Author Archives: Bruce

We really hadn’t done much sailing this winter and were still a bit trepidatious about the cold. So we’d been humming and hawing and watching the weather and making no decisions as Easter quickly approached. But our usual office space at the public library was closed Friday, Sunday and Monday and we had no other plans. There was no reason not to go except fear of the cold.

Day the First

So Friday morning I popped my head out the hatch, noticed a couple of boats gone from the docks and said, “Let’s go…” Now apparently, unbeknownst to me, the plan was for us to go, if we were to go, Saturday. But since Friday, Saturday and Monday was forecast to be sunny and Sunday was supposed to be cold and rainy, it made no sense to me not to have at least one nice day to hang out somewhere. Besides those other boats had gone already. And it looked like a few more were prepping. Get the feeling I am easily led? Sometimes… 🙂

Anyway, I checked the freezer and there were at least three days of meals there and tons of backup supplies like pasta and canned stuff. The only critical item was milk for morning tea and we had just enough. So I made a command decision and broke out the checklist and less than 45 minutes later we were rounding Odgen Point and headed for Haro Strait. Somewhere along the process of getting ready we decided on Royal Cove on Portland Island as a destination. We’d spent three or four days there last fall and it was protected and peaceful, and had lots of hiking. My only worry was that being so close to Sidney and Tsehum it might be packed with weekenders. So our fallback would be wandering over to Roche or heading to Tod Inlet or Genoa Bay. It was only 10:45 as we exited Victoria Harbour so we had plenty of time if we needed it.

The forecast 5-10 knots was more like 2-3 so we motored at around 2200 rpm, conserving fuel and enjoying the sunshine. The Nordhavn 40  Aegis (a gorgeous ocean-going trawler  that somehow looks less than suited to our cruising area) from B dock pulled out just ahead of us and we followed in its wake — albeit a knot or two slower. Once we passed through Enterprise Channel, we met up with 5 or 6 other boats coming out of Oak Bay and Cadboro Bay and heading east. My suspicions that it was going to be busy were looking correct. But as we all cleared Cadboro point they headed off like stately ducks in a row towards the NE, following after Aegis and presumably off towards San Juan Island.

We motored in the glassy water of Haro Strait past Sidney Spit and enjoyed all the sights and sounds of the busy water off Sidney. I went below to make some no-knead bread dough for the next day while Leslie took care of the helm. A bit later we passed through the many islets and rocks around the north part of Sannich penninsula and entered into Moresby Passage. Right about then I spotted a Beneteau with green canvas ahead and speculated it might be Bula, one of the boats from our dock. Sure enough, as we got closer we confirmed it; they had their sails up and were stubbornly motorsailing their way north. I hailed them on the VHF and it turned out their destination was also Royal Cove. A few minutes later we passed them and then watched the monstrous Coastal Celebration slide by us as we shared a suddenly much narrower passage.

Much to my surprise Royal Cove was empty. We circled around and picked a spot as deep in as we could get on the east side to avoid as much of the ferry swell as possible and dropped anchor. As stern ties go it was one of our better ones and I managed to get the stern in close enough that we could loop the line through the iron ring on shore and back to the boat. That way when we left we could just pull the line without having to row back ashore. Leslie was able to keep the stern pointed basically at the shoreline and only had to do a little maneuvering to give me enough slack to get the line back to the boat. Bula pulled in a few minutes later and tied up a couple of rings down, and we were set for the night. Bula was apparently only here overnight since their girls were keen on the Easter Egg hunt at Poet’s Cove on Pender Island, so we might end up getting the cove to ourselves for most of the weekend.

We stripped back some canvas to let the sun into the cockpit and enjoyed the peace and quiet. You can actually feel the pressure disappear after you turn off the engine and begin to absorb the silence of these islands. Victoria is a great place to be but between the noise, overflying seaplanes and the boat’s constantly running heaters you forget how much pressure a city puts on your senses. The sensation you feel in those first few moments when you are finally settled in at anchor is like that ice cold glass of water on a hot day: just what body and soul needs.

After a while I bestirred myself to make some baked pasta for dinner and then we settled in to watch videos on the laptop before bed. As the sun set it cooled down so we fired up the Webasto for an hour or so before bedtime, added an extra quilt and then snuggled in for the night.

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Day the Second

Morning was cold. C-O-L-D! I sprang out of bed, hit the breaker for the heating system, snapped on the Webasto and switched the fans to high; then I dived back under the covers to wait for the boat to heat up. On the way by I glanced at the thermometer and it was reading 8° C (46° F) in the cabin. Brrrrr. But at with the heater at full blast, the cabin doesn’t take long to start warming up. We hadn’t used the diesel heater much since we installed the battery monitor, so I took a few moments to take some readings after I crawled out from under the warm covers. After the initial start-up phase of 6 or 7 minutes, the Webasto seems to draw about 4 or 5 amps.  It is a hydronic unit and has 3 radiators with fans: aft cabin, salon and another split between the forward cabin and the front of the salon. The fans draw about another 2 amps each, and it doesn’t seem to make that much difference if they are on high or low. So running the heater draws around 6 or 7 amps, which wasn’t too shabby as long as we were judicious in its use. By 4 pm that day, which was 24 hrs after we arrived, between the fridge, heater and various other lights and such, we’d used about 12% of the battery or 25% of our total available battery power. That gave us 4 days at that rate: not bad.

As the sun came over the trees, I grabbed a blanket and headed out into the cockpit with my book and coffee and settled in to relax. It was a slow day. So slow that we barely left the boat. One short hike out to the point and a slow meander back along the shoreline was the sum total of our physical activity.

Along the way I indulged myself taking pictures of wildflowers and sticking my nose in cracks and crevices along the shore cataloging the sea life. We spotted plenty of the ubiquitous purple starfish and a few smaller orange and white ones. I also spotted a horny orange tube which I dubbed a sea cucumber. Back at the boat I looked it up and I think it was a California Sea Cucumber (Parastichopus californicus), but you tell me…

Back on board we read, I made some dinner rolls for the next day’s lunch and baked the boule (no-knead bread), and then basically we hung around doing very little for the rest of the day. At low tide a small racoon came down to forage and entertain us, and later we watched a kingfisher zoom back and forth hunting dinner.

Leslie couldn’t leave the buns untouched until Sunday so helped herself to an advance copy. Reviews were good. Dinner was pork chops and fresh bread. After a warm, sunny day we left the heater off, played a bit of crib by candlelight and watched Guardians of the Galaxy under a blanket before heading off to bed.

Day the Third

Happy Easter. It seems neither of us had the foresight to buy any chocolate so we had to be satisfied with coffee and tea. The morning was a repeat of Saturday although I think we had acclimatized to the temperature a bit. Sunday was suppose to be rainy but it wasn’t socked in; more of an intermittent thing with moments of sunshine and warmth interspersed with cloud and rain.

We packed  a lunch and made some ice tea for our water bottle, then layered up and headed out. Today we were going to loop the whole island and do the one remaining bit of trail we’d never done yet — 6 or 7 kilometres total. Along the way I took a ton of wildflower and mushroom images, but I had only my iPhone so  many of the smallest flowers didn’t turn out or were blurry. Spring is an amazing time of year for the amateur botanist; hopefully we will be back at end of April to see the next bunch.

We ran into five or six other parties on the trail, one fellow even doing it in a walking cast and crutches, which is pretty ambitious on some of the rougher parts. They must have all been kayakers, though, as there were only two boats in Princess Bay and one of those had its dinghy still on deck. On the west side of the island a pair of racoons were fishing on the rocks as we walked off-trail along the shoreline, and they seemed pretty put out that they had to wander back to the forest to let us pass. We ate fresh bread and jam for lunch in the sunshine on the midden beach facing Brackman Island and enjoyed the quiet and the view. We had to strip off most of our layers since it was so warm in the sun. But the rain came back about  20 minutes later and we bundled up again and head toward Kanaka Bluffs on the last half of our hike.

The intermittent rain and sunshine produced some lovely visuals with mist rolling off moss-covered boulders and the verdant green forest constantly playing with lights and shadows. Most of it is impossible to capture with a camera but it’s always well worth pausing and taking in the moments that hikes like this present. Even if you are standing around in the rain.

