We’ve just finished editing and then presented our latest, and final DVD in the Down East Circle series, at the Toronto International Boat Show. Part 6 covers sailing from Nova Scotia, 300 nautical miles across the Gulf of Maine to Boston. We then visit Newport Rhode Island, sail down Long Island Sound to New York City and return to Lake Ontario via the Hudson River and Erie & Oswego Canals. About 1200 miles total distance covered in 38 days
Nova Scotia, New England, New York & The Hudson River
We depart July 15th by train from Cobourg to Montreal then Halifax, and on to St. Margarets Bay, where Phantasia, our Niagara 35 has been stored since last summer’s trip along Nova Scotia’s South Shore. This will be (may be) the final segment of Down East Circle (DEC) as we plan to bring the boat home across the Gulf of Maine to New England, up Long Island Sound to New York City then the Hudson River & Erie Barge Canal back to Lake Ontario. The proposed course looks like this.
We’ve had an entire year to research and plan this summers trip but of course as the time to depart draws near I find myself madly reading everything from tide tables for Buzzards Bay to web sites about dining out in NYC. The knowledgeable staff at Nautical Mind Books, http://www.nauticalmind.com, have been helping us out with cruising guides and charts and a friend who did the trip last summer was kind enough to lend us his US chart books. He also assisted us with route planning based on his experience. See Bill’s web site for details of his trip, http://venturesail.com/
We have to launch and commission our vessel in St Margarets then we’ll sail down to the La Have Islands, Port Mouton and Shelburne on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. From Shelburne we’ll sail out to Brazil Rock and then cross the Gulf of Maine to Boston, the course is almost due west, 278 degrees magnetic. This passage of about 300 NM will take about 60+ hours and represents our longest ocean passage so far, previously our longest passage was about 160 NM out to the Isles de la Madeleine in DEC2, see http://sail2.finnevans.ca/dec2, for details.
The weather is the key thing for this longish passage, we want to time it just right so that we have light and fair winds with calm seas. It’s a been a daily ritual for the past couple of months to keep track of Nova Scotia and New England weather. Both Environment Canada’s and the US NOAA and GoMOOS web sites offer a wealth of excellent forecast material. We are also considering purchasing a customized forecast package from a private weather service.
The Gulf of Maine is very rich in marine life due to it’s nutrient rich waters which supports in particular one of the primary breeding sites for the much endangered Atlantic Right Whale. With some luck while on route we’ll get to observe some of these magnificent creatures.
Route Plan
After carefully looking over all the charts and sailing directions for this years trip from Nova Scotia back to Lake Ontario we’ve come up with this proposed route. It will change with the wind and waves but If all goes well it puts up back in Ontario within the time allotted.
July
15th – Depart by train from Cobourg
16th – Arrive at 1800 hrs and over night in Halifax Nova Scotia
17th – St. Margarets Bay NS
18th – Launch Phantasia
19 – 20 – Rig & provision boat and depart to Troop Island NS – 10 nm
21 & 22 – Troop Island to La Have NS 31 nm
23 & 24 – La Have to Port Mouton NS – 33 nm
25 & 26 – Port Mouton to Shelburne NS – 41 nm
27 – 28 – 29 – Shelburne to Brazil Rock to Boston Mass. 285 nm crossing the Gulf of Maine (about 60 hrs. at sea)
30 – 31 – Boston Massachusetts USA !
August
1 – Boston Mass
2 – Boston Mass. to Cape Cod Canal East Mass. – 55 nm
3 – Cap Cod Canal East Mass. to New Bedford Mass. – 30 nm
4 – New Bedford Mass to Newport RI – 35 nm
5 – Newport RI to Mystic Conn – 35 nm
6 – Mystic Conn. to Port Jefferson, Long Island Sound New York – 60 nm
7- Port Jefferson to Port Washington NY 35 nm
8 – Port Washington NY to New York City 79th Street Marina – 30 nm
9 – 79th Street Marina NYC
10 – NYC to Peekskill NY – 35 nm
11 – Peekskill to Kingston NY – 45 nm
12 -13 – Kingston to Albany/Troy NY – 50 nm – Mast off
14 – Troy to Onandagas Island NY – 30 nm
15 – Onandagas Island to Little Falls NY – 50 nm
16 – Ltitle Falls to Rome NY 30 nm
17- Rome to Oswego NY 60 nm
18 – Oswego – mast on
19 – Crossing Lake Ontario to Presque’Isle Ontario – 60 nm
20 – Presque’Isle to Cobourg Ontario – 30 nm
21 – Cobourg to Toronto Ontario – 60 nm
1000 – 1200 nautical miles total distance
Shelburne Nova Scotia
Leaving St. Margarets on July 20th our first day out was perfect. With clear calm conditions we had 30 miles to cover, and ended the day gently sailing up the La Have River, to dock at the bakery.
