Planning the Trip From Quebec City to Montreal

We've now arrived in Montreal after a 2-day trip from Quebec City.

In an earlier post, I summarized how we planned our trip from Rimouski to Quebec.  With very few adjustments, it all went as planned, and if anything, the currents actually were a bit more friendly than I was expecting. 

When we were planning this trip, I did some internet searches around sailing up the St Lawrence.  I didn't have much luck.  I knew that currents were a big issue, and that they had to be taken into account in planning the trip, but I was hoping for more detailed information.  I was able to find some information for going down river, but not much for making the trip in the reverse direction, against the prevailing current.  Thanks to the couple that we ran into in Rimouski (as I mentioned in the earlier post), I was able to get much better information on planning the trip.  I hope that my previous post, as well as the information below, are of use to anyone else planning this trip.

First off, there is a publication put out by Fisheries and Oceans Canada called Atlas of Tidal Currents (St. Lawrence Estuary from Cap de Bon-Désir to Trois-Rivières).  This publication shows the expected direction and strength of currents in 20-minute intervals through most of the river.  It is all based on the times of high and low tide in the area, so using this book along with the tide tables book can show exactly what tides to expect at different times of the day.

We decided to try do the trip from Quebec City to Montreal in two days, with a stop in Trois-Rivières.  We had anchored in Quebec City, just a couple of miles downstream from the city on the south side of Isle d'Orleans.  Quebec City has a very strong tidal influence, with tides of about 18 feet, so it is critical to time the currents properly.

On July 23, the tidal tables said that high tide in Quebec City was at 0927.  According to the tidal tables, the current switches three hours before that, so we pulled up anchor at 0630.  Coming through Quebec City was a blast, and we hit up to 11 knots under the bridge (our normal top speed is about 7 knots).  We had two plans for the day.  The first was to make it as far as Portneuf, about 30 miles away, which we thought we would reach by 1130.  At that time, the currents are starting to change.  We actually made it there shortly after 1030, so we continued on to Trois-Rivières.  We were going against the current at the end of the day, but it wasn't too bad, and we reached here at around 1800.  For the last hour of the day, we were going against about a 1 knot current.

At Trois-Rivières, we're almost out of the tidal area of the river.  According to the current book, it is impossible to avoid adverse currents, but if you leave within the hour after low water, you can minimize the currents for the first little while. We timed our departure at 0600 the next morning, and caught some favourable currents for the first couple of hours.  However, where Quebec City has an 18 foot tide, Trois-Rivières only has a foot or two, and the tidal currents are very weak.  So, for almost all of the day until we hit Montreal, we were going against the currents, although they were almost always no more than about 1 knot, sometimes 2 knots.  That let us cruise along at between 5.5 and 6 knots for the day.

Along the river after we passed Quebec City, we travelled in the shipping channel, dodging the occasional cargo ship.  Just a few miles upstream of Sorel-Tracy, there is a secondary, pleasure craft channel.  This runs for 18 miles before it merges again with the main channel, has lots of depth and clearance, has less downstream current, and is a much more pleasant trip.  We then merged again with the main channel about 12 miles from our berth in Montreal, and remained in that channel the rest of the way.  There is another length of pleasure craft channel for about three miles that we decided to pass on - there are lots of rocks if you stray out of the channel according to the chart.

St. Lawrence River

It is Friday morning as I write this. We left PEI a week ago yesterday and have travelled 583 nautical miles so far. We are in a Marina in Port de l'Aigle on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence. I have been doing some work this morning while Jay has wandered off to find a grocery store. We are waiting for a favourable current and so will likely cast off around 11:30 this morning bound for Quebec City. There is a marina on Ile d'Orleans we may decide to stop at, depending on what time we arrive in the area. As much as we would love to stop and spend some time exploring Quebec City, we do want to reach Montreal within the next few days if possible as friends from PEI will be there and we would love to meet up with them. Yesterday we left our anchorage in Port de Gros Cacoune to travel just 30 NM to this marina, riding a very favourble current. Again we saw several seals and lots of belugas. At one point I could see 5 surfacing all at once. Of course, they don't pose well for the camera and for some reason, the shot is in black and white, but I am posting a photo anyway. The river was so calm yesterday, you could see the whales for miles. It was awesome. The scenery is gorgeous as well. Beautiful rolling hills on either side of the river covered in carpets of greenery. For miles the hills have also been dotted with windmills. We have not been very good at taking many photos, so I will try and be better as the trip continues. The first part of the trip, without currents to contend with and with a third crew member, we pushed hard to cover lots of distance. In fact, we stopped only twice after leaving Souris, PEI until we reached Rimuski. We stopped in Richibucto overnight due to high winds and we made a one hour stop for diesel fuel in Riviere Madeleine. The stretch from Richibucto to Rimouski took 54 hours, with only that one hour stop, a total of 353 NM. We did turn off the engine and drift several times to refuel from a jerry can too. Since Rimouski, the current has been more of an issue and will continue to be from here on. At least I am finding lots of time to work while we wait for favourable currents.