Five hours or so later we arrived back at the boat and stripped off our muddy clothes in exchange for something warm and dry. Then it was back to relaxing until dinner started calling. I fixed up some crispy-skinned, bone-in chicken thighs — one of my all time favourite meals (thanks, C) — and roasted honey-dijon and garlic potatoes.

That night’s video fare was an episode or two of the acclaimed series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It’s another of those comedy where none of the characters seem to have any redeeming characteristics (we are still reeling bit for watching the British version of The Office). The jury is still out whether it’s going to be part of the rotation or not.

Day the Fourth

Well, it seems we are all hardened up and the heater was barely on at all the next morning. Part of the reason for this trip was to see whether we are ready to leave Victoria for good, and I have to say, if we can count on this amount of sunshine, then I am pretty certain it won’t be much hardship when we decide to go.

The tide was going out and it looked like if we left right away we would catch the current and hit Discovery Island right at peak flow (in the right direction) so we washed up a bit and prepped to go. A lovely boat named Luna Quest had pulled in early the previous evening and the hardy souls aboard (all young men) had braved the frigid water for a quick dip accompanied by some loud expletives. This morning they too were prepping to go so we let them cast off first before we let slip the stern line.

Our departure wasn’t without a bit of drama as the wind swung our stern out towards the dinghy dock ( which I had anticipated) and then we popped the windlass breaker (which I had not) and Leslie had to dive below to reset it. At this point, for some stupid reason, I hit the auto pilot and was bringing in the stern line. The stern cleared the dock with ease but was now drifting towards the shallow water and rocky shore and we were —I thought — over our anchor chain. When I grabbed the wheel to move us off it wouldn’t budge. I yelled forward that maybe the chain was interfering with the rudder, but after the panic-adrenaline cleared, I suddenly remembered that the auto pilot was on. Cursing, I flipped it off, maneuvered the boat to the centre of the cove and willed my heart rate down back to something approaching normal. It’s not the first time I have forgotten about turning on the auto pilot, and I think I am developing a potential dangerous habit.

Exiting the cove, we swung west to follow the curve of Portland Island and headed for home. The winds were around 12-15 knots as we entered the channel so we had high hopes we would be doing some sailing after we cleared the busy waters. The fuel gauge was currently reading below a 1/4 of a tank. We had last filled in Roche Harbour last October, but math said we should have a little over half a tank left. But that was not counting whatever fuel the using the diesel heater during the winter had used, although that was supposed to be minimal. Redoing the math we decided we were good for the 4 or 5 hours we needed to get back to Victoria. But as we approached the islands off Tsehum Harbour I started second-guessing myself and eventually declared a state of “better safe than sorry” and turned in towards Swartz Bay and the Van Isle fuel dock.

I played a bit of chicken with the ferry as we approached the pinch point between the buoy off Knapp Island and Coal Island, but he had plenty of room after I scooted across the channel. Then we turned down John Passage. The only other time I had been down this narrow zigzagged passage was on Tim’s Baltic 42 the day we had decided to do a whole trip with the chart plotter off. So it was a bit of a surprise that my Navionics Platinum charts showed an island in the middle of the channel. Visually I could see nothing and the paper charts said there was nothing. I even checked the Navionics app on my phone and it said there was nothing. But it is still a bit disconcerting to drive your boat through a land mass on the chart plotter. So, for my subconscious’ sake, I ended up skirting the edge of the invisible island. I was still in better-safe-than-sorry mode.

We fuelled up in Tsehum and put in $45 of diesel (14 gallons) — just a bit under half a tank. So I guess our math was right and our gauge was wrong. Good to know it errs on the side of caution, though. Then we motored back out into Haro Strait and headed south in 5 knots of wind directly on our stern. We just didn’t bother with the sails. Instead I headed below for a much n-eded shower since the engine had been busily heating water for the last hour or so.

Two hours later, as we approached Cadbury Point, I scanned the horizon and lo and behold the sailboat off our port bow was Bula, also making her way home. She had her sails up and we decided that, after we darted up Mayor Channel off Trial Island, we would raise our sails and sail home even if the winds were light. Get the feeling we don’t like sailing in narrow channels? That’s just another “bad” habit we need to break. But this turned out to be a bad plan. The winds and currents around Trial Island are confused to say the least and every time we turned the engine off we ended up restarting it to move us further off the island. For awhile there we were actual sailing sideways. Eventually, as we turned into the Strait of Juan de Fuca proper, the winds shifted almost 180° and we were still going nowhere. Bula seemed to be doing okay, but I later confirmed they were motor sailing most of the way until they cleared the currents and channels. Eventually we gave up and motored home. Bula stuck to their guns, though, and headed off into the Strait on a port tack. They arrived back on the dock only about an hour and a half after us so I am guessing they are way better sailors that we are.

As we rounded Ogden Point we dodged a few seaplanes and pulled out the lines and fender in preparation for docking. About 40 minutes later the boat was back in liveaboard mode, all the tanks were topped up and Leslie was enjoying her first hot shower in a couple of days. We then rewarded ourselves with a visit to our favourite pub (Garrick’s Head) for dinner and a couple of pints.

It had been a great weekend and the first, I hope, of many more in the coming weeks.

[flexiblemap src=”http://macblaze.ca/kmz/Easternumber2.kml”]

They say boating is fixing things in exotic locations. Well it’s not too exotic here but the list of things to do keeps growing. We are hampered somewhat by a lack of tools and materials; I don’t want to buy a bunch of stuff I will have to store and then haul off the boat, but on the other hand paying someone else to do things is cost prohibitive to say the least.

I can tell you for a fact, the bottom’s not this clean now.

So here is the current list of things we need to do before we take off, or at least before the end of June when we get off for the season — in order of importance or likelihood to get done.

1. Change oil
2. Check all safety equipment
3. Certify Fire Extinguishers
4. Check all lights
5. Dispose of outdated flares
6. Repair fiberglass dings
7. Patch shower base
8. Clean dinghy & find slow leak
9. Repaint dinghy transom
10. Rebuild head again
11. Fix loose dome light (aft cabin)
12. Fix loose plugin (aft cabin)
13. Fix faucet
14. Fix hydraulic cylinder on freezer
15. Scrub rust on stove burners; repaint
16. Fix velcro on port settee
17. Screw panels back in
18. Rebuild fresh water pump
19. Re-waterproof canvas
20. Scrub decks & nonskid
21. Polish hull topsides
22. Haulout and clean the hull
23. Change zincs
24. Fix antenna connector
25. Fix BBQ
26. Find anchor locker leak
27. Make windlass cover
28. Find ST 60 covers
29. Polish wood (in progress)
30. Refill Head-O-Matic bullet
31. Relabel old Rainbow Hunter gear (in progress)
32. Mark anchor rode
33. Get new BBQ starters
34. Fix autopilot remote
35. Service sails

Must do’s

Change Oil
When we tied up for the winter we were pretty close to our 100 hour oil change. The last time we changed it we used all of R Shack Island’s tools and I had been intending to buy my own. Now that we are going to be putting Never for Ever into charter that’s not so wise an investment. So I either buy tools I won’t have any further use for, pay a ridiculous amount of $$ to have someone else do it, or see if I can borrow an oil filter wrench and oil pump and scrounge the rest.

Check all Safety Equipment
We have to check the airhorn, the batteries in the flashlights, expiry dates on flares and make sure everything is in an easily-accessible space. I also want to take off the life ring and rescue sling to see if the lines are in good shape and ready to be used without mishap.

Certify Fire Extinguishers 
When I bought new fire extinguishers I didn’t realize they were not certified “out-of-the-box.” I need to get all three inspected. And every 6 years they need to be re-tested.

Check all lights
We had a few burned out or non-functioning navigation lights last fall, so I want to check them all again before we take off.

Dispose of outdated flares
We also have old flares that need to be disposed of properly. Here in Victoria there is a place that will do it for a fee, but I think the Power Squadron will be having a free disposal day sometime this spring.

Repair fiberglass dings
I also have to start in on the dings and gouges in the fiberglass and gelcoat; these are mainly in the cockpit on the nonskid, so I am not sure how I am going to make those look good. But at least one of them looks to be deep enough to be a problem.

Patch shower base
The shower base has a few old dings that were patched with silicone that need attending to. Hopefully I can find something that will not be too ugly but be a bit more permanent.

