“Tango,” a Nauticat 43, shoots through Seymour narrows with an 8-knot current. Most had never gone 16 knots in a sailboat before.
eventful stroll through Dodd Narrows, I thought I would ramp it up a little bit and go through Seymour with about 8 knots behind us. As we passed thru the Narrows
the next morning, everyone was reading off their ground speed as we went through. Most had never gone 16 knots in a sailboat until then! Everyone agreed it was a memorable ride and looked forward to making good time and saving fuel as the moon pushed us closer to our destination. We pulled into Kanish Bay early
In 2011, I thought it would be fun to
share the Alaska experience with some friends from Marine Servicenter. Nine boats headed north; all types of boats ,with which we’ve had a great deal of experience with, made up the flotilla. The intrepid adventurers headed north after the 10th annual Jeanneau sailboat rendezvous in Bedwell Harbor, South Pender Island, Canada. Sadly, all 38 boats that attended the rendezvous could not make the 8 to 12-week trip north. Jobs, boat payments, weddings, relatives visiting, life, and eating regularly were just a few of the reasons I heard. These people just need to get their priorities straightened out. Our flotilla sailed north from
Bedwell on Sunday morning, June 19th, taking short hops from town to town; to pick up forgotten items, stopping for fuel, and just getting used to the fact that we were going to be gone all summer! Throughout history, sailing has
been known for its reliability and tight scheduling - not. The winds and tide won’t always be at your back. Given
that fact, I opted to try and not make a schedule for the trip north, but rather a list of daily, reachable goals. Each evening, after all the boats were securely tethered to the earth, I would look at the next day’s “goal”. I checked the course, the weather, the currents, and the perils that lay ahead. One evening we found ourselves
anchored just south of Campbell River, planning to transit the infamous Seymour Narrows the next day. Since 1958, when the largest non-nuclear explosion in history took out Ripple Rock, Seymour has been fairly tame, except on a large tidal exchange. The tidal coefficient for us was low, so I knew we would have a pleasant but fast ride through the dreaded “widow maker“.
About 15 minutes after the evening
radio get together, Charles from the yacht Spica, called on the VHF, and said, “Skipper, do you realize you have us going thru the narrows at max flood?” He was being a diligent operator and checking up on me. I told him, “Yes, that was my plan.” After our previous non-
that day to do a little bottom fishing and crabbing, and were ready to hit Johnstone Straits flood first thing in the morning. The weather and the moon were cooperating with our flight north. In fact, we were making such great time, everyone was getting anxious. It seemed like we were going so fast that we were missing some beautiful spots. Just three days after leaving Bedwell
Harbor, we pulled into Broughten Island, B.C. in Queen Charlotte Sound. This was our first real rest stop on the way north and everyone was ready to slow down and enjoy the beautiful country we had been flying by. The channel is navigable only at
high slack, or close to it, and lets us into Booker Lagoon; a large, quiet body of water used in the past for logging camps, fish and oyster farming. It is now left to nature and cruisers. Amazingly, there is a still a pair of nesting eagles high in a cedar snag over the anchorage that’s been there since my first visit 27 years ago. The day was overcast with a little
drizzle and cool with no breeze as everyone cruised around the lagoon checking out the best location to spend
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