Aug 042015
 
Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton’s Harbour, all around the circle and then some.

We took different routes to get to Lewisporte on Newfoundland’s east coast this summer, where we had left Phanty last year. Jayne and a friend took the car and drove out while I waited for my annual vacation to begin, and worked to complete a new patio and drainage system on our 1850’s cottage/house.

Jayne had another motive beside just enjoying the drive and Gigi’s company, we had an unfinished winter cover on board, she packed her heavy sewing machine in “Jules” our green Subaru wagon and they hit the road. The June and early July weather in Newfoundland was marked by some of the the coldest, wettest weather on record. I flew into Gander on July 24th and, how nice, Jayne and Jules were there to pick me up, in the driving rain I fished out my new Goretex foul weather jacket. Gigi having flown home the same day. Torrential rains and high winds finally ended the following day, and Jayne as promised set to work on the cover. We dropped the boat in the water on Monday July 27th. and while Jayne finished our cover I struggled to re-install Phanty’s rebuilt Wilcox Crittenden, Imperial 51 head. I had forgotten how hard it is to route 1 1/2″ hose and force it on hose barbs, a heat gun and skinned knuckles is essential ! With the head installed and pumping faithfully, without leaks we set out for our first sail, out to Moreton’s Harbour on New World Island.

A rollicking good sail under gathering clouds, gusts to 20 knots and slight showers, it really got the cob webs out. We both have state of the art new rain suits and got to test them out, happy to report they are superb at keeping wind and water at bay, and fashionable too!  From Moreton’s we tested Yannie – our Yanmar 3GH2E, running over to Twillingate, hugging the shore under Lower Head’s cliffs and passing Devil’s Cove and Horney Head into the inner harbour. That’s me in Phanty’s cockpit, we’re tied beside shrimpers and across from the shrimp plant, Gord the dockmaster made us most welcome and we spent a day exploring and hiking out to Jenkins Cove where Jayne painted and I wandered with my camera.

Another short sail in variable and warm conditions took us to the beautiful-mysterious Change Islands, entering with a severe thunderstorm watch forecast on the VHF, we were first treated to several pounds of fresh cod gifted to us by a friendly local and then fantastic displays of lighting surrounded us on all sides. A relief to be in port, safely tied to the sturdy fishing wharf and the only chore on hand devouring fresh fish and chips. Sun, sun and warmth greeted us the next day and we strolled down the harbour, stopping to meet the Newfoundland ponies in a nearby paddock, they sensed we had apples I think, and became extremely interested in our approach. We walked around the harbour to Peter Porter’s Old Store Museum, where he described the functions of the hundreds of items on display, from harpoons to a working juke box, still stocked and working with Johnny Cash and Hank Snow tunes. The Squid Jiggin Trail, starts right beside Peter’s store. It takes you through tuckamore, quiet coves and out to headlands, vistas of white surf on the near shore reefs, and the broad blue North Atlantic beyond.

Today, if we can force our selves to depart this island paradise we plan to sail 5 miles across to Fogo Island, then down to Seldom Cove, Lumsden Harbour and around Cape Freels into Bonavista Bay. St John’s here we come.

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Fogo, Seldom, Lumsden, Bonavista and Port Union/Catalina

Hike to Brimstone Head - Fogo Island Newfoundland

Jayne and Mike hike to Brimstone Head – Fogo Island Newfoundland

We have been too busy this “Newfoundland Circle” to update our web site as much as we would like, since my last entry at Change Islands we have been sailing, hiking, painting, photographing and explored the harbours of Fogo, Seldom, Lumsden, Bonavista and Port Union/Catalina. We’re sort of stuck, by bad weather, in Port Union, and will see tomorrow morning if we can get out and across Trinity Bay. A significant south west wind has been blowing for a few days, kicking up 2-3 meter waves, and of course we want to sail south west.

This has been a fantastic route to sail, the entrance to Fogo Harbour is magnificent, tall headlands surround a keyhole entrance, and of course the dock is near the fishing harbour at the centre of town. We hiked both Fogo Head and Brimstone Head trails, dashing from a thunderstorm once on Brimstone’s summit.

From Fogo a short sail to Seldom, landing in the middle of a thunderstorm. They have a great F.U., Fisherman’s Union museum, complete with original cod liver oil vats of great volume with some oil still dripping out on occasion.

Lumsden’s compact harbour proved very welcoming and adjacent to 10 miles of gray sand beach, friendly horses and much cod brought on the dock for the “food fishery”. Lady Easton came in close astern as Jayne pondered their high bow from Phantasia’s cockpit.

