Weather: Sunny and mild. Winds: NW 15-20 slacking to 10. Seas: 2-3ft then calm.
Great fun and a blasting day!
Departed False Creek during a calm sunrise, casting lines off of Captain's Mast before anyone else but RT was up and about. Except for us, False Creek and environs were dead! Uneventful motor into English Bay and raised the main and unfurled the genoa. NW winds started to pick up and attempting to sail put us on a heading towards West Point and the ship anchorages...kept motoring.
Finally, got out far enough to set a proper tack and avoid land and made 8kts while pointing. As we cleared West Point, I wanted to fall off south, onto a course towards the eastern point of Saturna Island. The shallows off of West Point and south (Spanish Bank, Sturgeon Bank and Roberts Bank) had an impact on this desire. These banks are a steep rise out or Georgia Strait, the water depth changes abruptly from 100ft plus to 24ft or less in about 100ft horizontal distance. This causes the calmer water in the deeper water to suddenly become nasty and choppy. So, the 2-3ft waves in the deep water became 3-4ft chop in the shallow. We continued west, seemingly forever, to get around Sturgeon Bank. Throw in an entire tree deadhead, root and all, to avoid and it was an exciting time!
Still, as the westerly course took us into deeper water and we could turn downwind more, into a beam reach, we got into a rhythm with the wind and waves and hit a couple sweet spots, where the gusts and calmer water coincided and we had a brief period of 11.5kts and another at 12.3! We were smokin'!
There is an old saying, if there are two sailboats, there is a race. RT and I are both competitive and we are no exception. Normally, RT is first to our next stop, he motors a lot while Kelly and I try to sail. This works well most of the time as RT is anchored and has prepped our floating dock by the time we arrive! Today, I understand the conversation aboard C-Mast was something along the line of:
MM: "Are we going to catch them?"
RT: "Nope. Strider was made for this." RT swears he saw daylight under our hull at one point!
Once out into Georgia Strait, the calmer water was expected on the lee of Gulf Islands so we headed SW towards Galiano Island. Furled the genoa and brought out the screacher: Broad reach and following seas, can't get better! Made a comfortable 10kts.
Once in the calmer water in the lee of Galiano Island, turned SE in a downwind run. While not our favorite tack as running with the wind limits our speed...well, to less the wind's speed. Brought the genoa out for a wing on wing double headsail configuration. Main and screacher were downwind to port while the genoa was upwind to starboard funneling air into the screacher. Winds were now about 10kts and we made 7kts.
Our course took us east of the Rosenfeld Rock Buoy (the smart side) and we had a really interesting experience crossing Boiling Reef. This is an area of colliding currents, incoming and outgoing tides. When we crossed, in 24ft of water, it was calm. But the following 6in waves gave the impression we were in 1ft of water, like the break on a shore. Eerie. Kept checking the charts. RT crossed the same spot 30min later and was bashed around in 3ft chop!
On the south side of Saturna Island, the winds gradually died. Head sails were furled, but I stubbornly held onto the main. We motored. We picked up winds out of Plumper Sound. Out came the screacher and we were making 10kts in a beam reach and calm water. Several monohulls were passed, one close aboard...motoring. Sometimes I just don't get it. Conditions were great, why motor? The helmsman on the motoring boat did watch as we flew by. I was grinning big!
We sailed into Bedwell, exchanging the screacher for the genoa as it was a beat. After several tacks, we dropped sail upon approach, brought in the amas and motored into our awaiting slip.
All in all, a great day of sailing! Vancouver to Bedwell in about 7 hours. One of the thing I like about sailing is there is always something to do: adjust the heading or a sail, consider the changing conditions, ensure the route is safe, check traffic, etc. Today, winds, currents, waves and islands kept us on our toes. I was asked about relaxing. Relaxing is taken when conditions warrant. This day, I relaxed a bit on the broad reach to Galiano Island. Relaxed even more on the downwind to Rosenfeld Rock. But relaxing doesn't mean not paying attention! Always pay attention.... But mostly, relaxing is with a beer at the destination!
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