I spent over three weeks in Trepassey, waiting for weather and for parts. People were wondering if I was going to winter there!

I did not want to winter in Trepassey, as it's not a completely protected place, though it's fairly well protected if one moves around as necessary.

I had an unusually good weather forecast--a moderate tailwind. The winds are almost always from the west on this coast, so headwinds--this forecast was for a much-less-common SE.

I figured the trip would be about 18 hours, plus time to get in and out of ports. That was fine, but since I was singlehanding, I needed to think about the possibility of adverse currents or less wind making for a longer trip, since I needed to be awake and alert the entire time, especially approaching a downwind destination at night.

I prepared the boat for sea, cooked some food to be easily available, and got to bed early, setting the alarm for 0400. It still took almost two hours to get up, eat, download latest weather forecasts and get underway.

Motoring out of the quiet harbour was easy enough, and first light arrived as I did. Outside the harbor, there was good wind, so I quickly set sail and turned off the motor.

It was awesome to be sailing as the sun rose on a sunny December 1st! A pleasant close reach took us down to Cape Pine, then we turned to the west, broad reaching and running downwind. This is living!

About 1700, shortly after sunset, a full moon rose, causing the waves to sparkle. The temperature also rose, as the SE wind brought relative warmth (8 degrees C).

By midnight, I was approaching the coast, and lowered the sails and started motoring. Visibility was still good, with some mist, but the shore was quite visible in the moonlight.

Some twists and turns around islands and rocks, and we were soon out of the waves and wind.

I anchored in Ship Cove, Burin, at 0200, tired and happy.