Day 15

            Today was the first day of dad and I sailing up through the more hairy sections of northern British Columbia, and was a pretty uneventful day, at least in the first three quarters, near the end things started to get a bit more interesting.

            We left Sointula late around 11:00am, and were delayed when at the last minute as we were exiting the breakwaters mom and Carmen started waving their arms and calling for us to come back because they had left the key to the bike lock of some borrowed bikes on board. What followed was a very interesting fly-by where we swung by the fuel dock at the end of the pier, where dad reached out and passed the key to Carmen. This in itself was not so bad, but we had to maneuver around the 60-foot fishing boat already tied up and ended up clearing the overhanging stern with only inches to spare.

            After that we got out into the channel and settled down to four steady hours of motoring. The only plus was that we had finally gotten the electronic autopilot, nicknamed “Ray” for Raymarine, working and so we didn’t actually have to stand at the helm all those tedious hours, though a log watch was still necessary.

            Though the actual sailing was extremely boring and uneventful, we did get some great wildlife viewing, spotting three pods of orcas throughout the day, one with a male whose dorsal fin looked like it was over six feet! There were also quite a few harbor porpoises in the area, but as usual they just went about their business and ignored us. However, the most exiting event was when a lone dolphin or porpoise, which I could not identify, came over and rode our bow wave for a few minutes.

            It is always amazing to watch these graceful creatures easily matching and surpassing the speeds we tried so hard to attain, shooting off ahead and looping back to ride the turbulence from our bow wave for a few seconds and looking straight up at us with their intelligent eyes before shooting off again. This time, though it was especially breathtaking because with the low freeboard we were only about three feet away, I could have reached out and touched it if I had been lying down on deck.

            After the friendly dolphin or porpoise left, we continued on over glassy swells coming from Queen Charlotte Sound and the Pacific Ocean, and as we entered Gordon channel we passed our first two cruise ships headed south in quick succession after cutting across the channel to avoid a small cargo ship and a tug and barge.

            It was now, as we were nearing our destination that the wind started to pick up right in our face until we were slogging under power into 15 knots and a moderate chop on top of the swell. And of course, it was during this period that the engine suddenly, without warning spluttered to a halt. It turned out that we had merely run out of fuel, so we raised the jib and sailed for a few minutes while we untied a jerry can from the foredeck and refilled the tank. Finally we reached the pass to our destination in the Walker Islands, the wind pushing us through the narrow gap until all was suddenly calm in the snug little cove between two of the larger islands. Unfortunately, the beauty of the place was a bit spoiled by a large motor cruiser that had passed us earlier in the day, forcing us to anchor off to the side and a bit farther in than I had hoped. All turned out well though, and it proved to be a very nice stop before our long day in the open water tomorrow.