Crew Wanted: Lake Huron > Erie > Ontario > St Lawrence > Atlantic Summer 17

[organic snowman]

Brought my boat down there this summer. PM me if you have any questions.

[escale]

Originally Posted by organic snowman

Hi,

Be very careful when you leave Quebec City! If you leave at the wrong time of day, you will end up in very confused and dangerous seas as the tide bucks the current.

Originally Posted by organic snowman

Brought my boat down there this summer. PM me if you have any questions.

Thanks Organic snowman:

We got here last night and had to cross the St L with the dinghy this morning. Yes, it is very interesting on this river. We got current coming down from Lake Ontario, we got tides moving up and down 9 ft with associated current either opposing the river flow or joining it and we have winds from 10 to 24 kts coming from down river.

It is very interesting indeed.

I can not think of any questions off hand.

But here is a topic for discussion:

One of the difficult things is how to anchor out side of the channel in 20ft of water, knowing that tides will change but the river is will always continue to try to flow. What we have been doing is putting an anchor aft and an anchor forward and setting both of them, so we have tension in between. We have released out a scope of about 5 and have found that the boat will drift from side to side as much as 200 ft. as the boat transitions from current on the nose to current on the bow.

Any ideas that are better than what we are doing would be welcome.

Here is a pic of our track to date.

Looking at the weather. We should get some winds from the South and South West. There are a few from the North, but when they come they come with East Winds.
The biggest concern will be what will Hurricane Jose do sitting off shore from NY and how will that affect me up here in Quebec. Models indicate that it will head out to sea and disapate, but what every happens, we will watching closely.


--- Dan Escale s/v Savanna

[organic snowman]

First thing is to leave Quebec City at the right time for sure. We made that mistake and got caught in a very scary situation at Ile Aux Coudres. We spent 3.5 hours stuck in one place, unable to fight the current or tide to go either way. The seas were confused, very choppy and dangerous. Twice, the tide caught the keel, while the current kept pushing topsides. Resulting in the top of the mast coming down and barely touching the water. I have lots of boating experience on the North Atlantic, but never expected that. Three and a half hours of trying to guess which direction a wave was coming from was hell.
Later, we found a book in Cap-à-l'Aigle that said...one place you must never find yourself, is off Ile Aux Coudres when the tide is fighting the current, as it leads to very dangerous seas.

Sadly, some people drowned this summer in a similar situation, off another place farther north in Quebec.

This situation also happens if you go up the Saguenay River at the wrong time.

Once you get to Sag, the tides don't make as much difference, so you dont have to worry much about when you leave.

We were almost always stopping at a marina, so I can't help much on the anchoring situation.

After Rimouski, the places you can pull in get farther and farther apart. Even if you do go in, the gas station may be a long ways from the water. So make sure you have lots of fuel. Our last stop was Cloridorme, then two days at sea to Corner Brook, NL.

Thats all I can think of at the moment.

[Mike OReilly]

Hi escale, just noticed your thread here. We sailed (1/2 sail, 1/2 motor) from Lake Ontario to Newfoundland this year. Sounds like you’re doing OK, but I could share all our anchorages along the way. We only stopped at two marinas our whole trip (Port Nuef and Bale Comeau). Anchored out otherwise. It got increasingly challenging to find decent anchorages as we went past Baie Comeau, but it is possible.

Tides and currents were huge issues through to the Saguenay, and slowly decreased as we moved along. Sailing got better as well. We followed the north shore, up past Anticosti. You’ll be heading south I assume, so my anchorages might not be much use to you. But happy to share if you want.

[escale]

Originally Posted by organic snowman

First thing is to leave Quebec City at the right time for sure. We made that mistake and got caught in a very scary situation at Ile Aux Coudres. We spent 3.5 hours stuck in one place, unable to fight the current or tide to go either way. The seas were confused, very choppy and dangerous. Twice, the tide caught the keel, while the current kept pushing topsides. Resulting in the top of the mast coming down and barely touching the water. I have lots of boating experience on the North Atlantic, but never expected that. Three and a half hours of trying to guess which direction a wave was coming from was hell.
Later, we found a book in Cap-à-l'Aigle that said...one place you must never find yourself, is off Ile Aux Coudres when the tide is fighting the current, as it leads to very dangerous seas.

Sadly, some people drowned this summer in a similar situation, off another place farther north in Quebec.

This situation also happens if you go up the Saguenay River at the wrong time.

Once you get to Sag, the tides don't make as much difference, so you dont have to worry much about when you leave.

We were almost always stopping at a marina, so I can't help much on the anchoring situation.

After Rimouski, the places you can pull in get farther and farther apart. Even if you do go in, the gas station may be a long ways from the water. So make sure you have lots of fuel. Our last stop was Cloridorme, then two days at sea to Corner Brook, NL.

Thats all I can think of at the moment.

