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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