August 1st we finally crossed the strait. The forecast was for 15 kts of wind from the SW, which was spot on. As was the 1-2 foot wave height. So we were taking the wind/waves on the starboard beam and it was no big deal. Arriving Howe Sound, about 25 miles north of Vancouver, the skies look a little ominous. I'm always amazed by glacier carved out sounds and fjords. This landscape can even make huge ferries practically disappear. We dropped the hook in an area of Long Harbor that should have reasonable protection from the predicted Northerlie. The problem was that the wind somehow missed the forecast and turned into a nasty Southerlie. I actually saw a 32 knot gust. Having beeen dealing with this wind every day of our tip except one, it's getting old at this point. I post a message at Trawlerforum.com and our PNW Yacht Owner facebook group asking if boaters are experiencing these winds up North in Desolation and the Broughtons. What I hear is that it is really mostly a problem with the various straits. Once you are in the shelter of those islands, the wind isn't a factor. We head out bound for Pender harbor, a nice 35 mile or so Northward trek. We encountered this tug and tow, always amazed at the enormous loads a tug can pull. It's lumpy and bumpy until we are on a course about 45 degrees, then the wind is directly behind us, blowing about the same as our speed, 10 knots. It's eerie to poke your head out of the pilothouse and the air is just completely still.
The further we go, the better it is! Flatter seas, more sun, fun boats. Feels like boating again instead of slogging through mud. Next post, we arrive Pender Harbour.
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When we last left Mahalo's kayaks, I wasn't really happy with version one of my new hoists. Luckily we were near Gange's and the wonderful Mouat's hardware/marine/etc store there. I picked up some new bits! For starters I picked up this braided nylon. It's stronger, and matches the kayak colors to some degree. I attached the caribbeaners to the attachment points instead of looping the lines through them. Got a new hook deal instead of the rings. I put some friction tape at the bottom of the snap hook so the line doesn't really shift. Hoists attaching to the seat attachment points. Very clean and can be removed in a flash. Now we can easily stash the hoist under the seat while we are out enjoying the kayaks. But wait, there is more! Now that I have really simplified the hoisting operation, if possible I wanted these same bits to attach the kayak to Mahalo. You see, the most difficult part of the entire process is moving our bodies from Mahalo to the kayak. Mahalo is super steady, and the kayak is like a greased puck on ice! We have found that lashing the kayak to the staple on the swim step as tightly as possible is what makes the process easier. As you see here, I'm able to loop the hoisting line around the staple and simply use the snap hook to secure. Get that butt down in the seat and deploy yourself off for some kayaking fun! The kayaks really add to our boating experience and are great exercise. The novelty of being able to pedal them always delights our visitors.
With the new deployment/retrieval it will be even more fun to use them. Last year I didn't have time to put much thought into a nice way to deploy and retrieve our Hobie kayaks. Here's the blog post I did when I first brought them aboard. I have been using the crane, and some nylon straps I had from tying down my previous kayaks to a trailer or car top. The boats are often hoisted at crazy angles, not that it really hurts them, but it looks kinda sloppy. Above is where they live on the deck when not in use and covered up. When we go to use the kayaks, the seat and the pedals/flippers have to be installed. Last year I generally did this on the swim step, with the kayak still attached to the crane. I had the seat/pedals in a closet in the lazarette. The whole process was sort of a pain. Here they are on the table on the flybridge deck. I realized I have a big storage locker under table's seating area that would fit all four pieces nicely. I bought some anti microbial bath mats to keep them from sliding around. And I decided I could do the pedal/seat installed with the kayaks placed like this, now I have lots of working room and a nice surface. Inspired by the three point hoist that came with our tender, I bought some various bits to fashion a hoist for each kayak. First I had to figure out the center of gravity. I measured and tied the lines to the caribbeaners. I had threaded the lines through the same mounting points for the seats, thinking these are very strongly reinforced in the hull. But the caribbeaners are just a little too small for the steel lifting rings I bought, that are large enough for the big hook on the crane.
I put the boats in the water with them, we went paddling/pedaling. I also realized those white lines would get grungy in a hurry. So as I often do, I'll think about this for a few days and come up with a much better version in round two. This has to be one of the prettiest ferries in the world? This summer's cruise is supposed to take us to Desolation Sound and the Broughton's. We are getting kind of a slow start. We began at Roche, then went to Madrona Bay, next to Ganges, on Salt Spring Island. We had some really strong winds there, gusting to 23 knots. When we anchor, we try to be 300-400 feet from the surrounding boats. This of course means the boats that arrive late have room to squeeze in between our boat and the original neighbors. This is the radar overlaid on the chart. Those blobs are boats, and we spent the entire night with them around 175-200 feet away from us, all boats careening around their anchors. Originally the wind was from the South. About dinner time some guy tried to drop his hook literally 50 feet from our swim step. I advised him that the wind was supposed to clock around to the North and that wasn't a good idea. Although we had set our anchor with both engines in reverse, having the wind shift 180 caused some dragging. By morning we were only 30 feet from that shoal behind our boat (the light blue). I had put the fenders out, and was up and down all night watching these other boats. I don't know if I'll get used to having boats so close in stormy conditions. I wanted out of there in the morning. Ideally we would have headed across the Strait of Georgia to begin our Northward trek. But there were high winds/small craft warnings for days to come. The WX reports were for both North and South winds on 12 hour shifts. Most of the harbors provide shelter from one but not the other. We decided on Long Harbor, which meant we could still tender over to Ganges for re-supply etc. Above photo is one of our mornings. If you go to Long Harbor, anchor on the west side. The east side is rocky and we couldn't get the anchor to set. With a lot of time on our hands, we did various boat projects and some other fun ways to pass the time. One of my projects this summer is artisan sourdough breadmaking. Here is my first attempt. Looks great, tasted wonderful, didn't quite get enough rise. Some friends said it was probably the humidity, I needed to let it rise more. Another gorgeous sunset in Long Harbor. One of my projects is a new hoisting method for launching and retrieving our kayaks. Still a work in progress, subject of a later blog post I'm sure. It was GREAT to be out pedaling again. Never tire of floatplanes/seaplanes going by the boat. Well except in Montague where it is non-stop. Roasted veggies, chicken/chorizo dinner. Yesterday we were going to cross the Strait of Georgia but ran into a glitch. As we were contemplating going through Gabriola Pass we had nice company in the form of this Nordlund. I like the lines on this boat! We decided to overnight at North Cove on Thetis Island, which is beautiful. Had time to do a bbq rib dinner. Five spice dry rub, and an Asian sauce, one of my specialties. A stunning sunset for hopefully our last night in the Gulf Islands for a while. Yesterday afternoon this pretty Nordhavn arrived and dropped hook in the middle of the bay. I was up at first light and captured her in fairly stunning light.
All right, it's off to the Sunshine Coast right now! |
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