Richard is a fellow member at Cathedral Bluffs YC, and loves to fish. Earnie runs the restaurant at CBYC.
Richard left this story in the comments today:

So there we were in Belleville, myself, Tristan and even Earnie, on his day off from the CBYC restaurant, fishing, when I looked up and saw the familiar yellow hull of Zeelandia, in full sail heading west and looking magnificent in her calm, steady passage through the Bay of Quinte.

I was hoping that you would stop at the municipal marina, where we were staying, but sadly saw your sail pass by the gap and onward westward. It was at that point that I regretted not getting a picture of you with my cell phone. Damn, I said to Earnie and he’s not stopping.

With no fish to haul out, we headed back to the boat from the park where we had been and once at the boat, I looked out where the Moira river meets the Bay of Quinte and deposits its silt and sitting awkwardly in the middle of that muck, who should I spot? Yup, both Earnie and I got our photoshoot, though far less glamorous, of poor Zeelandia stuck in the mud and listing to port from the force of the strong wind.

We watched the successful rescue and waved her on as Zeelandia got back into the channel.

I tried calling you on 16, but no luck, so here’s just to let you know that we thought of you and talked much about you and wished you a safe rest of trip.

Richard, Tristan and Earnie.

Hey Richard and Earnie!
I wish I weren’t the dumbass stuck in the mud in this great story!
(In my defense, my navionics chartplotter shows 10ft depth in that exact spot)
See you soon.  Dave.

Zeelandia is now peacefully docked in the Old Port of Montreal, the Montreal Yacht Club at the foot of the city and right next to the old clock tower that was used for centuries to register the exact time of arrival when a ship passed it. Very posh here but I decided to treat myself for my 45th birthday yesterday.
So here I am, steps from the very same cobblestone that has been walked on by sailors from distant ports for over 350 years.

You’ll notice I’m the only sailboat here. well, the current out front runs 5 plus knots and that’s pretty fast for sailboats. There were times I was going zero as I slowly clawed my way into this harbour.

I have been biking all around and I’m loving all the sights that this historic city has to offer. Funny thing, I haven’t taken many pictures because it’s all so photogenically overwhelming. Literally every where I look is a postcard photograph. I’m watching the buskers, browsing the street markets, listening to the clacking of hooves on the cobblestone, lovers holding hands everywhere (rubbing it in).
I had a blast at a little pond where they rented remote control sailboats. I was blue#3 and I set up a ’round the bouys’ race with some kid(orange#7) and his little sister(green#2). he won, I was neck and neck with his sister when the rental guy had the nerve to call time over. He wouldn’t accept the toonie I offered to buy us a bit more time.

This photo from the top of the clock tower showing the “beach” that runs along the wharf.

The clock tower from my cockpit last night.

Okay, here’s a crazy story that I’m not even sure could have really happened. I’m still waiting to wake up as I type this. seriously.:
I biked up to the grocery store today, an IGA in the middle of the city. Grabbed some beer, about a million mr.noodles and some fruit (to prevent scurvy). My nephew, Jeff, arrives tomorrow morning and I’ll need to feed his hollow leg. When I came out of the IGA  my bike was… GONE! My beloved Specialized Stumpjumper with all the custom mods to fit me and only me. Gawd how I love that bike and anyone who knows me knows this to be putting it mildly. My heart sank and continued to sink as I cabbed it back to the boat and hung my head in despair. Then I decided to go fill out a report at the police station which was only about a block from where it was stolen. When I got out of there I figured it wouldn’t hurt to go walking around and see if I could spot it. Well no more than a half hour later I was standing on a street corner when I heard a familiar creaking noise that could only be coming from the gooseneck on MY bike. I turned around and leaped on the cyclist who was passing literally right by me. I held his throat in a blind rage and let him know in no uncertain terms that he was about to die. Fear and tears welled up in his eyes and he begged for mercy while pleading that he had just bought it for $60. So I demanded he take me to the guy who sold it to him. We started down the road when I saw a cop car parked a ways down the street and I called “police”, the guy started booking it the other way but I continued towards the cop car. No police in the car, and the guy had disappeared. So I rode back to the police station, told the same officer who took my report only 1 hour prior what had just happened. He shook his head, then shook my hand and said I must be the luckiest guy ever because this never, EVER, happens. Now I’m not going to get all ‘mystical’ on ya, but I’d swear that bicycle and I made our way back to each other out of pure love.
today’s french lesson: vol de vélo translates to bicycle stolen

some random pics..

I’m sitting in Cap a L’Aigle right now waiting for the tide and wind so I can make the next jump to be in Quebec City this weekend should any of my friends or family like to meet there. I’m deciding whether to get a dock and spend the weekend there or just anchor and push on to Trois Rivieres.

These guys are now honorary citizens of Zeelandia.

I haven’t been able to post for the past few days because the Gaspe Peninsula has no Rogers coverage (Bell dominates, Telus appears to be making inroads..)

