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1930 Wednesday, August 16, 2023
The day started in Western Harbour on South Sampson Island with cool and misty air and a building breeze out of the northeast. We opted to power straight into the wind, making our way betwixt and between islands as we approached the outer limits of Notre Dame Bay. The seas grew lumpier as the day progressed with the wind topping out at 20 knots.
One beautiful spot was Sampson Tickle, tickles being narrow passages between islands. Years ago, Sampson Tickle was a bustling fishing outport. Now it has just a smattering of neatly kept, small cabins used primarily in summer. The little cottages, maybe a dozen, line the sides of the tickle. A lovely spot.
In stark contrast to the cozy cabins were the jagged, bold coasts of New World Island, one of the larger outer islands of Notre Dame Bay. Through gray mists with sea spray breaking the fearsome rocks were awe inspiring. Another amazing site today was a minke whale breaching clear out of the sea just 200 yards abeam of Tazzarin.
Eventually, we rounded the corner of Twillingate Island, with the lighthouse perched high above on the headland. From there, we turned and headed into Twillingate Harbour. Tonight, we are tied amidst the fishing boat wharves, surrounded by two dozen "longliners," the local fishing fleet.
Annie and I spent a few hours walking around the town and stopping in shops. Twillingate was once a far busier fishing port when cod was plentiful. Now, the town has also reinvented itself to cater to tourism. Local boats offer tours of icebergs, whales and seabirds. We saw all three today with Annie spotting one small berg through the morning mist.
Repair Update
Sail Repair: One of the biggest enemies of the long-distance sailor is chafe. Small wear, abrasion and stresses are not a huge problem doing day sails and perhaps a two-week cruise in Maine. But, Tazzarin has been sailing thousands of miles and little things add up. I am always watchful and strive to minimize chafe and stress on the sails, lines and rig. One issue this week was that one of the batten cars that attach the mainsail to the mast failed. The constant use caused the metal screw between the sail slide and the sail to strip its socket. JJ and I discussed solutions, and, in the end, I cut pieces of a red, nylon, webbing sail tie into two short strips which are led through the sail slide and then hand stitched to the sail. So far, the fix is working very well. It took a leather sailmakers palm and a pair of pliers for me to get the needle through two thicknesses of webbing and the thick luff of the mainsail. You can see a photo of my not so handy work in the last photo today.
For the engine geeks: I have not been briefing you lately on our ongoing issues with apparent coolant leaks and engine overheating. During the last several days of JJ's time aboard he was diligent in half hourly engine checks, bleeding air from the coolant system and topping up the coolant reservoir. All this seemed to keep the engine operable; but, not happy. We began to suspect a leak inside the heat exchanger, with freshwater coolant leaking into the saltwater cooling. A new heat exchanger has been ordered and David Martz, my next relief crew, will bring it to St. John's. However, with Annie coming aboard, I made one more attempt to again go over all the fittings and hoses of the coolant system. I discovered that it was difficult to see and reach hose clamp that was loose! I could also see some coolant drops on the hose. With that tightened, the engine did really well the past two days. Another good sign is that for the first time in weeks, there was pressure in the expansion tank after the engine warmed up. Fingers crossed. And, I still plan to have David bring the new heat exchanger.
Bill
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