So, when there's a fishing tournament on in a small town apparently the guys involved like to get up around 3:30 am and proceed to yell at each other as loudly as they can. The issue we had at this club was the railway bridge that lifts every ½ hour to let boats in and out. Due to this, there was a line up of numerous boats at 4:00, 4:30, 5:00 etc. So a very restful sleep was had by all of the Haida Legend crew. That aside, we got up and readied ourselves for a 9:00 am departure to catch that bridge opening. The yacht club where we were staying was having a sailing race today so we thought it best to get outta Dodge before they were all heading out to the start line.

The wind was forecast at 10 knots out of the east and the waves 1-2'. I'm calling bullshit on both counts!!! We spent the day battling 15 knot headwinds and 3-4' waves almost right on the nose, with the occasional series of 4-5'+ rogues that came from slightly different directions. Yan did an excellent job providing reliable power but our average headway was down to approx. 6 knots so we had an 8+ hour day, finally tying up in Erie Pennsylvania. The good news in all this, as you have to look for the bright side, is our decks and anchor locker got a thorough rinsing from all the waves that broke over the bow.

We had some excitement during the trip this afternoon when we heard a Mayday alarm from the Canadian Coast guard asking for assistance for a boat approx 15 miles offshore south of Port Stanley that was taking on water and had no working pump. As we were well out of range for the boat in trouble we could only hear the Coast Guard's transmissions. But, it wasn't long before some good Samaritan headed out in his boat to assist and few minutes later a fishing charter boat also set course to assist. Once the 2 boats were with the 1 in distress, they decided to escort the boat in as it still had power, but stay close in case it started to go down. There were multiple people on the distressed boat but they decided not to try and get them off due to the rough conditions. A few minutes later the OPP came on the scene with a pump.

Meanwhile the Coast Guard called several places in Port Stanley to find someone with a lift that could pull the troubled boat out of the water once it made port, and lined up a lift bridge operator on standby so there would be no delays. Now, we've never needed help when we've been sailing but it sure is nice to know that there is this kind of support and assistance available if you need it. Only in Canada you say? Pity!

Later in the afternoon we heard the American Coast Guard send out a message about a vessel with a dead engine asking anyone in the area to be on the lookout. That was it! And this is not the first time we've seen this kind of "we're just the messenger" behaviour from the US side so there clearly is a difference in mandates between the 2 Guards.

We're checking the weather in the morning but considering making the 59 mile trek to Port Colborne if the wind and waves cooperate as they are predicting. Unfortunately we won't be able to compare forecast to actual until we get out of the bay here in Erie. But, they're calling for 1o knot winds out of the SE, which means a beam reach for us if this pans out so we're hoping we can sail. Once we hit Port Colborne, we can get our pass for the Welland Canal and hopefully get through that the next day. So, we could be home by next Tuesday if everything works out. Our First Mutt is not too thrilled with long days in the cockpit but this should be the last one if we're lucky.

Sorry, no photo from around here worth taking so here's one from The North Channel.

As for tonight's song title, there are 2 Youtube clips of this song: 1 by Linda Ronstadt and 1 by Warren Zevon. Warren wrote the song and never got the acclaim he deserved when he was alive. As a matter of fact, he wrote some of Linda's biggest hits. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q05wB6F1UMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFBu-Xmg4Hk