12 July 2011: St. Ours Lock, Richelieu River, Quebec
Marc- Another hot and humid summer day in Canada. Yesterday was a real working day. I awoke early to lower the already horizontal masts one foot to fit under the low bridges on the Lachine canal. No problems with my engineering this time. We left Dorval at 08:00 and arrived at the Lachine Lock #5 at 8:45. Lucy III was the first to enter on our adventure to the Old Port of Montreal. If only we knew that there was free docking in Montreal at the Parks Canada docks we would have come a day sooner. The lock staff was as friendly as ever. Three zodiacs from Florida came along with us (their big boats could not fit through the bridges and they wanted to see downtown)... It appeared to be Mama Duck and her three ducklings going through the canal.
We arrived in the Old Port (it is still a working seaport with many ocean going ships) at noon. We left immediately for Sorel some 5 hours away. The current in the St Lawrence was very impressive. As we reached 11.7 knots on the chart plotter (speed over ground). That means the current was 5.7 knots as our max speed is 6 knots under power. The St. Lawrence was awesome with its size and fair winds and current. Unfortunately we hit a strong current in the Richelieu River at Sorel. It took us 2.5 hours to go 12 miles to the St. Ours Lock. Our speed never exceeded 4.5 knots. We decided to stay below the lock overnight as thunderstorms were forecast (see Sara’s section for details). The girls went for a swim just before the storm. It was a quiet night in this farming community.
Departure at 8:30 to enter the lock. We motored south to the St Charles Marina where we were able to fill up on water and fuel. Lucy III performed well at 5 to 5.5 knots against the Richelieu River current generally all the way to Chambly. The one difficult spot was passing under the McMasterville Railroad Bridge where the current exceeds 4 knots in a narrow opening. Of course there was a train passing overhead to add to the turmoil as we went through. Luckily there were no other boats passing at the time since we slowed to 2 knots in this current that tossed the boat about some. The river passes near Mount St. Hilare, an imposing mountain and provincial park. We must do some hikes here. At Chambly we could see three mountains from the Chambly Basin (a small lake). We tied up below the locks while the Lock staff was on a break and then proceeded up the three locks to the turning basin in the center of town. The Lockmaster advised going to Lock 4 for the night (1/4 mile further and quieter that in the turning basin). We were alone with a family of ducks: Mother mallard and her seven ducklings. Sara and Stephanie fed them some of are old bread before joining them for a swim later. Our exercise for the day was going out on the bikes and exploring the beautiful Town of Chambly and a visit to the Chambly Rapids... Many of the old stone homes date from the French Colonial period as well as an imposing Fort Chambly. The town has many interested shops and yes we did visit some of them. Stephanie found the perfect pair of sandals. The bike paths are nice here as well as the ice cream shops. One should stress that bikes are very prevalent in this town and the businesses cater to them.
13 July 2011, Chambly, Quebec
Marc – Today started with a trip to the local auto parts store for a new bilge pump hose. It was convenient to be tied up at Lock 4 nearby. We were off again at 09:30 on the Chambly Canal, an 18 kilometer canal that bypasses the Chambly rapids and a river drop of 80 feet. We negotiated a total of 9 locks between Chambly and St. Jean. At St. Jean we were forced to stop at a highway bridge for the noon time rush hour. There was an excellent restaurant nearby that also served up great ice cream and mango sorbet. The Parks Canada staff was most helpful as we negotiated our last lock of this sailing season and rejoined the river. The river here had cleaner water than below and it would continue to clear up to Lake Champlain where it is pristine. Our stop for the day was at the Marina Gagnon for mast raising and overnight docking. Our friend Richard LaRiviere from Montreal had advised us of free use of the Mast crane at this facility. We arrived just before a thunderstorm passed. Luckily it just missed us. It took the full crew to get this job done as we had two masts to raise. All went well although it took us 4 hours to complete the task. I did forget to attach some devices to the top of the mainmast (oh no not another trip in the boson’s chair up the mast). At least the mizzen mast antenna is in place. This marina was heavily damaged by the spring floods and you could see the water marks on the buildings. They built a new facility across the street. Our second mishap here was forgetting our laundry in the clothes dryer. We will come back on Saturday to pick that up. The moon was full as we did a nice jog to the Parks Canada Fort Lennox pier. The bathrooms were the only restored portion of the original main marina building.
