward Baffin in the day and away at night. We'd given up any hope of reaching Exeter sound but still had hopes we might get somewhere further south but after a week even that seemed unlikely, although we came close to the islands off the southern end of Cumberland Bay and so we opted to keep going. However by trying to reach Baffin we were now firmly east and the constant SE winds had us at a disadvantage. Added to this were currents that seemed to be getting stronger and I began to feel a tad desperate. Last years experience on the Labrador coast had shown us how long it can take to get south and we were rapidly approaching last years turnaround date but were 200 miles north of that position. The log is filled with "grey"  "lumpy" "tacked" "bergs" as we struggled to stay warm in the cold, dripping fog. Progress was made however and we crept nearer to Labrador. At one point with 30 miles to go to the northern tip we were beating south at 3 knots. The compass showed we were heading 210 whilst our true course was about 170 but our track across the ground was between 240 and 265 and I had visions of being swept into Ungava Bay. So fierce currents ebb and flood into the Hudson Strait and we reluctantly tacked NE to try and make more easting to clear. The other problem we had here came from the flow of water across banks causing great square lumpy seas to bear down on us from various directions and we needed to motor frequently in order to make progress through this mess we were in. No doubt some of the turbulence came from current direction changes as well. A thoroughly uncomfortable and unhappy time aboard Hannah. Once we were finally through we began heading for land and a chance for a full nights sleep. Williams Harbour with at least 3 possible anchorages was 30 mile west of us and we opted to heave to until the morning and then sail in during daylight. And so we did despite serious misgivings about approaching an area so close to the Mclelan Strait and its currents. Stoneman Hbr (60 16.57N 64 30.31W) is a small cove in Tunnungsuajuak Inlet that we were hoping would live up to its write up. It did.

 Well sheltered and shallow enough to lay out a good scope it also gave us a welcome sighting of a huge polar bear who was ambling around the other end of the cove before wandering away over the hill after an hour or so. We lit the stove, cracked open a bottle and relaxed. 11 days after leaving Sisimiut, a journey that we would normally expect to have taken 4 or 5 days.

The following day we pushed on, passing the bear lying a an outcrop surveying its territory. We couldn't get weather forecasts so would await a passing ship and call them for info. One such was the Annie Desganges who gave us the info we needed and then called back later to find out what we were up to. They fell about learning of our slow progress as they steamed up from Montreal in a week and yes they responded they did have the heating on, hot water was plentiful but sadly pizza delivery was not included in their job description so they couldn't oblige Bee's request....We drifted or tacked our way slowly south. Fuel was not plentiful on Hannah and, for us, motoring though the night is a non starter we it would mean steering and, as I've all ready indicated it was cold. So we drift or make whatever progress we can with whatever sail set up works. Slowly we worked south and around 57N we picked up Labrador Coast Guard radio and a welcome forecast warning us of a SW25 heading our way and we happily made our way to our second anchorage at Perry's Gulch. Not perfect but good enough for what we needed. We'd had clear conditions for ..... Luckily we'd been into Perry's a couple of times last year so knew how it lay but even so..... It is the "problem" with this stuff, radar, gps etc in that when it goes awol you're suddenly confronted with your fears about being able to continue. Sometimes it seems as though all this safety stuff actually makes us less safe....anyway we crept on but thought we may as well try the radar again just in case. Well it was a "just in case" cos there was the island ahead and the mainland beyond it and in we went and dropped anchor 6 days after leaving Stoneman.

On our second night at anchor we both leapt out of bed at the loudest, sharpest thunderclap we'd ever heard! It sounded so close we couldn't imagine what the hell was going on...well nothing was 'cos the storm was way out to sea and all was calm around us except that the wind was starting to fill in from the NW, it was just what we needed and at 02:30 we upped anchor and headed out. Over the next few days we made soso progress but we moved steadily south still dealing with fog and light winds but moving south and then with the wind shifting to the north we made excellent progress. The last few hours became a tad tense as the seas built up rapidly  and we hurtled on under a double-reefed main. The entrance looked lumpy and the following seas were breaking just about deck level as we roared toward our destination. Once inside the shelter of land the seas eased then smoothed and at 7am on the 1 Sept we pulled into Ship Harbour to find Phillip and Helen quietly tied up to the dock. They'd crossed to Stoneman in 4 days going direct and using the motor when needed and then hopped down the coast.  We were chuffed to see them and happy to be in one of our favourite spots in Labrador. Happiness on Hannah.

And now we're in Cow Head Harbour where we'll be for a few days to let these southerlies blow through. We'd had fast exilerating run down the Belle Isle in a stiff NE. P&H opted to pull ino Port a Choix whilst we headed on as the wind was still strong. Of course it died once we'd got past Port Saunders and we drifted around throughout the night. With fuel getting low we pulled into here, met a friendly local guy called George who ran me and 6 jerry cans to get fuel and then decided to stay here for a few days. Internet access has revealed the threat of two hurricanes on their way north and the sad news of the death of Ned Cabot from drowning a hundred miles or so south of here

So there it is. Greenland is very different to Labrador, settlements exist much further north, tourism seems to be firmly established and cruise ships regularly visit Disko Bay. Internet access is readily available in towns (albeit at a price) via the Seaman's Mission and for the sailor weather forecasts are broadcast regularly for the entire Greenland coast. Unfortunately they're broadcast in Greenlandic or Danish only, although gale warnings are also given in English. However a call to the coastguard will produce an English version of what you've just heard. For what its worth we heard,on approaching Greenland, gale warning number 591 and the last one we heard was number 657.....thats a lot of gales in 3 weeks. Luckily, for us, almost all occur around the Cape Farvel area.

Greenland Pt1

I'm writing this from the anchorage of Innarssuatsaaaq Island, part of the Gronne Islands; 68 49.8 N 051 52.63 W  . A well sheltered cove that is also, unusually for here, shallow. The entrance lies to the north and beyond that are a dozen or so 'bergs with attendent growlers and bergy bits. The 'bergs are perhaps aground, the growlers and bergy bits aren't and last night saw a small procession of them slowly work their way into the anchorage until the tide turned and we had a little peace. The two sounds that dominate are the Arctic Terns who seem to occupy these green bits of land to the exclusion of everything else and the dull "crump" sound of icebergs breaking up somewhere off in the bay. We heard it frequently yesterday as we came across from Aasiaat and it goes on today. Hardly surprising when we're less than 30 miles from the huge Jacobshavns Isfjord which spawns monsters throughout the summer, which then begin their slow drift across Disko Bay across the Davis Strait to join others coming from Baffin Island and so work their way down the Labrador coast.

In Mahone Bay

Much has happened since we last up-dated so this will be a brief recap over the earlier bits before concentrating on the bit we've traveled long and hard for.

We followed the usual route from Maine to Lunenburg and then onwards via the Lakes and into the Belle Isle Strait. Nothing exceptional happened, bit of fog, some wind, lot of calms but we were slowly catching up on our "schedule". We stopped in the Bay of Islands for a few days as winds conspired against us but then onwards to St Barbe, then Cooks Harbour where we had a much needed shower, did some washing and fueled up. Pottered east across to Quirpon the following day and left 24 hours later, July 4th, for Greenland. A mixed journey with a single days run of 137 but mostly well under 100 miles a day with a large number of nights spent drifting. Cooler now as we made slow progress north. We'd hoped to reach Aasiaat in 12 days but not a chance as the winds became ever lighter.

Maniitsoq - more impressive after days at sea!!

