Monsoon in Simoom

Yesterday, by 9 AM we were the only boat left in Wahkana Bay; the others left as fast as they had arrived the day before.

At around 10:30 we managed to get organized and made our way out the bay, back into Tribune Channel to continue our slow, methodical way westward. First stop was to view Lacy Falls, a weird waterfall that sits just outside of Watson Cove on the north shore of Tribune Channel. Pretty cool as, a result of the steep drop-offs here, you can motor right up the base of the falls.

Then, in a perfect calm, we motored the rest of the way to Simoom Sound to find our next anchorage.
Just as soon as we entered the anchorage, the wind came up and it started to rain a little. However, we were able to find a beautiful spot, completely surrounded by rocky shores in all directions, and not another boat to be seen.

In the afternoon, and overnight, it got cool again and it rained off and on. In the morning we decided to give this spot another day to behave, and just stayed put. By noon, the sun came out and we were able to take the dinghy on a little cruise (just rowing - no motor) along the shore at low tide, marveling at the amount of mussels and starfish that make this bay their home. As soon as we were a few hundred feet away from the boat, the sun vanished and it started to rain. I put my rowing into high gear and we were able to scramble back onto the mothership just before the torrential rains set in.
And so it has been all day. The sun comes out and all is right with the world; then suddenly it is gone and the skies open up. Nature just does not seem to be able to make up it's mind.

Not to sure what we will do tomorrow - we will see what the day brings. If the weather is nasty, it sure is a lot nicer just being able to sit inside and read and let the weather gods do their worst, rather than standing in the cockpit, motoring into the rain. When it rains there is usually no wind either, so you can't even put up the sails to at least make up for the misery.

Here is a picture of the world famous Mussel Beach.
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There be dolphins

After a rainy night, we left Lagoon Cove at about 10:15 in the morning. The weather continues to be somewhat cool and disappointing.

As we entered Knight Inlet, a 12 knot following breeze came up and we were able to sail for about an hour, until, we left Knight Inlet and entered the long, winding Tribune Channel, which encircles the larger Gilford Island.
We motored for the next 3 hours into light winds until just before our intended destination of Wahkana Bay. As we rounded the last bend in Tribune Channel, the winds picked up to about 12 knots on the nose, the seas kicked up a bit, the rain started and a fog bank appeared ahead of us.

Fortunately, within a 1/2 hour we were entering Wahkana Bay where the winds died and the visibility was not so bad. It appeared we had the entire bay to ourselves as we dropped the anchor in about 50 feet of water in the SE corner. No sooner had we settled on the anchor, that 7 more boats (all but 1 were sailboats) came into the bay looking for shelter. Five of them stayed but two of them left, probably to seek out the nearby marina at Kwatsi Bay instead - the water here is pretty deep with sharp drop-offs - not everybody is comfortable with this situation.

The big bonus today was a sighting of a pod of 20 or 30 dolphins cruising down Tribune Bay in the opposite direction from us. This is the first time we seen more than an occasional seal or otter, although the odd time we may have spotted a single dolphin or porpoise in the distance, but were never too sure.

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Ten steps forward, nine steps back

Again, we find ourselves traveling large distances to make very little progress.

We left Port Harvey this morning, motored for 15 miles, around East Crancroft Island, through Chatham Channel (another of those tricky, slack-time only passes), and continued around East Crancroft Island, then looped abound Minstrel Island to finally anchor in Lagoon Cove. Total actual distance from Port Harvey is just over 2 miles.

The weather lately is just not what we were expecting - it is cool and overcast much of the time, temperatures falling to about 14 at night and maybe getting close to 20 at the heat of the day - we had some rain but nothing serious. We are so looking forward to finding a nice sheltered anchorage somewhere, with the sun shining down, where we can spend some quality down time. For now, I guess we will keep on pressing onward in search of our Xanadu. We are actually considering paying to stay at a marine resort somewhere, just to have some company - most of the boats we see up here are power boats, and they rarely seem to anchor out - they just move from one marina to the next, enjoying pot-luck suppers with the same people at each stop - not usually our scene, but they do seem to have fun.