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Hi escale, just noticed your thread here. We sailed (1/2 sail, 1/2 motor) from Lake Ontario to Newfoundland this year. Sounds like you’re doing OK, but I could share all our anchorages along the way. We only stopped at two marinas our whole trip (Port Nuef and Bale Comeau). Anchored out otherwise. It got increasingly challenging to find decent anchorages as we went past Baie Comeau, but it is possible.

Tides and currents were huge issues through to the Saguenay, and slowly decreased as we moved along. Sailing got better as well. We followed the north shore, up past Anticosti. You’ll be heading south I assume, so my anchorages might not be much use to you. But happy to share if you want.

I am pushing off anchorage near Sailing Club of Quebec. We are near (250ft) from the ramp. Coming across to Parc Nautique Levy was 2 hr before high tide and I had a 1.5 current coming up river. I am hoping to cross St L at high tide, pull anchor and head down with the tide.

My next destination is Tadoussac, I believe we will be there in 2 or 3 days.

So, Organic Snowman and Mike O'Reilly: If you all know of any other dangerous anchorages, whirlpools or dangerous radical current variations, I would be interested in your stories.. I am anchoring in 20'ft water at high tide with an anchor forward and aft. So when the tide changes, we don't swivel around. Also, we do get drift from side to side of about 120 ft.and heights of the water from 11ft to 24ft. But the heights of the water may also happen because of the side to side shift.

I will be able to check in at Tadoussac, KQ

---- Dan Escale s/v Savanna

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by escale

I am pushing off anchorage near Sailing Club of Quebec. We are near (250ft) from the ramp. Coming across to Parc Nautique Levy was 2 hr before high tide and I had a 1.5 current coming up river. I am hoping to cross St L at high tide, pull anchor and head down with the tide.

My next destination is Tadoussac, I believe we will be there in 2 or 3 days.

So, Organic Snowman and Mike O'Reilly: If you all know of any other dangerous anchorages, whirlpools or dangerous radical current variations, I would be interested in your stories.. I am anchoring in 20'ft water at high tide with an anchor forward and aft. So when the tide changes, we don't swivel around. Also, we do get drift from side to side of about 120 ft.and heights of the water from 11ft to 24ft. But the heights of the water may also happen because of the side to side shift.

I will be able to check in at Tadoussac, KQ

---- Dan Escale s/v Savanna

We went a short way up the Saguenay and anchored for three of four days. Beautiful. Didn’t stop in Tadoussac, nor any other marina until we hit Baie Comeau.

We travelled the north shore from there. Like I say, if you want, I can tell you where we anchored. I’m assuming you’re going to travel the south shore though, so mine might not be that useful. We always anchored using a single anchor. Never a problem rotating in the changing tides and reversing currents, but we spend a long time anchoring well, and use good gear. I’m not a fan of dual-anchoring, except in specific circumstances. But your boat is quite different than mine. I’ve never sailed or anchored a trimaran.

[escale]

Hello CF'ers:

Those following this post may want an update.
I got two French Canadians to join me as they know these waters.
Tehy own their own boats and sail from Club Nautique Longueuiel, QC.
Their club is across the river to Montreal.
They have sailed their boats up and down mostly going to Quebec, but never going any further. Crewing on my boat was a great opportunity for them and it has been a cold windy but exciting trip.
We pushed off Quebec Oct 12th or so and started neading NE down the St Lawrence River.

Today, Oct 20th we are in Riviere-Au-Renard, QC sailing when we had an open window of weather and winds. Today we are getting winds from 30 to 40 kts and we have chosen not to fight this battle.

So, we are hold up here for a day or two and can reflect.

We added a small propane heater to take the chill off of the 41'F we wake up to.
I build a make shift 2by4 dinghy dock above the swim ladder to keep the dingny safe when traveling at high winds and waves.

I also perfected using the Bahamian anchoring system to deal with the 2 to 4 kts currents in the St Lawrence that switch dirrection every 6 hrs or so due to tides.I will join the dissuction on Bahamian anchoring systems on another thread. I believe any information you have will make you a better sailor.

These guys may leave either in Maine or Boston to get back to their families.
So, I'm putting in a request for anyone who may want to join me to continue down the US coast to NC. Two people can sail this effectively but it goes easier with three. I'm thinking this will be a November trip.

I don't have an exact time frame as sailing time here is very dependent on the weather.
Send me a PM and we can start a dialog.

Dan Escale sv Savanna Riviere-Au-Renard ( Fox River) QC, CA

[escale]

For those who have helped me and/or are following me:

I made it to Wilmington, NC on December 7th, 2017. I became this journey July 7th, 2017 and it took me 5 months of sailing. Definitely an epic sail for me.

I will attach some pics of my maps of this journey. It was awesome to finally turn south as winter was coming in at Riviere-au-Renard. Hard winds, large seas, major rain and 8ft waves were just the highlights. This was not a pleasant day sail, it was an epic journey.

I still can not believe I made it.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who posted, read and/or helped in someway. Here are a few pictures from my spot site.

--- Dan Escale