0930 hours Wednesday June 30, 2010

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II is docked at Toronto’s people friendly waterfront park and residential harbor side.

PRIDE helped form a mini-tall ship parade into Toronto Harbor yesterday afternoon with EUROPA and ROSEWAY. I am told there was good imagery captured by the news media helicopter that made two passes over the small fleet. The wind was fresh at near 20 knots and PRIDE’s crew put their hearts into sail handling under full sail and her sometimes 10 knots of speed.

For PRIDE’s crew the work associated with full-sail sailing in 20 knots of wind was significant in that this was the first time they had sailed her in such conditions with full-sail set. For this captain, the work was keeping track of when the helicopter was going to be passing by so as to minimize the time PRIDE would be in the middle of a turning maneuver with the associated reality that such a maneuver puts the sails in all kinds of weird orientations. When not turning, PRIDE’s sails are all harmoniously trimmed and full of wind pulling her along at best speed for the angle of wind. Sometimes that means sails trimmed tight, flat and close for sailing as close to the wind as possible. Sometimes that is a broad reach with the wind coming over the after (stern) quarters and filling the properly trimmed “full looking” sails, resulting in some of the fastest boat speeds available for the wind strength. Broad reach sailing in 20 knots means near maximum speed for PRIDE of around 10 knots. Staying close to other vessels that are moving at lesser speeds presents the trick of maintaining parade position for the short time frame of the “live shot”.

Setting up the parade by falling into line behind EUROPA, who was in an up-wind location from us, required sailing PRIDE first upwind to get behind her, then turning downwind to reach along behind her in parade position. To do this my focus was on avoiding collisions, maneuvering outside of shoal water waters, keeping an eye on spectator traffic, keeping an eye on deck maneuvers and calling out sail trim orders, as well as keeping track of the helicopter, all while figuring out an expeditious route to sail to get into parade position and hopefully provide an attractive and dynamic image in harmony with the other vessels for the camera to capture for the mid-afternoon live TV coverage.

From the crews’ perspective this was some of the best sailing they had seen so far this year. Especially as they were seeing for themselves that they knew more about what they were doing and could anticipate better than ever what was needed and when. From my perspective I feel we should have provided some good imagery for the camera. But a “live” showing does not offer the opportunity to pick and chose the best imagery. Like a theatrical stage show…we either got it right at the right time…or we got it right at the wrong time.

We followed up this sailing dance and parade by sailing into Toronto Harbor right up to within 100 feet of our assigned dock. Soon after docking Canadian Customs came aboard and within half an hour we were cleared and the crew proceeded with tidying up the ship in preparation of a full maintenance day come Wednesday. As I write there is a scramble to sand the bulwark rail cap and get it varnished today. Tomorrow we are open to the public, so on-deck cosmetic maintenance must come to a stop.

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

1000 hours Tuesday June 28, 2010

PRIDE approaches the 1st rendezvous of the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) 2010 Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge (GLUTSC) fleet at Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

We are seeing other traditional sailing vessels now as we get ever closer to Toronto. EUROPA, a Dutch Barque Rigged square sail vessel, is arriving from cruises this last winter in the Antarctic. ROALD AMUNDSEN, a German Brig Rigged square sail vessel is arriving from Europe. ROSEWAY, a two mast schooner of the American Cod Fishing style and UNICORN, an all female leadership training program in a square topsail schooner of European origins, along with PRIDE, are arriving from the American East Coast. The jostling begins to organize ourselves for the parade of sail into Toronto Harbor later this afternoon.

PRIDE is more recently arriving from a three vessel tall ship Festival of Sail hosted in Oswego, New York over this last weekend. LYNX, UNICORN and PRIDE were the scene in Oswego’s first tall ship focused festival. The Oswegan hospitality was warm, friendly, supportive and the general public was wonderfully considerate and polite during their time aboard. Oswego has an important strategic maritime history considering its port is the beginning of a canal system that links Lake Ontario to New York Harbor via the Hudson River and Lake Champlain.