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Johnstone Strait wins again!

Today, we made a 25 mile trip to Port Harvey.  We left our anchorage at Douglas Bay and motored into Sunderland Channel, where we were blessed with 15 knot NW winds (right on the nose).  We elected to sail.

After several different sail combinations (Richard, you have too much sail up exclaimed the crew!), we settled on a double reefed main and about 1/3 of the genoa.  With this setup we were actually able to make some progress up Sunderland Channel until we were back in Johnstone Strait.  After 5 hours of tacking back and forth, with about 10 miles made good towards our destination, the crew was rebelling.  We started the engine and motored into the, now 20+ knot, winds and waves for another 3 hours till we found shelter at Port Harvey.  Once the anchor was down and the salt water washed off of the solar panels and dodger windows, we relaxed for the night.

The only casualties of this day were one bilge pump that turned on for some reason and did not want to stop again (even though there was no water in the bilge), a huge amount of stuff stewen about the cabin (this is the first time on this trip that we have had any serious heeling to determine just what is not fastened down yet), and my favorite ball cap.

Shooting the Rapids

For those of you who may not be familiar with the area north of the town of Campbell River, let me just explain that there is no way to go further northwest without navigating some rapids somewhere.
The islands immediately around and north of Desolation Sound (which is close to Campbell River) are called the Discovery Islands. There are numerous routes through these islands, via channels that are sometimes very broad and other times very narrow. All of the tidal waters from the Pacific Ocean have to flow through these channels to get in to, or out of, the Strait of Georgia, which means that there are currents constantly flowing through these channels, in one direction or the other. When the channels are wide, this is no problem, but when they are narrow, they form rapids. Many of them can have flows of 10 or 12 knots, and when you have a vessel that can only go 6 or 7 knots flat out, there is a problem.

The good news is that these currents are very predictable and indeed you can buy accurate tables for the upcoming year at most marine supply stores - pretty much a must if you are going to travel in these waters. And because the tides flow in and out about 2 times a day, it means that there are usually 4 times a day when the current is virtually nil - this is known as "slack" water. All one has to do is look up in the tables when it is safe to negotiate the passages, and then work backwards to determine when you have to leave wherever you are to get there at that time. These windows of opportunity can be as large as an hour or as short as 5 minutes, so timing is everything.
Yesterday it had become our time to challenge the rapids. We chose to use a route we had not done before, leaving the safety of Von Donop Inlet for a traverse up Calm Channel to our first rapid at "Hole in the Wall", one of nastier rapids if you don't get it right. As there was no wind, we motored all the way and ended up 1-1/2 hours early as a result. We patiently sat around in a little bay till the moment was right, and then charged forth into the pass. As soon as we were through, we had to make a right turn and negotiate a 2nd rapid, called "Upper Rapids", before anchoring for the night in Owen Bay. A quieter, more peaceful spot would be hard to find, especially when you consider the turbulent waters just outside the entrance. Since we were in by about 3 PM, we had a chance to work on our tans.

This morning, we tackled phase two. We left at 8:30 in the morning to catch slack water at the nearby "Lower Rapids", then motored up Discovery Passage to the notorious Johnstone Strait. This is a long stretch of water that can have vicious currents in it, sometimes seemingly unpredictable. Like the rapids, there is no way to avoid using at least a portion of this strait, as it is the only game it town it you want to get north of the Discover Islands and into the Broughton Islands. Since the weather was calm, and the currents appeared to be mild, we forged on westward through the strait, finally making a right turn into Chancellor Channel, a left into Wellbore Channel and finally braving "Whirlpool Rapids" at 2:30 in the afternoon. This time, we managed to time it within 10 minutes of slack. As for Johnston Strait, it still managed to live up to it's reputation - the last stretch before turning into Chancellor Channel we found ourselves fighting a 3 knot current, with lots of little whirlpools and eddies to swing the boat in random directions. The autopilot was working overtime today.