Clean dinghy, find slow leak, repaint transom
I spent almost a day in October cleaning Laughing Baby and patching her slow leaks. But apparently I didn’t find them all since I still have one pontoon that goes soft after about 2 weeks. And because I wanted to keep the foredeck clear she’s been in the water for 7 months and needs another thorough cleaning. I also need to repaint the transom on teh dinghy as there is bare wood showing.

Rebuild head again
I (we) rebuilt the head last summer but it is already starting to allow a little backflow into the bowl. So either I didn’t do it right or we need to do more in the way of preventative maintenance. Since you can buy the whole pump assemble for slightly more than the rebuild kit, I think that’s how we are going to go this time.

Fix Dome light (aft cabin)
One of the dome lights in the aft cabin spins when you touch it. We both know why, given we’ve hit our heads on it a half dozen times each. Hopefully a quick fix.

Fix plugin (aft cabin)
The 110v socket in the aft cabin is not secured to the bulkhead. Again I am hoping for an easy fix although I suspect something has been stripped or broken.

Fix faucet
The kitchen faucet fell off mid passage last July. I fixed it underway but never got back to it. There is some sort of seal/washer missing from under the counter so the faucet doesn’t pivot smoothly and it is eventually going to work itself loose and fall off again.

Fix hydraulic cylinder on freezer
When we bought the boat the hydraulic lift arm that hold the freezer open wasn’t working. Then it started working. Now it isn’t working again. If I could figure out why, I would be tempted to leave it, but the lid is pretty heavy and I’m afraid it will just come crashing down on someone’s arm.

Scrub rust on stove burners
I noticed the tops of the burners on the stove had lost some enamel and were rusting slightly. I’d like to scrub them down and look to see if there is a heat-resistant paint I can use to coat them again.

Fix velcro on port settee
The port settee cushion works its way out as you sit on it because the velcro on the seat does’t match the velcro on the cushion. I have no idea how that state of affairs came to be.

Screw panels back in
When searching for a fresh water leak, I unscrewed an awful lot of panels and floorboards. Not all of them got screwed back in.

Rebuild fresh water pump
Our fresh water pump goes off for half a second every hour or so. At first I thought it was a leak somewhere, but I couldn’t find one anywhere and now I am convinced the pump is just leaking pressure. Rebuild kits are reasonably affordable so that’s my next step.

Re-waterproof canvas
We cleaned and waterproofed all the canvas in October, but I think it would be good to redo it before we take off for the season.

This seems to be the problem area of the boat with at least three jobs relating to the anchor locker that need to be done

More want than need

Scrub the decks and polish hull topsides
All the decks and nonskid need to be scrubbed to remove the city grime that has settled over the whole boat. We got the hull repainted and polished last year but I never got around to cleaning and polishing the topsides. I’m hoping to borrow or rent a rotary buffer.

Haulout and clean the hull
We will haul the boat before we turn it over to NYC but I would like to at least haul and pressure wash the hull before we take off. We’ll see.

Change zincs
If we do haul then I will change the zincs. They were last changed in April last year so it is probably a good idea. (Zincs are sacrificial anodes that are designed to easily dissolve instead of important metal bits in the harsh and conductive saltwater environment.)

Fix antenna connector
When we were tracing masthead wiring last summer we noticed the VHF antenna cable connector at the base of the mast was a bit corroded. If it’s not already affecting reception it probably will eventually.

Fix BBQ
The heat plate in the BBQ is rusted through. It works fine as is and I have built a heavy duty foil replacement that lasts 4 or 5 months; but I really should order a replacement part. But it is an old BBQ. Maybe a new one is a better idea.

Make windlass cover
We had a leak in the forward cabin that turned out to be a corroded seal in the windlass. So until we can get it replaced we had a sunbrella cover made up to keep it dry.

Find anchor locker leak
There is also a small fresh water leak somewhere forward. No big deal but it does mean the bilge is never dry and you can’t use the storage space immediately aft of the anchor locker without things getting damp. I am still trying to find out what’s leaking.

Find ST 60 covers
When we bought the boat one of the ST 6o instrument covers was missing. And on our first big sail, as things went flying across the cabin, another one went missing. We have searched high and low to no avail. I’d like to see if I can pick up some used ones as replacements.

Polish wood
Apart from general cleaning I would like to apply some oil and/or polish to all the wood in the boat. And there is a lot of wood.

Refill Head-O-Matic bullet
Our head came with a Head-O-Matic system that injects blue stuff into the water with every flush. We ran out and I haven’t found a replacement source yet.

Relabel old Rainbow Hunter gear
There is still a bunch of gear (spare fuel tank, power cord) that has the old boat name on it. We need to go through everything and use a big black marker to relabel.

Mark anchor rode
The anchor rode has red paint on it every so often but we have yet to figure out exactly what the marks stand for. We figure it must be around every 20 feet or so. Regardless, we need to measure it out and put fresh marks on just to make anchoring a bit easier.

Get new BBQ starters
…for starting the stove. We have at least 4 mostly empty starters, but it would be nice to start the season with new ones.

Fix autopilot remote
When we got the AIS working on the chartplotter we somehow (or else it was a coincidence) broke the wireless connection between the autopilot and the remote. While a remote is undeniably a luxury item, it seems silly to have one and not have it work. Still, tracking down the issue seems like it’s going to be expensive.

Service sails
Not strictly necessary since they were serviced in 2014, it would probably be a good idea to haul them down and take them in for a look. Time and money…

 

Well that’s it so far. I am sure there are going to be a ton of things crop up in the next month or so before we cast off for good, especially as we start to sail more, but for now it’s enough to keep us busy.

 

At the end of last year’s season I had posted this list of Things I’ve Learned on my personal blog but I’ve decided it’s time for an update.

Now, with two seasons of cruising 5 weeks or more under our belts, we have “learned” a lot of things, some of which we already knew—sort of, and some we just thought we did. And of course some that never even occurred to us. So here’s my new list of things we’ve learned, in no particular order:

• Reefing a roller furling main is more complicated than you think it should be
• You never practice reefing your roller furling main when the winds are calm. But you should…
• What is it they say about schedules being the most dangerous thing in boating? Yup.
• Boats leak from the damnest places
• Trying to find where boats leak from generally leads to profanity
• Propane is either hard to find or right in front of your face: there is no middle ground
• A wheeled grocery cart is a godsend
• Check the dates on propane tanks and save yourself the walk
• Wind against current is… interesting
• Idiot lights are idiotic
• Voltmeters are the devil’s tool
• Sailing from start to finish is a great, great day
• Ocean swell. Huh, who knew…
• A little leak in the canvas is way more annoying than just taking it down and getting wet
• Walk-through transoms are awesome. And you almost never get to use them
• Finally having a dinghy that can get up on plane is more fun than strictly necessary
• Things fall overboard
• A 29 knot gust with too much sail out is scary-scarier-scariest
• You can sail “quite fine” at 30° heel. But later you can’t really figure out why you did
• Water slapping on your transom when you are tied up stern to the waves is really, really annoying…all night
• Dolphins are the best. Two hours with the same two dolphins is transformative
• My son has orca-fu. Four sightings in the one week he was aboard…
• Things they don’t tell you about stern tying: stern tying more often than not includes: wet feet, losing track of the tender’s painter (and often the tender itself), ophidiophobia, leaks in the dinghy, bizarre knots in 240′ of line, coiling a wet, stinky bundle of 240′ of line, searching for rings below the water, climbing cliffs above the water, trying comically to pull on 100′ of line while floating in a dinghy, being exactly 2′ short when you get back to the boat, and interesting “discussions” between skipper and crew when the skipper is the one ashore
• Stern tying is hilarious when other people are doing it
• You can do 2 knots in 4 knots of wind, but you can’t do 5 knots in 10 knots of wind, you wouldn’t want to do 10 knots in 20 knots of wind and you don’t care how fast you are going in 30 knots of wind
• The remote for the auto-pilot is addictive. You are left feeling very hollow when it stops working
• Having extra fenders is great; stowing extra fenders is a pain
• There are things you never seem to learn: leaving the hatch almost all the way open is not the same thing as leaving it all the way open. Yup, still hurts.
• Seriously, where the hell am I supposed to stow the damn spare gasoline!
• Pillows magically attract mildew
• Other people’s diesel heaters can be annoying; yours is just comfortable
• Just because the nice lady on the radio said back in on a starboard side tie, doesn’t mean you should stubbornly try, and fail, a half dozen times when the wind is against you
• Other cruisers are suddenly very helpful with lines after you fail a half dozen times on a windy day on a crowded dock
• 4 different crews working together trying to tie your boat up on a windy day on a crowded dock are actually much less effective than a single crew and a less stubborn skipper. Comedically less effective even…
• Any completed docking without damage can be deemed a successful docking (or so I keep telling myself)
• Battery monitors are mysterious and addictive, but not the devil’s tool
• After September, you can never have enough blankets
• Fleece sheets—fleece, not flannel—are the best thing ever in a cold, damp boat
• The split ring from your keychain is not a good substitute when you break/lose a stainless steel one
• In the narrow channels of the Broughtons, it often seems your mast is poking up into the low lying cloud
• In the narrow channels of the Broughtons, sea planes quite often fly under the low lying cloud
• In the narrow channels of the Broughtons, low lying cloud can be scarier than fog
• Docks have gravity. Once you are tied up for a while, it gets harder and harder to untie in less-than-perfect conditions
• A 14″ laptop screen is just fine. Black Books is just as funny
• Nothing beats the evening light at Big Bay on Stuart Island. Seriously…every time…
• Don’t trust that the work they said they were going to do at the top of your mast is the work they did at the top of your mast
• Getting to the top of your mast is hard
• The bottom of your dinghy is disgusting after a season trailing behind your boat
• If you have 105′ of chain, then 105′ of chain is almost always the perfect amount of chain to put out
• The difference between Roche Harbor and Garrison Bay is night and day. Together they make for a great couple of days.
• Getting anchorage advice from fellow cruisers is great
• Taking anchorage advice from fellow cruisers can be … dangerous