14 July 2011, St. Paul de l’Ile aux Noix, Quebec.
Marc – Departure at 08:30 for the Marina Gosselin for fuel and a pump out. We also picked up some drinks here. This marina was also heavily hit but has done an incredible job at getting back in great shape. This is really sailboat country now and these marinas store at least 500 boats each. We then went south to the Border at Rouses Point, NY. The Lighthouse Marina is no more as it was totally destroyed by the floods and heavy winds this spring. It is really nice to have our masts up again. Unfortunately we left the sails at home. No problems at the border with United States Customs. It does take about ½ hour to get through here as they require everyone to get off the boat to complete forms while an agent searches the boat.
W
e are back in Lake Champlain hurray and the weather is fantastic. Sara took the helm and brought us down to the Gut, a crossing between Grand Isle and North Hero Island. We waited only about 15 minutes for the bridge along with several other sailboats and a trawler. We arrived at Burton Island to a warm welcome by the Vermont State Park Staff. This is really one of our favorite places with excellent camping facilities, beaches, restaurant, and store and nature center.
15 July 2011, Burton Island State Park, Vermont.
Early rise for Sara to get her Sunrise photos. This is truly a fantastic place with great Park staff and facilities all in outstanding surroundings. You just relax being here. The Park has restored it's Nature Specialist Programs with day and evening activities. We really should attempt to get some friends to come camp up here during one of our visits next year.
We departed at 09:30 after a wonderful breakfast from the Island Restaurant. $5 minutes later we pulled up just shy of the Grand Island Bridge opening (or rather closing in our case). No problem as we just tied up to the dock at old Tudhope Marina and picked up a few needed supplies. This is a very convenient place to stop. The Bridge did open on schedule and we proceeded Westward and then Southward to Charlotte. The Lake was quite calm and the scenery was magnificent with the Green Mountains to the East and the Adirondacks to the West. We were welcomed back to our old home away from home at Point Bay Marina in Charlotte. Our new mooring was waiting for us. I decided it would be best to tie up for the weekend at the docks for power and water. Sue arrived for dinner and then a short drive over to Burlington to see the final Harry Potter movie: The Deathly Hallows Part II.
16 July 2011, Point Bay Marina, Charlotte, Vermont
Today we enjoyed an excellent breakfast offered by the Royal Savage Yacht Club. Some of the members still remembered us. The fresh picked berries and baked goods were great. Our next adventure was by car to retrieve the laundry we had left in Canada at the Gagnon Marina last Friday. Our clothes were still there none the worse. This trip took us about 4 hours with a few stops to visit scenic stops at lle LaMotte and a few shops in South Hero. I returned to the boat to complete the bilge pump and stuffing box repairs. Sue, Sara and Stephanie went off to Burlington to do some shopping.
23 July 2011, Point bay Marina, Charlotte, Vermont
Marc - We are back for some sailing on beautiful Lake Champlain after only one week at work in Boston. Our friends the Hendry's have joined us for an overnight sail to Burlington. The Hendry's enjoyed mostly motoring for 2/3 of the trip. The winds picked up just north of Shelburne and we sailed gloriously into Burlington. We were greeted at the Burlington Community Boating Marina docks by our fellow Tartan 34 C owners. This was the annual reunion weekend and the start of some fun. Everyone was interested in each other's boats and modifications made to each. Some boats were really tricked out racers while others like ours have all the trappings of a family cruising boat. We trekked up the hill to Church street with the Hendry's for some shopping and cooling ice cream. I forgot to mention hot hot and humid it was 90 degrees F and 90 % humidity. Glad we have AC on board the Lucy III.
The reunion was capped off by a four hour long dinner at a lakeshore Japanese restaurant. The food and the conversations were most impressive. I especially enjoyed learning about the travels of Trefoil that had gone south for the winter to Florida. Richard also spoke about his upcoming crossing to Europe.
It started to rain as we settled down to sleep. The temperature dropped by twenty degrees overnight (along with the humidity). We joined Adam and his daughter Meredith for crepes at the skinny pancake for breakfast. Most of the Tartans had left by the time we returned at 09:30. We left soon afterward under spinnaker, main and mizzen. It was a great reach all of the way down to Charlotte. Unfortunately I kept pumping the bilge. The stuffing box nut had backed off earlier and allowing copious amounts of water in. This was an easy fix but still quite disturbing since I had just repacked it one week ago.