We are now anchored in Douglas Bay in Forward Harbour, just a couple of miles north of the Whirlpool rapids. The rain has finally found us but it is still warm. Depending on the weather tomorrow, we may stay put, or press on for another stretch of Johnston Strait. We wait to see what the morning will bring.

Note: After seeing no pleasure craft on the water all day, we already have two other sailboats anchoring beside us. It is almost getting crowded.
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Von Donop

A very nice sail today from Squirrel Cove to Von Donop Marine Park, still on Cortes Island. Although we ended up only a couple of miles from where we started, the trip itself was about 15 miles, up one side of a long, narrow piece of Cortes Island and down the other side.

We were able to sail downwind (and with a favorable current) for about 3 hours, heading north. When we reached the top of the island and started to turn to go south, the wind died completely, and we were forced to motor the rest of the way (about another 1-1/2 hours). For this area of the world, that is considered a pretty good sail. In these small channels and fiords, consistent winds, especially in the right direction, are rare.

Von Dolop Inlet itself is almost 3 miles long and rather narrow in spots as it twists and turns, almost dividing Cortes Island in two. B.C. Parks, in partnership with the Klahoose First Nation, declared the inlet and surrounding lands a marine park in 1994. Apparently it can be quite busy in summer but right now there are only 4 boats here, including us, in a bay that could easily handle 50 or more. It is so calm here that the water looks like glass and the quiet is almost spooky.

The weather is holding up nicely - probably about 23C this afternoon - not too hard to take.
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Squirrel Cove

After a restful night in Jervis Inlet, we decided to make a break for Desolation Sound.
This is a 40 mile stretch, which for us is a long way. The weather was perfectly calm most of the day which meant we were motoring. Looking back at our previous experience with this course it seems we are always either motoring or trying to bash our way into a strong NW wind - if I have a choice I prefer the former.
For some reason, there was a strong current going our way for the whole distance which made short work of the passage. Instead of our normal 6.5 knot speed, we cruised at between 7.5 and 8.0. By 2:00 PM we had passed the Copeland Islands and officially entered Desolation Sound. With only about 5 miles to go, a light SE wind came up and we were able to just drift downwind the rest of the way in about 1-1/2 hours with just the Genoa out.
We had our anchor down in the huge, well-protected bay of Squirrel Cove on the SE side of Cortes Island by 4:00 PM.
The next day (Saturday), two boats from our dock in the marina in Nanaimo showed up in the anchorage. Pure coincidence as we were all heading in different directions when we got here.
We had a good time trying out the dinghy and my outboard repairs, exploring a nearby tidal lagoon and commuting to the nearby village of Squirrel Cove where we could buy a few staples at the store and spend time on the deck of restaurant, meeting old and new friends over a few brews. For the first time since we left Nanaimo, it really feels like summer has arrived. Shorts and tee-shirts are the in fashion and we have to start worrying about too much sun.
Today (Sunday), Sue and I found a trailhead near our anchorage and were able to do some hiking in the rain forest - a nice break from sitting on the boat.
Tomorrow I think we will try our luck in an anchorage on the opposite side of Cortes Island - someplace we have never been before.

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Jervis Inlet

A short trip again today.

Leaving Boho Bay on Lasqueti Island, we immediately unfurled the genoa and enjoyed a 2 hour sail down Bull Passage and around the south end of Texada Island before the wind totally died. Then a 2-1/2 hour motor north, up the Malaspina Strait, took us to the entrance to Jervis Inlet. Total distance about 20 miles.

This is the start of the fiord that leads to Princess Louisa Inlet, however we have been there before and are not going to visit it this time around. Instead, we found an anchorage in a secluded spot called Ballet Bay. Very well protected here, and a great place to make the start for the run to Desolation Sound.

In the summer, this is probably a very busy place but tonight there are only two other boats anchored here. We have our side of the bay completely to ourselves.

Just a note on our new equipment so far. Everything has been working well. The Comnav autopilot is great, allowing us to create a route on the Raymarine chartplotter and then just tell Auto to follow it - this of course works best when the engine is running as when we are sailing we can rarely follow an exact route due to the wind direction.

