70nm to Miquelon.

The day started 6am with a leisurely motor out of the fjord. We had put the main sail up at anchor with intention of a bit of a sail as we went. No chance as normal wind was funnelling into the groove of 800 ft rock that is Hare bay and was on the nose the whole way to the entrance. Luckily we had put 2 reefs in the main, when we put it up or we would have been flattened in a couple of gust on the way out. As we finally reached the exit. We bobbled about in the confused sea and confused wind for nearly 5 mins trying to make some order of it all. During this process we had a Hump back friend come and visit. He/she was so close we were in danger of making contact. Again super exiting.
Once the wind and sea had tidied itself up. At about 1/2 mile offshore. We tidied our sail plan up and got the boat going. The coarse was due south, of pretty close to. 2 reefs in the main and the staysail. . Wind was 25-30 knots Christal clear day, but the sea was obviously going to build over the day. Morvenna was eating up the miles and our average on the GPS was well over 7kts we had thought we would be lucky to be on the anchour by dark. But it was beginning o look like we would get a beer and go shopping too. Mainland Newfoundland disappeared into the haze behind us,pretty muchh as the headland of Miquelon began to appear ahead of us. Small and indestinct at first. But larger and sharper s the hours past. The best part of 30knts gets tiring. After many hours and the sea building this meant hand steering was by far the fasted progress. Mentally the lee and flat water behind the the headland was very inviting, but slow to arrive. It was a nice sense of relief as the wave size diminished behind the headland but no sign of the wind backing off and we were about to go from a broad reach to full upwind. As we hardened the sails to go up wind the force really came on and we had 30kts true wind speed. Something our engine would not be able to overcome. Miquelon is very low lying ground in fact almost a completely flat isthmus and offers absolutely no shelter from wind of almost any direction, which isn’t mention in the guide book. So our choice was, in our slightly tired state. Beat up wind in flat water for 45 mins in a gale or sail on another 30 miles to Saint Pierre. Beating it is. The harbour was full and impossible to enter in these conditions, so we anchored out side which was definitely the safest option. Time for a cuppa tea. And then a stroll round town looking for a customs officer, we are now in France.Leggi altro