Opted not to go into Nuuk but we gazed in wonder at the rocky peaks we could see above the fog before we eventually made landfall at Maniitsoq when we were faced with a gradually escalating headwind. This is a spectacular setting made more so by the  presence of thick fog until we closed the land and then the town began to reveal itself, perched high above the water. We crept in, tied up for the night ahead of a powerful French motor-sailer and slept!

We were about 200 mile south of our destination so left early the following day to motor up the inside route to a small anchorage at Appamiut, surrounded by mountains still with snow and ice visible.

 The following day we crossed, without ceremony, the Arctic Circle. Onwards with little hope for favourable winds. Like Labrador, travel in Greenland requires enormous patience and a good engine and as the day wore on we opted to try an inside anchorage, worked our way through a narrow channel and into what we thought might be a suitable bay. It wasn't and we motored north across "greyed out" areas on the chart indicating it was poorly surveyed and into ever deeper water. Visiblity was poor and the radar helped us work our way into a sheltered cove out of the strong currents. As we anchored we happened to glance up and were shocked to see a huge mountain towering above us. The fog lifted a few hours later to reveal mountains everywhere. By morning it had returned and we had a neighbour.

 He left for the south as the fog lifted and we decided to try our luck at getting through the Kangerlussuaq Fjord entrance to the north of us. Getting the tides right would mean a fast passage, wrong and we might be swept backwards as they can, apparently, run at 7 knots. Well we had a semi success in that it was only 2+knots against us so we emerged happy and on our way. As we approached the Sisimiut area the wind picked up and still from the north and we headed in for a bit of shelter. The run in was fast with us desperately looking for, as Tilman had all those years previously, Jacobs Skien - a small, difficult to spot rock that lies to one side of the approach. What wasn't difficult to spot were the 3 masts that were in the anchorage! We joined two others in a small, deep bay. It was 11.30 at night and daylight.

A couple of days later we moved on, spending the day beating for 39 miles to cover 22 and into Sydbay, before motoring/sailing the following day up to Faeringe Nordhavn for the night. We'd spoken to a couple (Phillip and Helen on Grendel) we'd met in Sisimiut on the radio but they were much further ahead and never in sight. Wed 25th July was hot, sunny and almost windless. We motored. And motored.... At one point we considered (or I did) stopping in a small village for the night but Bee felt it better to go on. The miles slipped by, the engine seems to be working so much better this year and as the day came to an end we were within a few miles of Aasiaat.

11:30 at night as we approached Aasiaat

The sun was still up as we turned into the last bay at 11.45, still daylight and we anchored at 12.30 in a deep pool. On a small dock we could see Grendel, the boat we'd spoken to previously and the following day we joined them. The dock is on a small island where the abandoned fish plant is so we had fewer concerns about Toots going ashore.



A few asides. It's not possible to wander into this part of the world without being aware of Bill Tilman and his legacy. see website He came here in the 60's in Mischief and wrote wonderfully about the trips he made. I mention him as Bee made a bread and butter pudding that deserved, as Tilman would say, to be in a glass case, and was immediately christened by me as a "Tilman" Moist, sweet and a real "rib-sticker" 

We have carried around with us for the last 5 years a trysail that we've never used. Partly the effort involved and partly because it seemed as though it should be a last resort.

The joys of a trys'l

 For some reason a few weeks back when the wind picked up and the double reefed main was touching the water as we rolled (we hadn't peaked it enough) I thought we might set the trys'l to get a feel for how it all came together.....what a revelation! In the 30 knots we had it was straight forward to use but the real joy was in the handling of Hannah. We tried various combinations and romped along at 6knots+ without any stress of strain on nerves.

Back to the update. We've sampled a couple of anchorages in Disko Bay. Yesterdays is described as Hebridean; narrow, rocky and little vegetation. Open at both ends so we would be susceptible to currents.....and bergs. For a couple of hours all went well. The tide was coming in, the wind in our favour. As High Water approached the wind switched and began blowing 'bergs toward the entrance we'd come through. Not too much concern as it was well protected by small islands and the tide had begun to ebb. But a large growler which had previously past by us hadn't gone far enough to escape the ebb and began its slow journey back through the anchorage. We were anchored in such a way that growlers and bergy bits were naturally swept either side of us as the water separated to flow around the rocks that lay astern. The returning growler was well off to our starboard side and evidently on its way safely through. I went below and about 20 minutes later Bee went up on deck to  check to find this monster right by us, almost under the bowsprit and intent on sweeping us with it. Using oars we struggled to move the thing - it was around 25' long and 10' wide and DEEP. We could see the underwater section creeping close to the hull as desperately tried to move the thing. Gradually we slid it along the hull all the time willing it to stay far enough away from the self-steerer whilst taking the far more practical step of starting the engine once we knew it was clear of the prop. As soon as we had clearance we drove forward using the wash to increase the gap. Bee frantically raised the anchor as we headed out. The neighbouring anchorage is a couple of miles to the north but that too had a succession of ice lumps and the thought of another sleepless night spurred us onto making the 20 mile trip to Godhavn on Disko Island.

Thurs Aug 2nd 67 39.2 N 053 38. 4 W Faeringe Nordhaven
Godhaven is a tiny gem of a place with a population of less than a thousand, a busy, landlocked harbour and a backdrop of steep mountains. A tourist destination for hikers apparently. We stayed a couple of nights before moving onto a nearby anchorage in Fortune Harbour. Or not in this case, as both entrances were heavily populated by 'bergs, growlers and bergy bits...the 'bergs were creaking ominously as we crept by them searching for a way in but it wasn't to be and this became the furthest north we would get - 69 20N.

The weather forecast had promised a rare northerly wind and so we decided we'd take advantage of it and head south in preparation for the crossing, But the wind failed to arrive until late evening and we spent a frustrating time motoring. However by 9pm the wind filled in and with main and genny set we self steered down past Aasiaat and south. A cold night of course with the sun setting around 12.30, rewarding us of a glimpse of the famed "green flash" and the dawn making its presence known minutes later it seemed. By 6 or so the wind had begun to ease and despite cramming all sail on and steering ourselves we were not going to make our intended anchorage. Aasiaat Radio informed us that the winds would switch to the S or SE and up to 25 knots so not what we wanted to hear. We began a slow beat, current against us of course but slowly made our way south, deciding to pull into Faeringe Nordhaven, an anchorage we'd used on the journey north. As we approached we saw Wanderbird -see website leaving the fjord on their way north. A quick gam on the radio and both vessels crossed paths the crew and guests on one lining the rail to see us pass. The tradition of crossing into the Arctic Circle is alive and well on Wanderbird as Rick and Karen ensure that all crew members who have never crossed have their heads shaved..... 

We spent a couple of days in FN, checking different parts of the fjord for anchorages and rowing ashore to a small, fast running stream/waterfall to replenish our water supply. If it hadn't been for the mozzies we would probably washed our hair too.

8 Aug. Anchored in Sisimuit, Hannah ready and snugged down for the journey south. Grendel are here too but in the harbour and hopefully our paths will cross further south soemwhere in Labrador. We're hoping to touch briefly in Exeter Sound on Baffin before heading south proper and giving ourselves 'til the end of the month to reach Ship Harbour. We'll see; last August had us dodging one hurricane and September a further two so this can be a nervous time of the year for us. We'll let you know!

In the Arctic Circle - will update sometime soon....................