The forecast for the 21st was not favorible, 25+ knot winds from the SW. We left La Have anyway and made it only 20 nm. to Port Medway, fighting gusty winds right on the bow, steep seas and at times fog. Loosing the main sail’s top batten when we put the first reef in near the end of the day really was not needed. As it turned out Port Medway is a wonderful bay and safe anchorage, we promised to return one day and explore this small picture postcard town.
On the 22nd we sailed to Port Mouton, 20 miles on, and anchored at fantastic Carter’s Beach. We spent a wonderful day beach-coming in the fine white sand but found the 50 degree F. water too cold to go in.
Fortunately the wind was down when we departed on the 23rd for the 40 mile trip down to Shelburne. Thick fog surrounded us for several hours leaving Port Mouton and we sounded our horn every 2 minutes as the colregs state. About half way to Shelburne a hose on the refrigeration unit popped off it’s fitting allowing sea water to flow into the bilge. Jayne noted the bilge pump coming on every few minutes, I assured her it was nothing but upon lifting the floor boards found a small river running in from the stern of the boat. It took a few anxious minutes to locate the source and re-installing the hose fixed the problem.
Shelburne is a fantastic port, it’s 10 mile deep bay is well inland, above the fog and offers excellent protection from all conditions. Sheryl Barr’s Down East Circle Route guide recommended the Shelburne Yacht Club so we stopped there for fuel and water, grabbed a mooring and headed “downtown” a half block to “Founders Days”. Founders Days are Shelburne’s annual weekend celebration of its founding by united empire loyalists escaping the American Revolution. It’s great fun, music, food, art, all set at the waters edge in front of Shelburne’s incredible late 1700’s architecture.
Tomorrow we depart at dawn for the 300 mile sail crossing the Gulf of Maine to Boston.
Shelburne Nova Scotia to Boston Massachusetts
25-July-2011, we lucked out with the weather forecast calling for about 3 days of light SE winds, with any luck we would be across the 300 mile wide Gulf of Maine in 2 and a half days before the winds shifted to the west. We set out from Shelburne NS on the back of a a favorable tide, in almost calm conditions, and motored about 25 miles out to Brazil Rock, off Cape Sable Island, the Fundy Tide giving us as much as a 2 knot boost passing the rock.
A few other boats had set out at the same time as us from Nova Scotia, but as the land fell from site we realized that they would not be crossing with us, and had turned further up into Fundy, probably headed for one of the harbours in Maine, a little over 100 mile away. The first night of the crossing was uneventful and the wind stayed SW allowing us to sail a direct course to Boston of 275 degrees magnetic, making as much as 6.5 knots and averaging about 5 knots.
On the 26th we continued sailing a direct course for Boston, aided by the same light SW wind, although it became too light to sail, so we motor sailed for much of the day. We enjoyed the solitude and beauty of the Gulf, Shearwaters and Stormy Petrals skimmed the ocean and the occasional pod of dolphins passed near by. At about midnight on the 26th, about the last 60 miles into Boston the weather began to deteriorate. It swung west and began to build until it reached about 15-20 knots by which time it was almost directly on the bow. To top it off there were terrific thunderstorms building all around us and we feared both downdrafts and the chance of being struck by lightening. It did not seem a good idea to depart from the direct course into Boston so we furled the jib and staysail and motor sailed into a sizable head sea. By the wee hours of the morning we were nearing the Massachusetts shore and the wind and waves subsided. As we reached Boston’s outer harbour the night before was only an unpleasant memory, and we entered Boston’s inner harbour through flat calm seas, as the temperature climbed into the mid eighties.
We found docking space at a small marina near the Navy Yards and spent the afternoon getting checked in with US Customs, we have Nexus cards which helped simplify that process, and then snoozed, only getting up to dine at a nearby waterfront cafe. On the 28th we moved down the harbour to Boston Waterboat Marina, it’s near the centre of the harbour beside Long Wharf and a only few blocks from Quincy Market and a short walk from Little Italy. We had to still obtain our cruising license from a office near the cruise ship dock and returning our cabbie recommended we try the Union Oyster House, one of, if not the oldest restaurant in Boston. Daniel Webster was know to enjoy 6 large brandys each accompanied by 6 oysters here and JFK was a regular when he was a Massachusetts senator. We have made several excursions up to Quincy market and shopping in Little Italy as well as going out for dinner there. We’ve walked the waterfront path down to South Boston and the Institute of Contemporay Art and wandered through the Financial Distict. Today was spent uptown at the Museum of Fine Art and back in the Quincy area. Tomorrow we must leave this wonderful city and sail down the coast to Sandwich near the Cape Cod Canal. Boston is definitely on the “return to” list.