The transit from Oswego across the full length of Lake Ontario westward toward Toronto starting yesterday under sail was uneventful insofar as the wind was moderate to light till early this morning. With light winds, followed by calm, followed by a fresh westerly wind flow, PRIDE has been motoring all night into the wind in order to help form a parade of sail into Toronto for a news media helicopter flight scheduled for this afternoon. The lack of sailing overnight will be made up for a little bit by resetting sail and milling around outside of the harbor entrance. We are now less than 10 miles from the entrance and we have more than 4 hours to wait for the start of the parade. Soon we too will have sail up.

0800 hours Wednesday June 23, 2010

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II passed through The Thousand Islands region of the upper St. Lawrence River this morning. A faster than anticipated transit of the Seaway System starting from Montreal yesterday morning brought PRIDE into the 1000 Islands much sooner than I can ever recall being able to do in the 12 trips up the St Lawrence River that I have made thus far in schooners since 1981. The speed of the transit up river from Montreal appears to me to be due to reduced current flow downstream after a very mild winter with reduced snow fall on the watershed that supplies the Great Lakes, and reduced commercial shipping traffic as a result of the downturn in the economy. This is the first time ever there has been no waiting line delay to pass through a lock. As a result, instead of passing through 1000 Islands in the afternoon of the day after entering the Seaway System we are passing through early in the morning. Such timing coming up the river and a change for the better in the overnight rainy weather created a beautiful early morning sun-breaking-through-cloud-cover vista. Cameras broke out before breakfast to record the morning beauty. 

Behind PRIDE the ROALD AMUNDSEN pulled off to the side of the river late yesterday and anchored after I spoke with her on the radio welcoming them to North America. They are quite early for the first full fleet rendezvous in Toronto scheduled for June 30. I asked if they had other interim obligations. After learning that they were not pressed for time to get somewhere before getting to Toronto, I described some good anchorages that could be used at night that were also good swimming locations due to not having a lot of current.

EUROPA, LYNX and ROSEWAY arrived Montreal yesterday morning and remained overnight. During communications with LYNX yesterday afternoon I learned they intended to get started up river around 4 am today with hopes of catching up with us for a sail together across Lake Ontario to Oswego on Thursday.

That sail will likely prove interesting. There is a second low with an associated trough preceding another cold front coming through late Wednesday night that is likely to bring heavy thunder storms along with winds between 15 and 25 knots flowing first from the south and veering through southwest on its way to west and northwest by the middle of the day Thursday. Winds from the south to southwest would not provide PRIDE an easy sail. So I am hoping for the wind to change early Thursday to the west to provide PRIDE an “easy” reach to Oswego. But even if that comes to pass and we manage not to have a significant experience with a strong thunderstorm, sailing in Lake Ontario after it has been kicked up by strong winds from the southwest may prove to be not much fun. Fresh water is lighter than salt water hence when the wind blows the wave size in fresh water can be quite a bit larger than for saltwater. According to Canada the forecast for wave size for Lake Ontario on Thursday could go to 2 meters or about 7 feet and the distance between crests could be very close making a situation where PRIDE can feel like it is a battering ram losing the battle.

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

1130 hours Tuesday June 22, 2010

PRIDE started to “climb” the step-ladder of locks in the St. Lawrence Seaway System between Montreal and Lake Ontario this morning.

The process of “entering” the Seaway is rather procedural. It requires a pre-inspection before being permitted into the system. For new vessels to the system this is readily obvious to be sure the vessel will fit and no damage to the lock or the vessel will occur. For returning vessels the pre-inspection is required upon the first arrival to the system any given year, but not again until the next year, no matter how many times the system is transited. Arranging the pre-inspection requires several phone calls and radio conversations to verify information and to coordinate the logistics of moving the vessel for both the inspection and the beginning of the transit. As always, until PRIDE is actually in the Seaway system she must have a Montreal Harbor pilot for any movement. This time we required two pilots because the Seaway was unable to accommodate the inspection during the first locking procedure. So a pilot was needed to move us this morning to a nearby mooring location to the first lock. Then after the inspection was completed…took about half an hour…another pilot was required to make the last 1000 foot shift from outside of lock number one to inside lock number one. This second pilot for the last 1,000 foot move will add expense to entering the first lock that was not incurred two years ago when the Seaway was able to accommodate the inspection during the first locking…back then only one pilot was required to go from anchorage to inside lock number one.