Bonavista must be one of the prettiest places in Canada and the closest to Ireland, in distance and perhaps culturally too. A short animation sequnce shows our landing under sunny skys in 25C. At Bonavista’s floating dock we met some fine sailors from Holyrood near St John’s, together we enjoyed dinner and a great evening of music by Matthew Byrne at the Garrick Theatre Annex.

Wind and waves forced us into wonderful Port Union, an unexpected gem of a harbour, and an unexpected chance to explore Sir William Ford Coaker’s Factory, the birthplace of the F.P.U. – Fisherman’s Protective Union. It’s complete with an incredible collections of circa 1900 wood working machines and a working printing press from the same period. Also note the beautiful and quite rare ships chronometer.

We’re just listening to the wind generator on Phanty’s stern whirring and thinking we may be taking another day to explore Port Union and nearby Catalina.

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Mike

14-Aug-2015 – Port Union, Newfoundland

Bay de Verde
We’re back in Ontario – our summer adventure sailing in Newfoundland now but a happy memory – great late summer and beautiful fall weather here at home has made the transition from sailing adventure to home life easier to take. I just thought I would publish a few last photo galleries before too much time goes by. In my last post we had sailed in difficult conditions, against 20-25 knot SW winds to Port Union/Catalina, and attempted to leave once but turned back. The waves crossing Trinity Bay were just too uncomfortable and progress too slow. That worked out ok, giving us an excellent chance to explore Port Union and take the dinghy over to Catalina, a few miles away. With SW winds still hovering in the 20-25 knot range we powered past the light house that marks the passage to and from Port Union/Catalina and “power-stay-sailed”, or “motor sailed” to escape the big square waves built up near shore. Out further in Trinity Bay we encountered fog but managed a direct course towards Bacalieu Tickle about 20 miles away. We hove-to, backing the staysail against the rudder and centering the main to enjoy hot soup Jayne had prepared before we departed. We’ve found it best to fill wide mouth thermos bottles while at shore and not light the stove in rough conditions unless we have to.

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There are no longer human residents of Bacalieu Island which lies a couple of miles off the upper Avalon Peninsula, but the island is a refuge for sea birds and the tickle for marine life, whales & dolphins etc. The wind subsides in the tickles shelter and we tacked around Bay de Verde head into the pocket harbour of Bay de Verde, joining another sail boat at the floating dock, among dozens of shrimpers. In late August the shrimp season is in full swing, with many boats unloading their fresh catch at the plant across the harbour. If you walk over and take the stairs up to the office they’ll send someone to fetch a bag of fresh shrimp from the plant below, I think it was 5$ or 8$ dollars. Above the town a steep walk leads around the bay to Lazy Rock where I snapped the obligatory picture of Jayne holding the rock up, we had our packed lunch and rested, Jayne made a painting while I snapped pictures, before walking back many kilometers under the hot sun. Back in town I stopped to photograph the last remaining piece of stage – once the entire inner harbour was covered by acres of stages, used to dry and salt cod, residents would pass under them on their way to boats laying to bow and stern anchors in the harbour. Long before the breakwater was built. There is an excellent museum in “Blandon House” high on the hill above where Phanty sat at the dock, its filled with photos and objects that describe life in old days as well as new interests such as wild life in the “tickle” at Bacalieu.

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Cape St Francis
The forecast was for north east winds, 15-20 knots the following day; exactly what we had been waiting for. We planned an early morning departure from Bay de Verde, and crossing of Conception Bay, to round Capt St. Francis, sailing about 160 degrees over 20 miles. From there we would parallel the coast for another 20 miles and turn sharply into St. John’s harbour, marked by Signal Hill’s Cabot Tower on its’ north side.

CapeStFrancis

The forecast was perfectly accurate, and allowed us an easy, fast, downwind sail across Conception Bay. A lull in the wind fooled us into launching the spinnaker which quickly overpowered the boat; after a few exhilarating minutes we doused it quickly. The coast south of St. Francis is marked by magnificent rock faces, under brilliant sun Phanty bounced across the steel blue ocean, making for one of the best sails of the season. Cabot Tower gives the hidden entrance to St. John’s harbour away and as we turned in we called the port authority, requesting clearance to enter. With no commercial traffic in or out bound we passed between North and South Head, leaving Fort Amherst to port and under the towering cliffs that line The Narrows on starboard, into the inner harbour. It’s a bustling place – a row of giant ships that service the offshore oil rigs take up much of the wharf, further in small cruise and tour boats are mixed with working vessels, barges etc. Opposite, on the harbours eastern side the Canadian Coast Guard base is sited and also the commercial fishing harbour. We sought refuge in the far south western corner, behind a large fishing vessel and across from the Oceanex Terminal – we were here – we had sailed into another major Canadian port – St. John’. Jayne and I beamed at one another – and then set to work making fast to the massive tire covered wharf, from where we would explore St. John’s for the next several days.

