Crossing the Strait of Georgia

F31 Trimeran "Cariad Back," hit 15 knots in Malaspina Strait Saturday morning

Rosie, Fisherman Marina supervisor

Jules's Sails Aloft

I'm always a little afraid when we head out into the Strait of Georgia. We watch the weather forecasts carefully, especially for indications that the wind will be against the current. Winds can build in the afternoon to uncomfortable speeds when the prevailing summer northwesterlies fetch across the open water to the south east. Friday the morning currents were toward the north and the winds were light from the southwest. We sailed thirty miles from Nanaimo to Secret Cove on the mainland.

At Secret Cove, crammed in with lots of other boats, we were fortunate to meet a retired air traffic controller and his wife on a 20-foot restored wooden sailboat with an outboard problem, a Mexican dad and his 10-year-old son on a small power boat, and a retired English professor and his wife on a 24-foot Cal sailboat. Christian, the boy on the motor boat made breakfast cheese quesadillas for his Dad on the barbecue this morning. The English professor squeezed between boats at 8am to begin the 45-mile trip back across the Strait home to Comox. The air traffic controller headed north, happy to have a fixed outboard and a few more days to sail before heading back to Howe Sound.

Only ten miles away from Secret Cove to the north is Pender Harbor and Fisherman Marina, where we've been several times. David is a Brit and an accomplished sailor. His F-31 is parked at the head of the dock and Rosie, his dog guards it.

We'll go out for dinner tonight. In the morning we hope to cross the Strait to Schooner Cove, if the winds are not too high. As usual, the evening in Pender Harbour is idyllic. Looking west we see deep blueberry Texada Island under an apricot sky across the Malaspina Strait.