And here’s a few from the previous list that are so worth repeating:

• Fridges in a sailboat are…quirky
• BBQs make a real mess on the transom
• Gauges that measure liquids (water, diesel, holding tanks) never seem to work
• Powerboaters really are, well, oblivious

Tides. Huh. 

Stuart Island Community Association Dock

And this was fun…why?

In my, albeit limited, experience, boating/cruising in the PNW has seemed so far to come in three distinct varieties. The first, the kind the beginner most often sees and the vast majority of our experience so far, is the short cruise. Hop on your boat (or charter), tour the Gulf Islands or visit Desolation Sound and then be tied up at home a week or two later. The second variety is the long trip. Stock up on provisions and head out for a few months or even the whole season and you’ll be back when you are back. And our newly discovered third boating experience is life at the dock. It’s cold, you have to work, or you just plain don’t want to be away, so you are tied up and enjoying all (most) of the conveniences of home. We have been lucky enough to experience all three of these varietals this year — one and a half weeks in the gulf islands in the spring, 2 months Vancouver to Victoria via the Broughtons in late summer and 2 months and counting tied up at the inner harbour in Victoria. So I thought I would do a bit of compare and contrast.

Planning

Short You’ve only got a week and you want to make the most of it. So you spend time online and with the cruising guides and either come up with a specific plan and loose itinerary or schedule the bejeezus out of each and every day before you ever get to the boat. If you are chartering, you even factor in departure and arrival times to maximize your dollar. You know where you need to be and how far from home you are, and despite inevitable changes, you are pretty much committed to sticking to a plan.

Long When taking off for the season, the planning is just as intense, if not more so, but the execution is a lot more fluid. Maybe you just have a direction and a list of wants. You need more charts and more cruising guides and anchorage books, because who the hell knows where you will end up this time. You might meet someone and decide on a bit of buddy boating and then there goes any preplan out the window. So plan hard and remember the old adage, “the most dangerous thing when cruising is a schedule.”

At the Dock Well, you need to do you research, do some cost analysis and look into the location of amenities like groceries, propane and the all-important liquor store, but after that it is just the little things that you may or may not care about. I will say a little effort put into researching slip location and prevailing winds isn’t a bad idea and taking a look at available coffee shops and libraries can make stormy days a lot more enjoyable. The biggest question for us was: could we get high speed internet at the dock?

Power

Short The boat has batteries right? And a way to charge them too? Then don’t worry about it. Most charterers don’t even get a lecture on battery conservation or power usage beyond “it isn’t advisable to use the microwave at anchor.” On a short trip you are invariably at the dock more often and motoring between locations every second day. And when you are on the dock you will pay up for power with very little thought. It’s a short trip, and power’s cheap. We rarely paid much attention to power beyond minimizing light usage.

Long This is the trip where a little learning is a dangerous thing. The things you hear: NEVER run you batteries below 50%! Your puny alternator can’t top up the batteries fast enough! Anchor lights are a huge draw! All lights are a huge draw! What do you mean you didn’t replace them all with LEDs? Turn down your fridge! Sure, the iPod speakers are crappy but they use less power than the boat stereo, Sheesh! No you can’t recharge your laptop today! Did you check the specific gravity of you batteries yet? Sure it’s a diesel heater, but the fans consume power…are you sure you are cold?

The advice you get in respect to your power usage is plentiful and often terrifying. And if all you have is a voltmeter, trying to figure out the state of your batteries to avoid the ever-looming 50% level is impossible, yet all-consuming. Don’t let the batteries dip below 12.2v. But don’t trust the meter reading if the batteries haven’t rested for x hours with no load. You just kind of get caught up in trying to balance the flaky math and visual input and are never sure of just where your batteries are until you’ve been at dock and plugged for a full 24 hrs. Personally, our battery monitor was the best couple of hundred bucks we ever spent. Unfortunately we did it near the end of the trip.

On a long trip you need to conserve cash and an anchorage is your best friend. Power is expensive in some of the out-of-the-way marinas (up to $20 for 30amp service), so even if you do tie up to reprovision or top up the water, chances are you might forgo the expense. Day to day you don’t go more than a couple of hours without thinking about power consumption, generating more power and which light is on and for how long. It can be stressful, especially if some of the crew aren’t on the same page. You also might find yourself buying very expensive LED bulbs or pricing out generators in faraway places to try and relieve the strain of constant worry.

At the Dock How long is your power cord? And how much amperage do the two heaters use, because we hate tripping the damn breaker. That was pretty much it. We still maintain some discipline when it comes to how many lights are on at once, but the fridge and freezer are cranked up to high and the stereo is on whenever we are aboard. And after a couple of weeks of this you even start using the microwave. But then again, we still turn the breakers for the lights off every morning…

Water

Short You start the trip with a full tank. You will likely top it off once during the trip. You fill it up when you dock the boat at the end of the trip. That’s pretty much that. Chances are you will pay for showers at the marinas and swim a time or two. And it’s likely you will pack along some bottled water to drink, but we’ve never actually managed to drink it all on a short trip. And with all the motoring and staying on docks, hot water is rarely an issue. Just be sure to shower while the water is still hot before you go to bed rather than in the morning when it’s cold.

Sunny afternoons at the dock are a perfect time to scrub the boat and cool down and the dodger is always clear of salt spray and bird droppings. Sure the occasional marina might try and restrict your water usage, but what the hell, there’s another one just 10 nm down the channel.

Long Water usage is another one of those constant worry points. Not as complicated or arcane as power, but still fraught with its own idiosyncrasies. To start with, a long trip often includes visits to places and islands that other have no supply available for visitors or, if it does, it’s potability is usually suspect. So right off the bat, you have to start thinking about water vs. drinking water. And once you’ve “contaminated” your water tanks, you pretty much have to empty them again before trying to go back to using them for a drinking supply — which seems like a horrible waste since you’ve been doing everything you can to conserve water.

Because you probably will have to conserve, especially in the drought-prone islands of the PNW, you find yourself filling up old 2 litre pop bottles and milk jugs “just in case.” And don’t even think about washing the boat. Just don’t. Dishes once a day, baby wipes not washcloths, and maybe I will just skip the shower since the $5 the marina wants just isn’t worth it.

