Planned Crossing of the Chaleur Bay, Quebec Aug 2014

Mandai

Am participating in a the Trans Gaspesia on 3 Aug 2014 - a 260km, 6 stage - 7 days, self supported foot race across Quebec's Gaspe' Peninsula organised by a good friend of mine. https://www.facebook.com/events/341376099286180/.

To make it worth the long trip from Dubai I asked to throw in a swim crossing of the Chaleur Bay as a warm up; depending on the starting point it looks like a 20-30km swim: http://goo.gl/maps/wxE8A

As I'm not familar at all with the region nor the waters I was wondering if there is any forum member that could provide advice or support on points like:
- if it is allowed to swim there (any authorities to approach?)
- water conditions (eg temperature in Aug (the name Chaleur suggest it is "warm"), tides, jellies or like, etc)
- or just a local contact to start off with...

Any advice is highly appreciated!
TQ, Tobias

timsroot

I have never been to Quebec, but based on a little cursory research, I found this website: http://weather.gc.ca/mainmenu/marine_menu_e.html

Based on that, right now the water temperature is ~15C. To me, that's not warm, but to plenty of people in this forum, I know it is.

Mandai

Thanks timsroot, that a helpful resource. 15C is also cold for my liking but with the EC booked, it would be a good training.
Just came across another website
http://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Gaspe-Quebec/forecasts/latest
that states "Statistics for 22 Aug 1981-2005 – mean: 13.8 max: 15.5 min: 11.8 °C". This is will be more challenging.

Leonard_Jansen

Tobias -

One thing I would definately check is the tidal flow. That part of the world has some hellish tide changes and subsequent fast tidal flows in places. I have no idea if this is one of them, but it's worth checking unless you really fancy a trip to Greenland.

-LBJ

Mandai

A helpful and as always witty advice LBJ!
I've been googling around but have not yet found anything useful on it. But I found s/b with a boat to support. That box is ticked, but the tide and temp are really the ones that decide whether it is doable or not. And sea creatures, though I'm no t really concerned about this. My buddy is trying to find a local contact as that is surely the best source.

timsroot

www.sailflow.com

Not sure which of these is closest to where you are thinking about swimming: http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/sites_allcurrent.html

I've seen a website before that would animate the currents generated by the tides, but I can't seem to find it at the moment.

bruck

With the usual caveat about the accuracy of Wikipedia information, I found this:

The warm ocean currents that enter the bay from the larger Gulf of St. Lawrence result in some of the warmest saltwater on the Atlantic coast north of the state of Virginia.

The bay's shape and the steep cliffs along its northern shore sometimes create particularly windy conditions especially off Nepisiguit Bay. Under the right wind direction and speed, sea conditions on large areas of the bay can become quite treacherous. Tidal currents are generally weak, except at the mouths of some rivers and certain channels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaleur_Bay