macblaze.ca

6:30 am comes early. Right around 6:30 as far as I can tell. So ya, early.

Once up on deck we fired up the engine and headed out of our bay. Last night we had been joined by a fishing trawler but he was gone already: the early fisherdude troll the salmon or something like that… We motored for Cape Cook which is the last of the dangerous headlands but there was virtually no wind so it was another non event. In fact we were able to motor between the Cape and Solander Island which is apparently a very rare event. The sea lions complained loudly at our intrusion although that was just one overly raucous group so maybe they were the grumpy ones.

After we passed the Cape we turned upwind and raised the sails. The wind remained in the 4-6 knot range so we didn’t make much headway. But once we were far enough out we jibed and were able to start to run parallel to Brooks Peninsula.

The winds slowly increased until Tim decided that a downwind MOB drill was in order. We talked it over then rescued our man overboard pole a few times. I am happy to report that despite the hijinx and three-stooge-like antics that no poles were lost.

About midway through our drills we were hailed by Bella Serena. She is the Nanaimo Yacht Charter boat we were supposed to be traveling with. But they had decided to go around the island the other direction so we had been traveling alone. But Brooks Peninsula is the nominal half-way point and this was the logical place to meet them. Luckily for pride’s sake we had made it further south than they had north so I guess we win this leg.

They were about 10nm offshore so we pulled into a close haul and raced out to meet them. We circled each other, took some pictures and waved before resuming our previous headings.

We played around sailing wing on wing and even poled out the jib. It was a great sail downwind for a few hours. Eventually we decided that Kyuquot Sound was our destination. One of the water tanks was dry so we decided to hit the fishing village of Walters Cove. We motored in, dodging rocks and reefs and tied up at the public dock.

Meanwhile Tim was worried because the tach was lagging and the temp was spiking. After we stopped, it turned out that we’d broken a belt and the engine was overheating. The issue with that was he had recently replaced his alternator and all his spares were for the old one. We asked around but no one had an appropriate spare. After a few hours Tim mcgyvered an old spare belt onto the new alternator and we were up and running.

Donna, Leslie and I walked to the store and chatted with the recently-arrived prawn fisherman, then walked a small trail to a nearby beach. Then it was hanging out until the engine work was done. As soon as repairs were complete Donna hit the galley and supper was on its way. We had intended to anchor out but it looks like we will stay at the dock tonight.

The only other thing of note was the sea otters. We saw a couple at sea then a few more in the entrances between the docks and one particularly cheeky fellow who didn’t move from our path until the last moment. They float around in their backs just like in the books with their huge hind feet flopping in the wind and their front paws crossed in their tummies. Super cute.

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We heard the anchor go up at midnight and an indeterminate amount of time later we felt the start of the ocean swells. The bar is a place where not only does the open ocean hit a narrowing channel of land, but the depths rise from hundreds of fathoms to just six in a fairly short distance. This causes fast violent water with the potential for huge waves.

So you cross the bar at slack (the time when the tide pauses as it changes direction) and preferably at the ebb slack so you ride the new current out. But that does nothing for the swells and the whole boat twists and bounces. We didn’t sleep much.

At 3:30am we dutifully layered up, donned harnesses and life jackets and grabbed our headlamps. The Northwest Passage is an ocean boat so we had red lighting in the cabin to dress in and not destroy our night vision—nifty.

We arrived on deck to find Tim and Bob. Bob hadn’t been able to sleep so had come up early. Terry had succumbed to the motion and retired early. The boat was just approaching Point Scott and with overcast and no moon the light on the point was the only thing visible.

Soon enough Tim retired to try and sleep and the three of us took quick 15 minute shifts to experience navigating in the darkness before it lightened up too much. After that we settled in to 1 hour shifts. The weather was benign but the 3 to 6 foot swells in the dark made it an adventure anyway. All in all it wasn’t too cold and my seasickness factor was mostly about a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. I even closed my eyes and braced myself on the cockpit cushions for a while.

The sun came up, Tim returned and I sailed on. Eventually, one by one, we succumbed to the call of bed and crawled back in to warm up and try and rest.

The wind never rose above 5 or 6 knots so it was motoring all the way. We made it offshore about 17nm before we turned and headed back towards Quatsino Sound and Winter Harbour and on the way back the wildlife came out to greet us. We saw a sea otter about 10nm off and a small bird hitched a ride on the life lines.

After my nap I headed up just as we reached the shallows at the entrance to the sound that was populated by fishing boats both large and small. One of the fisherman held up his huge halibut with happy yell as we motored by.

As we past the lighthouse guarding the entrance there was cell service so I took the opportunity to upload a post and a few pictures. A few minutes later the signal disappeared but hopefully I can catch it again on the way out.

Once again I screwed up the track by not starting it when we cast off at midnight and compounding the error by forgetting my phone belowdecks. So I didn’t get a chance to start it until half way through our watch.

The swell died as we entered the sound so Leslie and Bob both awoke to smooth water. 45 minutes or so we tied up to Winter Harbour’s fuel dock. We filled up, visited the store and took a long walk down a boardwalk the meanders along the shoreline. We caught sight of our 3rd sea otter of the day floating on his back in one of the small bays. Really cool town.

Leslie says this is Sunday May 17: Day 6. I guess I’ll believe her.

Back at the boat we performed some emergency sump repairs and washed down some filters that were clogged. Then we cast off once again and headed out into the ocean. Well technically we didn’t quite leave Brooks Bay but we were definitely back in the swell.

About 2 hours later we slipped past Rugged Islands into Evergreen Bay and dropped anchor. It’s a small bay that is open to the south and still gets a bit of swell but we want to get past Cape Cook early in the morning and the other anchorage possibilities would mean maneuvering through a lot of rocks and shoals. Besides it is stunning.

