Articles from "The Wheelhouse"

Marep Report by Cdr Bill Cloutier 

The Canadian Hydrographic Service, together with the Canadian Coast Guard, held a meeting on June 21 at the Royal St-Lawrence Yacht Club to report on their recent survey of Lake St-Louis and to propose a number of changes to the buoys on the lake.  They immediately got everyone’s attention by informing us that the Chart Datum used to show the water levels on Chart 1410 is wrong and that the true datum level of Lake St-Louis is almost a foot lower, meaning that the rocks are really about a foot closer to the surface than shown on the chart.  They will correct this error when Chart 1410 is reissued next year.

As the result of complaints from pleasure craft operators, including the large tour boats that use the lake, concerning the large number of rocks in or near channels that are not indicated on the current chart, the Hydrographic Service undertook a survey of the lake from Lachine to Ste-Anne de   Bellevue. Much of the presentation was devoted to the “Dixie Route”, the area between the Royal St-Lawrence Yacht Club and the Seaway, and a number of alternatives were presented including the use of a sector light to mark the channel from the Seaway towards Lachine.  Due to the large number of obstacles near the channels in this area, the narrowness of the channels at certain points, and the large number of lighted buoys required to mark the safe passage, the solutions are not apparent.

Changes in buoy placement are also proposed for the Lachine and Valois channels

A number of changes to the buoys between Dorval and Dowker Island were proposed, including the use of larger lighted buoys, to avoid obstacles and to provide better visibility of the buoys.

From Lynch Channel (between Dowker Island and Baie d’Urfé) to the Brucy Dike (near Ste-Anne de Bellevue) it is proposed that many of the buoys be repositioned to keep boats away from rocks and other obstacles.  Additional buoys will be placed near the southern entrance to the cut in Brucy Dike to mark obstacles that make the channel quite narrow at that point.

Changes are also proposed to the buoys marking the channel that rounds Windmill Point, leading to the Seaway to make the channel safer.  It is proposed the entrance to the channel when coming from La Passe (the channel between Dowker Island and Île Perrot) be marked with a larger buoy that will be   easier to spot.

Copies of the proposed changes were circulated to the participants (as a PowerPoint document) and comments and suggestions were requested from pleasure craft operators in the area before the  final changes are made to the chart.

Source: The Wheelhouse, July 2001, Volume 2, Issue 2 & 3