Meanwhile just ahead of PRIDE in the Seaway system is ROALD AMUNDSEN, the German sail training vessel that is going to participate in the Great Lakes Tall Ship Challenge (GLTSC) organized by the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) in partnership with various Great Lake port cities hosting the tall ships for maritime festivals. Behind us, not yet in the Seaway system is LYNX (American West Coast), EUROPA (Dutch) and ROSEWAY (American Northeast Coast). Of this group of tall ships PRIDE and LYNX are the only vessels visiting Oswego, scheduled to arrive there Thursday.

Looking ahead to the weather forecast…it looks like rain with threat of thunderstorms starting tonight and going through Wednesday and Thursday before clearing again with south to southwest winds Wednesday and early Thursday, shifting to west winds later on Thursday. More headwinds to motor against…not what I was hoping for…but nothing to be surprised by.

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II just exchanged pilots at Trios-Rivieres (Three Rivers), Quebec, Canada, midway between Quebec City and Montreal. We are on schedule to anchor tonight at Montreal around 9 pm. Tomorrow we get an early start to arrive the fist Seaway Lock at 0800 for a “check inspection” to be sure the ship will “fit” in the locks (PRIDE has been through the Seaway many times and remains unchanged so a “check” inspection is permitted). Once cleared to proceed, we do so without pilot and start the “climb” up the remaining length of the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario through the locks of the Seaway system. In general, after re-evaluating our fuel situation, it appears we should be able to arrive Oswego Thursday afternoon, barring some unforeseen weather.

The first group of pilots we picked up at Escumins shared the possibility that PRIDE would be slow enough to miss the start of flood current at Quebec City late Sunday night and if so may be required to anchor to wait for the following flood timed for Monday morning. As it turned out, PRIDE was just fast enough that the second group of pilots came aboard at 30 minutes after midnight and guided us through the night without having to stop. But PRIDE is not fast enough to arrive Montreal today before 4 pm to get the required inspection during normal working hours. So we will anchor for the night and proceed again in the morning. If we were in a really big hurry, we could pay out over $650 for an “overtime” inspection late tonight and continue on. But being a not-for-profit company in an economic downturn environment, I do not think it is an unimportant decision to pay out such a fee just to be sure we are on time. Especially as I believe we can be on time even after a night of being at anchor in Montreal.

Meanwhile, PRIDE was passed by LYNX early Sunday and has in turn passed LYNX late last night as LYNX did a prudent thing of going to anchor to wait the Monday morning flood from Quebec City. They will get a night’s rest. They will get to pass Quebec City today in daylight and see the prettier part of the middle section of the river. But it will take about 20-22 hours for them to reach Montreal…so they will arrive just before business hours on Tuesday. A busy day will follow taking care of business such as getting a full Seaway inspection because LYNX has never been into the “system” before. With luck, they may be starting up the last third of the river and through the locks starting sometime mid afternoon Tuesday. Even with the later departure, they should be able to arrive Oswego Thursday afternoon as well…baring any strong contrary weather we have not yet heard may occur.

Weather today here is a moderate summer day of low 70′s with low humidity as a result of a cold front that passed through the area last night. We have clear skies and light winds from the northwest. This third group of pilots likes to steer for themselves, so the crew is free to do maintenance.

Considering we will anchor tonight we will go to “all hands” this afternoon and get more maintenance done. Tomorrow we will probably remain all hands till sometime in the afternoon…so maybe a lot of maintenance can be done.

