New York to Lunenburg, Canada

We leave Port Washington at 0630 with good, building winds predicted for the day. Soon we are beam reaching and making 10 knots flying up the Long Island Sound. At 1900 we are closing in on Block Island, our anchorage where we expect to spend 2 days waiting for weather. Turns out the entrance to Block Island is quite tricky with a narrow channel and wind blowing from the side. At 1930 we anchor in the well protected Great Salt Pond and settle for the night. Perfect timing, really.

The next day we brake out the 2 bicycles and loop the island. A very beautiful, chill place. Plenty of infrastructure but still things run on island time. We stumble over the Southeast Light and tour the place, the museum is closed unfortunately. An exposed lighthouse that was moved (!) in 1990 by 91 meters when the cliff eroded to get dangerously close - the Islanders must really love their icon! The cost and effort to move the lighthouse was enormous.

We leave Block Island 0630 on May 16th and head out west. I draft a course south around Nantucket without zooming in much. I believe I left plenty of space to shore with ~2 miles. The surprise dawns as we near the island: the depth alarm goes off as we cross one of the sand shoals south of Nantucket. Maybe we should have given it more space! We take down the sails and motor out through the maze of sand shoals back into the official canal. Once there we hoist the Oxley in anticipation of a lasting tail-wind situation. All good.

2 nights pass sailing and it becomes obvious that we can’t make Halifax in daylight. We decide to divert to Lunenburg, which also qualifies as an official port of entry. With the last bit of sunlight we drop the anchor in the harbor of Lunenburg at 2100 and hoist yellow quarantine flag. The next morning I sort out immigration, which is done in a phone call and organize berthage at the Zwicker dock for 2 nights. We tie up just behind Coro Coro, a 22 meter, 51 ton aluminium mono hull that is preparing for the Northwest Passage. We immediately click with Coro Coro’s crew and are looking forward to a shared adventure!

It turns out Lunenburg is a fantastic place for prepping the boat. Much better than Halifax! Everything is within walking distance, no car required. The people go out of their way to help us. We get 2 broken screws from the aluminium tube of the genoa drilled and extracted, we purchase two beefy fender boards that protect us from the truck tires of the commercial harbors of the north, we do an oil change, we replace some ropes and improve the bilge system.

Turns out we like it so much, that we extend our stay and the locals help us organize a pickup for my mother at the Halifax airport. Halifax is a major crew change place: Patrick will leave and my mother, brother and 2 of his kids will join for the next leg to St. John’s.

Thank you Patrick for the ride!Read more