September 2006 – Sailing Trip time again!

After no small amount of discussion about trying for Barkley Sound, we decided to go back to the Gulf Islands again, hitting the San Juan Islands on the way up or back (or both). We still want to get to Barkley in the near future, once we get a proper dinghy & outboard engine, and get the long-desired radar installed on the boat.

We also knew early on that several of our friends were heading up to the Gulf Islands around the same time, which definitely helped sway our decision. More on that later in the trip.

As usual we’re heading out on Sleepwalk, our 1988 C&C 38 sailboat. We’ve had her for 4 ½ years now, and have put a lot of work and $$ into turning a great boat into one that’s almost perfect for vacationing.

This year we decided not to make a tradition out of last year’s mad dash, load-it-all-in-one-trip-and-go panic departure. We had all our gear, clothing and provisions loaded on the boat well ahead of time, and only brought a load of frozen food and a small cooler of dry ice with us on departure day. Turns out that’s a much more relaxing way to leave town.

(hint: you can click on most of the images to see a larger version)

Day 1: Friday – September 15 – Seattle to Port Townsend

By design, we don’t have a hard-core itinerary planned, other than to head to Port Townsend tonight, then on to Victoria. Beyond that, plans are very flexible. Hoping to cross paths with various friends once we’re well into Canadian waters.

Departed Shilshole Bay Marina at 2:00pm. Fair weather, light N wind and a slight ebb tide helping us on the way up. We motored the whole way, as the wind was light and right on our nose. Plus we wanted to get into the tight marina entrance before dark if possible.

Arrived at Point Hudson Marina, Port Townsend, at 7:00pm
Total time: 5:00
Distance: 30.5 nm

Had dinner at Waterfront Pizza on Water Street, an old favorite. Excellent as usual. The Port Townsend Film Festival is happening this weekend, looks like good fun with an eclectic selection of known and obscure films playing in multiple venues downtown. They even have an outdoor cinema with a street blocked off and a big inflatable screen. The local High School football team has a home game tonight (the field is just 2 blocks from the marina); sounds like they won.


Day 2: Saturday – September 16 – Port Townsend to Victoria

Got espressos and strolled around downtown PT a bit in the morning. Clockwork Orange is the midnight show at one of the theaters in town tonight, and it turns out that Malcolm McDowell has been in town to pitch the festival and hang out with the local high school video production class.

Left the Pt. Hudson marina to top off fuel at the city marina at the other end of town. On our way out of PT by noon.

Fair weather & flat water crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca, although both the wind speed and direction were unreliable. Started out tacking across Admiralty Inlet and got pushed across to Camp Casey on Whidbey Island. Couldn’t clear Pt. Wilson under sail and ended up motoring across the Strait to Victoria. A little chilly by the time we got into the customs dock.

Leftover pizza – a perfect fair-weather sailing lunch. Arrived at Victoria Inner Harbour at 7:00pm, cleared Canadian customs by phone from the customs dock and then tied up at the city dock right in front of the Empress Hotel.

Total time: 7:00
Distance: 38.7nm

Found ourselves once again at the sushi bar at Japanese Village in downtown Victoria. Sammy the sushi chef is still running the show and is still a madman. Great food as always. The city was filled with a zillion tourists, probably due to the three – yes three – cruise ships in town. Plus it looked like maybe U-Vic was just getting ready to start fall classes – lots of kids around town.

 

Day 3: Sunday – September 17 – Victoria to Reid Harbor

Breakfast of muffins & espresso @ Mirage Coffee on Government Street. Walked around town a bit, and then picked up ‘supplies’ at The Strath liquor store. Topped off water tanks while water was handy, and departed Victoria at 1:15pm.

Very bumpy, wallowy ride east around Discovery Island back into the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Finished the last of the leftover pizza for lunch, and somehow managed to keep it down. Lisa made a pot of hot tea but had to leave it below. Couldn’t take the bumpy ride any more, and had to go topside. Finally mellowed out once we were headed north into Haro Strait. Classic tide and wind collision at the entrance. Some of the cresting swells on our starboard quarter were 5-6’ from trough to top. Very lumpy. It rained all last night and all day today. We saw one freighter and one BC Ferry in Haro Strait. That’s it. Turns out everyone else was smarter than us and stayed inside. Wind was gusty – pretty high at times – but inconsistent direction all afternoon. Motored the whole way.

Arrived @ Reid Harbor, Stuart Island @ 6:00pm and tied up to a mooring buoy.

Total time: 4:45
Distance: 26.4nm

We chilled and grilled on the boat in Reid Harbor in the evening. Good day for Seattle sports fans as the Huskies, Seahawks and Mariners all won today. Steak, potato, giant yellow tomato (from the garden at home) for dinner.

Tomorrow’s destination? No idea yet.

 

 

Day 4: Monday – September 18 – Reid Harbor to Glenthorne Passage

Rained overnight. Woke up to fog covering the surrounding hills – very pretty. Burned off mid-morning and by noon it was a beautiful, sunny day. The house battery bank (separate from the engine starter battery) is struggling a little. By mid-morning the lights are flickering and the heater fan won’t come on. Ran the engine for about 40 minutes to recharge. Figured out how to enter waypoints & routes in the PC then upload to the GPS – way easier than entering directly into the GPS. Plotted a course for Glenthorn Passage, Prevost Island, in the Gulf Islands.

Breakfast – Espresso & tea, Oatmeal.

Sailed off our mooring buoy in Reid Harbor at 12:45pm. It’s always very cool to take off without even starting the engine. The wind didn’t last long though, and we ended up motoring most of the way. Crossed Boundary Pass and officially made it into the Gulf Islands.

