Author Archives: Wally

Monday, August 2

We left the Longuiel Marina (across the river from Montreal) at 6:30am. The sun was rising beautifully and the weather forecast for the day was great. Once we were in the main channel we started to pick up speed, hitching a “free ride” on the St. Lawrence River’s downstream current. Our normal motoring speed (with no sails up) is about 7.5 – 8.0 knots. With the current’s help we were easily hitting 9.5-10.5 knots, sometimes as much as 12 knots. 
The current is also quite turbulent in this part of the river so we are not able to use the autopilot because it spends too much time trying to correct our course heading. With the current constantly pushing us off course, the autopilot tries to compensate and the steering becomes an ever-deteriorating cycle of turns to port and starboard—at this point Ananda begins to look like a drunk staggering down the street, so we turn it off and steer by hand.
We traveled for about 1 hour past the shipping port of Montreal which is on our port (left) side. All kinds of cargo and container ships are tied up on the docks and we also encounter several freighters approaching the city to offload their cargo or to pick one up. Its pretty amazing the amount of North American and ocean freight that goes through this port. Seeing this gives us a deeper appreciation of how important the river is to the economy in all of the cities and towns in Canada and the USA that are ports on the river.
We are making really great time and at the rate we are moving we could easily get to Quebec City (about 130 miles downstream) in 1 day. Problem is about ¾ of the way we would begin to encounter a strong incoming tide which would slow our progress considerably. We would arrive in Quebec City about midnight and none of us were interested in that. As a result we decided to stop short of Quebec City and seek a safe anchorage or marina. Our preference is to find an anchorage because that is free, but we will go in to a marina if we cannot find a suitable place to anchor for the night. We check out a couple of potential anchorages around Trois-Rivieres but are not confident with what we see—the (side) channels are too shallow and narrow and do not provide enough shelter from the wind if a storm blows in.
We continue on to a small community called Portneuf, Quebec on the north shore of the river and arrive there about 3:30 in the afternoon. Portneuf has a very nice marina which is well surrounded by a massive breakwater constructed out of blasted rock. The entrance to the marina is marked by a statue of a mermaid holding a white light (compliments to Statue of Liberty) and a she has a leaping dolphin beside her.
Portneuf is a pretty little town but we decide not to walk in because it is about a mile away from the marina and we have boat chores to do before supper. This marina also marks our first overnight encounter with tides and salt water. The tides rise and fall about 7 feet in Portneuf. As a result, all of the docks in the marina are floating and have pretty substantial rigging and apparatus to hold the docks to the shore and to rise and fall smoothly with the tide.

 

 

Sunday, August 1

We debated leaving for Quebec City today but decided against it. Chris and Joan had a long drive from London the day before and the excitement they encountered along the way had worn them down a bit, so we decided to spend another day in the Montreal area and do a bit of sight-seeing. After all, it is not likely that Ananda will be back this way for a few years—if ever!
We took Ananda out of the marina and headed across the river towards Montreal. The river at this point is about 2-3 miles wide, with lots of turbulence in the water, strong current and boating traffic of all shapes and sizes. Headed upstream in the strongest part of the current our best speed was only about 2.8 knots. I’d hate to have to do a few hundred miles of climbing upstream like that!
The site of Expo 67 is on a small island just upstream from our marina and the old city of Montreal is across from this island. The Expo 67 site is now a large park and amusement area for the city and region. It is called La Ronde and it has lots of rides and other family-oriented things to do. La Ronde was one of Emily’s favorite things about Montreal when she was in Quebec on a French language exchange trip a couple of summers ago. We motored over towards the old city and once we were behind the breakwater the current disappeared. Boaters can come right up to docks at the waterfront for the old city. This is also an area where cruise ships and freighters tie up.
After touring around the waterfront (from the water) we headed back to our marina and prepared to make plans for our departure the next morning. We decided to go to a nearby grocery store and pick up a few more provisions. Chris and Joan were still feeling the effects of their Longuiel driving ordeal so we were all determined to pay very close attention to the local roads and our route. Well, we found our way to the shopping plaza with no difficulty at all—but wouldn’t you know it—we sure got lost on the way back—and we were only about 10 minutes away from the marina! This area has a series of one-way streets, dead end streets, and interchanges leading to the bridge across the river to Montreal and to the freeway along the river.
In all of this there was not one direction sign to the area we were trying to get to. I tried to get my BlackBerry AT&T Navigator to help us out but the silly thing was not able to lock on to enough GPS satellites to provide directions—and yes, Catherine, I know what you are thinking at this moment—you’re right again my dear!After almost an hour of driving around in circles, supplemented by bad (but well-intentioned) advice from several locals, we finally stopped and asked another driver for directions. Thankfully this person knew where the marina was and was also kind enough to agree to lead us to it. Chris offered a “reward” of “biere froide” (cold beer) once we reached our destination but the good Samaritan was content with our enthusiastic “merci beaucoup, monsieur!”. After two events of not being able to find our way to a destination that was less than a 10 minute drive, we were beginning to wonder if we could make it to Halifax! Have no fear, Tiki Navigator is here and we have lots of marine charts too!

