Trespassey to St Pierre

 

An interesting leg,  as we have to beat our way upwind in solid wind. Somehow, I am looking forward to it, because this is a good test of our capacities for the trip: in Newfoundland the prevailing winds are from SW, so we will have to deal with this configuration probably all along the South Coast, and in addition I will confronted to this for all the return trip to New England. Therefore it is very important to have a good assessment of the boat abilities (and the crew abilities) to beat upwind in 20/25 kts and oceanic waves. I sailed a couple of days of this weather during last year transatlantic passage, so I have some level of confidence, but still. It turns out that we do pretty well  - good speed, the boat sails comfortably, some banging but tolerable. In fact it feels that we are still well below the limit. A few known leaks become much more annoying. There is one big frustration though,  our tacking angles are pretty lousy – 120 degrees or so - this means that we have to travel more distance when we sail upwind. I also see this as a personal challenge to solve…At the time of writing I haven’t found the solution … But overall, the passage is instructive – we learn a few more tricks, maneuvers and tunings, and the general feeling is that as we advance during the trip, our trust in the boat and our efficiency improves.

So, we arrive in StPierre about 20:00, pick up a buoy in the Barachois. Moving to the customs quay next day, cleared quickly; we plan to stay at least one full day. No fog, sunshine (but serious wind in the harbor, maybe more wind than offshore !) …Looks like we will have good time.