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

0830 hours Sunday June 20, 2010

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II was boarded at 0745 by the first set of pilots serving the required pilotage area for vessels greater than 37 meters (PRIDE is just less than 48 meters sparred length) serving the St. Lawrence River between Escumins, Quebec (just east of the Saguenay River as it intersects the St. Lawrence River) and Montreal. Typically it takes PRIDE near 48 hours and 3 sets of pilots to cover the 260 nautical miles from the pilot station at Escumins up the river past Quebec City to Montreal. From Montreal it will take PRIDE (without pilot) another near 36 hours to make Lake Ontario. In general, if nothing strange happens, it appears PRIDE is on schedule to make Oswego by late Thursday.

PRIDE’s fuel situation seems adequate as well. According to measurements and calculations there remains aboard PRIDE enough fuel to run with two engines for another 95 hours. If it takes 84 hours to get to Lake Ontario, that leaves about 11 hours of fuel left to get to Oswego. Considering there will be open Lake Ontario waters with no contrary current available to sail on verses the tight constantly running (contrary current flow heading down stream) river width that requires motoring, it is quite likely PRIDE will be able to sail without using engine power the last bit of distance to Oswego as PRIDE crosses the width of Lake Ontario. But even if she must motor the last distance across the lake, it looks like there will be fuel to do so.

The gale winds forecast for last night never materialized for PRIDE. There were rain clouds and lightning. But no high winds and no thunder was heard. Through the night and as this log is being written the wind has remained less than 15 knots. The forecast this morning suggests light winds for the start of today with “strong” winds due this afternoon. We cannot find a forecast for tomorrow. Hopefully it won’t bring really strong head winds (“strong wind” is Canadian jargon for winds less than 30 knots…bad enough if actually true when blowing on the bow…not good at all if stronger than 30 knots). The prevailing wind direction is down river or from the southwest, right from the direction we must go. Sometimes the wind can be quite strong…almost always it is 15-20 knots, hence an additional constant drag on PRIDE’s fuel economy as she “climbs” up the St. Lawrence River against the stream. During all of this motoring up river PRIDE will be gaining altitude above sea level. Lake Ontario is 243 feet above sea level. Most of that height will be climbed by a series of locks that will lift PRIDE some 40 feet each. But some of the height will be made by motoring against the current up the river to Montreal.

Now that the first two pilots are aboard to take us as far as Quebec, ship routine is back to normal save for the fact the pilots will issue instructions for where to steer rather than the watch leaders or the captain. But even with the pilots giving such direction, PRIDE’s watch leaders and captain must maintain vigilance. They must be aware, observe and understand all of the steering orders given by the pilot. If PRIDE’s watch leaders do not understand why any steering order is given by a pilot, they should still obey the request but immediately inform the captain…unless it is clearly obvious the new steering order is dangerous. The reason for this is that maritime pilots do not assume liability for damage or injury that comes from their orders. Such damage or injury as occurs by a pilot given order is still the liability and responsibility of the master. So, while the pilots exercise their intimate knowledge of the river as they guide PRIDE along, the officers and crew of PRIDE observe and permit those orders to occur as long as there is no danger presented by the pilot given order.

Pilots offer a window into the local culture and news of an area. They are the first introduction to their country the crew of a vessel will experience. Pilots are of course also a source of maritime information. As such I just learned that PRIDE’s timing of arrival at Escumins has her meeting the beginning of a significant ebb water between Quebec and Montreal starting when these first pilots think we will arrival Quebec near midnight tonight. Some of the ebb current can be six knots! Our first pilots have suggested it may be prudent to have PRIDE anchor till the beginning of the flood toward Montreal starting just after the first low water tomorrow morning around 0900. Anchoring from near midnight till 0900 will likely mean we do not arrive Montreal till early Tuesday morning. Overall this should not have a negative affect for being able to arrive Oswego by late in the day Thursday June 24. While such a delay seems not to be a problem I find myself disappointed. I had visions of reaching Montreal Monday afternoon in time to continue on into the Seaway lock system and getting ahead of the schedule somewhat to relax the crew.

Isn’t it the French language that provides us a quaint response to such a disappointment? I think that phrase is “C’est la vie.”

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

1030 hours Saturday June 19 2010

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II starts a dash for the upper St. Lawrence River and on toward Oswego.

