The force of the following sea on our stern is an exhilarating sensation. As each 3 or 4 foot swell reaches the stern you can feel the push forward. The person at the helm must be aware and judge his steering accordingly so as to keep the vessel on course. We do not have an autopilot on this vessel and it is one of those pieces of equipment that we want to add to our boat in the future. An autopilot gives one the opportunity to take a break from steerage and lets the equipment do the work for you. We considered purchasing this equipment before we set out on this voyage but decided against it for a number of reasons and we are now really glad we did not buy it.
The main reason for that is that we wanted to learn how this vessel reacted to all conditions as she is new to us. We also wantd to know how we were going to handle our reactions to all the situations we were to encounter with her. Every day we have something new to learn, we know that will continue and we are glad that we must do the work rather than the equipment so we'll experience everything and adjust our learning to our own specific style of sailing. Another reason is because the captain wants to interface other additional pieces of equipment with the systems that we already have on board and he wants them all compatible. He also wants a more finely tuned sense of awareness and understanding of Bridlewilde's own capability so that he can decide on the proper equipment for our needs in the future.
So we sailed and will sail her forward under all conditions ourselves on this voyage and as a result we arrived in St. Jean Port Joli feeling as though we had been surfing the waves and it is an overwhelming rush. This was to be our 4th trip to this town but our first by water. Every time we have come to the Province of Quebec we love it that much more and this little town is surely a highlight so that is why we wanted to include it as a port to visit on the route home.
On this particular passaage from Berthier sur Mer we passed by Gross Isle on our port side. Gross Isle is restored to its original state and is a Canadian tourist attraction site operated by the Federal Government of Canada. There is a siteseeing boat from Berthier sur Mer over to the island that one can take to go there to visit but it is off limits to any other type of vessel. Gross Ile is a historical landing site where new immigrants arriving to Canada were held and cleared. If one is interested in geneology they are sure to find records of their family history that have been recorded and archived from arrival to this country and registered at Gross Ile. The photos I took of it shown below are not very clear but I was able to see it better with my binoculars as we sailed by.
The 3 other vessels that had come into port with us at Berthier sur Mer also travelled to St Jean Port Joli as the last leg of their journey before they headed back to their home port of Trois Rivieres so it was nice to communicate with them again.
As usual , we encountered another storm warning and remained in port for a second day. But we took care of housecleaning issues like groceries, scrubbing fenders, and washing the boat. This harbour is shallow so when a storm hits even the harbour is hit even though its is sheltered by breakwaters. We experienced 3 foot waves in the harbour tied up so we were happy we had stayed in port and in our little boat to avoid this storm on the open water. Some pics of it out our window.
Just so you know the harbour does not always look as ominous as it does in the photos above here are a couple of much prettier pictures of St Jean Port Joli harbour.
Note the mountainous northern shore of the St. Lawrence River in the background. This port is really very beautiful on a clear sunny day as you can usually see across to the mountains.
Above is an 8 foot dinghy heading out of the harbour entrance so this gives you an idea of how narrow some of the approaches are. When the wind outside the breakwater is heavy it can really be treacherous to navigate into a very shallow harbour if the wind and tide are not in your favour.
Note how the harbour dries. It is not navigable in low tide. The mud is very soft and will not harm the boat if you are stuck in it but it is very messy. The hoses you see in this picture are sitting on top of the mud but you will note the high quay around the breakwater. At high tide the water reaches the top of the quay. St Jean Port Joli, unlike many small harbours along the southern shore of the St. Lawrence is dredged on a regular basis and the area where the floating docks are remain safe but the rest of the harbour dries.
Equipment used for dredging the harbour us shown below. This equipment is attached to the hoses you saw in the photo above.
During the storm so many sailing vessels had to get into port quickly. St Jean Port Joli did not accomodate space for all those that arrived. It was necessary for many boats to be tied together for support. We had a large boat attached by lines to our starboard side and by the end of the afternoon one could not depart the harbour if they wanted to due to the positioning of all the boats. Centre boat below tied to Bridlewilde.
During our stay in St Jean Port Joli a young woman swam into the port just before the storm hit but the boat following her got stuck in the mud before they could enter with the rest of the swimmer's support personnel on board. She was swimming the St Lawrence from Trois Rivieres to Rimouski. |Keith unloaded our dinghy from the davits of our boat to help transport that crew into the harbour from their sailboat. They had to anchor their boat outside the breakwater during the storm because the harbour was dry by this time. They would have to make the best of it but were just happy to have made it into port themselves.
In St Jean Port Joli we met Ted and Marie O'Leary on their boat Trollop. They had left Midland, ON on Georgian Bay (60 miles from where I grew up) a month earlier and were on their way to Newfoundland. They have been sailing for 20 years but this was their first trip out of the Great Lakes. They asked if they could travel with us as far east as they could and were planning to meet friends in Gaspe. We were pleased to have someone sailing along with us. s/v Trollop below.
Both boats departed St Jean Port Joli for Cacoona July 24 at 10:30 am, a distance of 55 nautical miles further east.
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