One of the first things we bought was a solar shower. Then we bought another. Our head has a shower stall with an opening hatch right above so the solar showers were great for nights two and three… at least until it got to cloudy. The baby wipes turned out to be the preferred alternative to the not-quite-freezing, barely-warmed output of a solar shower on a cold day in the PNW. And due to the power costs mentioned above, we often didn’t have hot water even at dock. I actually took to washing up right after we got underway. The motor would have run a little bit even if we mostly sailed, and then it would reheat whatever I used to be saved for others or dishes.

Marina showers cost money and again, the further off the beaten path you go, the more they cost. Still a hot shower and shaving with hot water are treats to be enjoyed despite the cost.

At the Dock Once again, a lot of our conservation habits stayed with us at dock but are generally much more relaxed. We still don’t fill the sink to wash dishes and showers are still a two stage process to conserve water. But we fill the tank about once a week from the dock and don’t think much about it. I still have back-up bottles of water stashed away in case it freezes and the dock water is cut off unexpectedly, but it’s more of an emergency back-up than anything we are likely to need.

Hot water is plentiful and we’ve taken to actually showering on board more often than we did when cruising. Showers at the marina are $1/3 minutes so they aren’t much more luxuriating than being on board. And walking up the dock before you are entirely awake is ok I guess, but why not just stay in your PJs and lounge around the boat with a coffee. That’s not to say I don’t load up with loonies once in a while and indulge, but that just makes it a special treat—who needs a spa anyway?

Provisions

Short Short trips are often a provisioning nightmare, especially if you don’t own the boat or your trips are too separated in time to keep much aboard. For us, being without a vehicle, the location of a grocery store and access to liquor was always part of deciding where we would charter from. Nanaimo Yacht Charters was pretty distant from any convenient grocery stores, but they had a loaner car free to use. Granville Island had a great market within a stone’s throw, but it was a longer slog to make it to a store for buying staples. And without a car, groceries (and booze) can get pretty heavy, which often necessitates either a cab or several trips.

And then there’s the meal planning, the available sizes of products and the waste at the end of the trip. It’s hard to justify a 5 lb sack of flour or a 500ml bottle of syrup but what’s cruising without pancakes? And a short trip means you should try and account for every night aboard, even though you don’t know how often you will eat out. You plan for the best and keep your fingers crossed. And keep in mind a short trip doesn’t always involve a lot of urban stops, so resupply sometimes won’t be as easy as you think if you’ve forgotten something.

We liked to make sure we brought things like spices and dried goods like pasta or rice from home, even peanut butter (in a small container) was a good thing to pack if we had room since it was unlikely we would use enough to warrant buying any. I’ve taken to premixing my dry ingredients for pancakes so all I need is eggs and milk. But resign yourself to tossing food at the end of the trip. It’s especially sad when you didn’t get around to eating those salmon steaks or pork chops, but even tossing half a pound of sugar or a three-quarters full box of granola seems like such a waste.

Long I think provisioning things for a long trip is actually the easiest of the three. If you make sure that the beginning of the trip has several stops near grocery stores, you buy provisions in smaller increments and, since time is on your side, making a run to the market every day—even if you have to get there by dinghy—is more of an adventure than a problem.

And since you are stocking up for the long haul, what you buy is determined more by storage than anything else; so go for the jumbo bags of flour and rice and don’t worry about it. We did have to balance meat and bread against freezer space and power consumption. The freezer never really kept things completely frozen when we had the power dialled down. If possible we would buy meat when we were at the dock and crank the freezer up to freeze things, and then they would stay frozen longer after we dialled it down again.

I think the biggest issue for me was bread. I like bread and I like it fresh (i.e. not Wonderbread or it’s ilk). At home I always keep bakery bread frozen and defrost as I use it but aboard a boat this methodology doesn’t work all that well. We therefore usually buy the preservative-laden “wonder” breads that I grew up with or heavier breads like raisin bread and eat a lot of toast after things start going stale. But that doesn’t help with BBQ staples like hotdogs or hamburgers and I think we ended up eating a lot less of those sorts of things. I did eventually learn to make a fairly easy no-knead bread, which helped me get my fix of fresh bread.

Still, the long trip was easiest to handle provision wise as you tailored your expectations and forwent fresh produce when it wasn’t available and pigged out when it was. We had whales after all, so who needs fresh spinach? And I lost 10 pounds so that was a bonus.

At the Dock The problem of living on the dock is the temptation of all the local restaurants and the expectation that you can eat like you always have ashore. But as spacious as our boat is, it still doesn’t have the pantry or refrigerator of our condo. And the budget really doesn’t stretch to eating out every night…at least after the first few weeks have gone by.

One of the downsides of our Victoria winter location is the three major grocery stores are all approximately 1.5 km away. And since we have no car it makes buying a lot of supplies a challenge. So we bought a small two-wheeled cart and try and to shop several times a week; but bags of flour, cases of beer and jugs of juice all weigh enough to start to make it a bit of a grind. We are constantly balancing what our eyes and taste-buds want, with what we can manage to cart back to the boat on any given trip. Overall it’s not much different from short or long trips but after a while the frustration kicks in and it seems a bigger deal than it actually is. But perception is everything…

Laundry

Laundry is the same chore on a boat as it is everywhere else. You just do it with a different attitude. In all three scenarios, the common factor is that you likely only have a quarter of your normal wardrobe and tend to conserve and reuse much more than you ever would at home. The big difference is in the perspectives.

Short Laundry? Just wash a pair of shorts in the sink, don’t wear socks and don’t worry about it.

Long Have I worn these socks two — or three — times? Hmmmm, maybe one more go…

At the Dock Laundry? Again? Sigh. Let’s go buy some more socks.

Garbage & Recycling

Short Simple. Find a place to stow it temporarily and then dump it all each time you get off. Most marinas offer at least a free bag of garbage along with moorage, so why sweat it.

Long Like water and power before them, garbage is the bane of the long trip. We try not to throw anything besides chicken bones overboard but occasionally the composting goes as well. Marinas in out-of-the-way places can be reluctant to take any garbage they can’t burn so sorting becomes an issue. And stowing garbage for weeks starts to take up valuable space in cockpit lockers.

Even recyclables with deposits can be hard to get rid of once you are out in the Broughtons. Cans over bottle, boxed wine over glass—it’s far easier to cope with if you make better choices before you leave the store.

At the Dock The marina has garbage cans, recycling bins and even a compost bin so managing it is pretty easy. The only predicament is do we wander around in search of a bottle recycler or just donate them to one of the many, many, local collectors that wander the wharfs. So far, we donate, but that might change as the purse strings tighten.

Gear in General

Short What you bring along on a short trip is usually based on what you can carry and what you will likely need giving the season or cruising grounds. Some warm clothes, hats, maybe one pair of hiking shoes, an inflatable pfd if that is your thing, a knife maybe, and a camera. I have also been known to lug along a small inverter just in case the charter boat doesn’t have one.

Long The long trip is a three-way balance between transport, storage, and stowage. How much can you carry to and from the boat? Is there room on the boat for it? And can you find a place for it that will survive 30 knot winds and a 30° heel?

We brought quite a few things along that we had plenty of room for — for example books — but soon discovered that they flung themselves around the boat cabin because we couldn’t find a place to secure them. And while I wanted to bring my entire tool kit, there was no way to actually get it to the boat, even though I had ample locker space to store it. And where do you keep all those expensive charts you bought which is both away but accessible—especially if you are using half a dozen different charts a day?

On a long trip, electronics was surprisingly high on the list of must-haves. Two cell phones, a camera, an iPad for secondary navigation, two ebook readers, a laptop, and external hard drives with movies and music seemed like pretty basic equipment. We also brought several headlamps, safety gear, comfortable pfd’s, several extra pairs of shoes, extra warm layers, the aforementioned books, cruising and nature guides, our recipe books, spare sheets, spare pillows, extra blankets, some nice clothes, and a host of other things that seemed necessary for an extended trip.

At the Dock We have tried to get out sailing even after reaching our winter home, so the addition of clutter has been minimized — but it creeps in. More books, another laptop (because we don’t share so well), more clothes and jackets, some new cookware, heaters and the day-to-day detritus like piles of paper and casual purchases are among the few things that have appeared around the boat since we docked in October. We might add a dehumidifier as it gets wetter and more blankets if it gets colder.