It appears the last of the sailing for the beginning part of this voyage has been accomplished. I had hoped for more sailing today…but it appears to not be available. We sailed some early this morning. But since breakfast the air has been fitful…while favorable…only able to make 3 knots or so. Meanwhile Schooner LYNX is now in sight behind us. She stopped the last of her sailing last evening and with her propeller pitched shallow and her engine RPM set high all night long she has been making around 8 knots to PRIDE’s 6 knots.

Meanwhile, the weather machine is getting ready to throw us another bowling ball of contrary conditions. Soon, sometime tonight, we are supposed to experience SW winds of gale strength…maybe 35 knots. It won’t last long…just overnight…but it could be a show stopper in terms of continuing to make way. For the moment, with light winds that are favorable, both LYNX & PRIDE are motor-sailing towards the south shore of the upper Gulf of St. Lawrence, or the north shore of the Gaspe Peninsula as it turns toward the west and south a little on its way to the actual opening of the St. Lawrence River. If both vessels are able to get to the south shore and the forecast southwest wind is truly southwest, there could be a bit of a lee  provided by being really close to shore from any big waves. If that turns out to be true, maybe some sail area can also remain up to assist as engines burn fuel to push the vessels and their masts, yards and rigging against the gale force headwinds. However, if the SW winds turn out to blow right up the river, there will be no lee and the waves could get large. For PRIDE that could be a show stopper…until the wind and sea abate. Considering LYNX’s is going to stop in Montreal to get fuel anyway, as well attend to matters required to get a pass to transit the upper St. Lawrence River, she has plenty of fuel to burn fighting the gale. But would she be able to punch through any sizable waves created by the gale? Considering PRIDE will not be making a fuel stop, we cannot afford to burn a lot of fuel merely beating against the gale. Plus, hitting large seas on the bow is something we learned long ago is not worth the risk of damage…much less consuming gross amounts of fuel doing so…putting at risk running out of fuel at the very end of this voyage.

PRIDE’s fuel status is pretty good. We are still able to make way running only one engine. If we can do that all the way to the pilot station…maybe even beyond…we will have plenty of fuel to get to Oswego. If we can push through the gale, we should have no problem arriving Oswego in time for Friday’s kick off events. However, if we find the gale stopping us, it will be hard to make Oswego in time for Friday’s kick-off.

So, here is to hoping the gale does not stop PRIDE in her tracks.

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II is sailing with double reefed mainsail plus full foresail, staysail and jib in NW winds of 25 to 30 knots between Cape Gaspe and Anticosti Island.

Wind remained calm since last evening as PRIDE pushed under one engine toward Gaspe across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Around 0300 hours the forecast SW wind started to fill in. Under full sail and no engine assist PRIDE sped along at 10 knots till 0430 hours. The appearance of an uncommon looking cloud to the west-northwest stimulated us to strike the jib-top and the main-gaff-top. Not soon enough did we get the mainsail and foretopsail down. Crew did a good job of getting the mainsail off in the wind squall as I steered to moderate the situation. Just as the mainsail was all the way down the wind abated. Knowing the forecast spoke of strong NW winds after the arrival of the cold front we went ahead and struck and stowed the square foretopsail then double reefed the mainsail and reset. It was another four hours before strong NW winds filled in. I guess the cloud/wind squall was the temperature change line between the warmer air and the new cold air making for an uncommon looking cloud representing a line of localized wind of nearly 40 knots. Now PRIDE is mid way between the tall hills of the Gaspe Peninsula and Anticosti Island and the wind is up to forecast strength from the NW and the sea is building. PRIDE is doing a bit of hobby-horsing in the sea but is otherwise making her way to windward. It looks like she will reach the shores of Anticosti Island by evening time and be forced to tack.

The weather report forecasts a dying out of this wind come evening. After some calm during the night a new wind from the SE and S is to come. That will be nice although it is unlikely to last long before it also dies out and winds from the west and north return. It will be important to make as much westing as we can once this NW’rly dies out and the favorable wind comes. If we can go far enough west, we may actually be able to use the future north wind to keep advancing along our way into the portion of the St. Lawrence River that leads toward the southwest.

