Arctic Solo Sail

The milestones come quickly now. On June 30 the CAP’T LEM departed U.S. waters to enter the Canadian Saint Lawrence River. That day also we crossed the 45th parallel at Long 072° 42’ 46.8”W at 0751. It was over 900 miles ago we crossed south of the 45th to make our way through Lake Huron. Milestones help keep track of how far I’ve come without reminding me of how far I have to go. This is in keeping with my idea of the one mile trip and all those miles behind cannot change the fact that it is the mile in front of me that is the most important.
On Lake St. Francis, we buck a head wind for most of the afternoon until a rain storm overtakes us changing the wind a welcome 180 degrees. We lock through at the Beauharnois locks into Lake St Louis and yet another storm. It chases us into the night and we take refuge in a river mouth I do not know the name of at Lat. 45° 23’ 57.8”N ~ Long. 073° 45’ 10.7”W.
We rise early aboard the CAP’N LEM. Underway we’re overtaken by a large out bounder. I pull out of the channel and make circles so as to not cause him any concern, then follow him all the way to the Sainte Catherine Lock.
Once clear there we skirt the Laprairie Basin to the Saint Lambert Lock. This is the fifteenth and last lock of the trip. I asked the lock tender at the Saint Lambert how far above sea level will we be when the gates opened and he replied “6 meters”. Six meters, close to 18’ after having come down from near 600 feet on the beautiful Lake Superior. Now the river will drop us about two feet for every 10 miles traveled on our way to the salt chuck. We can use the push. So the CAP’T LEM enters the lower St. Lawrence River having traveled 1982 nautical miles.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm and is filed under Saint Lawrence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.