We’ve lost two pillows to mildew so far—they were stored/pushed up against the cold hull for a few weeks without moving—so we have tried not to just shove things in the v-berth like a giant garage—which is the daily temptation—and with such a small space , the necessity of putting things away every day makes any accumulations of stuff pretty noticeable and easy to contain. But I recognize it’s early days yet…

Propane

Short Did you fill the tank(s) before you left? Don’t worry about it.

Long Are both your tanks still certified? No. Oops, well that is going to be a problem. The only thing harder these days than finding a place to refill your propane tank is finding a place to recertify your tank. Luckily local family members with a mini van were able to drive us from Nanaimo to Chemainus and Viper Fuels: the only place I could find on anywhere even close to our route who could do the work.

Refilling tanks these days is a huge pain. All the local gas stations have gone with the exchange system so they don’t have to get training for their staff. And that means the places that can do refills are usually not anywhere easily accessible. Luckily, in more remote areas like Port McNeill there are still some facilities near the docks where you can top up your tank. But in populous areas like the Gulf Islands or the Sunshine Coast? Forget about it.

We have two 10 lb tanks, one of which was used for the BBQ. But after the first tank ran dry and we were literally weeks before I could refill it, I started using the disposable 1 lb bottles on the BBQ and kept the second tank as a spare for the stove. It was that or stop baking, and I like baking.

At the Dock So far we haven’t had to fill up, but according to Google there is a place about two kilometres away that will do it. I guess we will load up the empty tank in our cart and wheel it there. One of out dock mates suggested if I could round up enough tanks that needed filling we could get a truck to come down, but I don’t think that kind of coordination is likely. And I stuck with the 1lb tanks on the BBQ so I am confident we won’t run out of propane at an inopportune moment.

Maintenance

Short Check the oil. Every day. Keep half an eye out for worn or wearing bits and just enjoy.

Long Be prepared. If you are new at this like we are, be prepared to buy things. Stainless slit rings, bolts and screws, a rebuild kit for the head, glue and sealant, new light bulbs, some line, even a few tools. We tried to prepare ourselves as best we could, but there are always projects and time to do them. We definitely found it easier (and cheaper) to tackle multiple small things as we went then to pay for the big things once we were back.

And if you are away long enough in our wind-less summers be prepared to change the oil. Which means you need more tools, buckets and a place to safely dispose of the used oil.

At the Dock Maintenance is more of a intellectual problem than a physical on once you are on the dock. You have to budget time and money and prioritize. Since a lot of the thing you need to work on won’t affect you if you stay at the dock there is a tendency to put them off. Ever seen the skit on Sesame Street where Ernie doesn’t want to fix the window https://youtu.be/JBDlQJMkOlw ?

And if you add up the costs of all the projects you need/want to do, I guarantee you will find it exceeds your budget. So I find myself second guessing where I want my limited funds to go. I think this is the point where the reality of boat ownership really starts to hit home. The definition of a boat is often stated as “a hole in the water you pour money into.” I am starting to believe it.

Downtime

Short On a short trip there generally isn’t much downtime. Or depending on your perspective, it’s all downtime. You flit from destination to destination and relaxing is as simple as the cold beer after the sail with the occasional brilliant sunset thrown in. Staying more than 2 days in one place is a waste of good cruising time so let’s cast off and do it again.

Long I think, in this regard, that long trips are basically a bunch of short trips strung together with downtime scheduled in between. We found most of our down days were spaced about one or two weeks apart where we would end up spending several days tied up in one spot, doing chores, cleaning up and generally enjoying ourselves.

Oh we did deliberately stay at a lovely anchorage for two or three days to soak in the atmosphere but oddly enough it was the multiple days at the dock that that were the most pressure-free. Some of it had to do with monitoring batteries and water and some of it had to do with the imperative to make the most of the opportunity. I think we will have to take even longer trips (4 months+) to truly be able to get relaxed just hanging on the hook.

At the Dock Unfortunately, being on the dock is way too similar to being at home. And being workaholics, we tend to want to move right back to 10–12 hr days, 7 days a week. But the benefit of the boat is that with shorter daylight hours it’s easier to make a point of turning off the work and enjoying a game or some tv on the laptop after dinner. So in reality we work closer to standard business hours and try and reserve the weekends for non-work activities. So far, it’s working out pretty good. But I would still rather be cruising.

Special Considerations: Heat and Condensation,

Short Short trips are generally in the summer, at least for us, and keeping cool is more of a consideration that keeping warm. But most boats in the PNW have heaters to take the edge off in the morning if you really need it.

Long We ran the heater about once a week for an hour or two on especially cold mornings. You tend to try and endure the cool temperatures to avoid firing up the noisy heaters when you are anchored in those lovely still coves. But some mornings are just too damp and cold. And since you are on the move, you get plenty of ventilation and air movement and moisture in the cabin is pretty much a non-issue.

At the Dock We are currently using two electric heaters and plan to start supplementing that with the built in diesel heater when the temps start to dip below freezing. The electric heaters are fine except both of them running at full blast (1500 watts) will soon overload our 30 amp service and pop a breaker at 3 o’clock in the morning leaving you with a cold, cold boat.

And you need to keep dorades and hatches open to allow fresh air in to keep the humidity down. As I mentioned we’ve already sacrificed two pillows to mildew. Actually, since I started composing this post a couple of days ago, the total count is now up to three. Spare pillows just seem especially susceptible. So far it hasn’t been to much of a struggle and we have yet to give up the onboard showers, but special care and consideration needs to be taken. We also have started lifting the mattresses occasionally and letting air flow into little used spaces like lockers.

In Conclusion

I am sure that there are tons of things I have missed and plenty of experiences I have yet to encounter, but it’s been interesting to try and enumerate the differences we encountered in the types of boating we did in 2015. I think, as in most things in life, boating is most enjoyable when expectations match the most probable outcomes; it’s just a matter of figuring out what those are. We probably have one more big cruise in store next spring before we are back to real life and having to make do with shorter trips, but after re-reading this post, I guess that doesn’t seem to bad, does it…

And there’s always the chance we might get to sail!

 

I finally got around to amalgamating all my tracks from this summer’s cruise using Google’s My Maps feature. I had to email all the tracks to myself from the Navionics app  on my phone then download each KML file. Next I uploaded each file to a separate layer to Google My Maps and had to keep amalgamating the layers as My Maps will only allow you a max of 10 layers.  Occasionally I had to go in and edit the KML track if it had failed to record a bit or I didn’t start the track right upon departure. There has got to be a better way…

In the interactive map below you can select individual tracks and get some info about it, but beware, sometimes it isn’t all that accurate.

The Trip

As I have written before, if you haven’t made the trip to the Broughtons, then you should, even if you don’t think you have the time. Here is the 2 week itinerary we basically followed on last year’s trip. This year we departed on July 26 from Granville Island, Vancouver and returned to Victoria’s Inner Harbour a little over two months later on September 29 and it could have (would have) been longer if we had the time.

Here is the link to the larger Google version.

Here are a few stats

66 days in total
32 travel days
170+ hours of boating
1389 km (750 nm)

Longest day: 76.5 km (41.3 nm)
Days we sailed: 9
Days with some sailing: 4
Days we tried to sail but had to give up: 5
Highest winds: 26 knots, gusting to 29

Nights at a marina: 32
Nights at anchor: 34

Orca spottings: 6 times
Humpback spottings: 6 times
Dolphin/porpoise spottings: 2 times
Bear spottings: 1 time

I didn’t shoot a lot of video on our trip to the Broughtons this summer although I did start out with the intent to become the next YouTube star and live off the profits. That idea lasted about 5 minutes—it’s a lot of work. But what I did shoot I decided to edit down to three short videos.

Whales, orcas, dolphins, otters, I shot them all. Other than that, mostly just a lot of beautiful scenery and some not-so-exciting sailing shots.

Enjoy!

Part 1: from the survey on Granville Island to our arrival at Echo Bay in the Broughtons.

 

Part 2: from Echo Bay, our trip with Nikki van Schyndel, to arriving at Port McNeill just ahead of the big September windstorm

 

Part 3: from Port McNeill, back south to Portland Island just off Sidney B.C.

I promise to write a long entry on life at dock in Victoria, but for now I offer up a weekend trip in mid-October.