Arrived @ Glenthorne Passage, Prevost Island at 5:00pm. Anchored in ~24ft with a 10+ tide.
N48°49.26’ W123°23.075’

Time: 4:15
Distance: approx 16.7nm.

Raining since we turned into Captain Passage from Swanson Channel.

This is a very protected anchorage; the quietest we’ve had since maybe Tod Inlet last year. Good thing – a nasty cold has set in for Jim, and it felt great to sleep in all morning.

Oatmeal & espresso for breakfast. Steak sandwiches for lunch. Chicken & rice casserole for dinner. Eating like royalty is pretty typical for these trips; glad to see this year is no exception.

 

 

 

Day 5: Tuesday – September 19 – Glenthorne Passage to Montague Harbour

Rained like hell overnight and into the early morning, but turned sunny and calm by lunchtime. Yogurt & espresso for breakfast, instant spicy noodle soup for lunch.

Departed Glenthorne Passage at 12:45pm.

Went out into Captain Passage for a really nice afternoon sail, tacking across the bay a couple of times just to enjoy the weather. Our destination for the evening was to be Long Harbour, only a couple miles away on Saltspring Island, so we were just having a leisurely sail for the afternoon. Very nice, light wind, easy sailing. Beautiful sunny weather. We eventually headed NE past James Bay on Prevost Island (stayed there last year, nice spot) on our way into Trincomali Channel to head up & drop sail, and saw 5 boats rafted together in James Bay. Turned out to be “the Armada” – some of Jim’s sailing buddies mentioned earlier, on their annual cruising trip. They were just breaking up and heading to Montague Harbour, and we fell in with them. We’ll get to Long Harbour another time. So on to Montague we went. Arrived at Montague Harbour, Galiano Island at around 6:00pm.

Time: 5:15
Distance: 12.4 miles.

We tied to one boat that had already set a bow & stern anchor. We set a stern anchor, and the others joined in. It was 5 boats on this raft in the middle of the bay for the night, with the 6th (Slide) opting for the marina.

Dinner was at a French restaurant called La Berengerie on Galiano Island, with 14 of us. We dinghied in to the marina and walked a mile or so up the road to where the restaurant was tucked into the woods. It was a fixed menu dinner, very nice. Then back to the Armada raft for drinks (Painkillers for you Caribbean veterans) aboard Groove Supply.

This is the other side of Montague Harbour from where we have been before – we normally go for the less popular north side. But it was a nice anchorage, very quiet night.

The 2006 Armada:
Aurora – Carl’s Ericsson 34
Groove Supply – Chris' Ericson 38 (1980) with Ted on board too.
Kaulana – Dave & Julie’s C&C 38 (1986)
Non Sequiter – Pete & Rochelle’s CS 34
Slide – Marcus’s O’day 32, with Ilse (his mom), Pete (step-dad), Marilyn & Bart (friends of Ilsa & Pete) on board.


Day 6: Wednesday – September 20 – Montague Harbour to Clam Bay

Rained all morning. Lisa baked some banana bread (while Jim slept in to try and get over his cold a bit), but the oven wasn’t really hot enough, so it’s just OK. It was a pretty lazy day, waiting for the rain to let up. Marcus & Pete went diving; everyone else just relaxed and stayed warm inside.

Leftover Chicken & rice casserole for lunch.

Topped off fuel @ Montague Marina. Departed Montague Harbour ~ 3:00pm.

Pretty good sailing despite the wet weather. We were able to sail downwind most of the way north. We brought up the rear – the rest of the armada had spinnakers, so we were a little behind in this light downwind sailing.

Snacked on warm quesadillas under way.

Arrived at Clam Bay, between Thetis & Kuper Islands, @ around 6:45pm.

Time: 3:45
Distance: 15.2nm

Anchored in ~43 ft with Non Sequiter rafted to us.

Dinner was the whole armada on our boat. Definitely the most people we have ever had aboard Sleepwalk. The theme was Mediterranean night (they have a different theme every night, and each boat supplies a dish, and a different boat hosts), we supplied Paella. Good time and clearly the most people we’ve had in that boat at one time.


Day 7: Thursday – September 21 – Clam Bay to Tod Inlet

SE wind became NW overnight, rising into the 20’s. It was a pretty bumpy night. By morning we and Non Sequiter were pounding each other pretty solid. Good fender test; no damage anywhere. Good anchor test too – both boats were held by just our anchor.

Departed Clam bay @ 9:20am. Headed south down Sansom Narrows between Saltspring and Vancouver Islands, bound for Tod Inlet.

Hoowee! Amazing day of sailing! Good wind and favorable swells down Stuart Channel and into Sansom Narrows. Steady mid-20’s, with 30+ knots of windspeed at one point. Sailed very broad reaches until we ran out of wind deep in the narrows. Had a majestic round-up that tossed things around a bit down below, but boat and crew all survived fine. Mellow motor with a little wind from Sansum Narrows down in to Saanich Inlet, Brentwood Bay and Tod Inlet.

The big wind blew all the clouds away – by the end of the day it was beautiful and sunny again.

Arrived at Tod Inlet, Vancouver Island, at 2:00pm. We rafted up to Non Sequiter, with Aurora tied to us. Non Sequiter and Kaulana set anchors; everyone else just rafted to them. We eventually ran a stern line to shore just in case. A nice mellow afternoon, snacking and reading at anchor in the cockpit.

Total time: 4:40
Distance: 28.7nm

Groove Supply did not arrive until after dark. Turns out they left Clam Bay a good while after the rest of us, got a spinnaker sheet wrapped around their rudder and propeller, and had to radio for help and go into Maple Bay to get it un-fouled and buy a new sheet.

Asian Night for dinner, on board Kaulana – we brought teriyaki flank steak and rice. Altogether an amazing day – lots of toasting our good fortune and our advanced sailing skills at dinner.