Sailing north may not be toward our destination, but we are not using any fuel and gaining higher latitude ought to put us in a good position to make best use of the coming favorable southerly winds.

Schooner LYNX is behind by about 16 miles. She appears to have reduced the separation between the schooners during the night by motoring faster. It is hard to tell if she has reached the combination of strong NW winds and the sloppy sea that it is making. We are not sailing PRIDE aggressively in these conditions as I am reluctant to rush up to Anticosti and then tack and rush back the other way. I am hoping to time our arrival to Anticosti for when the wind dies and then turn toward the west and start advancing toward our destination. Our fuel situation is still good so during the calm we should be able to economically advance toward the west under power once the wind dies. If we can again advance at speeds of about 6 knots then we should still be able to make our obligation in Oswego in a timely fashion with fuel to spare. I hope the forecasters are correct and my assessment of the best way to handle their forecasting is actually the best way.

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

0900 hours Thursday June 17, 2010
Near east end of Prince Edward Island.
Wind SW’rly 15 knots.
Sailing with eased sheets under all working sail (3 jibs, square topsail, foresail, mainsail & main-topsail).

The Gulf is pretty flat just now. Just yesterday the weather reports indicated there were 3 meter seas (more than 10 feet) due to strong northwest winds. All that has died down and the Gulf is placid while PRIDE makes about 6 knots under sail pointed at the eastern tip of the Gaspe Peninsula.

The northwesterlies were what helped us get started from Lunenburg going east to Cape Canso. Had we departed Monday as scheduled rather than late Tuesday as we did we would have run into headwinds of between 30 and 40 knots from the northwest during the leg between Cape Canso and the Straits of Canso and beyond into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Such wind strength would have stopped us in our tracks and would have been very hard to find safe anchorage with plus we would have used up a lot of fuel getting into a safe position to wait the northwest winds to die off. As it was, PRIDE ran into 20 knot northwest breezes last evening around 6 pm as she started her turn around Cape Canso toward the Straits. Fortunately as the sun went down so did the wind strength to less than 15 knots and also backed towards the west. So it was possible to motor to and through the Straits with only one engine hence conserving fuel while still making 6 knots or better.

I have been bothered by the late departure from Lunenburg. Figuring the timing for PRIDE getting from port to port involves a standard rule of thumb calculation of how many miles we think we can make in 24 hours without knowing what the weather will actually be for any of the legs. In over two decades PRIDE has been late to arrive less than a dozen times. Each time she has actually been late it involved weather that just could not be avoided and time ran out. I fear we will run out of time getting to Oswego considering it was prudent to delay departure because of the northwest winds that blew on Tuesday. Interestingly, when conversing with the Canso Lock Master I learned that it was blowing almost 50 knots from the northwest yesterday morning. Yep, we would have been stopped in our tracks at Cape Canso! So the delayed departure from Lunenburg was well advised. However, any additional significant weather that creates a reason to stop our advance will surely cause us to be late arriving Oswego.

But we are making way now under sail…not motor…and if we can keep 6 knots or better as we cross the Gulf, and if we can do it without motoring, it will be of great benefit towards our effort to arrive in Oswego on time.

Behind us by 30 miles or so is the privateer schooner LYNX. Being smaller than PRIDE she is unable to sail as fast as PRIDE when there are strong winds. In moderate to light winds there would not be much difference between the vessels. However there appears to be a difference in motoring. LYNX carries more fuel than does PRIDE notwithstanding being smaller. Also, she is equipped with the ability to change the pitch of her single propeller anytime she wants. PRIDE has two fixed pitch propellers. Being able to increase or decrease the bite of her propeller gives LYNX the opportunity to keep her one engine, which is equal to the power of PRIDE’s two engines when added together, at the most efficient and powerful portion of the power curve no matter the conditions. For motor sailing situations where the sails are doing some pulling, the pitch can be made larger and the engine run slower and help the sails drive LYNX at a faster speed than PRIDE in the same circumstances using only one of her engines with its fixed pitch propeller. Or, if it is required to push against strong weather, LYNX can reduce the pitch of her propeller and keep the engine at an efficient and powerful RPM. While PRIDE has two engines and propellers that when used together provide fully adequate power to handle most situations, using one engine makes for greater economy but less power which can mean less speed if one is trying to push against the wind while conserving fuel. With yesterdays favorable northwest breezes PRIDE was able to get ahead of LYNX under sail. Since both vessels have been motoring from just after mid day yesterday, LYNX has been able to keep the pace if not actually do some catching up.

