Conference unifix::sailing

    Lots of fog, lots of rocks, lots of whales, lots of fun.
    
    Bring your wet gear.
    
    Dave

This is a challenging trip and you are really offshore (as much as 100 
miles from land). It is some 275 miles from Gloucester to Port Herbert
(maybe 50 miles closer than Halifax). The passage from Salem to Halifax
will probably take at least three days. I'd suggest that you carry a
liferaft and one or more EPIRBs. Because of the fog and the currents, a
loran is, I think, essential. Self-steering would be helpful, too. On
our passage back we encountered calm, dense fog (we couldn't see the bow
from the cockpit), and a half-day brisk gale in the middle of the Gulf 
of Maine. It would be well to be prepared for gale force winds and seas 
of at least 15 feet. Don't try towing a dinghy.

Halifax is the major city in Nova Scotia. We didn't get quite that far 
east. Shelburne and Lunenberg are both customs ports and are both closer 
to Salem. When we were there (late August and early September) the 
prevailing winds were southwest, calm at night and 20 to 35 knots in the 
afternoons. This makes the trip back westward along the coast a slog to 
windward. Due to the fetch the seas can be large. Safe harbors are not
close together and there are few outlying islands to shelter behind. At
a guess, Halifax to Cape Sable could be five days of beating to windward. 
Outside of Halifax and Mahone Bay you probably won't see many other
yachts (and in some ports none). 

The air and water are cold (the local fishermen don't bother with bottom 
paint). We lived in heavy thermal underwear, heavy wool pants, several 
sweaters, and Line 7 foul weather gear the entire time we were there. A 
cabin heater will do much to make life bearable in the evenings. In 
three weeks we had several days of too much wind, rain, and fog. I would 
leave a number of extra days in your schedule for weather delays. 
Nightime air temperatures (including wind chill) can be below freezing. 
The Coast Guard lifeboat in Port Mouton is clearly designed to survive 
360 degree rolls, and it has. The worst part of such a roll, said the 
Coastie, was losing all the antennas. 

Services are few and hard to find. You may have to carry water and 
engine fuel some distance in jerry jugs. Many harbors (but not all) have 
government maintained wharfs (they're too big to call docks) that you 
can lie alongside. You'll need one or two stout fender boards as the 
wharf faces are creosoted pilings. You also need a number of long dock 
lines (perhaps as long as 100'). At low tide the top of the wharf in 
Shelburne was maybe 20 feet above the deck of our boat. Take as much 
food as you can (ignore the fact that you aren't supposed to import mare 
than a day or two of food -- customs in Shelburne didn't even come to 
see our boat) as the grocery shopping isn't generally convenient. We 
didn't find any good restaurants (but then we didn't spend much time 
looking). Don't expect to find shore power.

Fred Woods in Marblehead can supply Canandian charts and coast pilots. 
The charts should be approched with some caution as some of them are 
from mid-19th century surveys. Get a complete set, including the harbor 
charts. 

Chester in Mahone Bay is very pleasant (we spent two rainy, foggy days 
there) with a government liquor store and a good grocery. Lunenberg is 
delightful -- a lovely town, a marvelous fisheries musuem, and working 
shipyards. The local people are friendly and helpful. One woman took
Julie some miles to a laundromat and back. There is (or was) a marina at 
Oak Island in Mahone Bay. It didn't look all that prosperous. The 
showers (the only ones we found) were cold.

All in all, Nova Scotia is much more of an adventure than Maine, and is 
rather different. Be careful, but by all means go.

     Now that i think about it, a number of years ago, i rode my motorcycle
    around the island in early July (well it's not REALLY an island,
    but...). I remember dressing with the same gear i would wear when
    riding around here in the middle of winter. I also remember being stuck in
    a tent for two days due to rain.
           
     Why can't Bermuda be closer, I'd much rather go somewhere warm:-)
                               
     Thanks for the input thus far.

My first offshore sail in 1971 was in the Marblehead-Halifax Race.  Our 
Bristol 34 took 5-1/2 days to make it (arriving just about at the end of 
the fleet.)

My predominant memories, other than of the incompentent and foolish owner-
"skipper", are of seasickness due to strong winds setting against fierce 
tidal currents:  15' square seas, not unlike Gulf Stream sailing in a 
norther, except much colder.

The other is of being set 30 miles back and forth perpendicular to the 
rhumb line, four times each day for two days, by the Bay of Fundy 
currents.

With the appropriate planning and preparation, you should do fine, and be 
rewarded with the satisfaction of accomplsihing more than just a milk run.

J.

I learned just recently that Canada taxes fuel used by pleasure boats at a 
higher rate than fuel used by commercial craft. The higher-taxed fuel must 
be dyed a different color before it is sold. There are apparently only 
three marinas (I'm not sure where they are) that sell yacht fuel. Otherwise 
I guess getting fuel is a carry it in your jerrycan proposition. This is 
possible if you need only a few gallons but not too practical if you need 
240 gallons of gasoline (which is why my powerboat-owning friend isn't 
going to Nova Scotia after all -- charts for sale cheap).

      re .5  You would think they would charge the higher rate and then
    give a rebate come tax time. What do they do for all the inland lakes
    where most Canadians do their pleasure boating???
    
    
    john

re .6:

Why give a rebate? Hydrocarbon fuels are a scarce and nonrenewable resource.
Besides, engines pollute the atmosphere as well (so far as I know, marine
engines don't have to have emission controls). Me, I'd happily support a $1 
a gallon tax on yacht fuels (which would have the nice side effects of 
increasing the value of used sailboats, promoting sailing skills, and 
reducing the number of noxious, noisy powerboats). 

