Vancouver Island - Day 2

JULY 1. As I write this installment, it’s about 4:30 in the morning. A Raccoon woke me up and I’m waiting for first light to depart.




0740 hours, July 1, 2011. Position: 49.18.402N 124.07.167W. Skies cloudy, seas 1-2 feet. Wind from the south at 5 knots. Raining slightly.



We left Nanaimo at 5:30am this morning with glass calm water. We hoisted the main as a preventative measure for the straits, and that would prove to be a good move. The straits weren’t particularly rough, but with uneven lumpy seas the boat would have rolled quite a bit had it not been for the dampening effect of the mainsail.



We have two laptops going in the cockpit. One is working the navigation with cartography driven by the GPS, and I’m typing on the other one. Far cry from 33 years (a third of a century) ago when we sailed the Dragon to Alaska armed with no electronics and nothing more than a lead line and a compass. This morning we’ve got the radar, GPS, a VHF, a nice color fathometer the news is streamed in via Satellite radio and the auto pilot steers the boat Wonders never cease.



Today is the 2nd of 3 long days and takes us 70 miles, straight up the Straits of Georgia. The straits are large body of water and the northern part of what is now known as the ‘Salish Sea’. The sky is gray as is the water and we’re just plodding north at just over 6 knots. I’m hoping the wind will fill in from the South and offer a nice sail later in the morning.



0844 hours, Position 49.22.850N, 124.14.950W. Wind has not yet filled in. Rolling a bit even with the main up. Tried the Jib, but there just isn’t enough wind yet. Very little boat traffic.



1000 hours. Finally the wind has started. Unfurled the jib and sailed for a bit. Breeze freshened to about 20 knots. Unfortunately it’s dead astern which means we need to take an indirect course to keep the wind from being dead astern. Instead of jibing, I opted for a ¾ tack. At which point the jib sheet wrapped around a pole used to aid in docking. While untangling that, the jib wrapped around the headstay. Long story short, we provided some entertainment for the single boat we could see. No damage done (except to the ego).



1400 hours. We’ve been motor sailing for seemingly days. The wind is still dead astern and it simply isn’t blowing hard enough to maintain the speed we need. We were fighting the current most of the morning making poor time, but have picked up a bit in the last hour. We keep looking for whales and haven’t seen a one yet. And it just started raining again. Hopefully the weather will break soon.



1440 hours. Well the current is turning again fought the ebb in the morning and now beginning to fight the flood. In the southern part of the straits it ebbs south, but as we approach Cape Mudge, it floods south. Meaning the incoming water from the Pacific pushes the currents here south, coming over the top of Vancouver Island.



I am struck by the absence of other boats. We saw a few early morning small fish boats, 4 other cruising boats and 2 commercial fish boats. A few larger vessels on the horizon, but that’s about it. I recall a lot more traffic, commercial and pleasure, a few years back.



As we approached Cape Mudge, we could see a line of whitecaps ahead of us. According to the Canadian Hydrographic Service, “between Cape Mudge and Willow Point there is a heavy race on south going streams which, when opposed by strong SE winds, sets up short steep swells which can be very dangerous.” Hmmm. Well, the wind wasn’t blowing THAT strong, how bad could it be?



We were ‘entertained’ by some pretty impressive waves for a while. Auto pilot off, feet planted wide apart, gripping the wheel, trying to keep Cambria going generally the right direction. I called it the Cape Mudge madness.



It was relatively short lived and before long we were at April Point, our destination for the evening. We anchored in 23 feet of water behind the marina. It was calm, protected, and had a good hlding ground. Perfect – and close to the April Point Lodge where we had dinner. The lodge is right on the channel and has a gorgeous view. Just has we sat down, a huge – gigantic – cruise ship went by.