Jun 18, 2015 | Flotsam
A day of more put-putting along.
This next stage was a series of nine locks
that stretch from Chambly to Saint-Jean
10 nm along the Chambly Canal.
Yet another locking experience.
This time the staff threw the line at lock one
and on departure we took their line with us.
The staff then hopped in their little golf cart,
met us at the next lock
where we then threw them the line…
and so on through the nine locks.
Apparently, I throw like a girl
so learned to hand the line using the boat hook.
It was just us with a couple of guys in their sailboat,
wrapped and strapped on their journey south
to Lake Champlain.
One of them spoke to Francois
and told him how lucky he was that I was as passionate about sailing as he was.
His wife would rather be at home on land riding her bicycle and tending her garden.
Francois’ response was that yes, he was lucky
but it was Kathy who gently pushed him in the sailing direction.
Yes, sirree!
We still haven’t experienced warm weather yet.
Even when it’s sunny, the air on the water is still chilly.
We treat ourselves to a small tot of rum which warms our bellies
but our supply was quickly dwindling.
There was internet at one of the locks
so I did a little research
for reprovisioning…
True sailors should never be without their ‘essentials’
(SAQ = local liquor store)
R.E.D. at Chambly Canal Lock 9
Jun 14, 2015 | Flotsam
DAY ONE of our summer adventure…
We left our boat home at the crack of 09:15
not quite as early as we had hoped, but…
…a super sweet sail on a broad reach, 5 knots SOG…
…brought us to the first of 3 locks
at Saint-Anne de Bellevue…
…our first time on this part of the Saint-Lawrence Seaway
gave us a great view of downtown Montreal
and Mont Royal…
Once we reached the South Shore Channel we had to furl the sails…
…on the charts the first bridge gave us more than enough clearance…
the next…not sure…12 metres (which translates to 39′)
and with our VHF antenna our air draft is 37′.
Turned off the VHF just in case and slipped through with a foot or two to spare.
Our first locking through of the Seaway was at Saint-Catherine…
$30 paid in advance by credit card…
…a 30 minute wait,
…a 14 metre drop in water level…
…the first of our 2 Seaway locks exited without incident…
…passed under the Champlain Bridge.
Montreal is a series of islands connected by many bridges.
The next lock in our journey was at Saint- Lambert,
an hour motor ride at 6 knots.
This was the first BFB we saw.
Translation: Big Fluvial Boat…
Do you like how I cleaned up our usual term for these giant vessels?
This lock required raising two bridges,
stopping road, foot and rail traffic.
We decided that the best part of this lock,
was that for $30 we had the pleasure of pissing off a lot of people.
…next came the Jacques Cartier Bridge.
…past the Big ‘O’,
Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.
…and some of the crazy rides at La Ronde.
All in all it was a great, albeit long, first day.
The weather was superb.
We travelled 35.8 nm.
We dined.
We slept….in that dive-deep-sleeping-with-the-angels kind of sleep.
Tomorrow we unfurl the sails
and head out of the city on the next leg of our journey.
