ACROSS THE ROCKIES

Willy Ker

(I normally try not to include two pieces from the same member in one issue -- but which should I have left out?).

Assent has just logged 2300 miles in fresh water and, in the process, dropped 600 feet from Lake Superior to Montreal before sailing up the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain. She then climbed to 140 feet before dropping back to sea level again off Manhatten Island. Let us say that the 1994 season has been a little different!

At the end of last season I left Assent safely afloat in Gorge Harbour, Cortes Island, 100 miles north-west of Vancouver, with an old friend. I returned in April with my nine-year-old grandson for a superb week of skiing at Whistler. Two weeks later, with fit-out nearly complete, grandson returned to the UK happily covered with paint.

Before crossing the continent, Assent cruised around the superb and spectacular west coast of Vancouver Island, logging almost 1000 miles in total. Our rendezvous with the truck was ten miles up the Fraser River, still running at 2 1/2 knots three hours after high water! Andrews Trucking, from Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, did a first class job of hauling Assent to Duluth and I was fortunate to be able to ride alongside the excellent driver, Laughlan Watson, in his cab. We completed the 1700 mile trip in just over three days, with only one minor breakdown, when a wheel hub split. Fortunately we were near a gas station on an otherwise empty stretch of North Dakota and were able to fix it. After our legal ten hours on the road each day Laughy slept in his cab and I climbed into Assent and crashed out, to be woken before dawn by enormous Macks with huge trailers, revving up alongside. At stops at delis for coffee, waffles, bacon and eggs sunny-side-up it was amusing to see fashions change from the tight Levis, western boots and stetsons of the high country of Montana to the faded overalls and denim caps of the dairy farmers of Minnesota. Altogether a fascinating cross-section of middle America.

My quote for the haul from Vancouver to Duluth was Can $3000, which was very reasonable as I was able to take up an empty back-load. Going east to west would cost more. At 9ft 6in we were classified as a wide load and routed on freeways. A wider load might be required to have escorts, which would cost quite a bit more. Anything over 13ft from keel to cabin top would cause problems. Otherwise it's a piece of cake!

Cruising Lake Superior can be quite exciting. They still talk about the 30,000 ton `laker' that sank in a November storm. In the middle of the lake the water is extraordinarily cold, never rising much above 4C, with the result that fogs are frequent. In compensation, there are hundreds of beautiful natural anchorages along the North Shore amongst the ice-smoothed precambrian rocks.

The `Soo' locks drop one 20 feet down into the totally different and relatively gentle world of the North Channel and Georgian Bay in Lake Huron. The water is warm and there are hundred of lovely anchorages. It is deservedly popular and gets pretty crowded in the season. Coming down the St Claire River which connects Lake Huron with Lake Erie, motoring against a light head-wind, I suddenly lost power right in the heart of the industrial area of Detroit, right under a huge steel plant. With plenty of tug and barge traffic this was no place to be not-under-command. There was just enough wind to breast the 2 knot stream while I cast around for a suitable bolt-hole, which suddenly appeared in the guise of a small and friendly yacht club squeezed into an old dry dock in the shadow of the steel works, into which I gratefully drifted. The problem turned out to be nothing more than weed from Lake St Claire wrapped around the prop, which was a relief.

Friends from Massachusetts joined Assent to help me through the Welland Canal. Here you drop 326 feet in giant steps of 45 feet each. In the event the 1200 x 120 foot locks were much less intimidating than I had anticipated and the lock-keepers friendly and helpful. The charge of Can $10 for each of the eight looks seemed pretty reasonable and we were only sharing with a motor cruiser.

Veronica flew out from England to join me at Kingston for the trip down the St Lawrence. We had time to visit farming friends on Amherst Island and spend a day or two in the attractive Thousand Islands before braving the 246 foot descent to Montreal, 160 miles downriver through seven big locks. Reaching tidewater level at Sorel we entered the Richelieu River, and it was a relief not to be competing with 1000ft `lakers' and the procession of `salties' which make the St Lawrence Seaway exhilarating but wearing.

At Sorel we used the DIY crane to take out the mast for the Chambly Canal. This was completed in 1843 and carries a guaranteed 6feet 6in, however we struck a lock cill at 4 knots when the level in one of the basins between the locks had been allowed to fall. Here you pay Can $19 per day in the system -- we took two days.

We motored across Lake Champlain, which is very attractive, and wished we had more time. Then on down the Champlain Canal to the Hudson River, where we thankfully put our mast up again at the sailing club at Castleton-on-Hudson, and all too soon the incredible skyline of New York City loomed ahead. Alternative routes would have been to enter the Erie Canal at Buffalo on Lake Erie, avoiding the St Lawrence Seaway route and reputedly very attractive, or joined in from Oswego on Lake Ontario.

(After an autumn cruise up the New England coast, Assent was finally laid up at Chester, Nova Scotia, in late October.)

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