Return to the Salish Sea

[David Patterson]

The fjords I've been sailing in are easier to get into than out of. The land seems to breathe in, and reach a still point, yet never breathe out. At least this time of year. It has taken me four challenging days to beat out, following my plan of sailing as much as possible. I did motor for a mile and a half or so to exit Princess Louisa Inlet thru Malibu Rapids, the only entry/exit except by air. Here from Pender Harbor on the Sunshine Coast, I will post a couple of times before sailing on. The first photo shows my track in Queens Reach. Take a 1:20,000 chart along. The Canada "tiled charts" offered on iNavX are clearly useless at 1:200,000. Apparently my little 25D can scale mountains. The conditions aren't shown: Force 5 and 6 winds that had me hove to with jib at 80%, main at 2nd reef, on alternate tacks. To keep from being blown irretrievably up the reach, I sailed thru Malibu Rapids uptide an hour before the slack. Don't do it, though I did survive, grin intact. The second photo is looking down Princess Louisa Inlet. The third is of the fabled Chatterbox Falls, which have been better photographed. See the net.

[David Patterson]

Here is my track on my return down Queens Reach, to re-anchor in Deserted Bay. Anchorages are few and far between in all of Jervis Inlet, especially for the cruiser under sail. Notice the chart overlap on iNavX. I relied on paper. Second is another photo of falls in PLI. Last is my second day of beating, down Princess Royal Reach and halfway down Prince of Wales Reach, to Vancouver Bay. In Vancouver Bay I gained an unusual distinction. I became one of the few people ever to ground in Jervis Inlet. In deep Vancouver Bay (and I mean deep!) the only anchoring option is bow and stern on an alluvial fan of glacially polished stones. I got too close when putting out the bow anchor, spending a low water hour on the tilt. A very soft grounding. I've experienced worse, I admit. Twice on this cruise now I have had a soft grounding. I must be exploratory, and misjudge now and then.

[David Patterson]

The beauty of these fjords stops the breath at times. My photos can't do them justice, on my iPhone. Here are several attempts.

[David Patterson]

A last photo of my recent track. More beating. Less obvious on the track is the difficulty I experienced rounding the last point. I arrived early for the tidal current change, and lost the wind at the same time. I struggled for a couple of hours to keep from being carried back up Agamemnon Channel. If you intend to actually sail here--and few cruisers do because of the challenges--be prepared to work out timing carefully. And carry a good luck charm for timely winds. As I began the passage, in the next photo, I was in light airs in a ferry lane outside Agamemnon Bay. Ferries, tugs with tows, and floating logs are the primary floating hazards here. The log is larger than it looks: 30' by 2'. The last photo Is of a fairly typical waterside building of a century ago, on the NW coast.

[David Patterson]

I notice that I left out a leg of my four day beat. This is day 3, Prince of Wales Reach, Vancouver Bay to Agamemnon Bay. Notice again the chart shift in the tiled chart on iNavX. Winds lulled typically mid afternoon while I sailed down the reaches. And I grew to dread the wind shadows behind bluffs and points. This leg was relatively easy.

[David Patterson]

Back in Pender Harbor. I had hoped to get away, cross sometimes gnarly Malaspina Strait, and visit a favorite island. I crossed the strait alright...twice. I elected to return rather than get blown north in the strait, to end up who knows where. Force 4 & 5 winds, gusting Force 6, and water over my forward hatch. You know the kind of sailing story I'm referring to. Seven hours to end up back in the same place seems wasted, but it wasn't. I learned a lot. My track is below, beginning at Irvines Landing. Notice my several attempts near that SW island, Texada, to tack south, losing ground each tack. No go in the high SE winds. Next try in a couple of days, in NW winds next time.

[David Patterson]

With another harbor day to use before (hopefully) going on, and now provisioned, I can take in my surroundings better. Here is beautiful PUCK, a NW cruiser. No cabin ports for light, aside from the overhead hatches. I looked for deck prisms, which would be a good solution for this heavy weather design. None visible. Notice the wood stove Charlie Noble. She looks exceptionally competent, doesn't she? She is definitely not just an RV that happens to look like a sailboat. The photo of Madeira Park's dock, in Welbourne Bay of Pender Harbor, includes at least one oddly exotic tree, and little CLOUD GIRL out at anchor in 6 fathoms. I'm not embayed, but fair winds won't begin for a day or two. Cruising under sail I've become more tolerant of being thwarted than during career and family life. More accepting of reversals. But there is little freedom like being aboard a reasonably well-found sailing craft. Tight schedules make less sense anyway. One choice doesn't work? Make another. There is somewhere I wish to be by the end of the third week of June. I'm not really on a "voyage to nowhere."