The new Nexus NX2 wind data instrument is working flawlessly now and, if we ever get any reasonably sustained wind, could also be used by Auto to hold an angle to the wind - so far Auto mostly just complains about "Low Wind" when we try that trick.

Since we have had to motor some much of the time, we are making copious amounts of hot water now - a real luxury on a sailboat.

Although they haven't had to work all that hard yet, the solar panels are definitely doing their job. If we choose to just sit in an anchorage for a day or two, as long as it is even a moderately sunny day, our batteries are up to 100% by the afternoon every day. And we are able use our inverter and watch movies in the evenings without worrying about the power usage - another luxury on a sailboat.

Now, if we just had some nice consistent winds (preferably going our way), we could work on improving our sailing skills.
Patience, patience...

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Lasqueti Interlude

We have spent two nights at False Bay on west side of Lasqueti island, taking the opportunity to dinghy to shore and walk the pleasant road that connects False Bay to Scottie Bay.

Being on Lasqueti is like a trip back in time. Very laid back community with no electricity and only passenger ferry service to Vancouver island, it has remained a very simple, mostly undeveloped island. While there do seem to be quite a few vehicles parked near the public wharf, there is almost no traffic on the roads (a lot of the cars look as if they have not moved in decades). Snacks are available from locals who put out self-serve glass-fronted wood cabinets near the roadside - just take what you want and leave the money in the box, or sign an IOU on a slip of paper.
The only real businesses are a pub (which has never been open when we have been there) and a small coffee shop / grocery store that seems to be under renovations most of the time. All in all, not a lot to do here so we spent most of the time on the boat just taking in the scenery.
The weather is not too bad, although it is still a bit chilly for most of the day, warming up a little in mid-afternoon. Although the marine weather forecast keeps calling for strong winds and some rain, we have seen little sign of either.
Today, we left False Bay, determined to "sail" somewhere. For a couple of hours, it actually worked. We had a 10 to 12 knot wind from the NW early in the morning, and we used it to try and make some headway north. In the end, due in part to the boat's limited ability to go to windward, and mostly due to our ineptitude as sailors, we only managed about 5 miles in approximately the direction we wanted to go, before the wind died and we were once again forced to motor on.
We took a lazy route to the other side of Lasqueti and are now anchored in a wide open bay call Boho on the east side of Lasqueti. As soon as we dropped anchor and got settled, a southerly wind came up, just to be annoying.
Tomorrow we will try for a real change in locales.
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Day 2 - Let The Adventure Begin

After a sleepless night listening to the wind in the rigging and unfamiliar noises from the anchor, we awoke with a fresh mission in mind - Lets get out of Nanaimo.
But first, we had to extract the windlass battery, launch the dinghy, get the outboard onto it (in the turbulent waters of the windy Mark Bay), zip across to the harbour, lug a battery across town by hand and lug the new one back to the harbour.
All that work entitles us to a reward, so a cinnamon bun and coffee was in order.
Now, a quick trip to London Drugs to pick up some more regular AAA and D batteries that we suddenly find ourselves short of, the grocery store for some fresh bread, and a stop at the fuel dock to fill up a jerry can of gas for the dinghy (since it is working now, we may actually want to use it).
Now the stupid outboard doesn't want to work! Ok, just flooded - wait patiently and try again - just don't let it quit this time...
Back to the boat, get the outboard off of the dinghy and stow it, haul the dinghy up on the davits, install the new windlass battery and we are finally ready to up anchor. It is getting close to noon by now.

The wind is still blowing in the harbour and the marine forcast on VHF is calling for a storm warning in the Strait of Georgia (which is about the amount of wind we need to get this boat moving), so we quickly hoist the anchor, motor back past our marina (basically back to where we started yesterday) and out into the strait via Departure Bay. Anticipating the strong winds, we raise the sail with 2 reefs already in it and prepare ourselves for a lively day of sailing.

Wind? What Wind?

After several frustrating hours of sailing back and forth without making any progress towards our destination, we motored most of the 30 miles north to False Bay on Lasqueti island. Anchor down by 6:30 PM and we are ready to crash. Seems like a long, long day.
But at least we have made a start...