Best of all we are here early enough that we could unship the dinghy and go explore. Everyone is pretty tired so only Tim, Leslie and I decided to go. We grounded on the beach and spent an hour beachcombing and climbing on the rocks. We found dozens of fish floats, most of which were from Japan, some even had kanji painted on them. It’s stuff like this that makes it all worth while. I collected some rocks for Donna and a piece of wood I will arm wrestle Carmen for.

Back on the boat we waited for dinner and Tim broke out the rod and reel and wandered off in the dinghy. No luck though. Dinner was pasta and then we hunkered down for a well deserved rest.

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This morning Tim and Terry fired up the engine at 6 and I laid abed writing for a while. Eventually all and sundry crawled up on deck and we drank coffee (tea) and munched on toast, scrambled eggs and sausages. Donna is really spoiling us.

A bit later we did a drive-by of Telegraph Cove with a few morning dolphins. Leslie and Bob were still in their bunks or at least down below, so they missed them. We also checked out Alert Bay but we won’t stop until Port Hardy. Then we will top up all the tanks and head to Bull Harbour on Hope Island. And then tomorrow is Cape Scott and the Pacific Ocean.

I did my first docking of the trip in the tight marina at Port Hardy, but managed to bring the boat into the fuel dock successfully. Since this is the last civilization we fuelled up and had showers. Then it was back out and motoring the last 20nm to Bull Harbour. I sent off a last few messages before reliable cell coverage disappears.

I am having no luck with my tracks. Today’s died moments out of Port Hardy. In any event we arrived at Bull Harbour early evening and dropped anchor in 12′ of water. It’s a new moon so the tide was expected to rise up to 11′ more.

We ate dinner, sorted through our offshore gear and then hit the sack.

Tim and Terry were getting up at midnight to weigh anchor and cross the Nahwitti bar. Les, Bob and I were set for the 4am shift.

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B Timothy Keith
–a la iphone!

forgive the typos. It’s 6 am and my eyes are still blurry

Morning. Breakfast. Work on the engine. After an hour or so encouraging noises emitted from the bilges and soon the old Perkins was humming along. All it took was a few phone calls and the only two wrenches Tim hadn’t packed.

In the meantime I had a shower and ate my third apple of the trip; that’s a bad habit I’m going to have to break. Somewhere around 10ish we’d fueled up, topped up the water and cast off heading for Johnstone Strait with predictions of 15-20 and no idea what the current was doing.

Well when we hit Helmcken Island we figured it out: it was against us and so we were motoring at 6 knots with a SOG (speed over ground) of somewhere around 2. Eventually we called it and anchored up for lunch in a small bay on the south side of the island.

Terry zoomed around in the dinghy like a kid with a shiny new bike and the rest of us chilled. We’d seen a few sea lions fishing in the currents as we approached but no one had followed us in. Damn sea mammals.

Then we were off again. The winds were a steady 20 knots on the nose so we decided to raise sails and make the best of it. I can’t say we made much progress but it was a good exercise and as the waves grew it was likely a smoother ride. Eventually we had two reefs in the main and the foresail furled in to about 90% and it was a smooth ride for the next few hours. At some point int he Strait we met a Holland America cruise ship that had Tim’m mother on it. He tried to contact the boat but was ignored.

By now we knew we wouldn’t make Alert Bay or Port McNeil before dark but we were determined to try. Tim’s actually pretty gung-ho on the whole night passage thing. There was one likely looking anchorage at Growler Cove on the north side of West Cracroft that we had as a plan B, and as we approached it at sunset our growling stomachs made the decision for us. We set anchor, shed layers and convened in the salon for wine and hot food.

It was veggie soup and samosas and Leslie was in heaven making smacking noises and stealing food off my plate. I think she enjoyed it.

By this time it was 11-ish so we went up on deck to the blackest night I’ve ever experienced. No moon, no stars, no city glow, just one faint nav light beyond the entrance to the cove. Eerie.

And then to bed.

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So that was an interesting day. The internet is flaky so these entries are a bit of a mess. I’ll clean them up when I can or when I get back to civilization. I’m pretty sure my damn phone spent the entire day searching for cell towers and that’s why the battery was gone before noon. So the track from yesterday is split in two and missing the middle bit.

I’m sitting in the dock in Blind Channel Resort listening to the geese and being swarmed by tiny bugs. The geese here are seriously loud and the bugs are seriously annoying.

Yesterday we cast off from Squirrel Cove fairly early and motored in the glass calm water. As a result we arrived at Yucalta Rapids an hour or so early so we tacked back and forth to kill time.

The Rapids were a non-issue. We did see a ton of sea lions on a rocky beach, so we turned around and engaged in mutual gawking. They were louder than we were.

The day progressed until we hit Green Point rapids which we took at max ebb so it was a fun little ride with 6 knots of current helping us along. After the Rapids we raised the jib and motor-sailed back and forth up the channel for an hour or so until suddenly the motor died.

Apparently we had been cruising in the smaller tank at above average rpms and run the tank dry. Unfortunately the Perkins doesn’t like that and restarting it proved impossible because we couldn’t bleed the lines. Tim and I fussed with it for about 20 minutes while the rest of the crew sailed back towards the rapids where we had come from. We were 8 nm or so from two lodges (Cordero Bay and Blind Channel) so we got on the radio and called for assistance. Blind Channel sent out an aluminum cruiser and 30 minutes later hooked up a tow to our bow line.

It was an hour back to the marina and a docking without power worthy of R Shack Island, but soon we were tied up and ready for dinner.

An exciting day…

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The Track Part I

The Track Part I