Marc- Another hot and humid summer day in Canada. Yesterday was a real working day. I awoke early to lower the already horizontal masts one foot to fit under the low bridges on the Lachine canal. No problems with my engineering this time. We left Dorval at 08:00 and arrived at the Lachine Lock #5 at 8:45. Lucy III was the first to enter on our adventure to the Old Port of Montreal. If only we knew that there was free docking in Montreal at the Parks Canada docks we would have come a day sooner. The lock staff was as friendly as ever. Three zodiacs from Florida came along with us (their big boats could not fit through the bridges and they wanted to see downtown)... It appeared to be Mama Duck and her three ducklings going through the canal.
We arrived in the Old Port (it is still a working seaport with many ocean going ships) at noon. We left immediately for Sorel some 5 hours away. The current in the St Lawrence was very impressive. As we reached 11.7 knots on the chart plotter (speed over ground). That means the current was 5.7 knots as our max speed is 6 knots under power. The St. Lawrence was awesome with its size and fair winds and current. Unfortunately we hit a strong current in the Richelieu River at Sorel. It took us 2.5 hours to go 12 miles to the St. Ours Lock. Our speed never exceeded 4.5 knots. We decided to stay below the lock overnight as thunderstorms were forecast (see Sara’s section for details). The girls went for a swim just before the storm. It was a quiet night in this farming community.
Departure at 8:30 to enter the lock. We motored south to the St Charles Marina where we were able to fill up on water and fuel. Lucy III performed well at 5 to 5.5 knots against the Richelieu River current generally all the way to Chambly. The one difficult spot was passing under the McMasterville Railroad Bridge where the current exceeds 4 knots in a narrow opening. Of course there was a train passing overhead to add to the turmoil as we went through. Luckily there were no other boats passing at the time since we slowed to 2 knots in this current that tossed the boat about some. The river passes near Mount St. Hilare, an imposing mountain and provincial park. We must do some hikes here. At Chambly we could see three mountains from the Chambly Basin (a small lake). We tied up below the locks while the Lock staff was on a break and then proceeded up the three locks to the turning basin in the center of town. The Lockmaster advised going to Lock 4 for the night (1/4 mile further and quieter that in the turning basin). We were alone with a family of ducks: Mother mallard and her seven ducklings. Sara and Stephanie fed them some of are old bread before joining them for a swim later. Our exercise for the day was going out on the bikes and exploring the beautiful Town of Chambly and a visit to the Chambly Rapids... Many of the old stone homes date from the French Colonial period as well as an imposing Fort Chambly. The town has many interested shops and yes we did visit some of them. Stephanie found the perfect pair of sandals. The bike paths are nice here as well as the ice cream shops. One should stress that bikes are very prevalent in this town and the businesses cater to them.
13 July 2011, Chambly, Quebec
Marc – Today started with a trip to the local auto parts store for a new bilge pump hose. It was convenient to be tied up at Lock 4 nearby. We were off again at 09:30 on the Chambly Canal, an 18 kilometer canal that bypasses the Chambly rapids and a river drop of 80 feet. We negotiated a total of 9 locks between Chambly and St. Jean. At St. Jean we were forced to stop at a highway bridge for the noon time rush hour. There was an excellent restaurant nearby that also served up great ice cream and mango sorbet. The Parks Canada staff was most helpful as we negotiated our last lock of this sailing season and rejoined the river. The river here had cleaner water than below and it would continue to clear up to Lake Champlain where it is pristine. Our stop for the day was at the Marina Gagnon for mast raising and overnight docking. Our friend Richard LaRiviere from Montreal had advised us of free use of the Mast crane at this facility. We arrived just before a thunderstorm passed. Luckily it just missed us. It took the full crew to get this job done as we had two masts to raise. All went well although it took us 4 hours to complete the task. I did forget to attach some devices to the top of the mainmast (oh no not another trip in the boson’s chair up the mast). At least the mizzen mast antenna is in place. This marina was heavily damaged by the spring floods and you could see the water marks on the buildings. They built a new facility across the street. Our second mishap here was forgetting our laundry in the clothes dryer. We will come back on Saturday to pick that up. The moon was full as we did a nice jog to the Parks Canada Fort Lennox pier. The bathrooms were the only restored portion of the original main marina building.
