Blog 1, June 20, 2016
Today our boat was moved out of the boatyard by this big machine called a travel lift and placed in the water. Except for a few more chores, we are almost ready to leave Port Townsend and sail down to Seattle. We had new sails made there this past winter. The sailmaker wants to see them on our boat and make sure everything is just right. The sailmaker is actually two brothers. They are not just sailmakers but also sailors. I’m sure they will have some good pointers for us in the handling of the sails relative to our unique boat.
Blog 2, June 29, 2016
Today we are in Reid Harbor off of Stuart island for the rest of the afternoon and night. The day has been clear and sunny with great sailing wind.This is one of my favorite spots in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. This harbor is filling up fast. I’m not sure if it’s because of all the wind on the water this afternoon or if it’s in anticipation of the July 4th weekend. At the moment there are 4 boats of kayakers, hugging the shore and paddling into the harbor. There is a lovely park with campsites and sandy beach at the head of the harbor. There is a man whose been sailing around in a little rubber dinghy. He sails in and out of all the large sailboats and powerboats. It looks like it would be a lot of fun. I can hardly wait until we finish building our own little dinghy that will fold in half on itself, can be rowed or sailed. Even in this protected harbor it is quite breezy today. The wind is out of the east by southeast and that is very close to the lay of this harbor. We are still quite protected compared to how it is blowing on the open water.
Friday, July 1, 2016
Yesterday we sailed from Stuart Island in the San Juan’s across Harrow Strait into the Gulf Islands of Canada. I imagine The San Juan Islands and the Gulf Islands are all part of the same archipelago. The difference is that we cross this imaginary line and are now in Canada. We are in Sanichton Bay formed by Cordova Spit, just south of the quaint town of Sidney on the southeast side of Vancouver island. It’s fairly protected from the winds that have been blowing out of the southeast this week. We had to stop in Sidney to clear customs. As can sometimes be the case at a dock, especially customs docks on a weekend; there was a bit of a traffic jam as well as a breeze blowing boats into the dock. So it was a stressful necessity that couldn’t be put off or avoided. This is the sailing world, not any different from the rest of life. Ups and downs, work to be done, some enjoyable and some just drudgery, time to relax when the sailing goes just as hoped and planned for, other times, as at the customs dock, when things just are a cause of anxiety and discomfort. Tomorrow we are off to Esquimalt Harbor on the other side of Victoria as long as the weather cooperates. We will be sailing out the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the southern end of Vancouver Island. We came this way last fall with Kieran and Betsy. This year we hope to sail to Barkley Sound. It is the first sound on the Pacific side of Vancouver. Hopefully our baptism of the Pacific will be gentle.
Monday, July 4, 2016
Independence Day in the U.S. We left the spit in Sanichton by about 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning. We motored the first part of the morning south to Victoria. We raised our sails just after the current changed from outgoing to coming in. We were making good time when we came up on Esquimalt Harbor, it was 11:45 or so. We decided to continue on to Race Rocks and Race Passage. About a third of the way to the light house on Race Rocks the current became stronger. We lowered the sails because the current was stronger than the wind at this point and we were being swept with the current back to where we’d come and then fired up the diesel engine. We decided to go through Race Passage instead of going around Race Rocks. It would be shorter that way and the headwind was less. We came through Race Passage with no problem but there was rough water up ahead. We decided to try motor sailing and raised a reefed main sail. Luckily for us the wind and the current were both against us. If the current had been going out we might have had bigger wave action. As it was waves were spraying us all the way back to the dodger in the stern. The sun was shining and the wind was chill ( I’ve never experienced a warm wind here on the water in the Northwest). We decided to make for Becher Bay where we’d been last September with Kieran and Betsy. It was only four miles away from Race Passage to Cambell Cove, a protected spot in the bay which took us a good hour before arriving. The wind was out of the northwest and was funneling into the bay which made our passage to the cove even rougher than out on the open water. I was really glad we had a dependable engine for these circumstances.
We are still in Becher Bay waiting for winds to calm down to the point where we are comfortable continuing on. We busy ourselves with little projects we never seem to get to otherwise. I’ve learned a new skill, how to sew whipping on the ends of rope to help them not fray and slip through the outer sheath. It looks nice and really works. It’s not hard to do, a kind of sewing with waxed thread, a strong sail needle, and a sailmakers palm, (a peice of leather that fits around your with a plastic and metal spot used to help push the needle through a thick rope or heavy sail or canvas fabric).
