Vancouver - Port Mcneill

And we’re off! After several weeks of preparing the boat for three months of cruising, we’ve untied fromBurrard Civic and left Vancouver in our wake. For those who aren’t sure of our intended adventure, here are some details.

In a nutshell: We’re Haida Gwaii bound, and intend to be back by mid-July as Lisa must head off to receive a DOUBLE Master’s degree and Char has to finish the one she’s started. In between, we’ll cruise through the Inside Passage to the central coast, cross to the Charlotte’s, and have many adventures in between. For now, we’re planning to sail promptly up to the Broughton Archipelago, where Char will leave the boat for some UBC commitments and Lisa will cruise with Peanut as a (somewhat useless) first mate for three weeks.

So back to the beginning: Our lines skillfully untied by Al, Irene, and Toria (Char’s folks and sister), we motored out of English Bay with the early ebb tide. Spirits and morale were high (although Peanut looked a little green), and we soon set sail across Georgia Strait. Turning west, we aimed for Gabriola, where we hoped to find a friend, Christine Chourmouzis, whom we knew was studying boatbuilding on the island. We just weren’t sure where. After a tight passage through the outer islands into Gabriola’s Silva Bay, we tied up at the fuel dock and inquired as to the location of said boatbuilding school. “Just up the ramp, take a left!” we were informed, and so after some purposeful cleaning, organizing, and wiring maintenance we were off to wander and find Christine! We found the school, the office, and the marina, where everyone knew Christine, but not her whereabouts. We were told to look for Jude’s place….”Left at the dumpster, left again at the top of the hill, past the rusty 1950’s truck in the woods, past an arts centre….” Ummmmm….yeah. We wandered. And asked some folks along the way, who were just as confused as us (“You lookin’ for red haaaaired Juday?”). At long last, we found great success, and Christine! She had just moved that day, and we were very much her first surprise visitors. She showed us her beautiful 18-foot boat that she’s owned for the past year, and gave us a tour of the island. In return, we gave her a tour of Nakusiak, and celebrated the reunion with a bottle of bubbly in the harbor. After visiting her friends aboard their lovely hand built classic Native Girl, we rowed ashore to check out the boat building studio and Christine’s new art gallery, a collaborative endeavor right by the water. Stunning work. After feasting with Christine ashore, we rowed back to our trusty ship for the night.

En route north again the next day, we set the spinnaker, and later the jib, for a downwind passage to Hornby Island, 40 NM further up the Strait. A perfect sailing day; sunny, clear, with some good following waves and wind to push us along at over 6 knots. Highlights of the day included good tunes, views, and Peanut’s first voluntary appearance on deck while under way. She must be feeling better, as she managed to steal a bit of Lisa’s lunch right off her plate. Naughty!

Hornby Island, and the little anchorage of Ford’s Cove, afforded us a protected nook for the evening while we wandered ashore and cooked a feast on a beachside campfire. The geologic wonders of the nearshore rock formations impressed, and the locals offered sage advice of the dangers of building fires on sandstone (Exploding rock!) before wishing us a good evening. Ha! A great evening, made better by a brief chat with Jack and Jennifer of All that Jazz, and Pemberton couple who insisted on giving us flowers, advice, and homemade smoked salmon spread. All in a day’s work!

May 2nd, we awoke to a steady NW wind and cast off our anchorage under sail. Lisa handily tacked us out of the bay before turning us northward, with Campbell River us our goal. Bolstered by Siegel’s Bagels, we ran wing-on-wing for much of the day to arrive at Mudge Point near CR by 1600. Unfortunately the day of surfing down waves at over 7 knots meant we arrived 2 hours early for slack water at Campbell River, so we ‘forced’ our way through the tide rips (read: struggled) to arrive at the public wharf by 1730. With some shore time, we ran errands and found essential purchases (6 bags of post-Easter Mini Eggs! 25 cents each! A Whitehorse-worthy box of mangoes for $5! Sierra, you would have been proud).

May 3: Through Seymour Narrows! An early morning, we headed out at 0430, under way with the new nav lights beaming. Made it to the narrows just after slack, and cruised up the straight with the current while tracking the dozens of fish farms dotting the area. ‘Twas a chilly morning, but plentiful tea and Char’s homemade hats kept us toasty! By 1100 the wind and waves picked up and we tucked into Kelsey Bay for some hot lunch and a much-needed nap. Feeling recharged, we sailed up Port Neville. The sun was shining, and we took turns hiking over the rail with spray splashing over our rubber boots. In Port Neville we peered into the old post office and now uninhabited stone farm houses…or so we thought! The soft-spoken grounds keeper appeared, but he remembered Charlotte’s face from last year, and was pleased that the boat found its way back to Port Neville.

May 4: More wind from the south! Some great sailing, and hugged close to shore for the current to help carry us along. Met some turbulent current around Cracroft Island, but set the engine, and power sailed the rest of the way into Port Mcneill. After investigating a small crash on the deck, we discovered our antenna was gone! To be investigated…It was getting gusty with a bit of rain nearing Port Mcneill, and got warmed up in the Dalewood with some tasty dinner. Before long we were missing the boat, so went back for some Baileys and the world’s best apple crumble. Charlotte is becoming quite the pressure cooker cook! (And pressure cooker kook too!)

May 5: After a hearty breakfast, Charlotte packed up to work on that Master’s of hers, but left Lisa, Nakusiak, and Peanut feeling a little bit deprived without our salty skip. However, some time in Port left for some quality time for reading, boat work (new whippings on the jib sheets!), and exploring Port McNeill. Peanut hasn’t ventured too far away from the boat, but she certainly has her eye on a cute tabby on Dock B…After enlisting winchers from a neighbouring 41’ Beneteau First, to haul Lisa up to the mast head, the crew of Kipperkite invited the Nakusiak crew over for Cinco de Mayo celebrations with margaritas. Missed the hockey game with Bing (an earlier date invitation from the 70-something former logger), but had a great night talking about sailing with seasoned Broughton cruisers.

More to come! Peanut is walking all over the keyboard and is doing some serious purring for attention. Bye for now!