Our Plan For Rimouski to Quebec

We've made it as far as Rimouski, and today we said farewell to Owen, our shipmate for the past five days.  He came on board to help us sail for a few days, and his limited availability meant that he had to fly back home today.  But while he was here, we took full advantage of the extra hand on board to complete three overnight passages, and put many more miles behind us than would be possible with just the two of us.  Thanks for coming, Owen, and your help is much appreciated.

BTW, note the matching custom shirts in the photo, of which Michelle is very proud.

The next stage of our trip will take us to Quebec City.  Although currents are a concern through all of the St Lawrence, from here on in they are no longer only a curiosity - they actually start to dictate our times of travel.  The St Lawrence flows from west to east, and since we are traveling in the opposite direction, we are going against the principal flow of the river.  However, the currents in this part of the river are also strongly influenced by tides, so for part of the day, the current actually flows up the river as the tide changes.  This is the time of the day we want to be moving.  There is a very helpful publication put out by Fisheries and Oceans called the Atlas of Tidal Currents, which gives typical currents in the vicinity of high and low tide times.  By using this book and the Tide Tables, we are able to plan out our trip.

The weather today is not cooperating for us, so we are staying in Rimouski again tonight, and getting some work done today.  Last night when we arrived, we had the good fortune to tie up next to a couple from Quebec City who are sailing a Beneteau 361, a very close match to My Obsession.  They have traveled this portion of the river numerous times, so I was able to sit down with him last night and pick his brain about the best way to travel upriver.  The rest of this post is a description of how we have to calculate and pick our times for the next few days.

When we do leave here, our first destination is going to be Port de Gros Cacouna.  This is an area in which we can anchor for the night behind a breakwater, and it is about 70 nm from Rimouski.  This will be a trip of 9 hours if we have a favourable wind, and 11 hours if not.  About two hours before arriving in Port de Gros Cacouna, we will pass by the east end of Ile Verte.  According to his information, this is the critical point, and we want to have favourable currents in this area.  This happens about 2 hours before high tide in the area.  So, if we are able to leave tomorrow, the forecast is still calling for winds against us in the morning, then diminishing to light, so we'll cut it in half and budget 10 hours for the trip.  It will take 8 hours to hit the critical area, and we want to be there 2 hours before high tide.  The high tide tomorrow is at 1552, or near 4pm.  So we need to leave 10 hours before that, or at 6am (yuck!).

The next day will be a shorter leg from Port de Gros Cacouna to Cap a l'Aigle, about 35 miles across the river.  For this leg, we want to leave as soon as there is a favourable current, which happens about 3 hours after low water.  If we plan on this for Thursday, the low water is at 1032, so we would depart at 1332, or early afternoon.  This will give us about a five or six hour crossing, and we would arrive early evening.

The next day would bring us to Quebec City, another 70 miles.  The key for this leg of the trip is the timing around Cap aux Oies, where we want to pick up a favourable current.  At Cap aux Oies, the current is favourable 3 hours before high water.  The high water on Friday is at 1706, so we want to be in this area at 1406.  From Cap a l'Aigle, we will be going against a slight current as far as Cap aux Oies for about 8 miles, and it will take probably about 90 minutes.  So, we want to leave somewhere around 1230, just after noon.  From then, we will have a very friendly current to take us most of the way into Quebec City, where we would hope to arrive about 9 hours after leaving, or about 9pm.