Getting Ready

We tied up at wharf street on September 28th and since then haven’t moved the boat at all except for one aborted attempt to try out a different slip. It was time to get out again. So the first thing we did was make a list of what needed to be done to make the the Never for Ever sailable again. We’d added cable internet, a fitting for the pumpout boat and tied down or otherwise secured a lot of lines and running rigging, all of which needed to be reset. But down below it seems we had still kept everything fairly reasonably stowed, so it wasn’t all that much effort to get us going again.

I did experience a small issue with the tachometer when I fired the diesel up after three weeks of inactivity. The revs were registering much higher than the engine was actually doing for a few minutes but then it settled down again. Yet another (probably expensive) boat thing to look into.

We cast off around 9 am on Friday to try and make the 10:30 slack at Baynes Channel. We made good time but the tide was with us, so I wasn’t worried overly about the passage when we got there early.  The plan was to head up to Portland Island and await word if R Shack Island was going to be able to meet us. If so, then we would head to Genoa Bay the next day for a nice dinner. If not then we would find some other options. The winds were forecast to be light, climbing to 10-15 knots for the next couple of days and then up to 20-30 on Tuesday, so we figured we would head for home on Monday and avoid the chance of getting stuck out too long.

As is so often the case, the wind was right on the nose as we headed east down Juan de Fuca and then they swung with us to remain pretty much on the nose all the way up Haro Strait. We contemplated raising the sails anyway after transiting Baynes, but on cue the winds died down to 5 knots and we decided hiking Portland was a better goal than a bunch of hours beating in such light winds. It seems to be the curse of the Salish Sea that the wind only blows in the wrong direction, but someone must be getting the wind… right?

Portland Island

A few hours later we pulled into Princess Margaret Cove on the south side of Portland Island and anchored a bit away from the only other boat there. By the end of the evening there were  a total of 4 other sailboats at anchor— two of them under 24′. One of those, a MacGregor, had four people aboard, so it was no surprise that my first glimpse of them when I stuck my head up the hatch was of someone urinating off the bow pulpit. I guess there was more privacy there…

After a few minutes of tidying up we jumped in Laughing Baby and Leslie rowed us to shore. At this time of year the visitor’s dinghy dock has already been removed, so we opted to land on the rocks and tie up to one of the stern tie rings. Then we could scramble up to shore and Baby should be secure. But after a bit of consideration and remembering it was a rising tide, we moved the dinghy over to what was left of the wharf and tied off to one of the rails.

We had last been on Portland just before heading to Victoria, but had stern tied on the north side in Royal Cove. We hadn’t been in Princess Margaret since our very first cruise-and-learn many years ago. And we hadn’t completed our circumnavigation of the island on foot so there were plenty of paths to explore. We checked out the old apple orchard (the ground was devoid of any apples at all—nature has some good clean-up crews). Then we headed east along the shore, stopping along the way to admire the plentiful and varied mushroom crop (I really wish I knew more about mushrooms), stare out at the beautiful vistas and to kick around in the huge piles of leaves. Fall is such a beautiful time and it’s a pity we don’t get out into nature more when we are in the city. Yet another great thing about our liveaboard sojourn.

Eventually we circled back to the boat and I camped out under the canvas to enjoy the warmth and setting sun. Dinner was French toast and that was strictly Leslie’s bailiwick so I was off the hook with no mandate except to to drink a beer and relax. October is an odd time of year. An afternoon of sunlight on the canvas and the cockpit was like heated room, but the moment the sun dipped below the tree line, the temperature plummeted and, by the time the light faded, I was driven below and contemplating firing up the diesel heater.

 

We hadn’t used the heater much. It is a Webasto hydronic heater, which means a small diesel-fed boiler heats up water (actually it’s coolant like in your radiator) and circulates it through 3 electric fan units. You have the option of a high or low speed on each of the fans (one in the salon, one in the v-berth and one in the aft cabin) and with all three going full blast the boat heats up pretty quickly. There are a few downsides though. One is that when warming up, the heater sounds like a jet engine and since it is in an aft locker, it makes sleeping in the morning almost impossible if you want to heat the boat before you get up.

Another is that both the heater and the fans consume battery power. But since we’d actually added a battery monitor finally, we were able to track it. Turns out with all three fans going full bore (which we never actually used in practice) the consumption after the initial warm-up period was around 6.5 AmpHrs (it ran as high as 12 during the warm up). Which is right around what the fridge uses. And since the heater (at least in mid October) probably ran for less than four hours in a 24 hr period, all in all it wasn’t too bad.

So we ran the heat for a while to warm up the boat and then ate dinner. Afterwards we watched some West Wing episodes on the laptop and then ran the heat again—this time in the aft cabin— while we did dishes, just before hitting the sack. This turned out to be our basic pattern: an hour (maybe two) in the morning to warm the boat up, an hour or so when we returned from the day’s activities if the temperature warranted it, and another hour to warm up the cabin before bed. It was a good system.

The next morning we found out R Shack was not going to make it and so, after a bit of humming and hawing, we settled on Butchart Gardens as our next destination. They have free mooring buoys there and we had never been at this time of year. Again the winds were almost nonexistent so we motored of towards Saanich Inlet. Along the way we spotted a few sea lions out fishing and Leslie caught the tail end (pun intended) of a humpback diving just off our bow. By the time I arrived back on deck he was gone but we did eventually see him again with another, off in the distance, but only by using the binoculars.

Butchart Gardens

The entrance to Butchart Cove is just below Brentwood Bay and you have to weave your way in through all the moored boats. Then you arrive in this tiny cove just off the entrance to Tod Inlet with five mooring buoys spaced close together. You have to grab one and then stern tie to the provided rings ashore to avoid bumping your neighbour. So we dutifully grabbed a ball and then I rowed ashore to loop our stern line through the provided ring. The shore is quite close so there was no problem running our 200′ of line back to the boat so I could avoid having to go out tomorrow and untie.

After we had tied up and everything was stowed, we rowed over to the dock. The Gardens close at 4 pm and they boot you out around 5 so we only had a few hours. Their dock hosts float planes, tour boats and whale watching boats during the high season but we had it pretty much to ourselves. A quick walk up the ramp and you give them a call on the intercom (it is manned full time in the high season) to be admitted through the gate. A pleasant young man took some info on our boat and dispatched someone to take our money (around $25 ea) and let us in.

One of the joys of visiting by boat is that you come in away from all the crowds and parking lots and the first thing you see is the spectacular — in any season — Japanese gardens. It really make you feel special to be able to avoid the hustle and bustle of the tourist-oriented main entrance. I highly recommend it to any one.

If you have never been to Butchart in the fall, then go. There are plants and colours you will never see at any other time of year and the effect is spectacular. Everywhere you turn there is something to see, from brilliant purple berries to salmon-coloured Japanese maples that, at any other time of year, aren’t to be seen. There are even roses still in bloom. Imagine, breathing the heady scent of an English rose in October. Really unthinkable in Edmonton.

The sunken garden

The apparent shadow beneath this tree was not formed by light but by a perfect circle of fallen purple leaves.

We wandered the gardens for almost three hours before they came to kick us out. And again we got to leave through the quiet back entrance, with one more pleasant walk through the Japanese Gardens. It leaves a much softer and pleasant memory when you the last thing you experince is a quiet wooded path down to the dock rather than a crowded gift shop and parking lot full of people with places they need to get to.

I BBQ’d some burgers for dinner and we settled in for the night. After a bit of discussion we decided to head to Roche Harbor in the San Juans tomorrow and find an anchorage there. From there it is only a bit over three hours back to Victoria so we could sleep in and relax.

The next morning we cast off and headed back up Saanich Inlet. Along the way we encountered two of the RCN’s Orca class patrol/training boats. They were number 55 (the lead boat in the class and thus called the Orca) and number 66 ( the Moose, and the newest of the class). Their decks were crowed with sea cadets and they were obviously out doing training exercises. In fact we saw the Orca start to maneuver oddly and soon enough they had launched their RIB and zoomed off to pick up a “man” overboard.

San Juan Island

One task necessitated by our visit to the U.S.-owned San Juan’s was to check out our galley for prohibited foodstuffs. I tossed some green onions (they were a bit off anyway) and decided to “hide” the bananas in a batch of banana bread and muffins. It was one of our first attempts at baking underway and turned out pretty damn good. Nothing like warm muffins for lunch. Other than that, according to the list of import regs I downloaded, everything else was good.

