Thursday August 30, 2012

Can you say Gale force winds!!!  Today began as a very lovely day with little to no wind and calm seas at Saulte St Marie.  As we departed the marina a freighter was driving by and we soon followed him down the river.  He was moving very slow so we had to problem keeping up with him, and at one point I was tempted to pass him.  At the Neebish channel he was going only about 2 knots because the channel was very narrow, less than a quarter mile across.  We tried to put up the jib and assist our power with it but the winds became unmanageable.  The winds increased to 25 to 30 knots with gusts.  The wind was out of the south of course because that is the way we were going.  The stress of the ride was such that we decided to stay in Detour after 6 hours of sailing.  We only saw two freighters on the river and one sailboat.