SV Kiviuq

A journal of the sailing vessel Kiviuq and her owners Marilou Kosseim and Alan Teale

Vessel Name: Kiviuq
Vessel Make/Model: Van de Stadt Madeira 46
Hailing Port: Inverness
Crew: Marilou Kosseim and Alan Teale
About: Marilou is a Canadian national, retired physician and Consultant Obstetrician/Gynaecologist. Alan is a British national, retired veterinary surgeon and animal molecular geneticist. Both are currently UK-based and members of the Ocean Cruising Club.
Extra:
Kiviuq is a van de Stadt Madeira 46 in alloy, with round bilge and deeper draft options. The 46 is the scoop stern variant of the van de Stadt Madeira 44, the scoop being developed by the builder, Alexander Beisterveld of Beisterveld Jachtbouw in Steenwijk, Netherlands. Kiviuq is rigged as a [...]
13 September 2019 | Shining Waters Marine, Tantallon, Nova Scotia
05 September 2019 | St Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia
22 August 2019 | Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
13 August 2019 | LaHave Islands, Nova Scotia
04 August 2019 | Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
28 July 2019 | Head Harbour, Campobello, New Brunswick
11 July 2019 | Belfast, Maine
07 July 2019 | Belfast, Maine
06 July 2019 | Belfast, Maine
13 June 2019 | Belfast, Maine
01 June 2019 | Burnside Lodge
15 September 2018 | Belfast, Maine, Nova Scotia
30 August 2018 | St Peters, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
18 August 2018 | Bay La Hune, Newfoundland
10 August 2018 | Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland
04 August 2018 | Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
30 July 2018 | St Peters, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
26 July 2018 | Spanish Ship Bay, Eastern Shore, Nova Scotia
14 July 2018 | Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
06 July 2018 | Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Recent Blog Posts
13 September 2019 | Shining Waters Marine, Tantallon, Nova Scotia

Dorian and the aftermath

We rode out Hurricane Dorian at anchor in Schooner Cove together with four other foreign boats that came in for the same purpose. All the boats rode safely to their best bower anchors, I suspect on long chain scopes of 10:1 or more. We certainly did. It seems that the latest consensus among the cruising [...]

05 September 2019 | St Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia

Waiting for Dorian

It was going to happen sooner or later. A hurricane is heading our way. After devastating the Abacos and Bahamas and brushing Florida, Dorian is now close E of the coast of the Carolinas, and the current forecast is that it will go right over Nova Scotia on Saturday/Sunday moving quickly in a NNE'ly [...]

22 August 2019 | Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Downward and upward

I realise there is quite a lot of catching up to do since my last post, which left us in Grand Manan, so apologies if this becomes something of a travelogue.

13 August 2019 | LaHave Islands, Nova Scotia

Boarded!

After St Andrews it was time to begin making our way across the Bay of Fundy towards Nova Scotia. This we decided to do in two stages. The first involved retracing our wake across Passamaquoddy Bay and around the southern end of Deer Island, then up Head Harbour Passage to the northern tip of Campobello [...]

04 August 2019 | Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Things that go bump in the night.

From Campobello we sailed southabout Deer Island, an area renowned for its cetacean populations (and thus also populated with whale-watching boats), into Passamaquody Bay and up to St Andrews. Here we picked up a mooring just 150m or so off Market Wharf, the large and well-appointed town wharf.

28 July 2019 | Head Harbour, Campobello, New Brunswick

Going Downeast

We left Belfast just over a week ago on Saturday 20th July to sail down Penobscot Bay with the intention of spending a night at anchor in Seal Bay, Vinalhaven. Seal Bay is beautiful, well protected and not that far from the popular yachting centres of Camden and Rockland. Perhaps for this reason it was [...]

The Clyde

22 September 2015
The Clyde is of course the river that runs westwards through Glasgow and thence into the Clyde estuary, which in turn eventually broadens to become to the Firth of Clyde. The firth has a broad and uncomplicated main channel along which the heavy shipping traffic of days past plied to the teeming docks and warehouses on the river in the city and sailed outward bound to ports scattered all around the globe. This maritime trade and the industries that supported it and supplied it with goods for transport were what made Glasgow great and created huge wealth among the ship owners and the leading industrialists of the area. The city was one of the main centres of trade between Britain and a world-spanning empire that reached its peak in the 19th century. Today The Clyde is a term that by common usage refers to quite a large area of SW Scotland penetrated by a number of deep sea lochs and channels that branch from the firth proper. Among these are Loch Fyne, Loch Long, Loch Gareloch, Holy Loch and the Kyles of Bute. The iconic island of Ailsa Craig, and the isles of Arran, Bute and Cumbrae are among the islands of the Firth. In most of this area there is little evidence that one is close to one of the largest cities in Europe. It is stunningly beautiful and peaceful and a superb sailing area, protected as it is from the west by the Kintyre peninsula and from the east by the landmass of central and southern Scotland. Still today one sees ships of all kinds in these waters, and the maritime trade, though much reduced from what it was, continues. That said, it is notable that a significant percentage of the vessels one now sees are military, for the upper Clyde is an important naval hub and, among other things, home to Britain's nuclear-powered submarines, some of which are nuclear-armed. The infrastructure supporting this naval presence is a vital employer in the area. We sailed into the southern entrance to the firth when we left Sanda Island off the Mull of Kintyre. From there we made our way, with an unplanned detour, to an anchorage in Lamlash Bay on the east side of Arran, between Arran and Holy Island. Continuing north yesterday we sailed up the east coast of Arran and into the western entrance to the Kyles of Bute to anchor last night off the village of Tighnabruaich. We did in fact have our eye on Caladh Harbour a little further up the Kyles but after cautiously taking Kiviuq in it soon became apparent that the tiny sheltered cove was too tight for us, not allowing adequate swinging room. We then tried a deserted anchorage just a mile or so further north but the anchor was loath to bite. After two failed attempts to get a firm hold we decided enough was enough and it was time for a beer, so we backtracked the short distance to Tighnabruaich where we eventually found a spot off the village where the holding was acceptable. It was then definitely time for a beer, which was accompanied by Faroese dried cod and sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil with home-made sourdough bread and butter - lashings of bread and butter for one of us and rather more carrots and artichoke for the other. A peaceful night followed.
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Kiviuq's Photos - Main
4 Photos
Created 1 June 2019
4 Photos
Created 23 August 2016
16 Photos
Created 23 August 2016
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Created 22 August 2016
5 Photos
Created 22 April 2016
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Created 22 April 2016
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Created 21 April 2016
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Created 20 April 2016
13 Photos
Created 22 October 2015
13 Photos
Created 21 May 2014

About & Links

IMPORTANT NOTE: In Map &Tracking above you can see where Kiviuq was located when we last reported a position to the blog. But please be aware that position reporting sometimes goes down. This can be due to a technical problem on board, to a problem with the satellite system or to a problem with the blog site. Therefore...... PLEASE NOTE THAT IN THE EVENT THERE IS NO POSITION REPORTING THIS SHOULD NOT ON ITS OWN BE TAKEN AS AN INDICATION THAT KIVIUQ AND/OR HER CREW ARE IN DIFFICULTIES. Technical/electrical problems are by no means rare at sea in relatively small vessels.