St. Jean to Ile Jeanotte to St. Antoine July 7-9 2013

Several days out of touch electronically, so this one is kind of dated, will try to catch up if communications allow.

Started at Lock 9 on the Chambly Canal  (they are numbered from North to  South) at 9:15 am. Saturday  We had talked to the lockmaster and bought our passes the day before and he gave us the first opening, two trawlers 44 and 40 both 16 feet wide in a lock 85 by 20 feet, tight but workable.  I chose the starboard wall (wind was blowing that way) leaving Archie in the other trawler the task of keeping to windward.  He was single handed and was obliged to hire a line handler before they would clear him through to Chambly.

Here’s Archie following us in a wide bit between hazards.

No pictures in locks, too busy, Nine locks and nine bridge openings in 10 miles, not even time for a comfort break.

Canal is now more Grand Union than Suez, maybe twenty feet wide in places (boat is 16).

Here’s a bridge, kind of a toy bridge really, but it does have to open, let’s see that flag is a five footer so that opening is mmmmmm  tight..

Some bridges don’t count in our total this one has not been used in a while, but still a squeeze to get through.

Speed in the canal strictly limited to 10Km/Hr  (time between locks is recorded) so we are passed by lots of vehicles on the old towpath

 including this speeder.

We were done and out in the Richleau River at Chambly by 1:00 pm.

Saturday so the whole of Quebec was out on the water, we decided to run with the considerable current on down to St. Antoine about another 20 miles, may have been an error.  Lots of traffic and one of the worst bridge passages on the whole trip (The Point Beloil Bridge has a whole section of the guide to itself, full of helpful stuff like “This tight bridge opening with rapid water will give larger vesssels cause for concern”  -( the boat did not seem a bit worried).  Very narrow channel tucked into the West bank close to the rapids so the current sets over to the East, shoaling to the East of the channel and some kind of obstruction hanging from the middle of the bridge.  The river is in flood so was running faster than normal (5 knots?)  the current through the bridge was about twice that, pick your line and hold on (white knuckles but no pictures).

Finally anchored behind Ile de Jeanotte, in a long skinny cut leading to a bay.  The bay was full of anchored and rafted boats, over 100 I guessed.  We pulled over to the bank in the narrow bit and spent the night there, by morning the cut was empty.  They all left noisily at 1:30 am.

The whole adventure took 6 hours and occupied us for 35 miles

Sunday

Abandoned our noisy cut and moved 9 miles downriver to St. Antoine, tied to the town wharf by noon.  Replenishing wine and beer by bike and some baked goods on foot.

Sorel (30 miles) and the St. Lawrence River tomorrow?