{"id":2270,"date":"2008-06-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=2270"},"modified":"2009-04-15T08:52:15","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T13:52:15","slug":"s_logs-dashew-dashew505","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/s_logs-dashew-dashew505\/","title":{"rendered":"Port au Choix"},"content":{"rendered":"
A short hop past notorious Point Riche to fascinating Port au Choix.<\/div>\n

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One of the nice things about cruising Newfoundland is the short hops. If you budget 70 to 80 nautical miles in a day, you can make the longest hops in daylight (the sun is coming up by 0400 and it does not get totally dark now until 2200). We’re on the west coast of the island, and Port au Choix is located at the hand symbol.<\/p>\n

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We are including this photo because of its unique nature around here: A day in which it is warm enough to open hatches. OK, that is fog at which you are looking, but there is enough warmth making its way through the fog layer to keep the interior very pleasant – today at least.<\/p>\n

Which brings up the subject of heat load on the windows. In cool climates, the big windows are a wonderful source of heat. Even small amounts of solar radiation really helps. On the other hand, when cruising in tropical areas the big windows are a negative in terms of insulation. Although we can use air conditioning to deal with the heat load, we prefer to use awnings as much as possible – which is why you often see photos of Wind Horse<\/em> with the eyebrow awnings set.<\/p>\n

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That photo above is looking at Point Riche from a half mile away. Visibility today has alternated from 1\/8 to 3\/4 of a mile. We’re checking fog in terms of spotting ice, and even at dusk in this light fog we’d be able to see the bergy bits.<\/p>\n

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This is a 50 foot (15m) fishing boat out of Port au Choix. Note the stabilizer fish, which all the locals carry. There is a large gaff headed mizzen (furled), which they use to hold position when pulling traps or fishing. The fishing in this area is generally considered good, and within a day’s run is the "hole" into which several currents funnel. The resulting upwelling and mixing of nutrients accelerates the life cycle of the creatures dwelling therein, attracting outsiders to feed, who in turn bring the harvesters.<\/p>\n

Speaking of outsiders, the capelin (smelt-like fish) have started arriving off the Labrador coast north of here. This means lots of whales to watch.<\/p>\n

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Port au Choix was named by the original French fisherfolk as it is one the best harbors on this coast. As you can see from the chart there is a narrow entrance. We’re told that even in the worst northeasterly storms it remains calm inside. We hope not to find out (but then there is a northeasterly gale forecast for the end of the week).<\/p>\n

Point Riche retains some degree of notoriety. You have a deep bottom – 1000+ feet (300m) coming down from the northeast meeting a much shallower plateau from the southwest. When the northeasters do blow, the sea state can be chaotic off the point.<\/p>\n

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While the entrance is narrow, it is steep to on the east side and buoyed on the west. We used radar, sonar, and chart plotter on the way in. The Canadian charts have mostly been accurate, but we always assume they are off, and in order of priority we trust sonar first, then radar, and lastly the chart plotter.<\/p>\n

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A foggy afternoon in Port au Choix, and we are snugged alongside a floating dock.<\/p>\n

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Dandelions are growing all around the harbor. They brighten up an otherwise dreary afternoon.<\/p>\n

Being Sunday, there are seafarers checking out the new arrival, and we learn quite a bit about the area, ice, the local economics of fishing, moose, polar bears, and the allure of easy money in the oil fields of central Canada.<\/p>\n

On the the subject of moose, there are even radio ads cautioning drivers to go slow. They are abundant, sometimes jump across the road, and a collision with one could ruin your day (and your car).<\/p>\n

On ice, the big bergs are typically close to shore. The smaller pieces are usually associated with the big bergs, but not always, which means keeping a sharp lookout even when there are no bergs around.<\/p>\n

The town used to sport 2000+ souls. Now it is down below a thousand. However, some folks who moved away to richer digs elsewhere are moving back.<\/p>\n

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There is a 65 foot (20m) trawler on the dock off our stern. They, and the other boats have these springs linked to their stabilizing fish to reduce the shock loads on the booms when rolling in steep seas. One of the locals said they still roll so badly (even with the stabilizer fish in the water) that it is hard to stand up on deck. That is the result of their fat hulls – they are typically 23 feet (7m) wide. The dimensions are the result of arbitrary government-issued length rules, and also have a big impact on power requirements. The typical trawler has a 750 horsepower Caterpillar diesel, with a six to one reduction gear turning a 5.5 foot diameter prop (1.65m). They burn 10,000 to 12,000 dollars worth of diesel on a five day trip. Get rid of the length rule, allow the boats to be longer but narrower to haul the same amount of fish, and the fuel bill would drop rapidly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A short hop past notorious Point Riche to fascinating Port au Choix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}