14 July 2011, St. Paul de l’Ile aux Noix, Quebec.
Marc – Departure at 08:30 for the Marina Gosselin for fuel and a pump out. We also picked up some drinks here. This marina was also heavily hit but has done an incredible job at getting back in great shape. This is really sailboat country now and these marinas store at least 500 boats each. We then went south to the Border at Rouses Point, NY. The Lighthouse Marina is no more as it was totally destroyed by the floods and heavy winds this spring. It is really nice to have our masts up again. Unfortunately we left the sails at home. No problems at the border with United States Customs. It does take about ½ hour to get through here as they require everyone to get off the boat to complete forms while an agent searches the boat.
W
e are back in Lake Champlain hurray and the weather is fantastic. Sara took the helm and brought us down to the Gut, a crossing between Grand Isle and North Hero Island. We waited only about 15 minutes for the bridge along with several other sailboats and a trawler. We arrived at Burton Island to a warm welcome by the Vermont State Park Staff. This is really one of our favorite places with excellent camping facilities, beaches, restaurant, and store and nature center.15 July 2011, Burton Island State Park, Vermont.
Early rise for Sara to get her Sunrise photos. This is truly a fantastic place with great Park staff and facilities all in outstanding surroundings. You just relax being here. The Park has restored it's Nature Specialist Programs with day and evening activities. We really should attempt to get some friends to come camp up here during one of our visits next year.
We departed at 09:30 after a wonderful breakfast from the Island Restaurant. $5 minutes later we pulled up just shy of the Grand Island Bridge opening (or rather closing in our case). No problem as we just tied up to the dock at old Tudhope Marina and picked up a few needed supplies. This is a very convenient place to stop. The Bridge did open on schedule and we proceeded Westward and then Southward to Charlotte. The Lake was quite calm and the scenery was magnificent with the Green Mountains to the East and the Adirondacks to the West. We were welcomed back to our old home away from home at Point Bay Marina in Charlotte. Our new mooring was waiting for us. I decided it would be best to tie up for the weekend at the docks for power and water. Sue arrived for dinner and then a short drive over to Burlington to see the final Harry Potter movie: The Deathly Hallows Part II.
16 July 2011, Point Bay Marina, Charlotte, Vermont
Today we enjoyed an excellent breakfast offered by the Royal Savage Yacht Club. Some of the members still remembered us. The fresh picked berries and baked goods were great. Our next adventure was by car to retrieve the laundry we had left in Canada at the Gagnon Marina last Friday. Our clothes were still there none the worse. This trip took us about 4 hours with a few stops to visit scenic stops at lle LaMotte and a few shops in South Hero. I returned to the boat to complete the bilge pump and stuffing box repairs. Sue, Sara and Stephanie went off to Burlington to do some shopping.
23 July 2011, Point bay Marina, Charlotte, Vermont
Marc - We are back for some sailing on beautiful Lake Champlain after only one week at work in Boston. Our friends the Hendry's have joined us for an overnight sail to Burlington. The Hendry's enjoyed mostly motoring for 2/3 of the trip. The winds picked up just north of Shelburne and we sailed gloriously into Burlington. We were greeted at the Burlington Community Boating Marina docks by our fellow Tartan 34 C owners. This was the annual reunion weekend and the start of some fun. Everyone was interested in each other's boats and modifications made to each. Some boats were really tricked out racers while others like ours have all the trappings of a family cruising boat. We trekked up the hill to Church street with the Hendry's for some shopping and cooling ice cream. I forgot to mention hot hot and humid it was 90 degrees F and 90 % humidity. Glad we have AC on board the Lucy III.
The reunion was capped off by a four hour long dinner at a lakeshore Japanese restaurant. The food and the conversations were most impressive. I especially enjoyed learning about the travels of Trefoil that had gone south for the winter to Florida. Richard also spoke about his upcoming crossing to Europe.It started to rain as we settled down to sleep. The temperature dropped by twenty degrees overnight (along with the humidity). We joined Adam and his daughter Meredith for crepes at the skinny pancake for breakfast. Most of the Tartans had left by the time we returned at 09:30. We left soon afterward under spinnaker, main and mizzen. It was a great reach all of the way down to Charlotte. Unfortunately I kept pumping the bilge. The stuffing box nut had backed off earlier and allowing copious amounts of water in. This was an easy fix but still quite disturbing since I had just repacked it one week ago.
1 comment:
Here's a link to the Azek Deck photo gallery page, I don't have any pictures of decks that I've installed, but this is a great product!. Good Luck!
Pontoon decking
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