Crossing Borders Adventure from Maine to Halifax Nova Scotia
- Chris Leigh-Jones
- 21 hours ago
- 5 min read
Multiple ports and anchorages heading north, with the miles now adding up as we completed our cruise of the Maine Coast and headed out across the Bay of Fundy for Canada.
Ice Pilots arrive, preparing Vanguard
My crewmate Valeriy leaves today to return to his family in Moldova, and we say hello to our Ice Pilots Nick and Estella, joining for the journey North. (not least to compensate for my complete naivety about what's coming). Departing Naval Yachts in Antalya, Vanguard was anything but seaworthy; it was, frankly, quite a dangerous undertaking. A complement of 5 crew hugged the coast and limped to Didum 250 miles west. Two months' work in Didum saw a great improvement
in critical systems, and we set off with four crew for Palma de Mallorca. Three months in Palma have seen a similar improvement, with now two crew (including me) stretching her sea legs on an extended cruise around the Balearics. After being shipped to Fort Lauderdale, she received another 6 months of regular attention. Two of us then brought her 1900 miles North, including stops, storms, and frequent passengers along the way. Vanguard has become a reliable and predictable piece of machinery, perfect for hosting visiting friends and family in one of the great, though often overlooked, cruising grounds on the continental East Coast. Well, so far, so good, but the real test starts next week. We go North, hence Ice Pilots, Nick and Estella.
Anchorages and anchoring
Details of the above are for a later Blog, but in the meantime, what has gone well? For some reason, we've discovered a lot of out-of-the-way moorings. Our preference has been to anchor rather than use marinas. It's both more private and much cheaper! A big anchor helps where those are more exposed, such as
outside of the breakwater in Provincetown or between rocks at the entrance to Port Clyde. Anchorages with middling swell are handled as she weathervanes, having much more water than air resistance, and we can set our rudders to bias her heading in the tide. A shallow draft is also rather handy when squeezing into those sheltered spots with big tidal ranges. Our large Rocna anchor, once set, has never dragged so far as recently been observed in Darien, Cape Cod,
Provincetown, Groton, Biddeford, Portland, Rockland, Rockport, Belfast, Bar Harbor, and a half dozen unnamed other anchorages.
Fast charging, 86kW for a 20-minute charge.
Anchoring means self-support, and our biggest consumer is power for the batteries. When we first started up in Turkey, we charged at 10kW. Our batteries are 120 kWh with about 40 kWh consumed each day. That is a lot of engine hours charging at light load, which in itself is not a great place to be. So we worked on the drives and their reliability. We have also worked with Praxis Automation to push the envelope in terms of power absorption and control. After two months, we are now in a good place. This morning we charged at 86kW using two engines, 1600RPM, 70% load (at that speed). A day of consumption was replaced with 20 minutes of running. As the engine loaded up, the exhaust was no longer visible, and we had a warm engine room for the day's laundry. Along the way, we monitored vibration, engine parameters, temperatures at breakers, distribution lines, batteries, and the generators themselves, plus the relative load balance between each line phase. Enough to build confidence that all was in order.
42kW per engine is a high electrical load, and not all went smoothly. When it's your neck on the line, it's better to confirm than assume reliability, so suck it up and fix it. The problem we flushed out was a motor isolator that was closed incorrectly. The contractors were not fully home, resulting in hot spots. At 10kW, it was of little consequence, but at 45kW, we quickly discovered the issue with a combination of unbalanced inverter phase temperatures and a human nose. The smell of electrical burning is quite distinctive. The offending breaker was stripped out and rebuilt, fuses replaced, and knife plates polished for a smooth closure and better contact. And we're back in business! 20 minutes of charging, one cup of tea, a warm engine room in a cold climate - great!
How we view the sea
Travelling north, there is a noticeable shift in how the general public views their access to the sea. Miami and Fort Lauderdale are a playground. Be it a big tuna boat, a multi-engine T-Top, or simple Bling, the sea is a place where they go fast, get back fast, and enjoy another margarita. North to New England, and especially Maine, it remains a playground, but seems more integrated into their lives, more
Cruising Bar Harbor to Halifax. Moored opposite the Museum of the Atlantic and a rather splendid WWII Convoy Corvette immediately astern of us.
commercial, with many yachts and historic boats, lobster pots, and fishermen. Towns wrapped around their harbors. One community seems to "go to the sea", the other is "of the sea". Anchorages awake at 0300 or 0400 as the first lobster boats make their fast run for freedom, tour boats are in the anchorages by 10.00, and a sailboat or rowing skiff is never far away. In Portland, we moored on the Pilot's berth at Journey's End shipyard, and now in Halifax, we look at a WW11 Corvett with the Atlantic Museum on our Stabroard side. It's a life I've become attuned to, authored by the sun and the tides, metered by the weather and the routines of one's day. Not a watch or cell phone in sight most times. I might live longer this way.
In a correction towards brevity, I've two things to mention.
Canada
Sailing blind through 2 days of thick fog across the Bay of fundy, we eventually reached Halifax, Nova Scotia. For Halifax and every Canadian I have bumped into, a wonderful place, wonderful people, weather - well, "meh," but heck, they know how to compensate. Anyone cruising North is welcome; the Customs are a breeze and super helpful. Our berth in town is US$200 per night (for a 24m yacht!), and there's plenty to see and do among the big ships coming in and out all day.
Moored at Frontage Wharf, downtown Halifax, directly behind the stage for a Mexican dance festival!
Journey's End Shipyard, Rockland ME.
Secondly, Rockland, ME, Journey's End shipyard. We called in for a routine 500-hour engine service and associated fix-it jobs, best done when stationary. The dipstick tube on one engine snapped off. Without provocation, they ordered a new one that we collected on our return from Belfast. Then, they sent the crew out on a national holiday weekend (July 4th) to change it, as I did not have an extractor of the correct size and my other attempts had failed miserably. It's not when times are easy that we see the value of integrity; it's when times get harder.
Enough for today. The plan for this weekend is to acquire cold-weather gear, resupply our nonexistent stores, and finalize our sailing plan for Nova Scotia and the west coast of Newfoundland before reaching the Labrador Sea. That all starts on Monday!
Regards to all
Chris Leigh-Jones