Cape Cod, Newport, Long Island Sound, New York
Much has happened since our last DEC 6 blog update from Boston. We thought we were leaving Boston for Cape Cod but in the middle of Boston Harbour Phanty’s DC charging system fried. We wound up at Marina Bay south of the city replacing our battery isolator, it cost us 2 days and $400 dollars to fix.
Leaving Marina Bay we sailed to Scituate Harbour, entering in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. The next days transit of Cape Cod Canal was fun, with the tide in favour we shot through at 9 knots, stopping just past the western end at Red Brook Harbour MA, near Wing’s Neck. Buzzards Bay treated us to a fine sail wing on wing right up to Newport, Rhode Island, where we raced one of the resident 12 Meters into the inner harbour.
We spent a couple of days on a Newport town mooring between an Oyster 56 and 64, next to a Deerfoot 60, with a constant procession of 12’s, mega and classic yachts at our door step. Jayne painted in the Vanderbilt Mansion garden after we toured the house and we walked to the International Yacht Restoration School, inspecting the restoration of the yacht Coronet. We purchased an original Coronet “trunnion pin” in support of the restoration.
The fair winds forecast for our sail up Long Island Sound turned out to be fowl and we battened down the hatches for a morning of howling winds, waves and fog. Once up the sound we lost the v-belt on the Yanmar entering Port Washington in a thunderstorm accompanied by 30 knot winds.
The next days sail up New York’s East River could not have been better, there is almost too much to see as you travel directly through the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn, speeding at 10 knots propelled by “Hell Gate” current. Once around the Battery we were on the Hudson and it’s just a few miles up to the 79th Street Boat Basin. The boat basin must be one of the best deals in NYC, $30 a night to camp out on the upper west side, a few blocks from Central Park, Broadway and all this great city has to offer.
We are now about 100 miles up the Hudson on Catskill Creek, the mast is off the boat and tomorrow we sail for Troy NY and then the Erie Canal will take us back to Lake Ontario.
Up The Hudson – Catskills – Erie & Oswego Canals – Lake Ontario
I was up at dawn preparing to depart Manhattan’s 79th Street Boat Basin, the tide would be against us but the weather was fine, clear skies and light winds forecast for several days.
With Manhattan’s skyline fading to stern and the George Washington Bridge approaching we encountered “Half Moon”, a replica of Henry Hudson’s ship sailing down river, about 403 years after the original voyage. The magnificent cliffs that line Palisades Park are also to port with a lighthouse dwarfed by the bridge to starboard.
As you round a bend in the river suddenly the city disappears from view astern and the Catskill’s Bear Mountain appears. The fortress installation of West Point is to port and we noted one of the intakes that brings fresh water to New York’s water system.
We spent a quite night anchored to the shoulder of the river at Cornwall-on Hudson, unable to find a path we felt comfortable with into the suggested anchorage on the opposite shore, north of “Breakneck Point”
The Hudson entertained us with views of more bridges, lighthouses and many tugs pushing barges both up and down river, each with it’s own unique, colorful paint scheme.
The much larger and now less distant Adirondack Mountains dominate the horizon.
Riverview Marina on Catskill Creek became our home for a couple of days while we built a deck cradle for and removed Phanty’s heavy 50′ mast. A sign near the marina reported the creek had been the site of the “Hop-O-Nose native community prior to 1682. With little energy to spare we did manage a short walk into the nearby town of Catskill, where there are a collection of beautiful early 1800’s buildings and houses.
The mast now on deck, we set out under gray skies, passing Athens NY, just up-river from Catskill. More tugs and barges and somber views along the Hudson’s shores, a wild turkey, many bald eagles, a deer grazing.
Interesting to note that in 1850 approximately 15,000 barges and 500 sailing ships passed through Albany NY. We assumed the wooden cribbing that lined both banks of the river must have originally been built to tie barges and small sailing ships to. This construction lines the river on both sides, beautifully scarfed horizontal timbers are bolted to vertical pilings. The Hudson is tidal right up to Albany, where there us almost 4 feet of tide, 150 miles up river from the Atlantic.
Entering Albany in the rain we passed many industrial sites to starboard and the cities skyline to port.
Just north of Troy NY we entered Troy’s “Federal Lock”, from there you may proceed north to Lake Champlain or west to the Erie Barge Canal.
We ended the day at the Waterford town dock arriving in a torrential downpour. Jayne trudged up to the office to sign us in, you can just see the start of the “Waterford Flight”, locks E2 to E6 of the Erie Barge Canal in the background of picture 52.
