I’m tied up in Burgeo Saturday sitting out some bad weather. Heavy rain arrived this morning and NE 30-40 knot winds are forecast through the next 24 hours or so. I’m safe and secure here, though not venturing out into the driving rain.
Yesterday I had a lovely trip straight across from Fortune, passing within a few miles of Miquelon. Left at 0630 and got in here at 1900.
My plan is to stay here until Monday morning, then follow the coast to Port aux Basques. From there it’s about 80 miles across to Ingonish. The weather looks cooperative for crossing Tuesday or Wednesday.
Looking at the log, I’ve traveled 630 NM and added 106 engine hours over 7.5 travel days. It’s been quite remarkable in what I haven’t encountered:
- Fog
- Wind more than 15 knots
- Seas greater than 1m
Also remarkable is the absence of other pleasure boats, or any boats for that matter. There are some small boats out fishing, but the only active cruisers I’ve come across are a Nordhavn 63 tied up next to me here and three French sailboats that traveled south with me from St John’s. At first I assumed they’d sailed over from Europe, but later I realized that they were returning home to St Pierre and Miquelon.
I’ve had the motor running the entire time, apart from about 1/2 hour of sailing on the first day. But I’ve had some decent motorsailing, like yesterday. Target speed was 6 knots, except for yesterday when I bumped it up to 7. I’ve used about 270l of fuel.
The boat is great. I’m not suffering trawler withdrawal, despite it having been perfect trawler weather. The cockpit and interior is very comfortable. All systems are working well with a couple of very minor exceptions and I’m impressed with the care and attention that shows everywhere.
The area I passed by over the last couple of days is renowned for remote natural beauty, with long fjords and small outport communities, many abandoned. I gave some thought to spending a bit of time poking around, but will save that for another pass.
Boating Adventures 