 

Saturday, July 31

I was still in the Longuiel Marina and today was the day that Chris & Joan Cavanaugh were arriving from London to sail to Halifax with me. This is normally about a 7-8 hour drive by car. When they arrived they had some exciting stories to tell about their trip. They were on the Highway 401 close to Brockville, Ontario when a car passed them at over 120 km/hr, started weaving across both lanes and then veered off the shoulder of the road and down in to a deep ditch. The driver probably fell asleep with the cruise control on. The crash was gruesomely spectacular as the car rolled over sideways and end over end a few times before it finally came to a stop.

Fortunately the car did not hit anyone else on its way in to the ditch. Chris and Joan stopped immediately and Chris called e-911 while Joan and another motorist ran over to the car to try to help the occupants. Joan is an RN so she knew what to expect and that she could do something to help. It turned out that there was only one person in the car. Fortunately it landed upright, he was still in his seatbelt and there was no apparent danger of a fire. Within a few minutes the driver regained consciousness. Joan said he looked pretty beat up but not in major distress or bleeding excessively so she decided it was best not to move him and stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. That would be enough stress and excitement for anyone for one day—but the day was not over yet for Chris & Joan!

When they got to Longuiel and were only about 10 minutes away from the marina they encountered a series of freeway interchanges, one way and dead end streets. They could see where they wanted to go but they could not find the right road to take them there. They stopped several times for directions but most people either did not know how to get to the marina or the directions they gave were inaccurate.

As it turns out, the street they wanted does not have any signs pointing to it and you have to go on an off a couple of interchanges to get to the road. Anyway, they finally made it—tired and frustrated by their “ordeal” but very happy to have arrived. Two beers each later and all was forgotten and we were busy planning our next three weeks together.

Friday, July 30

We rose at 6:00am and Tony and Fred finished packing their belongings for the trip home. They were going to take a train from Montreal back to Cornwall, pick up Tony’s car and then head back to London. We arranged for a taxi to pick them up at the marina and then said our goodbyes. Thanks Tony & Fred for all your help. We had a very busy few days filled with lots of adventure and memories.
After Tony and Fred left, I spent some time straightening up the cabins and began the process of getting ready for my next set of victims, I mean crew J.  I was also looking forward to a day on the dock in Montreal—soaking up the amazing view across the river of a city that I have visited many times as a land lubber but never as a sailor.

Thursday, July 29

We set out for the Beauharnois Canal at about 10:30am. The first lift bridge in the canal is about an hour from the Valleyfield Marina. It is a similar design to the ones we encountered in the Welland Canal. The abutment at each end of the bridge has a massive tower with equally massive wheels and cables to lift the entire bridge deck when ships go under. The bridge operator sits in a little control room in the middle of the bridge and he (or she) goes up and down with the bridge. Now that would be an interesting job with many ups and downs per day.

We encountered a few freighters along our way through the canal but traffic was pretty light compared to what we thought we might see. There were about 10 pleasure craft tied up at the first lock when we arrived and before we even had time to approach the dock the Lockmaster set the control light to green and gave us the signal to enter in to the lock.
Each lock on the St. Lawrence Seaway has a light control system that is pretty similar to automotive traffic lights. Several hundred yards upstream from each lock is the first control light. When it is solid red, you are not permitted to go past that point. When the light is flashing red, that is an indication that the Lockmaster will be soon giving boats the signal to advance in to the lock. When the light turns green, boats are then allowed to proceed in to the lock and follow the mooring instructions given by the lock staff.
Our first lock on the canal took us down about 50 feet. The second lock was just about a mile further downstream. When we arrived at it we were excited to discover that we could see the city of Montreal off in the distance. Our destination for this segment of our trip was within our grasp. The locking-down process was quick and smooth. Once the lock gates were opened we motored out of the final part of the canal and in to Lac St. Louis. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and a beautiful sunny day. We could see many sailboats on the lake enjoying themselves. Up until this point in our journey from Cornwall, we did not have any opportunities to sail because of weather and/or narrow navigation channels. I was very excited to have come this far and very grateful to Tony and Fred for their help in accomplishing this. They had hoped to do some sailing along the way so we slowed down the engine, set up the sails and set a course for Montreal. The wind was blowing just right for us to maintain our course and we really enjoyed this little break from all the motoring we had done.
We sailed for a couple of hours and then figured we had better pack things up and head for the next canal that would take us safely past the Lachine Rapids and in to Montreal. There are only two locks remaining on the St. Lawrence Seaway and then we would be in Montreal. By the time we got through the last lock it was after midnight and only then did we realize that we had missed our intended marina destination. Thankfully, there was another marina just a couple of miles downstream. We motored quietly in to the basin and the marina office was locked up for the night. We had to stay somewhere so we tied up at the gas/diesel/pump out dock and headed for bed. Tony and Fred would head to the train station in the morning and I would make arrangements to stay in the marina for another day or two until my friends Chris and Joan Cavanaugh arrived. As I was getting ready for bed I looked out across the river and could see the tower for the Montreal Olympic Stadium on the other shore.