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Cape Breton’s Right of Passage
By Pat Nelder
There is a right of passage for many people with cruising boats in Cape Breton. It’s the annual sail from Sydney Harbour, where many boats are stored for the winter, to the Great Bras d’Or, the main entrance to the Bras d’Or Lake.
Leaving Sydney in early June, brightly coloured lobster pot buoys create a maze that has to be navigated. Fishing boats, Cape Islanders and Northumberlands, brightly coloured like their buoys, turning and weaving their way through the maze, work quickly and efficiently. The scenery on a June morning can be amazing as the boat’s bow turns to the west.
In the north, the craggy mountains of the Cape Breton highlands are visible with the rocky Bird Island in the foreground. Bird Island is actually two islands; Hertford and Ciboux, and they support the largest colony of Great Cormorants in North America.
Other birds nesting on the islands include Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Black-legged Kittiwakes, and Black Guillemots. The best months to view them, from the water only, are June and July.
To the south, the populated areas of Sydney, North Sydney and Sydney Mines give way to low cliffs, and close to the entrance of the great Bras d’Or is the dangerous looking Table Rock sitting off Table Head.
The Canadian Hydrographic Service provides sailing directions for this area and the directions state that the entrance channel to the Great Bras d’Or should not be attempted without local knowledge. The normal rate of tidal streams at this entrance is from four to five knots. However, in the springtime or after a series of North East gales, the water level in the Bras d’Or Lake may be elevated, which can increase the tidal stream to six knots.
During fine weather, the stream flows outward for most of the time that the tide is rising and inward when the tide is falling. Strong winds, however, do cause irregularities in the tidal pattern. Slack water can be a difficult time to pinpoint and a cruising boat may have a difficult time making way into the channel against a rising tide.
The constriction of the channel, 2.2 miles wide between Hectors Point and Table Head, narrows to a width of 0.1 of a mile between Carey Point and Noir Point, further complicating navigation in the area. Boats continue past the constriction passing houses and beaches where often lone fishermen can be seen testing the waters and currents.
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