Leg 2-day 1-Friday Harbour

Arrived at Friday Harbour about 2 after a uneventful motor in light rain and no wind. 

We had some strange local currents( moving in opposite direction from the expected flood direction) but otherwise nothing to report. 

Clearing customs required me to walk to their office to buy a cruising permit; without thus we would be required to report and fill out paper work ( and pay a fee) at each harbour we enter. 

The customs officer I spoke with on the phone was a bit distracted. After I gave her our full names and passport no's,  she told me to come to the office with my passport and my wife's!! Not sure Richard wants to be mistaken for my wife. 

After getting some fruit and veg ( not allowed to bring these across ) we went for a walk about and a coffee. I asked the barirista  where we could get a good croissant: answer was nowhere on the whole island- she recommended a bakery on Orcas island! Perhaps another business opportunity. The other we found was with Garth on leg-1- the small tour/water taxi business based at E dock is up for sale. 

Tomorrow is a longish day; 8 miles to Juan de Fuca then about 23 to get across. Forecast is for light winds building in late after noon. Hope we can sail and not have to motor again. 

Alarms are set and we hope to be off the dock by 8. 

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Leg 2- day 1:

Quick update. We are off E dock at 8:30 enroute to Friday harbour. The head is locked out from being able to discharge overboard in case we are inspected. In addition we have 3 apples, some cherries and a pear to eat before reporting to us customs. 

Bimini is up in light rain and no wind. 

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Leg 2- Richard

Richard arrived today at about 3pm; delayed due to serious accident on the coqahalla highway.

The winds in Juan de Fuca have moderated which means we can aim for Port Townsend.
Our rough plan is to head to Friday Harbour tomorrow to clear US customs; this means we can bail out anywhere before Port Townsend (else we'd have to clear customs before being 'legal' in dropping anchor somewhere'). We will then head south across Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend.
On the long weekend there is the wooden boat show in Victoria; we managed to get a moorage for Sunday Sept 4 at Oak Bay Marina. We couldn't get anything in downtown Victoria due the boat show naturally.

Other than that, we will modify as needed with the wind conditions.

I've attached some photo's of Roesland, adjacent to Otter bay; they are not as representative as I would have hoped but....

Wrap up

Garth made a silent exit at 5 to catch the 6:00 ferry. I am cleaning and doing some maintenance stuff such as repainting the length markets on the anchor chain. 

Richard drives on Monday - do far it looks like we won't have lack of wind and the heat wave will have ended. Sail plan will unfold as the weather dictates. 

I will post photos from the Otter Bay tour of the Rosland parks site once I manage to get them off my phone. 

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Quick update

Here is the crab and cheese omelette. 

The math is we turned $1.50 worth of cat food into a $10 crab. 

Full update when back at E dock

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Thursday

Details will come when we get back to E dock and I can get photos off my camera. 

Quick update: anchored in Otter Bay and we got a crab - will make crab and cheese omelet for breakfast. 

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Port browning to Bedwell

The 'plan' was to go to Cabbage island at the end of saturna near East point. It is a lovely marine park with a sandy beach and a rocky beach on Georgia strait side. 

Forecast was for light favourable winds. 

We had a bizarre day of winds going from 5 to 25 kts and literarily changing direction by almost 180 degrees. All of this at the junction of Plumper sound and boundary passage ( between Pender and Saturna. 

At one point there was a boat ahead of us going in the same direction but on the opposite tack !

We reefed the main and un-reefed it twice and even had a reef in the jib. We stopped going towards cabbage once we hit steady 25+ it winds. After turning back toward Bedwell the winds died a bit and we started back toward cabbage: same thing again. 

We bailed out by going to Beaumont park in Bedwell harbour. At the entrance to Bedwell we hit steady 20+winds! What made it even stranger was that the current conditions showed only 5 kt winds at Cabbage and we could see boats sailing without any healing over just a few miles to the west of us. 

The photo shows our morning track in the water.( it may not show up well as I am getting interference when I use the IPhone to take the picture ) This whole loop took over 2 hours and we ended up more or less where we started!!

We decided that after our mandated showers on board , we would have our big meal, then hike to top of Mount Norman on Pender and forgo dinner. 