Absent Friends

Been a while since I could be bothered to write up these pages for a number of reasons. A couple of close friends dying took the edge off things for a while as we slowly came to terms with their separate deaths and we were working on the boat, which can be pretty boring to write/read about and so the months drifted by. But now our time of departure is counted in hours rather than weeks and as it feels more as though we're back in cruising mode it seems as though we should get some sort of update posted.

The changes. We took out the long serving (and very efficient) Lavac toilet, filled in the holes and opted to use a Porta-Potti. We had nothing against the unit but really disliked the through hulls. The Taylor's cooker likewise was disposed of and we pondered how we would gimbal our dinky little “Primus”. Bee, browsing through a local on-line listing found an Atom (see here) for sale second-hand from a guy who was willing to deliver and the problem was solved. We'll let you know how the system fares at sea but we're happy with what we so far have.

Eventually we took the shelter down and Bryden came along to help hoist the rudder into place. We'd used the guys from the local (and very successful) Come Boating rowing team to get it off but reversing the process required a crane. In the event we had to do it twice as we'd got the washer sequence wrong and it didn't sit properly.....as I was desperately trying to tighten up the nuts and get the split pins inserted, Ken was reversing the trailer under the boat ready to lift and launch us. We launched and began the slow process of adding rigging (running backstays, bowsprit shrouds, lazyjacks and a heap more). Jeez it seemed to be so much harder this time as we finally set the blocks for the mizzen only to realise we'd got one out of sync and... oh never mind it was wrong anyway and had to be changed.

Then we ran the engine and heard an ominous knocking noise.....”Got to be the alignment” I said whilst in my mind I was thinking “ I can't believe this - it sounds like the gearbox has gone again” We called in John to have a listen.....He dismissed the alignment but thought we had a gearbox problem.....we had, as removing the gearbox, bell housing and drive plate proved. A phone call to a US distributor elicited the response that we could get one from them for $353 but not until the end of the month unless we paid $140 for expedited shipping...a phone call to Mike Bellamy of Lancing Marine in England via Skype found we could get it for $160 plus shipping. 77 hours after we placed the call the package was in our hands. Remarkable service. Whilst we were at it we did change the engine mounts, removed the car heater and sorted out the alignment. The depth sounder hadn't worked since we relaunched and we checked, rechecked and rechecked again to no avail. Jim, a fellow cruiser/liveaboard, who currently works for the yard, offered to loan us his unit to check things out and for good measure lowered a microphone over the side(he's a diver which is meant to explain why he should have such a device.....)So we found the transducer works but not the head and danced in jubilation as we all we had to do was replace that rather than haul out etc. Short lived however as research showed that whilst our transducer operated on 155khz almost all modern units operate on 200khz and it was beginning to look as though we were into major expense. Luckily it is possible to dry out here so we could always use that as an option. But, as ever, Bee checking out options found an old depth sounder (much older than ours) on Ebay for $5. The seller even offered a transducer if he could find it on the boat for the sale price. He did, the set up arrived, we worked on it and it works! Meanwhile an email to Nasa Marine about their sounder had a very rapid and positive response. That arrives tomorrow so with luck we'll be on our way on Thursday.

So one further bit of flag waving for a UK company. After some thought we decided to try a Jordan Series drogue, a device I'd first read about a couple of years back. Pricing it out we found that Ocean Brake (see here) would make up the unit and ship it out for about 15% more than I could buy the individual components and make it myself. A boat the weight of Hannah requires 139 cones to be stitched and attached....

Of course we're now a couple of weeks behind “schedule” and as we'd hoped to get up to Disko Bay in Greenland this summer we're a bit miffed. However with a couple of short pushes we could recover some of the time and it might still be possible to get things done. We'll see.

Late last year another friend of ours died. Allan was in his 80's and had had a stroke that had left him mostly paralysed and in a wheelchair for the last 17 years of his life. His sense of humour and interest in the waterfront never diminished and he was always there when we returned, wanting to know what we'd seen and where we'd been. His family had a gathering in Boston and scattered some of his ashes there and then another celebration, months later, in Belfast to allow his many friends here to celebrate his life. A small Viking ship was made and, with much of his remaining ashes aboard, set alight and allowed to sail into the bay. It was a great ceremony made more so for us by the fact that prior to it all starting his daughter Rose had given us a small jar containing some his ashes for us to paint onto our mast so he could journey to all those places he loved to hear about whenever we came into harbour.

Just goes to show...You're never too old to make dumb decisions

In the absence of any sailing we're reduced to writing about the shed which is a sort of mixed blessing. The shed I mean. It certainly keeps the wind and elements off us but the ice will form on the inside of the sheeting (and the hull come to that!). On the sheeting it's no big deal except when the temps rise, the ice melts and water drips everywhere. 

As the temps have been consistently below 0C/32F for the last week or so we've had a water free "home". but the downside of this is; the plastic is white so we get no solar benefit and when the sun shines it may still be colder inside the shelter than out!  Wind chill excepted. We've started adding "windows" in an effort to reduce thus effect. We'll see how that works out. A week or so back we were getting ready for another day when a pick-up pulled up outside the shelter. Our good friend Jonathan appeared...Now we've known this guy since the first time we arrived in Belfast in 2004 and when he heard that we'd briefly considered wintering here this time he pulled out all the stops to persuade us this would be a good move....including, it has to be said,  promising to help build the shelter and make us weatherproof. In the end we stayed, he sailed down to Puerto Rica and we built the shelter without his help and guidance (he builds houses for a living). But we're not holding that against him(??) and on this day he turned up with a pick-up bed full of maple, a wood burning stove and the chimney bits needed to make it work. Moments later another friend, Pablo, arrived on a separate mission and together they start putting the thing together. Meanwhile Kenny, who works for Alex the yard owner, turned up and asked Bee if she wanted to be involved in a rescue. As Kenny is a volunteer fireman she had all sorts of scenarios rush through her head and eagerly said "Yes".  "Oh Good! He needs you to drive to Manchester and deliver the spare car keys to him as he's left his in  California some 3000 miles away"...... Sure we'd go, little realising it was a 4 hour drive each way...about what we drive every few years it seems.

Window AND chimney Boy we know how to...

Anyway we did it, going through Greenland on the way. Place names in the US are so familiar but geographically out of kilter to us, Peru, Paris, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Calais...
Anyway we got back to find the chimney gently smoking as the fire had been lit and replenished some 5 hours earlier. What a wonderful homecoming! It is one of the heart warming things about this country that so often the people are so unbelievably kind.

A few days after this I'd lit the fire in the morning and gone off to do something, returned to the shelter to find it smoky and thought I'd left wood too close to the stove. Not so - turned out to be the heat from the stove melting the ice which dropped onto the heat source and turned into steam - our own sauna no less. 

Bee, de-rusting chainplates

Deck in sunshine

There is no doubt about it we have had a mild start to the winter but... the last week or so seemed pretty relentless (for entertainment I'm reading about Shackleton's expedition to Antarctica -it makes me feel warmer...) The last few nights have seen temperatures around -15c or worse which seems pretty cold. Not to those folks from Russia, Finland, Poland etc, who come across these pages or friends in northern bits of Canada but cool enough. On bitterly cold nights we stock up the stove with small bags of coal we make up during the day. That way it keeps going until the early hours and keeps some heat in here. 

