Oh Canada!

Hi everyone!

We're four days in, and all is wonderful. 

Day 1 (April 28):

Our families visited Shilshole Saturday morning to wish us farewell, and we triumphantly cast off...into one knot of wind. Even the race boats next to us were clocking in at .5 knots, so we begrudgingly turned on our engine to make some progress. We were able to fully sail again in Admiralty Inlet and continued to tack back and forth until Boatyard Marina in Port Townsend to spend the night. 

We try to stay in marinas as infrequently as possible because they're expensive. Fortunately, we get "reciprocal moorage" privileges with our yacht club, which allow us to stay at some marinas (like the one in Port Townsend) for free. Like any frugal, rational mariner, we plan to use this perk as often as possible on this trip. Sloop Tavern Yacht Club operates out of Sloop Tavern, the best dive bar in Seattle (as rated by the author of this blog), and is really the only affordable way to do the yacht club thing.

Day 2 (April 29):

Today was misty and windless, but we were able to time the currents to at least allow us to drift in a favorable direction. The water in the Strait of Juan de Fuca was glass, so we caught up on reading and route planning. This was much different from last summer's transit where we were met with 35 knots on the nose. To arrive at Sucia Island before dark, we motored nearly half the time.

Sailing the San Juans in late April is the way to go. We were the only ones in Sucia's Shallow Bay, usually a busy destination.  

Many years ago, we used this anchorage to learn how to anchor...poorly. After feeling confident our anchor was set we fell asleep, only to be awoken by a jarring metal sound. We had drifted completely off the shelf and into open water. Thank goodness our anchor wrapped around the chain of the entrance buoy or else who knows where we would have ended up by morning!

This was an embarrassing story as Shallow Bay is a calm, easy anchorage. Fortunately, we returned with much more experience this time and slept soundly. No drift, no worry. 

Fog in Sucia. Notice the small two buoys left to Dave's head;
the far left one was our saving grace several years ago.

Day 3 (April 30):

A foggy, misty morning, so we turned on radar and crept along by motor. Fortunately, wind replaced the fog just north of Patos Island, so we were able to sail the rest of the way, almost entirely to Vancouver. We docked at Jericho Beach, cleared customs, stayed at the marina (reciprocal moorage, woot-woot!), and started on necessary boat chores. 

The yacht club here is a different sailing culture than we're used to with Sloop Tavern. It displays an extravagant, spiral staircase akin to the Titanic and several megayachts that probably rarely leave the dock. The restaurant on premises is black-tie, and the cafe requires "jacket and clean, neat sailing attire." Obviously, we did not visit either. We pulled up in our muck boots, foulie overalls, and greasy hair and enjoyed hanging out with the night security guard, Charlie. 

Cailin, Dave's sister, joined us here for the next day's sail to Halfmoon Bay. She lives in Vancouver, so we don't get to see her enough.

BC Ferry

Patos Island

Day 4 (May 1):

Sun! Wind! Sailing all day! The three of us set off into the Strait of Georgia at 8:30 and spent the day sailing in sun and a good 15 knot winds. It's on our nose with some swell and contrasting current, but the sun and wind make us so happy we don't care. 

During the heaviest swell, we started to lose our middle batten off our mainsail. Fortunately, our practice heaving to in the Puget Sound paid off, and we were able to stop the boat and work on it. Dave tethered in, hung on to the boom, and got to work. We got more heaving-to practice when it fell out again ten minutes later. Fortunately, Dave replaced the screws and all was set. Appreciation to the tanker who changed its course to go around us during this ordeal from a ways away. We know you had right-of-way, so you rock, tanker.

We're enjoying having Cailin on board. She's handling the conditions like a pro and pulling lines with each tack. Although we haven't been away from home for long, we will be soon, and having family with us is nice. Currently, we're just off Sechelt, about 6 miles to Halfmoon Bay.

Vancouver

Sun! Wind!

Cailin sailing like a boss!

Howe Sound