Position           43:45.47N 064:19.38W

Date                1445 (Canadian Atlantic) Monday 29 July 2013

Passage Run – 41.5nm – 43nm over the ground 7/8ths thick fog

I am sorry if this is getting a little repetitive, but you try sailing blindfold, there is not much to see.

We awoke to thick fog and could not see the beach which was all of 100m away, not even a smudge in the gloom.  This made raisings the anchor and getting underway quite interesting.  The chart plotter is great for showing you where you are going but it does require movement to show direction of travel.  The challenge this morning was to fix in your mind where the beach was and to keep a careful watch on the compass as the anchor came up and the boat swung around; it would have been too easy to lose orientation and end up driving up the beach.

Needless to say the Mate, who is responsible for driving whilst the Skipper deals with the anchor and associated mud, did not (lose orientation) and we motored off into our own little world seeing only the occasional seal’s head popping up and the odd sea bird.

We spoke to Dragonfly, who had left an hour before us, on the VHF and over a period overhauled them and identified them on the radar.  At one stage, both trying to motor sail in very light and variable winds, we passed within a 100m of each other and had the eerie sight of a ghost like boat appearing out of and then disappearing back into the fog, accompanied by the hoot of our respective foghorns.

Salvation was at hand and as we passed McNutt’s Island in the entrance of Shelburne Harbour we came out of the fog bank into bright sunshine and a clear sky.  The wind unfortunately did not fill in until just before we were ready to come alongside at the Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club; typical but at least it was blowing us on which makes parking somewhat easier.  The wind did however favour Dragonfly who was an hour behind us by this stage and they stormed up the last 4 miles goose winged and looking really great.

We now intend to stay in Shelburne for a few days and wait for suitable winds before setting out for our return to the USA and Maine.

A study in fog