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2030 Monday August 22, 2022
David Martz and I were up early and we had cast off our line by shortly after 0700, leaving the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club and heading out into Conception Bay. We had decided to try and make tracks north as quickly as we could over a few days, and then take our time coming back south. So, today we made the almost 70 mile run from Long Pond near St. John’s, out Conception Bay, through Baccalieu Tickle and clear across Trinity Bay to Catalina Harbour.
The wind was southwesterly and blowing 25 and gusting over 30 knots. We were wing and wing with the mainsail and genoa on different sides of the boat much of the morning. We were blanketed for 45 minutes in Baccalieu Tickle by the towering cliffs. However, once we got out into Trinity Bay, the breeze really piped up. We were screaming along. At times the boat speed exceeded nine knots as we surfed down the fronts of building seas.
Morning grey skies gave way to dazzling sun and a brilliant, blue sea flecked with whitecaps. It was an exhilarating sail to say the least. We finally dropped sail and powered into the Channel of Catalina, a fishing town with a population of about 800 people. Remarkably, there was a good amount of free space at the big, government pier among the fishing fleet.
We spoke briefly with Sean, a fisherman off the boat Irish Connection. He had been out crabbing until the end of that season a few weeks. In a couple of days he will be back out for shrimp. He suggested Stella’s Café for dinner and we strode along the docks to the establishment. Indeed, we had a great dinner of crab and shrimp chowder and fish cakes, fresh off the boat!
We now need to ponder our next few days. Wednesday looks to be very heavy winds; so, we will want to find a snug harbor as we make our way further north. The sun was just setting here as we gazed out at a weathered shed on the point astern of us.
Bill
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