Sailing Log June 15, 2026
Caribou Ferry Terminal, Pictou to Pugwash, NS
Distance: 50 nm
Time: 9hrs
Motoring: 2hrs
Another nice day of downwind sailing. Unfortunately the winds were not playing nice with us and found ourselves using the engine a few times.
As we approached the entrance to the Pugwash river the winds picked up considerably, topping 25 knots in a matter of minutes. We dropped our sails and made our way through the meandering channel with solid head wind and an ebbing tide.
As we approached our marina, the winds were 15 knots and the ebbing current flowed a solid 4 knots - all of which were going to be pushing us off the dock. This will be a first and we were really unsure how we were going to do this. We talked it out. Step by step what each one of us will do and when. Luckily, or not, 4 people showed up on the dock to help us. We both read Attainable Adventure Cruising’s (AAC) online book on coming along side (docking) with wind and current against us. We felt somewhat ready, even though we had never tackled an approach with wind and current against us.
We took a wide circle, positioned ourselves to come in at a steeper angle of approach. Once within a few feet, lines were thrown to the people on the dock with clear instructions to wrap and secure the aft spring line around a cleat we pointed to. Bless the person who grabbed the line and simply passed it around the cleat and dropped the line thinking they had done a wonderful job. It took a second for the wind and current to drive us away from the dock with nothing securing us. Luckily the person with the bow line cleated the line and I was able to reverse on it and bring us back along side the dock. Christine was able to get on the dock and took over and made fast all the lines. AAC had mentioned to never throw a line a someone on the dock as more often than not they will not listen and not do what you tell them to do. We thought as the owners of the marina were there to provide a helping hand, they would surely know what to do and follow our directions. Lesson learned.
The marina itself was great with a little town near by. The tides were 2m with flooding and ebbing currents of up to 4 knots. It made for a noisy sleep, sounding like we were in the middle of a river, particularly when big logs banged into the hull in the middle of the night.
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