Down East Circle Part 5 Chapter 2

1. Chester was founded in the late 1750’s and is a favorite resort and vacation destination on the South Shore. It’s well known for yachting and as host of the annual Chester Race Week.

2. There are two main harbours, the front harbour, where we moored off of Chester Yacht Club and the back harbour, connected by a narrow channel, that we explored by dingy. There is limited dock space and most pleasure craft reside on moorings in one of the two harbours. The Tancook Ferry docks near “down town” and from our mooring we could see it loading. The town is pleasant to explore with fine period homes and interesting shops. There is a good restaurant at the water front accessible by dingy, just a 5 minute ride from our mooring.

3. With Chester Race Week coming up in the next couple of weeks there was lots of activity around the harbour with many boats tuning up for the upcoming competition. When we returned from La Have in August we could see the race fleet in the distance as we made our way back to St. Margarets.

4. Lunenburg Yacht Club is a 15 nautical mile sail down Mahone Bay, we again managed to arrive in a middle of a race, this time of the junior sailing school. The club is beautifully situated on Herman’s Island and is accessible by bridge and only a few minutes by car from Lunenburg itself. LYC is located well in side Mahone Bay and takes advantage of the bay’s protection and nearby anchorages.

5. After some confusion deciding where to tie up, we would have preferred a mooring but none were available, we were given a prime dock right in front of the club. From the patio and restaurant there is an idyllic view out to the moored vessels and Little Herman’s Island beyond. Our only difficulties were facing a few mosquitoes at dusk and a persistent breeze holding us on the dock when we went to depart for Lunenburg the following morning.

6. The sail around Second Peninsula, Chockle Cap, Eastern Point and into Lunenburg Bay the following day was perfect, with winds in the 15-20 knot range. The wind was first on the starboard beam, then we were close hauled and finally we were on a very broad reach as we entered Lunenburg. I think it was the best sail of the summer. The entrance into Lunenburg’s Front Harbour is inspiring, one of the most remarkable ports we’ve sailed into, with boats from all over the world, the UK, Australia and a sloop from Victoria BC among the boats at anchor.

7. I went ashore by dingy to sign up at the Yacht Shop, who own and maintain the transient mooring we were on. I needed to find some supplies so Jayne could make some seafood stew that she had learned to make when we were in Gaspe.

8. Fortunately, there is a small market store near to the waterfront and I was able to get several kinds of fish and mussels for the stew. As we enjoyed our dinner, on that first evening of the week we spent moored in Lunenburg, we were treated to a classic yacht race, with a dozen vintage yachts passing close enough for their crews and us to exchange greetings.