Sorel to Excavation St-Ours.

The insurance adjuster arranges tow from Boisvert marina to a place where they had the equipment needed to haul us out of the water. They pick us at 14:30 to take us for a little over 5 minutes on the Richelieu River to St-Ours.

Boisvert Marine tow service

Go under the first bridge that was troubling. We have no control over our boat and unlike the coast guard; our tug was not slow, reaching close to 8 knots.  The total tow distance was about 12 nM

We made safely after an awkward unpowered tow. They asked us to sign the invoice and they left. It was hot and we offered two cold beers and told them not to drink it on the water. 

We are left to ourselves. We tried calling Excavation St-Ours but got a voice mailbox.

In a few minutes, from the top of the hill, a small electric cart comes down. Two men come and they asked about the length, width and tonnage Bellum and they disappear again.

In a few more minutes, comes the mammoth "Conolift"  http://www.kropfindustrial.com/CONOLIFT, a hydraulic trailer pulled by a large tractor.  In less than an hour and a half, our baby came out of the water and placed very skillfully on cradling straps.  Being pulled up the hill was concerning but they had the bow tied to the trailer to prevent the boat from sliding off.

We are relieved and safe.

The company Excavation St-Ours is a very professional and helpful family business. We were offered water, electricity and a bathroom if you want to spend the night there ... just if you have not offered us a red carpet. A five-star hotel in the middle of a field!

Finally, the son of the owner to take us back to Montreal on Monkland.

July 28, 2016 - A Day of waiting.

Allan has a hand and a foot swollen by the bites of deer flies, it makes him crazy! He cannot help scratching. It makes vinegar compresses which seem to give him some relief. It's really nice today but we dare not too out of the boat, you get to eat all round!

We waited until 8 to call my insurance broker to report the accident and get guidance.  The brokers were mostly on vacation and I talked to Wildo, the president. I gave him the details.  We waited for the return call insurance until 15:00 after which I called Jim on his cell and we got calls back from the adjuster.  Jim follows up shortly afterward.  The adjuster suggests we call the Coast Guard to tow us.

17h00 Coast Guard in 1205 comes to our rescue 

They towed us to Marina Saurel inc Sorel-Tracy, about 8 nM, where they tied us to the service dock.  Unfortunately, the dock boy tells us we cannot stay there.  We had no drive train so we used a small motorboat and 120 feet of anchor line to pull ourselves to a nearby dock. 

18h30 Bellum is safe now, a short walk to explore the town of Sorel. We will do the most to explore and enjoy our vacation as we wait as Bellum lays wounded. The city center is very pretty and effervescent. We return to the ship by walking the federal park whose railing is placed at the service of a friendly exhibition of children's drawings.  

deep, restful sleep.

At Rest in Sorel )Marina Saurel)

Trois Riviere - A bad start, a terrible ending

Each day brings its share of surprises.

7h00 Tac Tac. Metal against metal. That's what woke me up this morning. Daniele pokes her head through the hatch and two sailboats support us on starboard. Our anchor had dragged. 

We re-anchored again.

We left Trois-Rivières around 10h00 with a favorable south wind that would beam us across Lac St-Pierre.

Unfortunately, this will not be the case; we will have to fight against a west wind of 15 knots and worsened by a current of 2 knots. 

A bit after the Laviolette bridge, we will put up a reefed main and full jib sail and tacked through the Seaway channel. 

It was hot and humid and there were thunderstorm warnings.  Most boats were heading east, at high speed, making us thinks they don’t want to be stranded on Lac St. Pierre.

Then we started the engine. All goes well until a noise is heard and that starts to lose speed. This is surely weed on the drive chain.  We put Bellum into reverse and a big salad package frees our keel. now moved freely road a lot and strangely without vibration ... what a joy! Barely an hour later another unusual noise makes us react. It is as if an object was taken around the propeller and hit the hull.  Like a fishing line 

We stop the motor is, Allan plunges to see what happens. The propeller was full of weed.  I pull a hand full and come up, showing it to Daniele.  Again I pull another handful. 

Horror at the last dive, the livid, a small handful of seaweed by the hand, I informed her that the propeller strut was broken. This is serious; we still have some miles to go before they can be anchored. Should we continue to Sorel? 12 NM to go. 

We motored some and decided to put up the sail. Using the cell phones, we called local marinas to see if we can get hauled out.  It was getting late and not all marinas were too helpful.

Deer flies were eating me alive but they were not bothering Daniele.

We sailed slowly until it was futile and then we started the motor for the last couple of miles to get to a good anchorage near Ile de Grace.  A nice shallow cove. We anchored at 19:30.

After verification, the breakage of the motor shaft support does not seem too dangerous for now. 

Good news, no water leakage. What luck, we'll be able to sleep in our beds. Well no! Mosquitoes will begin the game and will prevent me from joining the arms of Morpheus.

The Richelieu Rapids

At 10h10, we leave our little cove and start our ascent. We see Wicko, a titan at 623 feet long and 75 feet wide while Laurentia Desgagnés, a Valkyrie with a length of 738 feet a width of 105 feet is now on the horizon. 

The river is more like a long slender corridor, I keep to the and guarantees our survival nothing. Once Wicko beyond us, it sneaks up behind him to leave all the room to Laurentia. 

As we approach Trois-Rivières, we start hugging the west shore to try to minimize the current.

We now see the Laviolette Bridge at Trois-Rivières approach and decided to refuel and draining skeptical before going to anchor at the mouth of the St. Maurice. Marina Trois-Riviere offers good services. The pump out was problematic, repeatedly having to re-prime the suction pump. Eventually, we visually inspected the tank

One can stay in dock for $ 5 / hour time to go grocery shopping in town or going to pay a good little tuck. The taxi service is very reliable and efficient. 

We restocked groceries for three to four days to sit it out relaxing in the Sorel Islands.

We went out to Trois-Riviere anchorage and anchored a little further out than our previous anchorage.

Isle-aux-Coudres to Portneuf

The alarm sounded in the middle of the night warning us that the current has reversed. The anchor rode is once again stuck under the keel.

At 4:50 we finally left the island with a favorable current in a sunrise red light day.

What a great day.  We made great progress.  We advanced quickly by iron sail and then by dacron for a couple of hours.  We got the Ile Orleans and by choosing to go through the North Channel, we discover new scenery.  The water was brown and opaque. 

We had a great view of Ste-Anne de Beaupré Shrine and the Cathedral. We passed under the bridge to Île d'Orléans and near the Bassin Louise, the YQC. It was still early; we push a little further up 'Portneuf.

As we pass the Quebec Bridge, the current reverses and slowly but surely slows our progress. Light scattered rain at 2:32 p.m. 

4:30 p.m. We just dropped anchor in Cap-Santé downstream of Portneuf and just a little away from the sea. Not a small cove well protected but with a background that provides good performance.

We were wet and had no desires to go to visit the nice fancy restaurant at Portneuf that was recommended to us.  The anchor fouled around the keel again.  We had lots of scope.