Good progress made up the canal, although it’s surprisingly hard work. Many of the locks have more than a 20 foot rise and it’s difficult to drive in, grab the bow and stern lines off the wall, and then keep them tensioned as the lock fills. Coming up to the lock can also be tricky, many locks have nearby dams that create turbulence near the lock entrance, pictures 57-58 illustrate one. The canals banks are lined with many defunct industrial sites, factories, and the beautiful deco power plant in picture 59. Tied up at the Amsterdam NY Municipal Marina for the night, picture 60.
The canals infrastructure is expertly maintained, we encountered several places where dredging was taking place. The Herkimer House, picture 62, circa 1764, lies just east of Little Falls NY. Nicholas, later General Herkimer, was a hero of the revolutionary war, fending off a British attack at Oriskany that cost him his life. The lock into Little Falls was the last of a long day, the town is a delight, complete with excellent French restaurant, a short walk from the municipal marina.
The canal widens and abounds with beautiful views and wildlife, a surprise at every bend. We decided to stop just short of Lake Oneida at lock 21, from here on we will be traveling down hill. A good stop to make, allowing us to view in detail the interesting apparatus that controlled our ascent & decent as well as meet a lockmaster.
Another bridge to pass under following which we entered the 8 lock Oswego Canal at Three Rivers NY. The Oswego Canal would take us north again and back to Lake Ontario. The tugboat “Urger”, picture 79, is the flagship of the New York State Canal Corporation fleet. Built in 1901 in Ferrysburg Michigan, this tug is one of the oldest working vessels in the US.
High Lock 6 of the Oswego Canal has a nice view of Oswego and out to Lake Ontario. By late in the day we made it to the last lock 8, picture 83, we were both getting too tired to stand. From up in the lock you can see the Oswego River flowing beside you to port. The kind lock master, picture 85, gave us a map and information about the town as well as some home grown tomatoes he hurried to hand down to us as we exited.
Oswego Marine is the place to get your mast put back on, you can see their slender blue mast crane in the center of picture 87. Fort Ontario is nearby, east of the marina and there is a commercial wharf just seaward. At the harbours entrance stands a beautiful old lighthouse, passing it marked the first time we had sailed in Lake Ontario since 2006 when we started the “Down East Circle”.
We had about 80 miles to cover crossing Lake Ontario from Oswego to our home port of Cobourg. With our house rented out until September 1st we planned a brief visit home and then to sail 60 miles west to Toronto, to spend a couple of weeks in the city. A huge thunderstorm passed very near, delivering buckets of warm rain followed by a double rainbow. As evening descended Toronto’s skyline drew near.
We’ve been tied up at Toronto’s Marina Quay West for a week now. Marina Quay West is convenient to downtown and we’re both back at work, the Down East Circle loop having been closed.
Toronto
It’s coming up to labour day weekend, we’ve been docked here in Toronto, at Marina Quay West, since completing Down East Circle August 22nd. This evening we plan to sail down to Etobicoke Yacht Club, which we used to sail out of, and hopefully catch up with some old friends there.
Saturday’s forecast for 15 knot winds from the south west should make it ideal to sail east 60 miles, and back to our home in Cobourg, our tenats will move out Sunday and we can have our house back, after spending nearly 8 weeks on the boat.
I’ve been in touch with several of the members of our Niagara 35 Owners Group in New England, they were pasted by the tail of hurricane Irene on the 27th & 28th. Sharon of Silver Lining said their 500 lb mushroom anchor dragged 200 feet while Gary had moved his Niagara 35 Sunflower from a 500 to a 1000 lb anchor. Don up in Maine, sailed up the Saco River, from the cove they are usually moored in, to seek refuge from the storm.
The automated email alert system from the New York State Canal System has been sending us notices like this all week,
CLOSURE CHAMPLAIN: CANAL AND ERIE CANAL LOCK E2 TO E19
CLOSURE CHAMPLAIN: CANAL AND ERIE CANAL LOCK E2 TO E19 Mariners are advised that the Champlain Canal, and the Erie Canal between Locks E-19 (Frankfort) and E-2 (Waterford), are closed to all navigation. The Waterford Flight (Lock E-2 to E-6) has been opened as “safe harbor” for vessel traffic wishing to safely moor during the storm. Vessels already in the immediate vicinity that request passage into the Flight at Lock E-2 or Lock E-6 for safe harbor will be admitted as long as conditions allow For updates and information monitor 1-800-4CANAL4 and www.canals.ny.gov.
The forecast for August 27-28, for the Gulf of Maine, which we crossed in late July, included winds to 50 knots and waves of 25 feet, this image shows Irene crossing the gulf, gladly without us nearby.