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Day 1 - Trapped

A Late Start

This morning, we were all ready to leave except that a strong NW wind had come up over night, effectively trapping us in our slip at the marina.  Bitter experience has shown us that the best strategy is to just wait for the wind to die before making any attempt to leave (we have some good friends that could testify to that).

Fortunately, by 4 PM, the wind died down and we grabbed the opportunity to blast out of there.  We have gone about a mile to the nearest anchorage at Mark Bay in Nanaimo harbour, where we will spend the night.  This way, we can leave any time we want tomorrow, regardless of the wind.

As far as our new systems are concerned, everything appears to be working fine.  Not that an hour is a very good test of anything.  One possible problem has cropped up though - we made two attempts at anchoring today (I was not happy where we ended up the first time) and the windlass seemed a little pokey getting all the chain up.  When we were firmly established, I checked the batteries and sure enough, the windlass battery was almost dead.  We checked our log and found out it was now 6 years old and is probably due for replacement anyway.

The way our electrical system works, this battery is completely separate and dedicated to the windlass, charged via a "Dual-charger" that will only give it power if the main house bank is full.  Nevertheless, I know it was fully charged when we left, so it is most likely not long for this world.

Thus, tomorrow we will be launching the dinghy to make a quick trip to shore to buy a new battery before we venture any further.  Again, experience has taught us that it is better to get things right when the resources are available - you never know when they may be again.

Note: Our windlass can also be operated manually, so we could still manage without the battery - but we would rather not.

BTW - While we were waiting at the dock, we observed a local yoga class in session.

Oh, in case you are wondering, this update has been done courtesy of our new WiFi booster/antenna, stealing somebodies unsecured access point.  Pretty sweet.

Lift-off

The countdown has begun!
All the work is done (if you own a boat you know that is never true).
Absolutely nothing can go wrong (ditto).

Lets see, just what all have we accomplished over the last couple of months?
Just so you don't think we just sit around counting the palm trees or something:

- Stopped a leak at the base of the mast (waterproof tape that was not).

- Serviced the diesel heater.  Turned into one of those all-day sessions when it turned out that the outlet from the gravity-fed diesel tank was plugged.  Much bad language ensued.  The diesel smell is almost gone now a month later.

- Moved the wireless wind data receiver to the other side of the aft cabin.  This became necessary when the wind data became intermittent due to interference from the mast (at least that is my best guess).  Of course, this same receiver also gets information from a thru-hull triducer (for depth, speed log and temperature) and the wires were not long enough to just string them a little further across the cabin, so they had to be re-run from the base of the mast (where the transducer lives) to the aft cabin, using an entirely different route.

- Installed a new dedicated wind data instrument (might as well since I was doing all the work on the data receiver anyway).  This was actually quite easy as the Nexus NX2 system that we use allows me to just add another instrument by daisy-chaining it to the nearest other instrument.  Looks pretty good too.

- Rewired the SSB/Ham radio to now by-pass the DC control panel, and added a bunch of ferrite coils everywhere, in an effort to reduce the interference between the radio and everything else on the boat.  Partially successful as I can now get sailmail to work, although I still need to turn off the inverter so it and the radio don't both go berserk every time I press the transmit button.

- Replaced the 1st and 2nd reefing lines on the boom and added a proper reefing hook at the mast.

- Replaced the dorade vents with some solar vents, to free up some space on deck for the dinghy.

- Installed a new L.E.D. stern light so now all of our navigation lights are low-power.

- Added a tie-down for the TV in the main cabin, so it does not try an leave the boat when we are sailing.

- Fixed the prop brake.  This was broken when we bought the boat and we have now been informed that the type of transmission we have is not the type that should be left spinning when the engine is not on.  I am not real happy with the fix but only time will tell if it holds up.

