Crew Wanted: Lake Huron > Erie > Ontario > St Lawrence > Atlantic Summer 17

[Steadman Uhlich]

Dan,
Your voyage notes are good. I enjoyed seeing them.

However, I think you would likely have a larger audience and your notes would reach more people in the future if you started a new thread topic in the General Sailing or Destinations forums. That is my suggestion: start a new thread in one of those forums here on this site, with subject your route to final destination.

Reason? As I recall, the "Crew Wanted" forum threads get archived sooner (after a few months). Your travel notes may prove helpful to other sailors who consider making the same voyage or route. So, I think it better to put your future posts in a new thread that can last longer and be easily searchable etc. That would help more sailors in the future, I think.

Bon Voyage!

[Steadman Uhlich]

The official word on topics or threads in the Crew Wanted forum:

"Crew Ads Moved to ARCHIVE After 60 Days
Just a heads up, we move the Crew Wanted & Available ads to our archived section after 60 days."

[escale]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

Dan,
Your voyage notes are good. I enjoyed seeing them.

However, I think you would likely have a larger audience and your notes would reach more people in the future if you started a new thread topic in the General Sailing or Destinations forums. That is my suggestion: start a new thread in one of those forums here on this site, with subject your route to final destination.

Reason? As I recall, the "Crew Wanted" forum threads get archived sooner (after a few months). Your travel notes may prove helpful to other sailors who consider making the same voyage or route. So, I think it better to put your future posts in a new thread that can last longer and be easily searchable etc. That would help more sailors in the future, I think.

Bon Voyage!

Thanks Steadman:

I enjoy doing short wirte ups from time to time.
I will start a new thread in the Destination Forum on this topic.
I wish there was better WiFi from marina to marina. Most times we struggle to get weather reports so I simply do the wirte ups offline and then move them over. But at some places I can barely get a wind report, must less download pics and travel reports.

Thanks for your suggestions.

--- Dan Escale s/v Savanna

[Ardbeg]

OK I am back in Kingston. We flew to Gaspe doing many 100 mile days. We did the south side from Tadoussac down. There were not many sailboats. Weather was great only one day of fog on the way down. Lots of wind. Not the same story coming home. The water levels in the St Lawrence are making it very difficult to move upstream above Quebec City. Also the wind was on the nose the whole way so mostly motoring with the main up. Beauharnois, Cornwall and Iroquois dams are all open letting as much water down to Montreal as Montreal can bear. Places on Montreal Island are still flooded. Especially West Island. Still glad I did it. Just not a good year to go upstream.

[escale]

Originally Posted by ardbeg

OK I am back in Kingston. We flew to Gaspe doing many 100 mile days. We did the south side from Tadoussac down. There were not many sailboats. Weather was great only one day of fog on the way down. Lots of wind. Not the same story coming home. The water levels in the St Lawrence are making it very difficult to move upstream above Quebec City. Also the wind was on the nose the whole way so mostly motoring with the main up. Beauharnois, Cornwall and Iroquois dams are all open letting as much water down to Montreal as Montreal can bear. Places on Montreal Island are still flooded. Especially West Island. Still glad I did it. Just not a good year to go upstream.

Thanks Ardbeg:

That was a great report down stream from Lake Ontario. I guess I owe you two more beers. We are now on the other side of the Welland Canal. It was a boring trip, no sailing just motoring through 8 locks. We even got some rain, which made the trip gray, chilly and wet. But, we powered through.

Here is the spot tracking us through that trip. We are now at Niagara on the Lake marina which has a ball for us to hook up to. As transients we can only stay 3 days so we are preparing for our next leg. We will be on holiday on our trip schedule as I simply need to be in Whitby harbor by Aug 15 for a radar install. So, we will be looking for more crew after the 15th for our journey to Kingston and further.

Here is a pic of the spot track and our current position.

Anyone who maybe considering joining us are welcome to contact me with a PM so we can discuss what part of this journey you are interested in.

Dan Escale s/v Savanna

[escale]

Everyone:

We are now in Whitby, ON.

We arrived at nearly at 12 midnight and docked at the gas dock.
I met the guy who will add radar to our boat and we had to remove to mast.
Bummer, she looks so sad with out her mast.

So, we will be here for three or four days and will will have some awesome electronics ready at our disposal.

I'm stoked.

So, we are still looking for crew, but it appears that we will have 3 or 4 of us on the ropes. I wish I could tell you when we are pusing off, but I estimate 3 or 4 days from now.

If you are considering joing us as crew, then send me a PM and we can start a dialog.

Here is a pic of us crossing Lake Ontario.

--- Dan Escale s/v Savanna

[sailnow34]

yes hi i am in toronto and i am interested in sailing with you

[escale]

Originally Posted by sailnow34

yes hi i am in toronto and i am interested in sailing with you

Sailnow34:

Check your PM message box. I just sent you a message.

Dan Escale

[escale]

Hello Potential Crew:

Alert, Alert, Alert.

