Brudenell to Summerside

After anchoring in Brudenell overnight on Tuesday, we sailed to John's Bay in Amet Sound on the Nova Scotia side to anchor for the night. As it has been so often this summer, it was raining, though not too heavily and was a bit foggy. The passage was a m ixture of sailing and motoring. The wind was on our nose leaving Cardigan Bay, so it wasn't until after we rounded Panmure Island that we were able to sail. We did have to perform an overboard rescue for our friend Glen's favourite hat as we neared Panmure Island. It was a great chance to practice manoverboard skills under power.

It was a nice close-hauled sail along the south eastern coast of PEI, with winds between 15-20 knots. We did have a surprise when the bowline came undone on the jib sheet. But it wasn't difficult to fix. We rounded into the wind and shortened the sail enough that Jay wouldn't be swept off the deck as he went forward and retied it. It had been tied by the previous owners as the boat was commissioned in May and now after 1100NM it had just come undone. Within minutes we were under way again.

Unfortunately, about an hour after we rounded Cape Bear, the wind, now on our stern, weakend to the point we needed to motorsail. We motorsailed for most of the rest of the day, under gray skies, mist and rain. We entered Amet Sound and anchored.

The following day, Wednesday, we crossed the Strait again, and passed under the Confederation Bridge on our way to Summerside. The forecasted 10-15 knots of wind never materialized and with 4 knots of wind on our stern we motored all the way. Again, the weather was overcast, misting rain and just plain wet. The seas were fairly calm and Jay and I played cribbage at the cockpit table as Glen took the helm. (I won.) Being on the helm required even more vigilance than ususal as the lobster buoys were plentiful as we neared the Bridge.

We arrived in Summerside late afternoon. We tied up and headed for the showers. Although the weather had not been the greatest, Glen insisted he had a great time. Hopefully we will see sunshine the next time he sails with us.