Door, hidden away with entrance for Toots too

Friday 19th Jan. Yesterday was one of those days you need to forget. The ground inside the shelter and forward of the boat had turned from a sheet of ice to a lake. Several centimetres deep...I wandered over to the mast shed, collected the industrial wet and dry Vac they have and plugged it in. After I'd emptied the thing twice I realised the water was seeping under the wall and I was attempting to vacuum dry the car park..... I went outside and began chipping through the ice with a pick axe and several hours later had constructed a system of "canals" to drain the water into the sea. By then it was approaching three pm, the strength of the sun had waned and the escaping water had begun to turn into ice......

All who ponder.........are frost..

It's been a month since we posted and I wish I could say the time has been spent in warm idleness. A month of decadence, deck-chairs and alcohol... For sure we've had an unseasonably warm pre-winter with temps in the 50's, about 10C, but once  Hannah was blocked up we began the thought process of building the "barn". The original height was to be 18' (5.48m) but we took fright at having such a huge "sail" facing the north so cut it down to 15' (4.5m).

The smaller of the two height versions

With a length of 42'(12.8m) and 16'wide (4.8m) it was still a big shed. We toiled on, often in sub 30F temps, ice forming in my beard as we struggled to get it looking straight even if it wasn't. A couple of old pieces of railway line were used to weigh down the front and rear, braces and gussets applied. Friends dropped by with timber, ply and help. The building progressed along with comments about "were we moving in permanently..." and whether we had planning consent.

Bee at work removing ice from the keel

The cold weather has caused some serious ice within Hannah. Working on the shelter we neglected to start the fire until late afternoon and found the thermometer reading 30F or 1C above the bed. The water tank froze, the condensation dripping into the bilge from the hull formed into a solid sheet of ice that took the best part of 3 hours to melt with the much used heat gun and one day we found ice forming on the hull where the ballast sits.

The subject of many, many sleepless nights was how we would get the plastic wrap over the boat. We switched between putting up 3 separate sheets, each 40' wide and cutting the thing into more manageable chunks of walls and roof sections. The joins would be where our masts stood and would involve us in a series of convoluted measurements and tacking one sheet to another with a heat gun. The day we chose to begin the wrapping the wind picked up and the stern section of plastic billowed away from Hannah like an out of control spinnaker. Rapidly conceding defeat we bundled the whole lot up again and retreated. In the end we wisely opted to make the shelter out 7 pieces, 4 individual walls and 3 roof sections

The shelter up and shrinking the roof...

It still caused sleepless nights as we struggled to work out how we would get the wrap neatly around shrouds, masts and chimney. The beauty of the stuff is, of course, that once heat is applied it tightens up and the job looks very professional and, should you get carried away with applying said heat and blow a hole in the stuff a patch can easily be applied. But the real secret is in getting the stuff as tight as possible to reduce the amount of time and energy you'll need to spend shrinking...

Beneath this bland exterior lurks...

We'd built something similiar when we were last back in the UK so had some experience of the benefits. There we'd had the masts removed so it was all much simpler. For the most part the structure doesn't use the boat at all for support and whilst the additional height of the ridge pole would have been welcome as we move along the deck, we had to ensure that our chimney remained above the ridge height to ensure a good draught. The door is hidden away on the back wall. It took a while but we eventually got the whole shelter up, noticing the difference immediately we stepped behind its walls. We used the yard's gun to heat the walls but often used a small heat gun to do much of the roof. Last night we had a strong blow out of the S and, because the plastic is now fairly rigid, it passed almost unnoticed.

The bonfire after a dose of something...

As Christmas approached we visited friends around the town and then spent some of Christmas Day with Steve and Sue at their home. They'd hoped to have a bonfire but the wood was frozen and unwilling to burn, despite liberal doses (on separate occasions) of kero and petrol. Looked nice from the house though. And we needed a warm photo to end on after all that cold.

True to form the Hannah Brewing Company has been in action. An old favourite with 23 litres of Wheat Whiskey and a new one, for us, a 5 litre batch of Beetroot wine. Neither will be ready for some months (or even longer if the cycle of hot evening fire followed by very cold early mornings have anything to do with it) but they'll keep us company on whatever next brings our way.

 

So there it is. Apart from the good times spent with friends over the holiday break, a slightly ignominious end to what has been a great year; from Virginia to Cuba to Labrador and back to Maine, 7,800nm and very rewarding in terms of friendships forged and sights seen. What a life! Happy New Year to all.

Finally in Maine

It has been a while since we posted and we're now safe in Belfast, Maine where we'll spend the winter.

On Mon Sept 26th we sailed out of Neddy harbour leaving Randy, Karen and Capt J after promising them we'd be in sight for some hours...we were. A long slow beat out of the entrance took all of the afternoon and into the evening. By the time we cleared the tide had changed and we spent a frustrating few hours off Rocky Harbour trying to get into clean water before finally giving up and motoring away.

The wind arrived and we headed on "south" taking several days to get within distance of the entrance to the Bras D'Or Lakes. As ever with these things our arrival was too late for the ingoing tide and a stiff headwind didn't help. We thought of anchoring outside but the weather was due to go south that night and we'd be too exposed for comfort. But the anchorage immediately inside the Lakes is also open to the south as well so we'd have to go on. We beat through the narrow channel under reefed main and staysail, helped by the engine. Progress was reasonable, if at times scary, against a powerful ebb. We plugged on. And on. Approaching the Seal Island Bridge the ebb goes into turbo drive and with .7 of a mile to go our speed at one point slowed to such an extent that we were looking at TWO hours before we got through. Luckily whatever was happening there eased off and we made better progress, got through and looked forward to a beat against a weakening ebb. Instead the wind died and carried on motoring to Big Harbour for the night. Distance from the outside entrance to the anchorage - 14 miles; time taken 8 hours

The following morning we sailed off the anchor and moved slowly down the harbour wondering when our friend George, who has a summer house there, had left. Bee happened to look behind to see a small boat pursuing us and so we found George. He'd seen us at anchor, hollered at us from the bank and unable to make us hear, rushed around to the cove where we'd sheltered from a hurricane last year, jumped in his dinghy, rowed out to the boat and chased after us. He greeted us and said "I guess you've come in to hide from the hurricane" What hurricane! True to form the Canadian weather people give no hurricane warnings until 3 days before it's due to arrive which ain't a lot of time in a small boat to find somewhere. (This one in fact passed a long way off so little was felt where we were). We spent the day with George and Hughes; gratefully returned the charts to Henry Fuller who, on seeing me, instructed me to get in his car as he'd been told to do something. He drove away from the yard and straight to the liquor store and presented a boggle eyed crew with two boxes of wine, courtesy of Robin and Jac who recognise a dry ship and don't like it! What a pair.

A day sail took us to the Canal where we stayed for a week as a strong northerly was coming through and even the Lakes has 40-50knots promised. On the canal all was calm but the approach was a mass of heaving water and we were glad not to be offshore.

Inside the Bras D'Or Lakes not far from the canal

The Sydney - Port Aux Basque ferry was cancelled for 3 days with 60 knot winds and 11 metre seas forecast, effectively marooning Russ and Alison in Newfoundland. But we had the chance to spend time with another great couple, Jack and Glenda, who have be-friended us over the years, and help on the rebuilding of the house and barn they have. The barn, believed to be around 200 years old had a sagging roof, bulging walls and, in the view of the local council, was ready to be knocked down. Jack, thankfully, is one of those people who have no understanding whatsoever of the word "Can't" and was simply going to begin restoring it. It is the oldest documented building in St Peters so has some history. He'd already done a lot of support work and with a 5 part block and tackle, a tractor and a bit of old bobstay chain we soon had the roof straight and beams fastened up to support the roof.