We got the sails up for an hour or so on a broad reach crossing Haro Strait starting at about 15 knots, but the winds kept dying. But we persisted and gybed our way to the entrance to Roche Harbor, finally dropping the sails in less than 5 knots of wind. Then we checked in at the Customs dock in Roche (which has moved from the outer dock to the port side of the docks, down by the fuel dock) and I cleared us in while Leslie waited aboard. Afterwards we walked the boat over to the fuel dock and pretended our Canadian dollars were at par. Fuel sure is cheap here when you do that. All topped up, we headed back out to the outer dock and tied up again so we could visit for a while. I picked up one bottle of wine in the store to drink that night as there are no exemptions on visits less than 48 hours, and we walked up to the sculpture garden to explore for a while. We didn’t have a lot of time as it was getting late but we saw a bit more of the resort than we had on our last visit before we had to head back to the boat. We will definitely need to come back and stay for a while.

It is about a 20 minute cruise down Mosquito Passage to Garrison Bay. It was empty except for two other boats that appear to be permanently moored there—at least they had also been there on our last visit. We dropped anchor and fired up the heater. It’s pretty shallow here (less than 10 feet below the keel) but the tide was only dropping 7 feet that night so we were good. And we’d got a bit chilled wandering around Roche.

I think it was our windiest night since we picked up Never for Ever and I certainly heard a lot of new noises throughout the night. The most annoying one, which I got up to  fix (twice), was the flag halyard — where we were flying out small American courtesy flag — banging on the mast inner stays and setting up a chain reaction that sounded like pots clanging together when you were down below. Could not hear a thing when you were on deck, but down below it was really annoying. I eventually solved it by lowering the flag for the evening.

The next morning we slept in and lounged around reading and enjoying the scenery. It really is a pleasant and peaceful place with the historic buildings of English camp peeking out through the mist. Then around 1 pm, we raised anchor and headed back out into Haro strait to cross the shipping lanes on our way back to Victoria. I spent the trip practicing using the AIS to track ships. Those tankers move at up to 20 knots and can really appear from out of nowhere, so if visibility is poor you want to be able keep track of their whereabouts. Otherwise the trip home was quiet although we had the tide against us most of the way. We hit Bayne Channel a bit before slack and motored against the 2 knot current along with a few other boats.

Soon enough we were in Victoria Harbour and tying up at the Customs dock by Fisherman’s Wharf to check back in. It is not manned at this time of year so you have to report in by phone. A nice young man soon cleared us after laughing at my reaction to the question of whether I was carrying more than $10,000 in cash—don’t we all wish, and we cast off for the short jaunt home. Rounding the outer dock on Wharf Street we saw there was a new boat beside our assigned moorage, but he had left plenty of room for me to easily get to our spot.

Then came trying to get all set up again for life on dock. And readjusting once again to a stationary lifestyle. But hopefully we will get out again soon.

 

We are now in week four of our trip to the Broughtons and will have to start heading homeward sometime in the next week or two. It’s been grand, and the people, the countryside and the whole ethos of the place are simply stellar.

But that’s not to say it’s any more a Garden of Eden than the next destination. There are always some snakes in the grass.

Major Concerns

Most of these issues can be dealt with by a quick trip across Queen Charlotte Strait to Port McNeill, but a sailboat like ours isn’t fast and the Strait is one of those bodies of water that isn’t always cooperative. So we left that trip until after our third week here.

Garbage
The biggest issue for us, in that this year the opportunities to get rid of garbage and recycling are extremely limited. Most marinas will take burnables, but if you didn’t pre-sort that’s a bit of an icky challenge; and, frankly, most burnables are recyclables these days and we’d like to try to pack most of that out. And even the burning has been iffy with the dry summer this area has been having this year.

A few places wouldn’t even take pop or beer cans. It’s just too trouble much for them to haul them, and the Boy Scouts are no longer picking up.

Although it’s frowned on, we did get rid of a few organics like chicken bones overboard, but that still leaves enough that after four weeks I am running out of space in the aft locker.

Storage is always at a premium onboard.

Water
Water is also a bit of an issue. We started the trip with a full tank of potable water, but eventually it ran low. Last year in June the spring water at Sullivan Bay was great, but apparently the dry spell meant it ran dry in early June and they have been on filtered lake water ever since. Port Harvey was limiting water altogether. Shawl Bay’s water was clear but still posted with a boil water notice

Most of the places we’ve visited have a filtration system and a mix of people who will and will not drink it. Most places also have to use ground water that is colored by cedar bark tannins and is an odd and, to some, unpleasant tinge. So once you’ve filled your tank, you are going to want empty it before adding anything potable.

There are boil water warnings at all the marinas. Talk on the dock is that they have to post the warnings even if the water is good because provincial rules demand frequent samples and testing (which must be done in Vancouver) and it’s virtually impossible for these small, isolated marinas to comply. At least that’s the talk.

Fresh Food
Expensive and rare. And you need to time it right so you hit a marina right after they’ve made a run for the best choices. Oh, and only a few marinas like Pierre’s Port Harvey and Sullivan Bay have a store. The rest stock pop or candy bars if you are lucky; otherwise you are on your own.

Fresh food means it’s time to get cooking again.

Sullivan Bay and Port Harvey boast restaurants. Pierre’s has scheduled potluck pig roasts and prime rib nights. Other marinas will also occasionally throw potlucks like the deep-fried turkey night we encountered at Shawl Bay. So there is always food to be found.

Bread and Wine
A corollary to the above point about fresh food is the availability of some luxury items. Bread is at a premium, with availability very sketchy. Port Harvey bakes pretty much every day so if you pre-order you can get some there, and Shawl Bay had fresh bread, buns and pies for sale in the morning. But liquor was available only at Sullivan Bay, and the $32 price tag for the two six-packs of beer made me choke a bit.

We found English muffins and raisin bread to be our favorite baked goods since we always toast them and they last longer than even the famous Wonder Bread. As for booze, well, we just had to start rationing.

Fuel
Fuel is available at Pierre’s and Sullivan Bay, which are inconveniently close to each other and Lagoon Cove which is a bit south. Given the lack of wind, we have done too much motoring for our druthers, but that’s summer in the PNW. Luckily both Pierre’s and Sullivan Bay occupy bays that are sort of crossroads in the NE part of the Broughtons so we passed them a few times during the trip.

Lagoon Cove

Gasoline for the outboards was actually a bigger concern. A lot of exploring and a dearth of places to store jerry cans has meant we had to keep close track of our fuel levels.

Costs

The other thing to be aware of is the high cost of things that come cheaper in the south. Overall moorage is cheaper, ranging from $0.95 to $1.25 per foot. But the extras are all much higher. Some 30-amp power can be as high as $20 a night and showers can be upwards of $7.25 each. Washing and drying were frequently over $5 or $6 each, making a load of laundry cost over $11.

Because all the water is scarce and the power generated, these costs are not unreasonable, but we have taken to showering aboard and doing without shore power if we have just been on motor or when we know we will be motoring the next day. These decisions have helped when we’ve been at marinas several days in a row.

Perks

But there are lots of perks. The people are terrific, always bending over backwards to help. Freshly made cinnamon buns & danishes can be found at most of the marinas, and Shawl Bay even offers free pancakes every morning. Happy Hours are a tradition on the all the docks with everyone bringing appies, and potlucks, as I mentioned, pop up here and there.

And the anchorages are sublime. There literally dozens if not hundreds of small private coves that offer stunning vistas and peaceful sunsets. The anchorages are the number one reason to visit, and when you get tired being by yourself the hospitality of the marinas is a welcome relief.

Just remember, none of this should deter anyone from considering the Broughtons a premier destination; it’s quickly becoming one of my favourites.

It’s been busy, busy, busy and while I have a bunch of stuff started for The Chronicles, nothing is actually done yet.

I have managed to do a few trip reports for macblaze.ca if you are interested in our trip to the Broughtons and the first month or so living aboard. It’s much more of a casual diary, so don’t expect too much.

Go North Young Man… Even If You’re Old (August 1–5)

The Next Few Days (August 6–17)

What Day Is This? Oh, Turnbull Cove! (August 17–18)

Winding Down? (August 19–23)

Enjoy!