So, if all goes well, late Friday we will be hitting Quebec City, and searching out someone who can give us great intelligence about the next leg, from Quebec City to Montreal.

An Amazing Nighttime Shift

Tonight is our third overnight in the past four night, where we take shifts on watch and continue all night to try make good progress. Thanks to our friend Owen coming along on this leg of the trip, we are able to push ourselves farther than with just the two of us.

On these overnight shifts, we take turns, two hours at a time, and they are usually pretty boring. But tonight turned out to be special.

My first watch was from 10 until midnight. At the start of my shift, my alarm went off, and I pulled on multiple layers of clothes and groggily climbed up to the cockpit. There was a warm breeze, making it fairly comfortable, and Michelle went down below and I settled down and watched the last remnants of the sunset in the northern sky.

A few seconds later, my brain registered that the sun doesn't set in the north.

I moved forward to peek around the bimini to get a better look, and quickly realized that I was seeing one of the best displays of Northern Lights that I've ever seen in my life.

The entire sky to the north was encircled with a band of light. Above that there was another band, pulsing with light. Shooting up into the sky were streamers, going all the way up to the zenith and beyond.

For the next 90 minutes, I was mesmerized by the sky constantly glowing and shifting. Needles of ligh would punch upwards across half the sky. Then glowing clouds would start in the northern band and start pulsing upwards, taking less than a second to fly up and dissipate only to be followed by more, ever brighter pulses.

Then the band around the north would glow brighter and brighter, and start twisting and turning around itself, with light and dark streaks appearing and disappearing, finally releasing its energy with clouds of light flying upwards.

Never has an overnight shift passed so quicky. I was almost sorry when Owen came up to take over. My next shift is from 4 to 6, and it gets bright very early here, so they may be invisible by then. But the past two hours were incredible and unforgettable.
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Night Watch

So it is 11:20 EST on Sunday. We passed into Quebec waters not long ago as we approach Gaspe. My cell phone has switched time zones and that is why that although my night watch does not start for another 40 minutes, I am typing out a blog post on my BlackBerry in my darkened cabin as I cuddle under the covers rather than catching a few more winks of sleep.
The wind calmed considerably this morning as did the seas so we set out from the friendly little marina of Richibucto around 9am. I was on first watch. The wind was light and on our nose so we motored. It was an uneventful day. We saw a few fishing vessels in the distance and the odd bird, but that was it. We were too far off land to even see that.
Jay and Owen tried their hand at fishing to occupy themselved. Of course the most caught was a few pieces of seaweed. The day was sunny and generally pleasant though we still needed layers of clothing. The Carribean it is not!
Earlier this evening I was to watch from 6 to 9pm AST. At 9, Owen had not yet appeared to relieve me so I called down to him. A few minutes later he arrived on deck and I went below to crawl into our bunk where Jay was already sleeping. I barely moved when Jay left the bunk for his turn at watch at 11:00pm AST. But a few minutes ago I was awoken from sleep, convinced Owen had been knocking on my door that I was overdue above.
I sat up with a start and grabbed my cell to see why my alarm had failed to go off. A message said a new time zone was detected. I clicked ok and tried to wipe the sleep from my fuzzy brain, leaping to the conclusion this is why my alarm failed. I droipped my phone and struggled to find my clothes and change out of my PJs. The overhead light refused to turn on so I scrambled in the dark, knowing that the light from the cabin is a signal to the person on watch that their relief is coming. Feeling badly I couldn't signal I was awake and knowing shouting was futile over the engine, I groped in the dark for my multiple layers. I contemplated sticking my head out to assure everyone I was awake, but I really don't know Owen well enough to appear before him in my pink long johns so I scrambled on.
After I was semi decent I opened the cabin door to find it dark. Owen was curled under his sleeping bag. I quickly identified the cause of the cabin light not working, the breaker had been flipped off. I opened the hatch to assure Jay I was coming. At which time he pointed out he had only been on watch an hour! Not two as I had assumed. I had only dreamed Owen waking me, he had been asleep for an hour!The time change had really tripped up my sleepy brain. Of course now I am awake. Soon it will be my turn on the helm under the starry night sky. A beautiful evening, yes, but I will still need my tuque. I wonder if Owen accounted for the time change when he set his alarm to replace me in a few hours?
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