It seems I'm always saying everything three time on the VHF radio.
Anyway, if you have been watching this thread and have considered sailing out from Montreal, QC to the Atlantic and down the East Coast of the US then here is that chance.

The last two crewmen that have brought me here to Montreal needed to leave and get back to their lives and I am now just living aboard my Trimaran until I find at least one person who can help me sail it away.

I have shown that with just one more person this large boat can be sailed effectively. In a way, I wish I could sail it myself, but at this point in my life, I'm not proving anything and could enjoy the company of others.

So, I have room in two double berths for two additional crewman. As I have said, I'm in Montreal am taking a break. With all the hard weather south in the US. All my friends there say I should hang here in the NE for a while till the hurricanes pass. So, this will probably be the slow part of this trip.

As far as upgrades, I got radar, ais and a new chartplotter. The engine is strong and Savanna, the Trimaran will take off in a light breeze. The fridge and freezer work and I stop every 2 or 3 days at a marina for hot showers, laundry, resupply and an occasional walk about.

You will need a valid current passport because both the US and Canada could pull us over for an inspection and I will yield.

If you are interested, send me a PM with some questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Danne Escale s/v Savanna.

Here is a track of the last four days from a screen shot. I believe we are done with all he locks.

[multihuler]

I know Savanna well, I got the priced reduced so you could buy her! let's talk, Stephen 775 827 2786

[sailnow34]

yes dan i will take your offer

[escale]

Everyone:

I have received a few private messages and would like to address their questions.
1) I'm sailing out the St Lawrence River around the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Basically that is the Gaspe peninsula. I might sail pass Newfoundland just to check it out. But landing there might be difficult and cold.

From there I will be entering United States waters. Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island Sound, NY, Atlantic Highlands, NJ, Cape May, NJ, sailing past Deleware but might get a little into the Chesapeake Bay. Then on to Virgina and North Carolina. I don't sail too far out out to sea and will duck into a bay if wind or weather gets to severe.

So, you will need a vailid passport and appropriate visas if you are not a US citizen. I am not going to the Caribeean, Central, South America, Africa, Greece or the Mediterranean at this time. Sorry, those trips are years away.

Also, I come into marinas every 2 or 3 days to get food, fuel, hot showers, Wifi to check email and weather data. if it doesn't look good, then we take another day off. I'm not so hardy a sailor looking for fierce weather.

I check sail flow, predict wind and weather underground to follow storm fronts. I have attached some data from screen shots to help me make safe decisions to keep everyone and the boat safe. Because the boat is quite large. I listen to the Coast Guards warnings. But, it if is a small craft warning. up to 24 kts and 3 ft waves, then I'm not alarmed and can probably proceed. Anything over that and I'm at a dock or a sheltered bay.

Continue to ask me questions,
I'll do my best to answer them.
I figured if I answer them here, then it may save everyone some time waiting for a response.

--- Danne Escalle

[escale]

Hello everyone:

Savanna equpment update:

I purchased a Honda EU2000i.
I figured that without battery backup
I could lose lights, radio, night lights, navigation plotter and other critical pieces of equipment. As I heard that some marinas are closing after Oct 15th for the winter, I might not find a marina to charge up batteries.
So this is the backup power supply which will get us through in an emergency.

I have also added a new chart plotter, and radar that reaches 24NM in any direction.
We also have a wind direction and wind speed indacater on the helm. You can never have too much information. Check the pictures.

It appears I will have crew going to Quebec and beyond.
We will have three of us for the next 3 weeks.
We will press to see how far we go.

I will keep everyone posted as we travel as I'm sure that some crew will jump off and I will be needing more soon.

Ask any questions.
I'll do my best to answer.

--- Dan Escale s/v Savanna

[escale]

Everyone following this post:

We made it to Quebec City.
It took three days motoring, but we were able to move from 4.5 to 10.0 kts with the motor, the wind and the current behind us.

I'm still looking for crew.
This continuing part of the voyage will be for hardy sailors.
Colder weather, tides, river current will be our concerns.
The wind was mostly on our nose most of this trip so we motored.

I'm hoping as we enter the bay we will be able to deploy our sails.
We can saill with anything except a strong NE coming at us.
Any other directions and we will find a point of sail and move on.

We have a chart plotter, but we only have paper charts to Tadoussac.
So, while we are here, we will be picking up more charts.
It is important to have places ahead of us that we can either drop anchor in or
marinas we can come into if the weather turns foul.

In Quebec we will get gas, diesel, food, & fresh water.

So, if you are interested in joining us, then send me a PM
and I can give you some details and address your concerns.

Today we had 24 kts of wind, 4kts of current, waves mostly 1 to 2 ft but mixed with an occastional 1 meter wave. It was fun, The boat handled well.

Here is our spot track for our last three days of sailing.

--- Dan Escale s/v Savanna

[organic snowman]

Hi,

Be very careful when you leave Quebec City! If you leave at the wrong time of day, you will end up in very confused and dangerous seas as the tide bucks the current.