The barn after we'd lifted the hogged roof

A few days of working on the house followed before the winds moderated and switched to a favourable direction. At 7 am on Monday October 10th we headed off from the canal saying a sad farewell to these lovely folks. I have said this before but it does bear repeating. It is not the gales etc that are hardest but the farewells.

The day started well with far more wind than predicted but eased toward nightfall. A bright moonlit night saw us in a lumpy sea but moving well. We passed Halifax in daylight bound for the Mahone Bay, hopefully before the wind died, and another visit to friends. The wind didn't die and we took the decision to make use of it and keep heading west. It did ease around 2am but as the self-steerer was coping we weren't too bothered. But as daylight came on the thought of stopping for the night seemed increasingly attractive and we pulled into Shelburne. A big mistake of course as we could have used those easterlies to make a Maine landfall. On the plus side we caught with friends the Christies of Windward Flutes fame  see their site here.

and Paul Gartside link here

We left on Tuesday 18 Oct and sailed down the bay to Cape Negro Island for the night and then motored down to Brazil Rock to pick up the west going current the following day. The forecast was for 30 knot easterlies followed by a quick switch to 30 knot S or SW winds. Well it came and we sailed through some very lumpy seas, a number of which were determined to come aboard. Hannah is such a stable platform that we rarely wear safety harnesses but this trip was the second time we felt it might be prudent. We pushed on westwards rather than NW in anticipation of the switch and it paid off. When the wind came in hard we were well placed and roared on into the night. Lobster pots could be heard banging against the hull as they were brushed aside in the 7 knot romp and as we turned more beam to the wind the seas smashed against the hull dumping green water into the cockpit and across the deck.

Rockland Harbour

Although the route up to Belfast was more off the wind and thus easier I opted to sail into Rockland Harbour and anchor for the night leaving ourselves a great sunny day of sailing to reach what we feel is our home port. We have always had a good relationship with the Customs and Border Agency in Maine and the guy who booked us in this time took things to a new high when he carefully listened to our request for a longer visa than the usual 6 months and happily gave us over 9 months! It pays to ask I guess and it'll make leaving Maine easier, at least in terms of weather windows.

We had been pondering what we'd do about the winter and the fact that we really needed to haul out and paint.Various options were thought about but the deciding factor was always going to be cost. 

Early morning and the sea smoke rises...

A few days into our stay in Belfast we were offered a wonderful option from Alex and so here we are. As we wouldn't be hauled for some weeks we opted to spend a week or so cruising Penobscot Bay. If you have never sailed here but hope to do so then you have one of the premier cruising grounds awaiting you. Anchorages abound, hidden behind picturesque islands. If the wind is heading you well then go somewhere different and the wonder of it all is the thick mud that awaits your anchor. Maine has some of the best anchorages we have ever used and at this time of the year there are few boats and not too many pots. We had bitterly cold days; we had bright sunny cloudless sky days.

We left the main tied up and cruised gently under mizzen and a couple of heads'ls, content to sail at whatever speed we achieved - anything from 3 - 6knots+. All local anchorages and anything  from 10 - 15 miles apart. A leisurely breakfast, sail off the anchor and pootle along toward the destination for the day. A glorious sail through the Fox Island Thoroughfare, an area we had somehow missed in other travels. At the end of the day we'd anchor and sit around a warm fire rejoicing in our amazing lifestyle. A wonderful week.Back in Belfast we were hauled and chocked for the next few months. Well more than a few as we probably won't paint until April and then ...Who knows.

 

So this is our home for the next 6 months. The plan is to build a shelter over the boat to keep the elements off us and allow some if not all of the prep work to be done over winter. With temperatures dropping to 20F or -something C  living in a concrete hull may get to be chilly. The shelter will improve the temperature by 20 degrees or so and stop the bitterly cold wind from sapping our energy. Then yesterday we were given notice that a major storm was on its way and would possibly hit this part of Maine in the early hours. Some folks scoffed, some didn't.....................

 

"...rain and fog dissipating at midnight....."

So often we have heard those words - it seemed we'd go to the grave with the damned things but 3 days ago the weather changed and we've had hot sunshine and even the locals are complaining about the heat. And now here we are in Makkovik and reaching decision time about where to point the bow.....

We left our good friends Randy and Karen in Neddy Harbour with a promise to return soon. They'd certainly made us welcome and hours were spent, as we drifted slowly through the night, chatting about how well we'd "clicked" and why that happens with some and not with others. No answer other than that's how it is but we miss them already. But we eventually worked our way up the coast and then across toward Labrador. A timely VHF call from Russ and Alison the friends we hadn't yet met, persuaded us to change our plans and we sailed into Red Bay to finally meet up, share a meal and a drink before parting company the following morning. We sailed on up in thick fog breaking the monotony by chatting to R&A who were miles ahead....again a call from Russ as we shaped up to head into Charles Hbr informed us that the dense fog would lift and blue skies and sunshine prevailed if we sailed another few miles north. And it did as we passed Battle Harbour, revealing a large 6 metre lump of low ice a little more than 400 metres ahead. Sometimes you just get lucky! We tied up to a fishing boat in Fox Harbour and parted company yet again the following morning as they sailed away into the distance.

We put in a long day a we knew the winds would turn against us and made it to Punchbowl for the night. Serious misgivings surfaced in the last couple of hours as the wind turned against us, became squally and rainy....but we made it, tied up, walked the boat round to a better, more protected spot and slept. The following day a wander up onto the nearby hills after a few hours collecting wood for the stove rewarded twice. Great views, only slightly obscured by a biting cold and fog, and a chance to kip in the afternoon. Rudely interrupted by a voice ordering us to get up! So sound asleep we hadn't heard the boat Robin and Jackie were crewing on arrive!! BIG celebrations all round and so good to see them both.

Grady Harbour

We left a sleeping Alca i (the boat R&J were on) sleeping and headed out at 5am for another long day finally anchoring in Grady Harbour. A local family from Cartwright were there and came across to remind us they seen us last year at another nearby anchorage and gave us the wild greens they'd just picked.

 We stayed in Grady a couple of days sheltering from adverse weather, happy that the stream always seemed to run the same way - south

The trip from Grady is the one we commented on last year; across relatively open water with numerous rocks to keep you on your toes. This time the weather was less threatening and we enjoyed the trip up to Smokey Tickle. We spent a couple of days there, then onto Emily before tackling the longish bit to Webeck Harbour. The wind allowed us to sail and we spent most of it without the main. As the wind was SW we knew that Cape Harrison would intensify any wind there was and so it was. From a gentle pootle of 3knots+ we were suddenly screaming along at 7knots. Unlike last year the ice has been almost absent, a few growlers and the odd iceberg but not so scarce as to make us think that night sails might be an option..... We anchored and had a windy night as the winds continued to blow hard off the mountain. The following morning seemed to promise a fast sail but we could see flat water beyond the white caps where we were anchored. However our departure was delayed by a few hours as Toots began to take a sudden interest in one of the food cupboards.....we began removing food suspecting the worse and had it confirmed when, after 6 cupboards had been emptied we suddenly saw a mouse.  A live mouse...a live, very agile mouse who evaded capture. As we knew we'd be holed up for a day or so at the next stop we replaced everything and headed out. It was a quiet day sailing, almost boring but enlivened by Bee coming across our stowaway (brought on board by El Tooty at Smokey) attempting to get into the rice. Quick thinking had her dragging rice and mouse onto the deck whereupon it took off with Bee in pursuit. The next few hours were an episode in idiocy as we tried to catch the mouse and it didn't want to be. It would race at speed between the windlass and the skylight as one or other of us tried to catch the thing. We'd already blocked off any entry to below decks but the mouse remained free. At one point Toots joined in the "chase" but her effectiveness was amply demonstrated when the mouse rushed her from behind with me in pursuit, ran across her tail and disappeared. She turned in confusion at this but seemed unable to react in time to do anything. Then gave up any sign of interest and sloped off. The mouse remained at large and we got on with the business of getting somewhere. Our destination proved to be a difficult entrance, narrow, rock and shoal bound with rock faces that helped intensify the wind enough to make progress difficult for us. At the last moment my nerve failed and we abandoned and headed down to Makkovik. A wise choice. It was only 5 miles further on and we were elated to see Russ and Alison in Andante tied up alongside, there was space on the dock for us and we were able to spend the evening swapping war stories. The following day we all walked up the hill for a great overview and had a sunbathe on the warm rocks. Payback came with vicious bites from the flies that are everywhere and then the day after Wanderbird arrived for the start of their 17 day trip to Northern Labrador, Baffin and onto Disko Bay.