It is fun having a “friend” vessel in close proximity during a voyage. I have been having weather and itinerary strategy discussions with LYNX’s captain over the radio on a regular basis. Captain Jamie Trost has been and continues to be a regular relief captain here aboard PRIDE hence we have worked together. Having two Chesapeake Bay 1812 War privateer reproductions making a voyage together into the Great Lakes with two captains that have worked closely together a lot makes for some very efficient and on-topic conversations. Not a lot of background conversation has to be made because we have had these conversations before when discussing PRIDE business. Jamie has never sailed or transited the St. Lawrence River and he has not been bashful to ask me about things. In turn, I have done this trip almost two dozen times over the last 30 years. Jamie’s questions remind me of what I have experienced hence actually helps me focus better on this voyage.

Limited fuel and winds that are often blowing from where you need to go with traditional sail vessels across international borders makes for a potent brew of conflicting realities on a voyage to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic. Take for instance the question of fuel. Why can’t we just pull into a place along the way and get more fuel if we use more than we hoped to? Well, first of all, we have formally “cleared” out of Canada. To go back into Canada requires time spent re-entering and then re-clearing. Meanwhile the nearest American port is more than 75 percent of the distance from Lunenburg to Oswego. Stopping there will require formally entering into the United States, which is not a problem except it takes time. But I just learned from Jamie that LYNX’s office has learned that no fuel delivery trucking companies near that ‘first American’ port are permitted to deliver fuel to a vessel unless they have “passed” the security requirements and have the required extra liability coverage in case of a fuel spill. Since no trucking company wants the extra expense of all the formality plus the liability on the “off chance” a vessel will need fuel, no delivery of fuel by truck is available when a few years ago it was. Most marinas in the St. Lawrence River on the American side are too shallow or small to accept PRIDE alongside for fuel. So…at this point, it seems to me we best not run into strong head winds or we may risk running out of fuel trying to push against such wind while trying to keep to the schedule set for arrival in Oswego. Push come to shove, such a circumstance will require choosing to be late so as not to run out of fuel.

Well, the wind is back from recently being light. PRIDE is sailing along fast and in the right direction. The more she can do this the better off we might be for keeping to the schedule and the better it will be when the time comes to stop sailing and motor up the narrow portions of the St. Lawrence River.

Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II

We are biding our time for departure watching a strong wind pattern. Looks like we will depart this evening. We will have company, the smaller 1812 War Chesapeake Bay privateer LYNX is here, headed to Oswego same as PRIDE is. Jamie Trost is her master…when he cannot work for us providing relief to me, he finds work with other schooners; currently he is with LYNX. So we will see how much company we can keep together as the two widely different sized vessels head off at the same time with the same route in mind and the same destination in mind. Smaller usually means not as fast…but with Chesapeake Bay privateers…who can really be sure?

PRIDE has been underway bound from Baltimore for the Great Lakes since Memorial Day. Since then, we have traveled about 1,000 miles, making stops for two nights in each of New York Harbor and Boston before arriving Lunenburg. In that distance and time we have used less than 200 gallons of fuel…so the sailing has been pretty good. PRIDE was full of our Guest Crew trainees for the three legs so far sailed. But we only have one Guest Crew (out of a potential for six) for this longer leg to Oswego. There will be a little adjusting by the crew necessary with the reduction of available willing hands to lay on a line or give a hand.