Not much to report other than the weather.
It is the classic case of so close and yet so far. Or in the military lingo, hurry up and wait.
With only about a 22 hours passage left to Halifax a self imposed layover in Port Hawkesbury has been put in place while awaiting winds on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore to subside. The hope is to avoid another battering of choppy swell from what would be my starboard forward quarter. It could be 4-5 days before things begin to settle down; provided all the hurricane weather coming out of Florida does not rile up the swell off the Nova Scotia coast again.
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Wind gusts today, alone, are expected to hit as high as 48kms/hr. with Saturday's gusts reaching as high as 65kms/hr.! This wind activity is predicted to last until at least Wednesday, Oct. 16th. That is my tentative departure date at this point. Five days delay! Better safe than sorry, this being Loki's last chance to throw a wrench in the works.
Even the local Search & Rescue Team are taking the opportunity to put in a little practice.
Its not like there's nothing for me to do in the meantime. The main activity so far has been sleep. Those overnighters seem to demand some glorious slumber and frequent naps of me these days in order to catch up. Think my R&R has finally caught up with the sleep deprivation caused by the overnight passage from Summerside, PEI.
There is also the radio to look into. A functioning radio seems the minimal of safety for this last stretch; particularly if fog should set in. Then there are galley supplies, diesel and fresh water to bring on board. It would also be nice to contact one of the yacht clubs in Halifax to see about membership and putting Makina on the hard for the winter.
Most of them have been called yet all offered only a voicemail contact. On today's todo list will be leaving messages to see who returns my calls. Armdale Yacht Club (AYC), my preferred choice, has been called a few times with messages left over the last few days yet no call back has come, so we shall have to see how that goes.
Here we shall wait for Mother Nature to give some respite so as to see me home with this passage completed. This seems to be a final test of my Mariner's Patience for spare parts and good weather.
To safe ports and fair weather.
May the wind be at your back!
A chronological listing of my sailing posts:
https://hive.blog/sailing/@novacadian/novacadian-s-blog-index-sailing
I can hear the sheets clanging in the wind from here. It's not all light winds and smooth sailing is it? Be safe!
Those are damn fine ears you have! 😉
Decided to sit the weather out for a few days in port with forecasts of 65km/hr. gusts tomorrow.
Yes! Enjoy & be safe. You're soooo close now. I hope that marina calls you back!
It's tempting to take a bus home and come back in 5 days. The only thing stopping me is that it would take away from the real arrival with Makina/
Hmmm. Interesting options. Depends on what you want I guess!
Decided to wait the weather out. An old friend is considering coming up to meet me for the passage back to Halifax. We shall see what he decides. These 65kms/hr gusts at the moment would make most landlubbers want to hunker down at home. 😁
Understandable that you're sitting out the weather. Though remnants of Milton might bring more, then again, maybe not since it stayed a little bit further south. Maybe you can do some exploring while you're stuck there, on top of general maintenance.
A friend from Halifax gave a call this morning. He had been talking about joining the passage much earlier on however his long time partner was diagnosed with lung cancer and has passed only recently. He is considering taking a bus to Port Hawkesbury which is only hours away from Halifax by vehicle (22 hours of so on Makina).
It would be nice to be able to have some cloth up to actually sail into Halifax. A second pair of hands would be handy with that. It looks like the wind will likely be from the SW which would be on our front starboard quarter... a respectable tack.