Sailing Log June 4, 2026
Halifax to Shelter Cove
Distance: 54nm
Time: 7:30 - 17:00hrs
Motoring: 2hrs
We were excited to be on the move again. Waking up was highly anticipated. We raised anchor and got moving at 7:30. Our friends Gary and Jackie on Grey Goose who were anchored next to us saw us off and as we made our way out of the Northwest Arm, more friends, Gerald and Brigitte on Doucema were on their deck waving us off as well. It such a nice feeling to know our new friends are to there to wish us Bon Voyage! As did so many of our Halifax friends as well.
Our planned trip was to take us beyond the 100m depth contour, which is about 10nm out from shore in order to avoid lobster traps. Not a short distance and a significant mileage addition to our journey.
As we got the 60m depth, there were no traps to be seen and decided not to venture out any further and make for a more direct line towards our destination. By the time it was time to change directions and start heading towards our anchorage we had seen only 2 traps.
The winds gradually picked up and were blowing at a steady 20 knots. We decided to put another reef in (#2). Footnote: we re-read the Leisure Furl instruction manual while in HFX and it made a lot more sense to us now. It explains how to reef while going down wind, which had eluded us before as all literature written on inboom furlers advise the only way to furl/reef is to head into the wind. We set up our horizontal boom angle and set it at 45 degrees to the mast. Tighten the halyard and furled in the sail - success!!! So it can be done.
On our way in to anchor, and as the waters got shallower we were seeing more traps. There were so many at one point that our sails ended up flogging due to the significant course/wind angle changes. Our decision to sail into the cove was no more and motored the rest of the way in.
As we approached our destination, we ended up following a catamaran. We dropped anchor in 20ft of water. They continued further into the cove and suspect that they dropped anchor in about 5ft of water - to have such a shallow draft!
We plan on staying here for a day and visit the provincial park and its numerous hiking trails. Maybe we will be able to have a camp fire!
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