U.P. Sailing Company

4206 miles! 🌊⛵️

Jeff departed for home this morning after 820 miles this leg and 2430 of the journey's miles since St. Thomas. Thank you so much for your help, pictures, good food & company! 💙

Brian left Brockville, Ontario this morning on an 8 hour motor toward the mouth of Lake Ontario. He'll cross the first Great Lake solo, then be joined by LuAnn Perkins Mark & Joel Michael for the Welland Canal (bypasses Niagara Falls). They require 3 onboard. 🫶🏼

From there, they'll work on getting AVANGA to Port Huron where Brian may race the Solo Port Huron > Mackinac as a bonus! 🏁

All is well onboard, except THE FLIES HAVE HATCHED! If you know, you know. The Caddis flies don't bite, but they are literally everywhere...making you go a tad insane. Hoping they dissipate and he has good winds to solo Ontario! ⛵️⛵️

Sail on home, my love!

Big milestones!! ⬇️

🎉 4050 miles and AVANGA's first taste of fresh water! 💧

They're fully in fresh water now and out of the tides. The fun now is managing a constant 2-2.5kt current..you can see it against the buoys in the videos. With that, they can only get about 4.5-5.5kt boat speed.

A quick rest stop in Old Quebec City and playing tourist for 2 hours.

Next stop: Montreal for fuel, then to Kingston, Ontario and the first Great Lake! 🌊

💙 Thank you so much for cheering them on...it's a slog out there at times: dodging cargo ships, little rest, constant calculations & planning and of course, weather.

So proud of this boat and crew! ⛵️

Welcome AVANGA + Brian + Jeff to the St. Lawrence River! ⛵️🐋

They're now in the thick of the tide/current strict schedule...6 hours of forward movement when the tide is slack/coming in and 6 hours rest when tide is going out.

You'll see them stop more frequently to wait out tides. The boat cannot make forward progress against the tide/current, so this changes the journey from open seas to time management.

320 miles since leaving Nova Scotia. Marinas & fuel stops are all French speaking until they get closer to Lake Ontario.

1 whale spout was spotted at sunset! Hoping for more to come...🐋

Lobster trap frustrations paid off, and with a gift!

⛵️ Brian arrived at Port Hawkesbury around 11pm last night, after 561 solo miles & a peaceful night at anchor near Wolfes Island.

I think every time I talked to him I heard "🤬🤬 more lobster traps!"
with some "I'm loving this so much" in between. 😍

Some lobster fisherman pulled alongside with their boat & gave him 2 🦞 fresh from their trap! When I called for status, he said "ah, you know...just managing 30kt gusts, with a boiling pot of fresh lobster down below...just everyday stuff" 🤣🤣

Check out what he used to crack the shells! 🔧

So, it was po'boys for dinner & lobster & eggs for breakfast!

Jeff Stasser arrives today, after a flight into Halifax & a bus to Port Hawkesbury. They'll depart tomorrow across the Gulf of St. Lawrence past Prince Edward Island (where 12 species of whale are frolicking 🐋 🐳!), then into the Seaway. Please please visit them, beluga whales! 🙏

Once in the seaway, things get more difficult to manage...with a 12ft tide and strong currents, they'll only be able to move during 6 hour stretches when the tide is slack or coming in. Otherwise, they need to be secured at anchor or a dock. Many locks ahead, some which require at least 2 people onboard.

3386 miles so far!

Keep following AVANGA's progress by searching the boat name in the Marine Traffic app or at marinetraffic.com

Or here:
http://live.garmin.com/avanga

Fair winds across the gulf, gents... and keep your eyes peeled for whales!! 🐋 👀