It’s always a mix of emotions coming back to the dock after a season of sailing. It’s nice to be back and to reconnect with the people we’d started to get to know, but it also meant our time on the boat was nearing an end — at least for this year.
But on the plus side, good beer was once again at hand đ.
One of the reasons we came back when we did was the deteriorating weather. Hurricane season had started like a lamb, but that lamb had mutated into a nasty demonic ram, sending cyclone after cyclone up our way.
First there was Danielle, which brought us some nasty weather that we sat out at a nearby anchorage (Swan Island). Then came Earl, which hammered the Avalon Peninsula, and brought strong winds and big seas to our area. We weathered that at the dock. But then this gal named Fiona started heading our way … we knew our season was done.
At least all that weather brought some stunning skies:
While waiting out the weather and storms, the three of us (Ann, I and Mark) took a road trip to the nearby town of Twillingate. Along the way, we stopped into visit the Beothuk Interpretation Centre. This museum is located at a historic Beothuk village site that had been previously investigated and researched. It was a fascinating window into the history of the original Newfoundlanders — sadly driven extinct.
After spending a couple of hours at this historic site we headed up to Twillingate to visit this storied town, and to get a view of the open ocean in all its Earl fury.
Of course, the real reason we went on the road trip was to satisfy an Ann-itch for good fish & chips. The fish place near Lewisporte had already closed for the season, but we’d been told “the best” was to be found at: Doyle W. Sansome & Sons Super Lobster Pool.
We were not disappointed.
The fish in the fish&chips was succulent. You could taste the lovely sweet cod. And their “fish cam” let you see what was swimming just below. They even have a wharf right next to the place, so we might be able to sail there next season.
The following days were spent getting Pachina Mia ready to haul out. This is probably the hardest part of the season, because we know we’re working to leave the boat, not get her ready. But it has to be done.
One of the interesting jobs is to climb to the top of our mast to remove the wind instrument, to do a rigging inspection, and to detach the lazy jack lines. Ann usually goes up in the spring because she’s always fit, and I usually go up in the fall because, by the end of the season, I’m somewhat in shape đ.
Haulout happened without any problem, and we continue to get her ready for the coming winter. This meant a lot of unloading, and general shifting of our lives from boat back to car. It also meant more cleaning, with Ann trying to reach the last bits of mould up in unreachable areas deep in our chain locker.
But our main concern through all this, and indeed through our entire sailing season, had been to get a new winter cover for Pachina Mia. Our boat is a fine old lady, but without a good winter cover, she suffers greatly. The previous winter had destroyed our old cover, but we had a new one on order from TopShop in Kingston.
Building a cover for any largish boat is no small task, and it’s doubly hard when done remotely. Under TopShop-Dave’s guidance, we had taken all the necessary measurements. So now we were awaited its arrival, all the while keeping a close eye on the calendar. We had already booked our ferry ride back to Ottawa, so we were under some time pressure. And if that wasn’t enough, something else emerged on the horizon: Fiona!
What started as a serious, but very distant storm, soon became a very real problem for us as it became clear Fiona was headed our way. It felt like 2019 all over again when we first arrived in Lewisporte just ahead of another hurricane, called Dorian.
Putting a winter cover on is difficult in the best of conditions. Any wind or weather makes it hard to impossible, and we were facing a completely new cover. We knew we had to get it on before the winds and rain arrived.
Dave had promised delivery in time, and we’d been tracking it via Day & Ross delivery since it left Kingston. We knew it was nearby, but often the last km of delivery is what takes the longest. We had pretty much given up hope of it arriving before Fiona when we were awakened to a banging on our hull early (for us) in the morning. It arrived!
It arrived… and just in time. Fiona was bearing down on Newfoundland, but as predicted, there was the calm before the storm. It was just enough time to get the cover up, and reasonably well tied down. We battened down the last hatches just as the wind really started blowing.
This new cover seems to be significantly better than our previous one. The material feels tougher, and less permeable. This should mean our boat is drier and better protected. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite fit. All the cutouts were perfect, and the overall sizing worked well, but our forward pulpit extends further out than expected.
The gap was small, so we made it work with a combination of extra lacing and the use of a fender. Ann spent so much time with her head peaking out of the little forward hole, that she became a feature of the yard. People would walk by just to talk to the cute little Ann-gopher peaking out of her nest.
Lewisporte only took a glancing blow from Fiona, but this was still enough to produce high, sustained winds that lasted for over two days. Our new cover took quite a beating, but survived quite well. But other parts of the marina didn’t fare quite so well. I saw at least one large power boat have their bimini cover shredded by the wind, and one of the finger docks almost ripped apart.
By early evening we had our cover in place, and fairly well secured. We spent the evening safe inside the club, singing and mostly listening to fellow boater Eric as he shared his guitar and singing talents. As well as being an impressive mariner (in boats small and large), he is an accomplished singer/song-writer.
Our cover did well in the face of these high winds, but being on our boat under the cover was like sticking your head into a set of drums. It was deafening — so much so that I chose to sleep in the clubhouse for the last night on board. Ann, who can sleep through anything loud, and isn’t quite as portable in her sleeping arrangements, stayed on board.
We only saw 30 to perhaps 50 knot winds over in Lewisporte, but on the south-west side of Newfoundland, and over on Cape Breton, the hurricane hit with full force. Ferries had been cancelled for days, but our sailing remained on schedule, so we did our final inspections, tied everything up, and left Shah and Fred and the treasures to watch over Pachina Mia. We expect to be back in the spring, 2023 — unless the world falls apart again.
We hit the road and headed for the ferry over at Port aux Basques. The town itself had been severely damaged by Fiona’s storm surge. Many dozens of homes had been destroyed or simply washed away, and many more were severely damaged. Luckily (for us) the ferry docks were undamaged, so we boarded and said goodbye to Newfoundland once again.
The drive through Cape Breton and even parts of Nova Scotia proper revealed a lot more storm damage. There seemed to be no power at all on the island, so we had to drive for hours before making our first coffee and breakfast stop. By the time we found a place with coffee, Ann was starting to twitch and sweat, but luckily the Farmer’s Daughter came through with liquid caffeine.
The rest of our journey back to Ottawa was uneventful, and so we washed up here at Kathy & Mom’s place once again. We’re here for a few more days before we start our western journey, heading to Saskatchewan for the first of three winter house sits.
