June 5,6 The  crossing!

In preparation for our second attempt at the 110 NM run across to Nova Scotia we spoke to a resident who checked forecasts for both that area and Yarmouth. Both called for winds of 15-20 knots, diminishing to 10-15 later in the day. That sounded pretty good so, we waitd until 9 a.m. for the tide to be high enough for us to go through the North East end of the channel and shorten our trip. The morning and afternoon went as expected. We started with reefed main for the stronger winds and as the winds subsided we shook it out to keep our speed up. Late in the day the wind  picked up again and I was alarmed to see winds in excess of 20 knots and building seas. By sundown we had reefed again but to me it looked like our first attempt all over again but this time there was no turning back. After dark Gary took pity on me and we took the main in and ran on jib alone. The motion of the boat became much easier and the speed stayed above 5 knots. With the engine running in neutral to keep the battery charged we soldiered on. I was much happier (less terrified) though the waves were pretty high and we pounded a good deal. We took turns at the wheel and napping and around 6 a.m. we got our first sight of Nova Scotia. As we headed in to Yarmouth I called Canada Border Services and we cleared customs by phone.

Galefilero - Now available in CANADA!

 We were at the Killam Bros. dock at 9:30 (EDT still). The dock master arranged for a mechanic to look at the engine and we waited for Customs to show up for a visit. When we hadn’t seen them by 2 p.m. I called to see what the delay was. It turned out the phone call had been sufficient and we were clear. The mechanic was even better. He found a blockage in the water intake valve and a damaged pump impeller (which Gary had predicted). Fixing the problems and checking the engine over only took about a half an hour. We’re hopeful a test run tomorrow will confirm that all is well. With those details taken care of Gary and I walked around town, found a Tim’s and a marine store that gave us each a free ball hat. We had dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant then went to get groceries. Now that the updates are taken care of I can climb in my berth with a clear conscience.

Gary

Not a lot can really be said about overnight passage making… if you’ve done it, you are generally not looking forward to repeating the adventure.  My last 24 hour sails were through dense fog and seeing nothing.  This one at least allowed us to see some of the islands as we left Maine.  After that we saw nothing, and when only 10nm out, I was beginning to believe Nova Scotia would never come into view.

Yarmouth is an interesting town.  That is apparent from just the little we have seen.  It’s too bad we won’t be able to see more of it.