Return to the Salish Sea II

[David Patterson]

A couple of requests for more information about my 55 day 375 nautical mile (431 land miles) Salish Sea cruise, from Friday Harbor WA to Chatterbox Falls of Princess Louisa Inlet BC, have led me to gather some stats. From 5/01/15 to 6/24/15, it was the cruise of a lifetime, in my limited experience, though I hope to do more. My CD25D performed excellently, doing everything required of her. I was under passage during 55 days for 175 hours, anchor to anchor. 95% of the time CLOUD GIRL was under sail, 5% motoring (9 important hours). The average passage was 11.36 NM, at 2.14 knots average speed, for 5:20 hours. The shortest passage, from one anchorage to another on the same island, was 0.4 NM; the longest was more than 30 NM, over 12 hours. Six passages were 20 NM or more. No fog or night passages were made. I grounded briefly twice, to no ill effect. Wind speeds varied from dead calm to 30 knots or more. Currents were a notable influence. I crossed two straits both ways, Georgia and Malaspina, in strong winds each time. I anchored more than 30 times and took a mooring ball twice. The hard dinghy was towed. I single-handed for the cruise. My route, which you may roughly follow in my sketches below, was as follows:
-Friday Harbor to Ganges, via Jones Island, New Channel, Stuart Island, and across Boundary Pass
-Ganges to Wallace Island, then on through False Narrows
-Above False Narrows to Hammond Bay, across the Strait of Georgia to South Thormanby I.
-On to Pender Harbor, then up Agamemnon Ch. and Jervis Inlet to Chatterbox Falls
-Return to Pender Harbor, a side crossing of Malaspina, and back to Pender
-Pender to Smuggler Cove, then back across Georgia to above False Narrows
-A second transit of False Narrows under sail, and on back to Ganges
-Ganges to Port Browning on North Pender Island
-Return across Boundary Pass and down San Juan Channel to Parks Bay, then to Friday Harbor.
The cruise included 33 passages and 4 re-provisioning stops. And so on. In physics, a wave has three characteristics: frequency, amplitude, and duration. As an analogy to my cruise, I can describe the duration and the number of passages --the least interesting facts-- but capturing the intensity and meaning of the experience is elusive. My photos and commentary are some indication of my experience, my journals more so, but neither makes for a full description. Beautiful wonderful waters. I hope this information is adequate for those who want it. [The drawings are from my journal.]

[David Patterson]

Day dreaming of cruising, as I'm land bound in NJ, I'm reviewing prior years. I found a few photos of Dodd Narrows, in the Canadian southern Gulf Islands. I took them as I was sailing my 25D through at the slack before the ebb, heading south in pretty light airs, in May 2014. My upside down wind meter boom-high on the back stay only shows 1 knot. Locals have decorated one rock as entertainment, I assume. In retrospect, it is hard to believe that this salt water rapid can reach 9 knots (I think that is the peak velocity). Perhaps I was on a neap-tide first or third quarter of the moon, at the lower of the two daily tide cycles. Seals were calling as they made their meals. I miss the nautical problem-solving, and sharing the scenes. Happy holidays to all.

[David Patterson]

Barred from cruising by my choice to spend some winter holiday time with grandchildren, my compensation consists of fantasizing about and planning 2016 sailing. The Inside Passage Planning Map: Southern Portion is an invaluable aid well worth owning, with all of its data for distances, and so on. Three partial views are below. First is of the mid Salish Sea to well above it. My pen knife is at the San Juans, my pen at Port Hardy of giant Vancouver Island. My imagination fails when thinking that I could get that far north, so I'm considering it my "ne plus ultra" for 2016. Second is from roughly the top of the Salish Sea to Port McNeil, the area I'll hope to explore some. Last is the Broughton Archipelago, my desired destination. My challenge to myself, aside from simply getting there, is to sail as much as possible. If any board members have any experience with this part of the Inside Passage, especially under sail, I'd love to hear from you. Of special interest to me are Yuculta, Dent, and Greene Point Rapids. They are the barrier gates of the northern route, to avoid daunting Seymour Narrows and much of the reputedly tough (for sailing and motoring) Johnstone Strait. [Port Hardy might be as far north as 51* North. I'm bemused to realize that Cape Horn is at 56* South.]