After our sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms and dried left over potatoes, we rowed to shore and our hike. 

Turns out we missed the final leg to the top, mistaking a long downhill section as the route out to a road. Oh well, something to complete another time. 

Tomorrows plan: don't have one- will see what wind is doing then make the call. 

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Tuesday

Today we left Princess Cove and ended up anchored in Port Browning. 

This was a special day of sailing that I have never experienced in the gulf islands. We never had to start the engine except for taking up anchor and re- anchoring AND we never had to tack or gybe all day. We changed sails- started with jib only, then switched to genaker, then to main and jib. 

In Navy chAnnel we spotted a sea lion ahead of us but as we neared he made a long dive and we did not see him again. 

After rowing in to the marina we walked for a while and came back with blackberries we picked to have with yogurt. 

PS - I won in last nights crib games. 

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Monday

Sorting out the windlass and the kinky chain went quicker than we anticipated which gave us an earlier start than we planned on. Originally we were headed for Clam Bay to be positioned closer to porlier pass for Monday's run down Georgia strait. We changed that to head over to Wallace island to get in a walk and an early day. 

We managed to get some slow sailing in 3-8 knots of wind and ended it with about 40 minutes in 16 knots before finishing up in Princess cove on anchor and stern tied to the chains on the rocks. 

We had a longer walk than expected as I took a wrong turn. Conover cove was crowded with boats and barking dogs, so we are anchored at the best end tonight. 

For those interested in menus, for dinner we had breaded pork cutlets, sautéed garlic/onions/yellow zucchini and basmati rice with turmeric and a salad. 

Wind forecast has given us another change of plan: there is now going to be the same wind in Trincamolli as in Georgia strait; this means we don't have to have early getaway to make slack at Porlier pass. We will just sail on trincamolli towards Pender or Mayne island. 

PS: I lost at crib last night but regained the lead this evening. 

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Sunday sail

We left about 11 after topping up fuel tanks. Did Wing on wing down satellite channel while listening to the dramas on VHFch 16- at least 4 sets of kayakers being rescued and a number of boats in trouble including a 50' boat on the rocks on Samsum narrows which we passed. Coast guard and  3 other boats trying to get the poor guy off the rock. Looks like he cut a corner too sharp!- expensive mistake. 

Garth was very persuasive and convinced me to have dinner in the pin we rowed to. Then we wrestled with the anchor windlass trying to reset our anchor. Rust on the chain combined with a wicked twist in the chain ( like you can get in a garden hose) was making it jam up about every meter we hauled in!

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

The plan

Garth arrived last evening as planned. 

Given the high wind forecast for Juan de fuca we are staying up here. The current plan is to head up Samsum narrows on west side of Saltspring. Then aim for porlier pass - for case is for 10-20 kts from NW - which should give us a nice beam reach/ run down to either Active pass or all the way to Cabbage island at entrance to Boundary Pasage. 

We are hoping to spend last night at Friday harbour in USA. 

The Plan will change as the wind changes. 

Over and out

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Regards,

 Bruce Warren  P. Eng

Sailing in 2016!
I am finally back to updating this site after a long hiatus.
Arrived on Wednesday morning, didn't get much done as I was very tired. Today is thursday and I've ticked off a few boxes; will go to town for a workout/shower as I have rental car for 2 days (today is last day) and then do major shopping.

Record heat here today but it appears to be cooling off by the weekend. I had left out some butter and it was a pool of liquid by the time I found it at noon when I went below to make my lunch.

Garth arrives late on Saturday, so we will get away Sunday morning. Not sure where we are going, it will depend on the wind. The plan to go out to Bamfield won't work since we only have  6 days and judging by the wind pattern there will be gale/near gale every 3 rd day at least.

Getting old: I spend about an hour hunting around for a USB charging outlet I got in May and was going to install at the nav station. Everyone has a smart phone or device needing  a USB charge point and this would be easier than setting up the inverter,etc. I was kicking myself for not making a note as to where I had stored it - then I found it. I had actually already installed it! I have no recall of doing the work, I can't even remember how I cut the 1" hole in the panel. Obviously you don't want me to be a key witness at a trial!