- Plumbed in the hot water heater to the main engine.  Since the water heater is above the engine and maybe 10 feet away, it was not possible to just feed the hot water from the engine's water pump all that way without risking overheating the engine.  So I added a couple of tees where the temperature and temperature overheat alarm sensors are plugged into the block, running the water through a new 12-volt circulation pump that will allow the water to be pumped through the water heater completely separate from the regular engine cooling system.  The upside is that this should prevent any engine overheating problems like we had with our old engine (most likely because of the water heater connection).  The downside is that there is now a lot of complicated plumbing fittings, adapters and hose running all of the place, just begging to leak somewhere.  Had a devil of a time getting all the air out of the system but seems to be working fine now.

- During the haul out, we painted the bottom, replaced all the sacrificial zincs, cleaned the prop, and de-gunked the triducer so we may actually get a speed reading from it.  The jury is still out on this one.

- Stripped and stained almost all of the brightwork (wood work) on the boat.  Still a couple of items that need attention.

- Inflated and launched the dinghy.

- Serviced the outboard engine.  Huge success here as this is the first time I have ever managed to take any small engine apart and put it back together and have it work at all when I was done (Just ask Susanne about my record with our former lawn mower).  The last time I tried on this outboard I took a badly running engine and managed to make it completely inoperable to the point that I had to take it to the local mechanic to fix it.  But this time, after only three tries, I did it.  It runs as well as it ever has now (which by the way is not really all that well - never has idled worth a darn).

- And all the up-mast work mentioned in the last post, and other jobs too numerous to mention.

So now, we are about to leave the security of the marina for the great unknown.  We have bought and stowed enough food for a couple of months, topped up the water tanks, run the jack-lines, etc. etc. ready for lift off. Tomorrow we will venture north (probably as far as Lasqueti island).  From there, generally north, wherever the winds may take us.

I will attempt to update this blog when possible, hopefully via my spiffy new sailmail radio connection.  We will be checking for emails on the sailmail account at the same time, so if you want to contact us, send emails to CFK9012@sailmail.com .  And remember, NO attachments on those emails as we simply do not have the bandwidth to receive them.

Haul Out

Summary:
Boat out, clean, chip, scrub, sand, paint, repeat, boat in.

Details:
The haul out went very smoothly.  We even had some relatively rain-free days to get the work done.

The bottom of the boat was a real mess when it came out.  The prop was so choked with barnacles that we were not sure we were going to get the boat into the travel lift at all - put boat in gear, gun the engine and wait till it slowly starts to head in the general direction it is pointed.  Reverse was a complete waste of time - might as well just let the boat drift in random directions and hope it ends up where you want it.  In spite of that, we made it in one piece.

Lots of spectators at the pub next door admiring the salad hanging from the keel.

Then to work, scrubbing and sanding the bottom before applying two coats of anti-fouling paint.  This is a first for us as we have only ever used one coat before - hoping this will mean it will last a bit longer this time.

When done, it didn't look half bad.  Bottom paint can hide a world of evils.

Even the prop looked good after a day's TLC.

Then back in the water and an easy trip back to our slip.  Such a difference when the boat responds to the wheel and throttle again.

Now we are on to some finishing touches on the boat so we can shove off in a few days.  It does not help that every time I touch anything it falls apart in my hands, just adding to the to-do list.  I was feeling pretty smug after cleaning and re-organizing the rear storage area and the space beneath the rear sink.  After it was all done, I found a very thin package of cloth that I figured would fit perfectly snugged up behind the supply hose for the hot water tap.  A slight tug on the hose and it simply disintegrated at the base of the facet.  It was only by a stoke of luck that the water pressure was turned off limiting the ensuing geyser to the residual pressure in the system.  This type of event does not even phase us any more - on a 30 year old boat you just sort of take in for granted that everything is going to fail.

Today, after finally getting some up-mast work done (new LED anchor light, permanently mounted radar reflector, new signal line blocks and line, and some adjustments to the roller furling halyard block), we congratulated ourselves by launching the dinghy and trying the engine for the first time this season.  Of course, the engine is not working and when we were putting the dinghy up on the davits, one of the shackles used to hoist the dinghy just fell apart.  So now I have another unexpected day's work ahead of me.  Just par for the course when you live on a boat.