Departure day and Andante left some time before us as we wandered over to Wanderbird to say our "tarras" but our destination for the day was Roses Island so they were waiting up on the hill as we sailed in. One of the problems up here is any reduction in wind as you close the land in accompanied by an unwelcome increase in mozzies. I marvelled at Russ and Alison, seemingly immune to the damned things as they strolled along the hilltop taking photos (they're professional film makers) Even down on the shore side or in the kayak they didn't seem to allow the bugs to bother them and it wasn't until they kayaked over as I was laying out more anchor rode that I realised they were wearing bug nets over their heads!  SENSIBLE!!

The only way to dress to avoid the "flies"...

We left early the following morning for the Hopedale area, soon after followed by Andante. They assumed we were heading for Greenland but we'd opted to come back onto the "route usually followed" line rather than cutting through a tickle. What a day of sailing! Good winds, lots of sail and speeds of 7 knots meant the usually faster Andante struggled to catch us as both crews enjoyed the sunshine and wind. A call from them suggesting we carry on rather than stop early had us passing Hopedale and them taking another cut through. At one point Russ urgently gestured to come off our track and I assumed they knew of a navigational danger that we'd overlooked but they were in their professional role and wanted shots of us from a particular angle. We spent the next few miles being filmed and if the film they showed us of their previous trip to Labrador is anything to go by we can't wait to see the results. The day moved on, the wind eased and the rain came. We plugged on under engine and then spotted Alca i on the AIS and so we all ended up for one night at least in the same anchorage. Mozzies, raining but good protection from the westerlies that were running. Unfortunately the forecast was for 35 knots from the NW by the following night and after some discussion both Hannah and Andante left at 5 am to return to the Hopedale area where we felt shelter was better. Disappointing but with the forecasts being so iffy it was felt that the next harbour up would offer an unknown level of protection, particularly for two boats, and we opted for caution. Alca i came down some hours later, using the wharf in Hopedale whilst we anchored in Tooktoosner Bay, south of the town. That evening Bee spotted Wanderbird on its way into the harbour! It seems remarkable to us that we should keep bumping into friends up here, last year we saw no one until we'd begun the return trip.

July 30th. We've moved on a little further north (57 49.79N 62 03.85W) anchored in Calm Cove or Horr Harbour as its also known.

Calm Cove living up to its name

We've had some cracking days, wonderful anchorages, interesting navigation and stunning scenery. As Rick of Wanderbird said "When you get past Nain it's a whole different world" If you ever get the slightest chance to sail this port of the world - GRAB IT- you won't be sorry. The navigation is interesting as the charts we're using, borrowed from Henry Fuller in Baddeck, are all old. Nothing wrong with them at all and we'd have been banjaxed without them but charts this old are not GPS compatible and I'm really enjoying sailing along with a chart in me 'and comparing where we might be with the surrounding hills etc. Quite takes me back to me youth!!

So we've been into Nain, so many boats in we had to anchor off but that was ok - we left the following morning with Russ and Alison for points north and anchored that night in a tiny cove at the top of the Port Manvers Run. A few days on and we're now anchored ready to go through the Mugford Tickle where, we have been assured, polar bears will be seen..........so far "only" black bears but ice has made its re-appearence, in fact we're sharing the anchorage with a few growlers; one of which is now much smaller as Russ kayaked out to hack off few big chunks for the evening drink.

Aug 1st. Well we went through the Mugford Tickle but no bears to be seen

Whilst wildlife has been scarce, hardly any whales, few seals but zillions of mozzies to the point  of distraction. The weather too is fairly cool bordering on cold, even during the day and thermals are generally needed. The average summer temperature seems to be about 50F or 10C....

 On up the coast we wandered and finally into Hebron. A shock to see so many people on the shore and a passenger boat at anchor! Andante (Russ and Alison and his sister Debbie) were already at anchor and we dragged our dinghy off to ferry both crews ashore. The other vessel had left by the time we arrived and we were greeted by the summer resident caretaker, Buddy and his sons Julius and Simieone. Buddy showed us round the site, at one time an important Moravian settlement and now being slowly "restored". After some assurance from Buddy and safe in the knowledge that at least one of our group had bear bangers, whistlers and other scaring devices he said we should be ok to walk to the top of one of the many nearby hills.... Neither me or Bee has really considered the problem of Polar Bears. They exist up here but as we rarely frequent the shore (Why do you do this? someone once asked...) Russ and Alison had considered the problem to a much greater extent as they do often go ashore and had thus come prepared. So we wandered up the hill, accompanied by Buddy's husky dogs for a while. Great views but no bears. The following morning we heard Buddy roar by in his little boat and Bee stuck her head out to have a look. Buddy was seeing off a Polar bear that had been foraging in his camp!! They followed it at a distance as the bear swam across the harbour and onto the rocks and then loped up the hill at a rapid rate of knots - FAR faster that any of us could run on a flat surface I suspect!!! Yowser - our first siting of a bear, honey coloured rather than white but impressive! No more walking in them hills for us.

 On further north, a quiet night in Maidmont Island and then onto Saglek fiord, working our way past a large 'berg aground off the tickle . Drifting quietly along at a couple of knots we were shocked to hear a VHF conversation between the base camp at Saglek and a ship. We knew there was some sort of base camp here as the Canadians maintain a DEW station (Distant Early Warning) though to what purpose I've no idea. Its a large radar set up, visible from a long way off and manned ALL year round. As we passed the anchorage we saw a large ship leaving, heading down to the other, main anchorage. And so it was that on the day we arrived in what we thought would be a quiet anchorage we found two local boats, the Clipper Adventurer and us and Andante sharing the space.