:-)

    Re. .5 Canada does not really tax pleasure craft fuel higher, without
    making too fine a point of it, the commercial craft - fishing boats
    etc, are not charged "FST" federal Sales Tax - pleasure boats have the 
    honour of just paying the "pump" price.                             
                                                         
    By the way, you would probably find the usual "pump" price to be
    quite a bit higher than you are used to in the U.S.
    
    Another thing that one might want to consider if coming far offshore
    would be to visit the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon
    which are off the southern tip of the Island of Newfoundland.  These
    Islands are unique in that they have maintained a fully French
    lifestyle in spite of their proximity to Canada.  The Islands are
    essentially duty free and also have facilities for visiting yachts.     
                                                         
    Certainly, if entering these waters you would want a Loran, fog
    is the order of the day, month and summer some times. 

re .8:

Ah, the dangers of uncritically believing what one is told. 

I once thought about sailing to Newfoundland -- Bermuda is roughly a 
hundred miles closer to Boston, which makes Newfoundland over 800 miles.
That's a little far for the usual too-short summer vacation. 

re                <<< Note 1101.7 by MSCSSE::BERENS "Alan Berens" >>>
>                         -< Canada has the right idea >-

re .6:

Why give a rebate? Hydrocarbon fuels are a scarce and nonrenewable resource.
> Besides, engines pollute the atmosphere as well (so far as I know, marine
> engines don't have to have emission controls). Me, I'd happily support a $1 
> a gallon tax on yacht fuels (which would have the nice side effects of 
> increasing the value of used sailboats, promoting sailing skills, and 
> reducing the number of noxious, noisy powerboats). 

> :-)

	Errr, didn't someone point out a little while ago that  YOU 
put more hours on your engine than many a power boater ??   Yessss ??
(-:, (-:, (-:   perhaps even more hours than you put on your sails ?, 
(not that they have hour meters) 

....and we're   SURELY NOT  going to get into the arguement about the 
environmental impact of manufacturing a square yard of dacron sail, 
or all the ropes 'n riggin',  right ?

	R	(stinkpotter)

re .10:

Yes, I run my little 25 hp diesel something less than 100 hours per year -- 
which requires less than 50 gallons of fuel. A similar-sized powerboat 
burns that much in two to five hours. I actually sail several hundred hours 
per year. We once made a 180 mile passage using 0.05 gallon of diesel -- at 
that rate we could do five circumnavigations on one tank fuel. 

    My wife and I returned from a three week cruise from Buzzards Bay, to
    Mt. Desert, (attend a party at Tom Morris's yard) then on to Nova
    Scotia. I agree with Alan Berens, it is an adventure, and more than a
    trip to Maine. 
    
    There is a yacht club in Shelburne harbor. Right now it has no
    facilities, but next year, 1993, it will have a clubhouse, with a dock
    and moorings, and maybe a water line. The Vice Commodore, Harry
    O'Connell, checks out all visiting yachts at the public dock, beyond
    the Govt wharf. Harry is very helpful, and will assist in any way
    possible. 
    
    I used the jerryjug routine in Shelburne to get fuel from the EXON
    station in the middle of town, about three blocks from the dock. On
    Saturdays only one station in town is open, on Sundays everything
    except the Laundry and one store are closed.
    
    The Coopers Inn in Shelburne is an excellent restaurant.
    
    There is a great beach at Port Moutoon, grat for walking, but the water
    is like liquid ice.
    
    We made it as far as Chester. We went to South Shore Marine, the only
    one on the southern coast. Good service, we could get fuel filters,
    laundry, showers, and another good restaurant.
    
    We went into the LaHave River. A great place, quiet and peaceful, and a
    real change from beating to windward on the outside coast.
    
    Sailing can be very rough. I found the my Loran and Radar to be
    invaluable. We had one day of in and out fog on the coast, and two days
    on the way back. Since there is a lot of shipping, and fishing at Cape
    Sable and further West, the Radar was a great help. In fact one night
    we spent most of the time watching the radar, as we could not see
    anything from the cockpit.
    
    The water is deep in most of the anchorages, I use an all chain rode,
    and found the anchor winch to be a feal back saver. One Hundred and
    fifty feet is a long pull.
    
    On out way back we had a day and evening of 20+ winds, on the top of
    Georges bank. Crazy waves, with light fog, and COLD. Fortunately after
    two weather fronts the wind swung to NW and we had 80 miles of sailing
    to P'Town. 
    
    Would I do it again, probably, but not next year.   

    Next time, do it one better, come to Newfoundland.  Even our fog is
    more spectacular !