This has been a quiet day, tied snugly to a dock at the Brooklyn Yacht Club here in Liverpool. As I hinted last night (early this morning, actually), we hadn't intended to come to Liverpool on this trip but, here we are...

Yesterday started off with a luscious breakfast at the Lahave Bakery and the usual examination of the weather data. We've been taking advantage of an unusually nice weather window in which the winds are light, the seas small, and, when there is wind, it was from the northeast, a real boon when you are working your way down Nova Scotia, which means going roughly southwest. But all things come to an end and it was clear yesterday that, by this afternoon, the winds would be building in from their more usual direction: Southwest. And the forecast for the next several days was for a real blow with rain and 20-30 knot winds raising 2-4 meter waves...not what we'd want to sail in.

The usual jumping-off point for making passages to the US from Nova Scotia is Shelburne and, from LaHave we could have done it in two relatively easy days: LaHave to Liverpool and then Liverpool to Shelburne. But, given the forecast, we decided we'd do a long day and get into Shelburne last night so that, if the contrary winds came in soner than expected, we wouldn't find ourselves battling them the next day.

We set off from LaHave and motored steadily southwest, passing the outer buoy for Liverpool (about 5 miles out) before 2. It was a gorgeous day, and the highlight was encountering a pod of fin wales! Evelyn thought she saw a spout and suddenly there were many and even a couple of breaches...great excitement! The only complaint was the sea-state that was composed of two sets of swell meeting from different angles. While the swell was very benign, maybe a meter in height and long, well-rounded swells, the interference pattern created by the two sets was very odd and we rolled a slewed a good bit. But, as we approached Little Hope Island, about halfway between Liverpool and Shelburne, we knew we'd only have to ride it for another four hours.

That was before the engine stopped. It didn't stutter or weaken, it just stopped as if somebody had pushed the shutdown button. We got our sails out and trimmed but there was only 4-5 knots of wind and the rolling of the boat prevented the sails from doing much of anything. Investigation of the engine revealed a few other worries: The engine-hour display was blank and the starter wouldn't even click when the key was turned: We had no engine and no wind. Now, in other conditions, we might have just declared a supper break and waited for the wind to come back (which it did about 4 or 5 hours later) but, the lumpy seas made the boat's motion while adrift VERY uncomfortable: Even though Anne and I were both wearing Scopalamine patches, we were both getting sick from the motion....And sunset was 2 hours away. After a chat with the Canadian Coast guard, a fishing boat steamed out to us and towed us back...to Liverpool! which we had passed so many hours ago but, as I told the captain: Beggars can't be choosy!

So now we've all gotten sleep, laundry has been done, and the diagnostics are underway...The obvious possibilities have been eliminated and the interesting stuff awaits tomorrow. Liverpool may not be considered "exotic" by some, but we're living proof that Cruising really is the art of doing boat maintenance in exotic places!

This afternoon, as expected, the winds have built in, a heavy overcast has arrived and we're expecting showers for the next several days...I suspect we'll be here until Saturday....Even if my namesake storm doesn't come calling!