8 - Cape Vincent to Sackets Harbor - Tibbetts Point Again

Cape Vincent to Sackets Harbor - Tibbetts Point Again

When we woke up we checked the weather. There were several thunderstorms we were watching and it was very hard to tell the way the storms were going to pass. We decided to wait for an hour and check again. Very dark clouds passed over our heads, and the sky behind it looked pretty good. Wayne checked and it looked like the storm we were watching was passing to the south and we would miss it, so we headed out. The strong storm did however hit Livonia; I have to wonder how our house faired. The wind and waves were pretty strong. We had no choice but to motor with the wind right on the nose. We bucked and sloshed into the wind and waves and SLOWLY made progress out of the river. We motored past the green buoy just off the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse and tried to raise the main sail to give us some more horse power. It seemed like we were crawling. We tried raising the Genoa but the wind was too gusty which caused us to lurch uncomfortably. So we were back to motoring. We did leave the mail up to steady the boat so at least we had a more comfortable ride than we got in the river.

The trick with getting out of the Saint Lawrence is to get out into the lake far enough to clear Grenadier Island before turning to port. The Island has a long shoal way out into the lake so you have give it a very wide margin. This is also a lee shore (the wind is blowing toward shore) and a rocky shoreline so safety demands an extra bit of margin. You are also in the shipping lane for a lot of that time.

So with the Foster luck, of course we encounter a freighter as we exited the river. So we had to tack off course to let the freighter pass by. But the engine continued to run this time, so there was no tacking back and forth to claw our way out into the lake against wind and river current like we had to do the last time we came this way.

It seemed like it took us forever before we actually cleared Grenadier and could turn for home. Once we made the turn, Wayne put up the sails and the ride got a lot more comfortable. The rest of the trip was pretty easy and we were very happy to see home port coming into view!

We landed at the marina and tied up the boat. Home again! A few hours later and very ugly thunderstorm went through. We were VERY glad to be back at the dock. Lots of Thunder and lightning, hail and then afterwards a double full arch rainbow! Beautiful! We have seen double arch rainbows before but never two full arches from horizon to horizon. The color was so intense; I hope the photos capture some of the beauty.

So we are now spending a few days relaxing at camp and decommissioning the boat. It was a great trip with lots of firsts and personal bests. The only objective we didn’t attain was anchoring out. Thunderstorm threats kept us tied to the marinas. That will have to be for another day.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures. Until next year!
B&W