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St John’s
St. John's Harbour

With Phanty bumping gently (red & yellow circle) against the enormous truck tires that line the wharf in St. John’s inner harbour, we set out to explore this unique city. Having sailed in under Cabot Tower we felt we had to hike out and inspect it – from the tower there promised to be a fantastic vue of the city and harbour too. The walk along St John’s waterfront is a delight – the friendly tour boat operator down the dock from us advised us where to eat and hear some music, visiting sailboats from Gaspe and Norway, the lumbering oil rig vessels in for maintenance and taking on stores. We always find working habours like St. John’s the most interesting, their immediate connection to the lives and lively hoods of those they serve, provide so much that yacht harbours just can’t. Someone had told us that the walk to Cabot Tower could be done in 45 minutes, they must have long legs and not make any stops. We took the better part of the day, but did not hurry, taking time to inspect the St. Michael’s print gallery and studio – Queens Wharf, park and the adjacent memorial garden, then along Water Street to Battery Road. Once we passed through the quaint houses of the Battery the real fun begins, the trail hugs the cliffs we had sailed past the day before, then climbs up and up towards Signal Hill. Jayne stopped to paint, pondering the view towards Quidi Vidi to the north while a waited patiently – enjoying the view and sunshine.

We spent several days just wandering St. John’s – provisioning – chatting with friendly locals, enjoying the uniqueness of Newfoundland’s capital. Gale and Renee, friends we had made last year hiking in Gros Morne stopped by and took us on a quick tour to Cape Spear and Petty Harbour. I spent a morning wandering by myself, enjoying photographing the wonderfully painted houses. Jayne caught up with her artist friend Christine Koch, who was hanging a show at “The Rooms” gallery. After 4 wonderful days in the city, SW winds were forecast, we new it was time to sail back up and around Cape St. Francis. Phanty’s winter home this year would be in Conception Bay’s Long Pond, at Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club.

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Long Pond
LongPond

After waiting until 9 am for the St. John’s Harbour master to come unlock our power pedestal, we had planned an early 7 am departure but forgot to tell them, the days sail would take us up the east coast, around Cape St. Francis and into Conception Bay. A fine blustery, sunny day with the SW wind fair until the turn into Conception, making the last 20 miles into the bay a beat, into the by then, setting sun. It’s not fair, by the last days of the trip – we’d been on the water for 3 weeks solid by then – we’ve tuned into the boat, wind and waves, a beat of 20 miles poses no problems.
Too bad we didn’t have time to explore Conception. We’ve made several new sailing friends in Holyrood at the head of the bay, we’d like to visit, and there are numerous ports on the western shore to explore, Carbonear, Harbour Grace, Bay Roberts, all will have to wait until next year.
We had arranged with Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club for haul out and storage this season. They have an excellent facility in Conception Bay’s Long Pond, complete with bar and restaurant. We arrived during their annual Race Week and the club was buzzing with activity. Our neighbors at the dock, Eddy and Sara, took time to greet and make us most welcome even though they were busy competing.
The haulout crew take a couple of days locating jack stands and we scheduled a morning de-masting and travel-lift out, boats must be stored in the RNYC yard without masts. It all goes without a hitch, their crew are experts, and the addition of a electric/hydraulic mast crane at the dock makes for an easy mast lift. Having the mast off will allow us to do some rigging inspections and perhaps replacements in the spring – new uppers, back & forestay as well as lowers are recommended after many years of coastal sailing in salt & fresh water.
The area around the club is idyllic for walking and nearby shops provide most of the bits and pieces needed for winterizing as well as food.
Jayne has expertly constructed a vestigial cover for Phanty that we put over the dodger frame, once the canvas is removed, and pull tight to the sides and stern, lacing it with many small lines. It looks great, and will help keep the rain and snow off the companion way and cockpit.
We booked a spot on the afternoon sailing from Argentia to North Sydney, its about a 14 hour sail, for the following day and drove a couple of hours down to the ferry dock. Unfortunately we left it too late to get a stateroom and wound up snoozing in the “Casino” on the way across – oh well next time we’ll know.
The Atlantic Vision is a marvelous ship, fast, quiet and comfortable – it was a windy, foggy night to cross and as I stood on deck in the wee hours of the morning looking at the white caps, I could not help but be happy Jayne and I were not out in Phanty. As the crow flys its about 270 nautical miles to Sydney, the ferry punched into the head wind and seas with little effort, what in Phanty it could take us several days of hard sailing, perhaps one day we’ll give it a try.

We’ll be at the Toronto and Vancouver Boat Shows in January 2016 to talk about this years trip – hope to see you there – show times and details will be on our site and facebook page soon.

Mike 5-Oct-2015

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