Click here for my latest route track     1716 nautical miles (3179kms) to date. approximately 85% sailing, and 15% motoring but it looks like I’ll be doing a lot more motoring from here due to the fact that there’s a lot of current to battle from Rimouski to Montreal and the prevailing winds are SW but we’ll see what happens.

Sailing straight from Magdelan Islands back to Riviere au Renard (~100nm) was fairly uneventful and the winds were perfect for reaching almost the whole way.  About 14km out there’s a small island called Morts Corps (Dead Body) hmm… I wonder why? I did hear that it’s a great place for snorkeling and seals.There’s no commercial shipping traffic lanes on my route so I tried my hand at sleeping for short periods while under sail, waking up every 20mins to look around. Technically this is illegal according to the ColRegs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) because all ships must keep watch at all times, but singlehanders have no choice. I’ve come to learn why sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

I made it back to Riviere au Renard, where I found a guy who runs a little hole-in-the-wall hunting&cycling shop with his wife and son and he was able to fix my rear wheel for $10 labour and $25 parts. He also spent a good two hours going over everything and tuning my bike up like new, a real wizard of a bike mechanic with all the special tools! I tipped him $50 which he tried very hard to refuse. Gotta love the people in these remote little towns.

I left R au R on Thursday evening, having waited all day for the strong NW winds to die down but was met with a horrible swell still running NW so I put in to a tiny fishing port 7 miles up the coast, Anse a Valleau, at about midnight. But it was, well, a shithole, so an hour later I proceeded another 10 miles to Cloridorme which was a bit better and I slept there until Friday morning when I motored out into the calm but shortly after the winds kicked up, on the nose of course! and I found myself tacking into the strong winds not making more than 2knots VMG when I saw a sailboat coming out of an uncharted port. I hailed them on the VHF and they told me, in a typically difficult french to english conversation, that I’d have enough depth to get in. It was a very tricky entrance surrounded by exposed rocks but I bit the bullet and entered. I was glad I did because it turned out to be a great little harbour!I walked the beach and found some cool spineless sea urchins A couple cute little kids were catching sole right off the dock with worms!There was a great little restaurant right there and I spent the rest of the evening in an old fishing boat transformed into a kind of enclosed porch where I chatted for a long time with a retired french teacher from Sudbury who was now a guide for the nearby salmon run and defunct papermill. He told a mean story and offered me a free tour (and french lessons) at 7am the next morning but I had to decline and get going at 9pm that evening, headed for Sainte Anne des Monts.

I made it to Sainte Anne des Monts the next morning around 9am, where I slept for 6hrs and then left for Rimouski. The reason I was pushing along so hard is that the only time you can get easterly winds, which are favourable for sailing south westward up the river, is when low pressure systems come through. The only problem is they bring crappy weather and the infamous nor’easters. I was doing fine running downwind in 15-20kts making good time all day when one of these so called “nor’easters” decided to hand me my ass and kick up to 40 knots, during which I accidentally gybed the main before I had time to reef. The preventer failed and the full main crossed the boat with a vengeance, all I could do was watch in horror, (thankfully, I do have a boom brake which slowed it down a bit) When I looked up, I was glad to see the mast was still standing but it did rip the mainsail (again!) and pulled the boom vang out of the base of the mast. Then a torrential downpour, followed by the wind dropping off and leaving me and Zee broken, soaked, and rolling around in 6 ft seas. We limped into Rimouski under the iron jib (motor) and a double reefed main. Just another day at the office! 🙂

As I sailed out of the Magdalens, I noticed a familiar hull anchored over by the beach (this beach was the biggest I’ve ever seen, stretching for miles and miles and wrapping around a giant sanbar point.)That’s a Beneteau First 235!!!! by the name of Capitaine D’o Bard.                                      (Paul, Chris, Jon and I all owned one of these at one point.)

So now that you know I’ve turned Zee’s bows around towards Toronto and should get back mid August, there’s nothing left to see here, move along right?.. LOL JK. I’ll continue to blog anything that’s of  interest. I definitely plan on hitting Tadoussac.

I left Ballantynes Cove on Friday July 18 and pointed due north, leaving PEI to port and on to the Magdalen Islands. I arrived at the Havre-Aubert anchorage at 3am, dropped the hook and went to bed. When I awoke and took a look around, I realized I had arrived in paradise! A giant sandbar  with grassy dunes that wrapped around the anchorage to the south and west, and a little marina and village to the north. I launched lil’ “Gout” (the dinghy) and sailed over to the sandbar. I found starfish and jellyfish, crabs and clams and snails while wading in the bathtub warm clear water. Who knew Canada had a place like this?!

I sailed Gout around all weekend, anywhere and everywhere. On shore, the little road was lined with artist boutiques and cafes. I ate croissants, souvenir shopped, and chatted with the locals.

When it came time to leave, I cruised some bays and super scenic shoreline before finally letting go of this little paradise and I was off across the gulf for a 30 hour sail, full circle back to Riviere au Renard, where I was on Canada Day.