Our first notable event was when Bridlewilde's hull was felt kissing a small unmarked shoal as we departed the very narrow channel out of Cornwall. No damage occurred as she skipped easily over it but her eerie croon, as her heavily laden keel grazed the obstruction, was one we will remember forever. We settled from that early awakening and glided quielty into the heat of the day and beauty of the easy waters.
Lac St. Francis is 18 nautical miles long and was calm almost glasslike, as were we, as we crossed. That was until we were invaded by some sort of flying yellow moth like insect out in the centre of the lake. They covered the boat for a couple of hours, were very annoying but did not bite at all and then were gone as quickly as they had arrived.
We sailed toward the Beauharnois Locks and after waiting about an hour for entry at the Upper Lock we were permitted to access. This series of locks consists of locks almost at each end of the travel through a 12 mile lock channel called the Beauharnois Canal. Once you have committed the travel you must continue through both and back out into the St. Lawrence River at the other end. Also included in the canal are 2 lift bridges that we were to go under due to the height of our mast.
The day was very hot and humid and it did not come as a surprise to us that just as we departed the Upper Lock we noted that the sky was darkening in the northwest. We considering putting into the port along the canal we had just passed but remembering the rules of transit hoped that we would get through before any weather reached us and continued on. Minutes later there was an urgent weather warning from the Canadian Coast Guard over the VHF and minutes following that the wind began to erupt. We tried a radio call to what I thought was a tug in the canal for direction but they did not answer. We heard a distress call from another sailboat further down the river asking for anyway to give them notice of anywhere they could pull in. They answered to my call stating that they had not found a location and we wished each other luck. So Bridlewilde's captain made the decision "to say to hell with the lock and canal rules", we'd get our vessel turned around and get back to the container port that we had just passed and take cover there. As we passed the vessel, the one I was calling to as a tug and had not answered my call, Keith chuckled to me that it was not a tug at all but a high powered experimental vessel and were probably insulted but humored by my lack of knowledge. Within a few tense minutes we were into the container port and tied to a huge tractor tire on our port side just as the rain started to pelt. The wind was as fierce as the thunder and lightning and the rain poured onto our little vessel. We were about 30 feet below the deck of the container dock so all the water flowing over the side of the dock fell like a waterfall onto our deck, including any debris that was on the dock above us. As we peered out of our windows to see what was happening out there we were shocked to note the identification of the place we had sought shelter across the port. We had taken refuge in the home port of the Canadian Shipping Lines and the property of the Rte. Honourable Paul Martin. Again we shared a giggle at Mr. Martin's expense.
As quickly as the storm had erupted it died and we were back into the canal in two hours with our deck cleaned of debris and destined to another new experience. Travelling through the canal we still had yet to pass under the lift bridges. We read in our cruising guides that we would advance to the bridges, note the traffic lights and remain in position until given the green light to advance. Once the bridge operators note your arrival that they would stop traffic, lift the bridge, and turn on the green lights the would allow permission for us to pass under. It was also outlined that it was not necessary nor allowed to call the bridge attendants on the VHF for safety reasons. As we approached the first bridge we noted that it was raised and the red light was turned on. We continued to circle the canal awaiting the green light. As we continued our circling the bridge dropped and the traffic continued as normal and the light remained red. We waited and circled and waited and circled and as we were the only vessel awaiting passage, the captain finally said "to hell with the rules" again and called the bridge attendant on the VHF to inquire as to what was going on. The bridge attendant told him non challantly that "oh yeah - we are having trouble with our lights so just go through if you see they are red and the bridge is up". I won't report the captain's comment to me after that conversation. Within another 20 minutes we were passing under the bridge and all was well again.
Leaving the bridges behind us, we motored through the canal to the Lower Lock. We were held there for a 4.5 hours wait due to large commercial vessel priority. There were other vessels there that had already been waiting for a couple of hours so we felt that our bridge issue was tolerable. There was a new bridge being constructed over the lock and the work involved was amazing to watch as cranes and people moved about. Thus our wait time was not without activity.
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