Ship’s Log

This was an odd cruising year because we split our summer cruise into two pieces so we could spend July as landlubbers with our families. It meant we meandered during our cruises rather than having a destination – as if we ever do have a destination, but this year was even more meandering than usual.

We had a delightful summer cruise – another 1500-something mile journey along the British Columbia coast. Each year we gain more comfort with living on the boat, and each year we wish to go further than the summer weather window allows us to go.

Summer 2012 was a great 3 month trip along the central BC coast, travelling 1500 miles in all. It was the summer of many firsts.

The Pacific Northwest is fantastic cruising grounds. Many people say this, but prior to spending 6 weeks cruising the south coast of British Columbia, I didn’t really understand what they meant.  Here’s my version of what it’s like to be on a sailboat in these protected waters during late August, September and early October.

In my mind, the San Juan and Gulf island groups are similar, though the San Juans are in the US and the Gulf Islands are in Canada.

The Strait of Georgia is about 140 long (stretching NW to SE) and about 20 miles wide.  Unlike in the island groups, there are not many convenient anchorages available, so you must travel some distance between overnight stops. If the wind kicks up there are big waves and swells, so this is an area where it’s great to be in a sailboat rather than a motorboat. We enjoyed 4 excellent days of sailing when there was some frontal systems passing, but sadly we had about the same number of days motoring in dead calm during the hot settled weather.

The typical summer weather forecast for Johnstone Strait is “Strong wind warning. Light wind, becoming NW 15-25 knots in the afternoon and building to NW 25-35 in the evening.” I guess most days there is a chance that a strong onshore flow will be funneled down the ~80 mile long strait. The resulting waves can be fierce if the wind opposes the current, which is the other notable thing about Johnstone Strait – it is ~ 2 mile wide fast flowing reversing saltwater river, complete with rapids in a few places.

Once you reach the Broughtons, you no longer feel like your sailing in someone’s backyard. This island group is dominated by nature, with the occasional human settlement.

We hid in the Desolation Sound area for more than a week while a series of intense low pressure systems repeatedly caused storm force and hurricane force winds on the central coast. Because Desolation Sound is 100 miles or more from the central coast, we mostly just experienced gusty wind and some heavy rain – we guessed about 7” based on how much water needed to be pumped from the dinghy.

My Dad, the Midwest farmer, just visited for 2 weeks. We had lots of adventures associated with Rainshadow.