We start our second day on the water in a pea soup fog. It’s cold, it’s windy, you can’t see more than 50 metres, in short, we’re on the coast. Slowly but surely, the fog lifted, and we could see the shore of Poulamon Bay where we were anchored. After an early start, we were able to weigh anchor as soon as breakfast was over, around 8 a.m. This task, a slow and complex process for a 53-tonne boat, is carried out by Tomas, Ryan, Anna-Maria, and Camille, who have volunteered to hoist the heavy anchor on board.
Five nautical miles take us through Lennox Passage to St. Peters Canal. The lockkeeper tells us that this is an old portage trail used by the indigenous Mi’kMaq people, which became a real trade route opened up by the explorer Nicolas Denys in the mid-17th century. Now a National Historic Site, it has a lock that gives us access to the Bras d’Or Lake, nothing less than an inland sea trapped in the heart of Cape Breton Island. A veritable jewel, this body of water enjoys UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status. It is also during this first leg of the trip that the young sailors will have the opportunity to practice knots and learn some of the basic nautical vocabulary describing the rigs that we will have to use: halyard, topping lift, shroud, ketch…
Before we knew it, the fog had lifted completely. And as we sail over the first waves of the Bras d’Or Lake, the wind picks up, chasing away the clouds and decorating the lake with pretty white sheep against a blue sky. It’s time to hoist the sails! Under the expert guidance of the crew, the young sailors set to work. In just over 10 minutes, the mainsail and jib are up and, most importantly, the engine is switched off, to cheers and applause. What a joy! We felt the wind caress our skin and the waves, sometimes a metre high, rock our bums. We also had another workshop on the basics of seamanship, this time on wind speeds.
After our crossing, we lower the sails to sail along the Barra Strait and its drawbridges to the quayside of the bucolic seaside village of Baddeck, where we moor for the night. A popular tourist destination, the town is also known as the home port of Alexander Graham Bell, whose opulent home can still be seen today. Taking advantage of the last rays of sunshine, we’ll spend the early evening strolling along the quayside. We then return to the boat for our first discussion circle, where everyone is invited to share their state of mind (group average of 9.73928 out of 10!) and pinpoint their favourite moment of the trip so far. The facilitators then met to report on the progress of the trip, while the young people talked, laughed and played their first game of Loup-Garou (Werewolf to the uninitiated!). All in all, the day may have started off cold, windy and foggy, but it ended with a crescendo of sunshine and a warm breeze that was both sweet and salty, just like the succulent saltwater sweets that are so typical of Baddeck.
Translated by Lorraine Gagnon