Day 5 Chesapeake to Nova Scotia

These Blog entries are edited versions of the messages we sent back as we completed the passage. They were sent by radio using a laptop that controls a modem and the HF/SSB radio, using the SailMail system. We sent the messages daily to Charlotte and she then forwarded them on to a list of family members.

2359hrs (AST, GMT-4) 26 Jul 2018

Dear All,

We are sailing again.  The wind has been pretty strong outside of Cape Cod and so, to give it a little more time to reduce, we decided to take the later tide gate through the Cape Cod Canal.  That gave us a bit more sleep this morning and an admin day at anchor in Onset Bay.  There have even been some more blog entries posted!  Probably much more important, Nicky telephoned the Border authorities and let them know that we would be leaving US waters.

Leaving Onset Bay

We eventually raised our anchor at 1530hrs (it was really well dug in after the strong winds last night) and made our way into the Cape Cod Canal.

The only potential obstruction for us was the railway lifting bridge but that spends most of its time up, only being lowered when a train is expected (once or twice a day).

We passed underneath it and made excellent progress with the help of 2-3 knots of tide.

Tidal flow out of the canal as we left it going north

There are 2 other bridges over the canal that we had to pass under, both of which are fixed.   It took us just 50 minutes to transit the ~10 mile canal.  Interestingly, the seawater on the west (New York) side of the canal was 22.5 degrees Celcius whereas it was 16.5 degrees on the eastern (Maine) side (though now we have cleared Cape Cod Bay the sea temperature has gone up a bit again to 19.7 deg Celcius).  Everyone has been warning us that we will need woolly jumpers for Maine and Nova Scotia and if the change in sea temperature is anything to go by, they are not wrong!

Heading for Race Point

After passing through the canal we continued NNE for 22 miles to clear Race Point, the furthest north bit of Cape Cod. That was all downwind with the sails goose-winged.

At sunset as we passed Race Point we gybed and hardened onto a beamy broad reach, aiming for a point a bit south of Cape Sable (the southernmost tip of Nova Scotia).  The timing worked out well because we could set up the sails up for the night passage whilst both of us were up. It's about 200nm from our current position to our waypoint off Cape Sable and once we're there we'll turn left a bit for another 30nm or so to get to Shelburne. We are expecting some stronger winds tonight, perhaps into tomorrow, but then they should ease off for the rest of the passage. Maybe even getting too light; we'll keep you posted.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:
Position at midday 26 Jul: N41 44 W70 39 (At anchor in Onset Bay, Cape Cod)
Position at 2359 26 Jul: N42 12 W69 52
Midday to midday distance: n/a nautical miles
Midnight to midnight distance: n/a nautical miles
Total miles covered:  478 nautical miles
Approximate distance to go: 230 nautical miles to Shelburne

End of Day 5  Chesapeake to Nova Scotia