For two days now we have been blessed with strong NW winds in Johnston Strait.
For two days now we have been headed SE down Johnston Strait.
Ye-ha!
As a note of explanation, to gybe this boat when we have only the genoa flying, we have to furl the sail completely, turn the boat, then unfurl the sail on the other side. Somehow during a moment of inattention, we managed to get the roller-furling totally screwed up to the point that we had a big piece of the sail kind of flapping in the breeze, with the sheets wound up both underneath and around the sail (which I did not think was possible), completely unable to furl or unfurl anything. We got it sort of bundled up and when we found a relatively sheltered spot, we managed to get it all untangled again, before we entered the anchorage and completely embarrassed ourselves in front of everyone.
Day 2 we left Forward Harbour at 6:30 AM to catch slack water at Whirlpool Rapids, then motored down Wellbore Channel, and a piece of Chancellor Channel to get back to Johnston Strait. We pulled out the genoa again and sailed for 3-1/2 hours, covering most of the distance to our destination, just a short way up Nodales Channel, at Cameleon Harbour on Sonora Island. Anchor down by noon. No big screw-ups today. We made very quick progress, for us, due to a combination of 10 to 18 knot following winds and a mostly following current down the strait.
So this means we have had 2 consecutive days where we have actually covered more ground under sail than with the engine running!
For a while this afternoon, the sun came out and it was quite warm. Didn't last though, and now they are predicting possible showers tonight and tomorrow. If so, maybe we will just stay put here for a while. The harbour here is pretty open to the NW winds, but it is roomy and we have our anchor well set.
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