Saglek Base Camp for Parks Canada

The Clipper A was a charted ship for students studying ice conditions and had come from Iceland via Greenland and on their way to Ungava Bay. Parks Canada now have a sort of tourist site set up at Saglek where hikers can come to use as their base to explore the surrounding area. Transport from the base is either by local boat (from Nain) or by helicopter. We'd seen and heard a number of "choppers" in the last few days coming and going from here and even a small plane from time to time. A big barbeque was planned for the evening and everyone was invited. Russ, Alison and Debbie took advantage of the organised hiking, complete with armed bear guides, (Russ had called us on the vhf to tell us about the free bear guides but we'd misheard and thought he'd said Free Beer Guides....) to go up the hills whilst we stayed on board in time honoured Hannah tradition. Folks from the ship came by to talk to us and one of the local boats offered to run us in for the barbeque.....not sure why I accepted (Bee doesn't do large social gatherings) but I did and as we got closer and the hundred or so people on the shore could be clearly seen it struck me forcibly that almost all of them were wearing bug nets - a sort of net curtain that you drape over your head to keep the "critters" from devouring you....I lasted about 15 minutes before blagging a lift in one of the ships zodiacs to escape the torment. As I sit here the purple net we have across the companionway entrance is festooned with the damned things. And I've just agreed to go hiking with the Andante's (Russ says its a gentle stroll up a slight incline to the waterfall - I don't believe him)

Friday Aug 5 Anchored off Kangalasoirvik Island 58 27N 62 54W

We left Saglek this morning after mulling over things. When we borrowed the charts from Henry we didn't check how far north we could get but assumed we'd picked up all we needed to get to Cape Chidley...well we haven't and our paper charts end at this anchorage. The electronic charts for Labrador that we have show no detail so navigation is a bit iffy to say the least; we're also down to our last 100 litres of fuel so probably enough to get back to Nain if we're careful and this far north it is very difficult for us to get weather forecasts. How ever much we despair at the lack of accuracy at least when you're getting something you're hopeful that some sort of warning would come of an impending blow....yes of course we have a barometer and we watch it closely but the direction it might come from helps. The anchorages in this part of the world are generally deep and rarely land locked so anchoring requires careful consideration and a lot of scope.

Sunday 7 Aug. No sooner had I written about deep anchorages and lotsa scope when we find ourselves in one! We pootled up the coast, off the chart and into the sort of unknown. Chatted to a tug we'd seen in Nain, now bound for Quebec having come back down from Ungava Bay or further north. He kindly rang back later with an updated weather forecast although we didn't really get the winds we'd hoped for. Into Ramah Fiord and a hail on the vhf from Andante alerted us to a mother and cub making their way up a steep climb from a shingly beach; as we were some distance away the snaps we took are a tad.... Ramah was another important Moravian site although no buildings now exist and its position in the pilot books is vague but both boats plugged on. A likely spot seemed to have too much fetch from the now building wind and we moved on further into the fiord and were rewarded by the sight of 3 polar bears, 1 a cub, lying around in the sunshine on a grassy knoll. We anchored, with great difficulty behind the knoll in very deep water which shoaled rapidly to less than 10' (3 metres) in seconds. Our depth sounder sometimes won't work in muddy conditions and this was one of them. Andante were anchored, having dropped in 35' but were now sat in 76'....we dropped, lay out most of our scope so lay at the end of 220' (70 metres) and then tried to work out the depth we were in.....'bout a 100' (30metres) give or take. Not perfect but we were holding, the bottom from the lead and line showed mud so we'd be ok. Unless the wind swung hard into the north of course. Soon after the passenger boat we'd first seen in Hebron arrived with a party of hikers and dropped them ashore, confirming on the vhf that the whole fiord had deep water and our chosen spot was no better or worse than any other.

Bee spent a lot of time watching from the companionway for bears and was rewarded with the sight of the 3 we'd seen earlier now wandering along the "beach" adjacent to where we were anchored; rolling in the grass, paddling in the shallows and relaxing. Our imagery of polar bears seems to be one of huge creature on ice but never of them wandering the hills, scrambling over rocks etc.

Bishops Mitre from our anchorage

So this morning we awoke, in this the most stunning scenery of Labrador, where the highest mountain at 5500' (1535m) lies at the head of the bay; where the views from sea of the huge mountains sweeping straight down into the sea are unbelievable, where nothing could be seen 'cos we were in thick fog. And raining. And you had to feel sorry for those hikers the boat dropped off; camped across the bay from us ( "I thought this would be a wilderness and we've got 2 boats anchored here...")too far away to see last nights bear frolics, raining, foggy, and having to deal with the flies and mozzzies!

11 Aug

Back in Ramah after a couple of days in Nachvak Fiord. We sailed a few hours behind Andante and were lucky enough to see 2 adult and 1 young Polar bear steadily climbing up a steep scree slope. As ever in life the young 'un lagged behind no doubt grumbling to itself. In the anchorage the Andante's had been keeping an eye on a huge male that was occupying the shore... Before we'd been this far we all thought the $300 a day fee for a bear watcher to be expensive - in the Torngat area where we now are yachts are not allowed to take weapons ashore even though this is where they might be most needed. Funny how our opinions have changed; if you want to go walking up here I think $300 is a bargain for a local person, armed, who understands the terrain and is familiar with bears. The morning after we anchored Bee heard a noise and thought Toots had fallen in and got up to investigate. Unzipping the canvas flap that covers the companionway we and the swimming bear where both startled to see each other and later in the day Russ had gone off for a kayak around the bay and we were all horrified to see him blithely paddling back toward a feeding bear we'd spotted. He made it safely back, the bear continued feeding and entertaining us as he surface dove and waggled his back paws in the air in an effort to get deeper.

Polar bear feet as it dives for mussels

Up early the next day we began our long trip south, for us it'll be some 1500 miles before we get back to the US, Andante opting to leave the boat in Newfoundland for the winter but we both faced the same beat into a SE wind over a SE running current. With this combination the seas built rapidly and as we lag behind our quicker travelling buddies we copped the worst of it. We thought we might be able to make it further south but as water continued to flood over the deck the prospect of a quiet anchorage was too much and we followed them some hours later into the anchorage. Not the one we'd used before but this time off the old settlement. A water party went ashore to get fresh water from the fast running water fall, wash hair and wander about whilst I kept a lookout for any bear that may come along. We had considered night sails as the wind is generally quieter and as the middle of August approaches we really should be making tracks. But leaving Nachvak yesterday we came across several car sized growlers and then approaching the Ramah fiord we saw a massive ice island. So big it created a smooth patch of water as we beat down one side of it. We think this was still floating but that and the growlers put paid to any thoughts of night sails until we get MUCH further south.

Up this morning at 4, even though the wind had been blowing all night and we both knew it might be pointless. It was but as I wandered out to take the chimney down, minutes after I'd got up and happened to see 2 white blobs in the water close to the bowsprit..... a couple of curious adult bears watching the boat and giving me a shock at the same time. Too dark to photograph and I'm suddenly aware that Toots has wandered up on deck and we're upwind of the things! Luckily Bee was inside and by the forehatch and snatched Toots up and below decks before the pb's decided to investigate. I kid you not when I say these things have paws the size of her (Toots that is).

15 Aug.

Approaching Mugford Tickle after another 4am rise and a day of motoring. We've had a couple of great anchorage's.  One just north of the Saglek fiord which affords very protection and reasonable depths with good holding. The journey down was a combination of light wind sailing/drifting with a fair amount of fog thrown in. But the highlight was presented when still some 7 miles from the island we were heading for and about 3 miles off the mainland Bee spotted 2 polar bears swimming, against the current. in a northerly direction! We assume they had come from the nearest island and were making their way north but startling to see them so far off shore. It may well be common behaviour but we know so little about them that everything we see is new. As we passed Shuldham Island we saw 2 more wandering along the ridge, making that 15 polar bears we've seen this year. Or ever!!

Cape Uivik early morning 58 29N 62 34W

A beat the following morning, followed by more motoring had us tied up alongside Andante for a couple of night as we let a stiff SE go through before resuming the plod south today. Luckily Russ has a good ssb so is able to get weather forecasts as we get nothing on the VHF this far north of Nain. Unfortunately the weather is a continual supply of SE winds with little prospect of change. Thankfully Andante had brought a lot of fuel with them and loaned us 40 litres or our prospects of getting to Nain to refuel would be slight. The weather, already cool, has begun to get colder and night sails don't bear thinking about.