[David Patterson]

I'm not catching a break to get out of Pender Harbor and across the mighty Strait of Georgia. Yesterday I found out that military testing in Area Whiskey Golf would obstruct an attempt today and Friday. This morning the wind forecast has become foreboding, for Saturday, when transit is possible. I remain harbor bound, with the probability of having to wait on the military until a week from now. Area WG is explained in the excerpted useful guide book page, pictured. (Note the book title. This guide book is written for motorists, but quotes the sailing directions extensively, which of course are not written for small sports craft to begin with. Don't hold me to my notes, please.) It lies fully across my now projected course from the Thormanby Islands SSE to the Vancouver Island coast. Available weather info is general, with wind speeds that must be respected. I may not make the Alberg Rendezvous in the south Gulf Islands after all, in two weeks. I'll keep searching for options. If I'm willing for the 20 knot exposure, maybe soon. I've been in higher recently. At least NW is fair for me. I may try for the travel Corridor near the Ballenas, if I can hold the course.

[tjr818]

Be careful out there! You don't want to go down in history as the only Cape Dory to be torpedoed.

[David Patterson]

Back in interesting Ganges, Salt Spring Island, BC, after a challenging series of passages: crossing the Strait of Georgia in the latter part of high winds, transiting False Narrows south east under sail, light airs in Pylades Channel, and a lively beat against Force 4 winds SE down Trincomali Channel. My little CD25D (minus the "D" for this now 7 week cruise) continues to gain my trust, especially in the 4' waves of the Strait of Georgia. Running in waves is difficult for a small boat. CLOUD GIRL handled the conditions excellently. The physical effort wore me out, though. Below are three photos: one is a tourist construction overlooking Malaspina Strait from Smuggler Cove; next is the cove entrance which is shockingly constricted when entering from open waters under sail; last is a screen shot from crossing the Strait of Georgis, as I began to run SE. Note the SOG. The highest I noted was 7.3, the boat on the edge of being out of control. Her theoretical hull speed is only 5.4. She was practically surfing in the surge and wind waves that are dramatic entering Horswell Channel. Gotta trust your boat.

[David Patterson]

The return through False Narrows was just the reverse of my first transit. It can be done under sail, but motor. Locals run it in every stage of tide. Best is at high tide, just before or after slack, depending on direction. Some very large motor yachts use it easily, by following the range markers. Refer to my earlier post for a chart. Photos: sunrise in Pylades Channel south of False Narrows as seen from Ruxton Passage Cove of DeCourcy Island; second is my track from Ruxton Passage to Wallace Island using an outboard on my dinghy as a tow-on-the-hip for most of it except beginning and end; third is my sail upwind from Wallace to Ganges...a truly excellent early morning passage alone in Trincomali. I was reefed once in the main, to 80% of J for the jib, to hold my speed down.

[David Patterson]

Just a bit more about Smuggler Cove, near the Thormanby Islands on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast (which I experienced at times as the Mosquito Coast, though not here). Not in order, here is HYTTA, a fine Cape Dory whose hailing port is Sandpoint, Idaho. I wasn't able to interact with them. Another is CLOUD GIRL stern-tied in the north basin of the three. I spent a week in the even more protected south basin. Thirty knot winds kept me from attempting the Strait of Georgia long enough to melt all of my ice in the warm waters. Also is a page from Ann & Laurence Yeadon-Jones' Dreamspeaker description of the cove. I'm a now serious fan. If you get a chance get one of their series for the winter armchair cruising you will inevitably do. Maybe an Xmas gift request?

[David Patterson]

And some gratuitous beauty, which abounds in the Salish Sea. In order this time: another look at sunrise over Valdez Island in Pylades Channel; looking north in Pylades Channel; a scene from Smuggler Cove.

[David Patterson]

Six passages in six days, including an overnight stop for provisions in Ganges. In Port Browning, North Pender Island now for the NW Alberg Designs Rendezvous, I am grateful for some harbor days. A few photos before I show some of the boats another day...the crafty ways local residents find to get boats in and out of the water interest and entertain me. Here are a couple, plus yet another skyscape, this one from Plumper Sound.

[David Patterson]

At the NW Alberg Designs Rendezvous, Port Browning BC: gathered Alberg 37s, 35s, 30s and 29s, a 22' Sea Sprite; Cape Dorys 40, 32, 28, 25D. (I think I have all of those correct.) below are the ever impressive CD 40 MINTAKA, the lovely Alberg 29 NAVIGARE, and the 22' Sea Sprite ARIEL. All are sailed extensively.