Saturday, July 13th.

The forecast consisted of just 2 words – “winds light”.  We set off and started sailing.  The winds were indeed light – 3 – 5 knots, but we were making progress, assisted by a 2 knot fair current.  After a while we couldn’t get the boat moving well and discovered we had cobwebs aloft and weeds below.  We were sailing to windward and were relying on the masthead wind-vane to indicate the wind direction – until we discovered that it was loaded with cobwebs and giving false information.  We also discovered that we were dragging a large amount of weed from the props and rudders.  We usually lift the engines when sailing, but since we were in very light winds and in shipping lanes we had decided to leave them down, ready for use in an emergency.  Having discovered the weeds, however, we lifted them and cleared the weeds, and got the boat sailing again.  After 3 hours, the winds were down the 2 knots and our ETA at Trois Rivieres was 4am.  So we motored the rest of the way on a blistering hot day.  At one point, Teresa and Liz were on the trampoline trying to find some breeze.  A large freighter passed by and Ron attempted to motor into its wake to reduce the rolling motion, which he did.  However, the waves of the wake were big and the bows dipped into them, giving Teresa and Liz a thorough soaking.  They probably enjoyed it.  (Note from Teresa:  Ron tried to murder Teresa and Liz by drowning – he hasn’t figured out yet that Teresa doesn’t have a life insurance policy). 

We arrived at Trois Rivieres, 46 21.28N 72 31.15W.  The current had been very useful – the charted distance that we had covered was 31.9 miles, however we had only sailed 24.7 miles through the water - 7.2 miles of current assist.  We went for a swim on the beach, took a taxi into town which was buzzing with live bands, disco bars and restaurants.  Liz used to live nearby when she was growing up and was amazed at the difference.  We had a delicious meal, and returned to the boat for a very peaceful nights sleep. 

Ship’s Log: 1751.5nm, Today's log: 24.7nm, Season total: 297.6nm.