The terrain here is partly awe inspiring, partly terrifying. No trees have been seen for several days and the rock has moss but little else it seems. An incredible harsh environment that few people have ever inhabited. Innuit and Innui peoples roamed, surviving on hunting and fur trade I think but reading of white exploration is a humbling experience in todays world of GPS and Sat. phones; of winter temperatures of -64F, starvation meals of leather soaked overnight and eaten for breakfast.....

Aug 20.

Anchored in Challenger Cove, Port Manvers.

One more polar bear to add to the list, numerous black bears and a couple of days of tough going. The 2 boats split up for a day as we chose different anchorages to sit out a blow meant to be coming through. It didn't materialise but we spent the night in Nutack fiord and thoroughly enjoyed the spot. Had to beat out as the wind tends to funnel down it but had an interesting time as we cleared the channels and reached open water to be met by large swells and a confused sea caused by said swells hitting the land and bouncing back out to be met by the next swell trying to get to land. A wet old time... Both boats opted to head for Dawes Harbour as the entry into Port Manvers in the current wind would not be pleasant. Little did we know! Dawes Harbour lived up to its description in the pilot book "...subject to swell..." and how! Its a small harbour and even though the wind was coming off the land the swells still entered resulting in a bouncy night, made worse by the knowledge that the wind was due to shift to the east and would be blowing straight into the entrance. A quandary; do we stay or go? For a variety of reasons, getting dark, difficult entrance to leave, possibility of bergy bits and no where to go in the near area meant we stayed but not much sleep was had by either crew. Bee utilised the time by making bread and various treats at 3am and both boats headed out soon after 5am for the south. The wind had gone round to the east but was light and we punched out way out into a lumpy sea to finally clear the place. Andante forged ahead (they're about half Hannah's weight but have the same size engine and with a tightly sheeted, reefed main and stays'l set a crackin' pace). We were doing ok and with the engine running and 3 sails set were plodding along in a lumpy sea with insufficient wind. The seas were big, some of the swells must have been 30'+ (9m) in length as Hannah would slide down them and bury the bowsprit...too much like the blows off Greenland for comfort thank you. Around 11 we got a call from Andante warning us the entrance to Port Manvers was a maritime hell with breakers and surf everywhere. The seas were breaking hard over Willis Islands that block a lot of the entrance plus the surf and bouncing waves off either side of the 800 metres wide inlet was making it difficult. They'd managed to work out a strategy for getting in, avoiding the two underwater rocks with 9'(2.8m) and 11'(3.2m) clearance and were now in smooth water. Oh and just to add to the mix the current is running against you entering!!. As we were still some 9 miles from that point and a lot further in beating terms we hoped that things might have changed by the time we got there. Eventually we did after a relentless day spent working our way gradually south. I was reminded (frequently) of Illingworth's (yacht designer) comment of the ability of Colin Archer's to go to windward..." like a cow in a bog...". Make it a ketch and it gets worse!  But, as in all things, we slowly got there worked our way around Willis Rocks and into a confused and lumpy sea and into the safety of the inner passage. The chart we had of this area is a B&W from 1985, is not compatible with GPS (positions show us to be moving sedately across the land) and the tiny detail of the entrance is further made worse by the fold in the chart. But Russ had given a clear description of how they dealt with it and it made our life easier as we worked our way in. A short quiet sail of 5 miles was our reward and we dropped the anchor about 6pm in 5 metres of green water.  

24 Aug. Heading south from Nain, little wind but chance to view the surrounding hills, trees and greenery. How different from a few days north of here.

31 Aug. Moving south after sheltering from the remains of Hurricane Irene. Both boats headed for Meshers Harbour, an almost landlocked, deep pool surrounded by trees and were joined the following day by a local fishing boat. It was secure and uneventful (as these things, thankfully, so often are) and we headed out at first light this morning for Webeck.

The last week has been mixture of some good sailing, interesting beats through narrow tickles and the reappearance of whales and sea birds after a paucity further north.

Sept 15

We're further south approaching Red Bay as the VHF continues to broadcast the rapid approach of Hurricane Maria and it's 60 knot gusts - we said a subdued goodbye to Russ and Alison on Andante this morning as we both left the shelter of Chateau Bay for different destinations and the concerns of the next 48 hours. We'll see what happens!

The weather has not been favourable to getting south and we now find ourselves a couple of weeks behind and still in Labrador. OK panic hasn't yet set in but things are getting tight on the food and booze front not to mention toilet paper. But with luck we'll get somewhere soon and at least 2 of the commodities can be replenished ... unfortunately it won't be the booze but..

Sept 16. 2pm

Awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Maria which is closely followed by a deepening low 979 from the Gulf of St Lawrence. The barometer has dropped 5 in 5 hours to 1005 and winds are forecast to reach 55 knots for this area. This area being the Strait of Belle Isle. The 3 boats, us, Andante and Morgans Cloud ( who passed us on our way to St Charles) are each in different areas due to differing speeds and destinations but all areas have storm warnings issued for them. Ho hum. We got into Red Bay and have decided to shelter up behind the substantial dock. it has a small entrance open to the south although partially protected by a shoal and headland. The entrance to Red Bay itself is from the SW, via a narrow entrance and protected by an island and the west side of the bay. which is where this blow is coming from....Every person we have spoken to assures us the harbour is bullet proof and whilst we may get a "bit 'o slop boy" curling around the entrance we'll be safe. As ever with these things the height of the weather is forecast to arrive after midnight. This will be the first blow we've sat out inside a harbour (apart from when we've been wintered in Portsmouth or Belfast) and the reason is primarily because the depths in the harbour where we'd anchor are fairly deep and we really don't have enough scope for us to be comfortable. So will we regret it? We'll see.

Sept 21.

We didn't regret it - the harbour was very well protected and we were comfortable with 8 lines emanating from boat to dock. It blew hard for about 36 hours; first with Maria then with this second, deeper low but by Sunday night all was calm and we headed out, anxious to use the forecasted favourable wind. Made it across the Strait and into St Barbe, anchoring off the ferry dock in good, thick mud. The following day it blew 25+ from the SW and we stayed put leaving on the Tuesday at 6 to get as far as we could. Initially that wasn't far as the winds were lighti-sh and heading us and we sailed 18 miles to make 2 miles off our journey......We persevered until the winds had almost deserted us and then motored. And motored. By the evening we had made it  almost to Port Aux Choix but opted to continue as the wind had picked up (still heading us of course). We beat through the night into an increasingly lumpy sea, hanging onto more sail than we would normally to weather the last headland. But that wasn't until 5am the following morning and we were sick of the motion and ready to stop. As we turned for the Port Saunders area wind and waves increased and we had a rough old time crossing the Bay and gaining the safety of the lee. Now we're anchored, eaten and slept and tomorrow it looks as though we have it all to do again. And again. Will this SW wind ever relent and give us a break? Yesterday we kicked ourselves repeatedly when we looked at the long term forecast (as we had in Red Bay after the hurricane) and wondered why we hadn't gone the long way round where the winds had been favourable for much of the time...

And finally we're back in Neddy with Randy and Karen -

the circle complete and we even managed to take Jeffrey and his 2 pals, Jay and Chris out for sail around the harbour

And no we never did find the mouse..