August 10 / Day 13
Heavy fog to low overcast, Winds calm increasing to W @ 15 knots, Seas calm to swells to 1.5 meter with 2-foot chop, Seas moderate at times
I awoke on Thursday to another foggy morning. No surprise there as August is often referred
to as “Fogust” when paddling the Great Bear Rain Forest. The day’s task was to set myself up for
crossing Queen Charlotte Strait during the brief weather window that would open
on Friday. Crossing the “Queen” to
Vancouver Island is a crux move that is exposed, requires consideration and the
right conditions. I had left a dozen yachts
anchored at Fury Cove when I departed Wednesday morning, all waiting for tomorrow’s
forecasted conditions to make their crossing.
I was following suit, but being unpowered, I had to paddle for two days just
to get to a place where the crossing would be possible. I was nearly two weeks without rest, had bruised
ribs plus a left cheek that was tender and swollen courtesy of a surf-induced battering
suffered upon my arrival at Red Sand Beach.
I was pressing hard to get to a campsite where I could take advantage of
Friday’s brief weather window that would allow a safe crossing of the “Queen”. That window was forecasted to open near dawn
tomorrow and slam shut with a return of high winds in the afternoon then remain
closed for several days. I was towards
the end of my route and on the part that I’ve never been fond of. It’s the part that is littered with a disproportionate
number of objective risks, timing issues, attendant critical decisions and is accentuated
by the fact that the Queen don’t play. Lots
of moving parts and what I really didn’t need was more fog.
When traveling south and setting up for crossing the Queen you
must address a couple of significant objectives. I believe that the best strategy with winds
from the north or west is to round Cape Caution shortly after the turn to
flood. That takes wind against current
issues out of the equation and ensures that you have time to cross Slingsby
Channel well before it starts ebbing. Slingsby is one of the last places you want to
put yourself in a wind and swell against ebb current situation as it is a
firehose that empties the majority of the Seymour / Belize Inlet complex into
Queen Charlotte Sound. Both Cape Caution
and Slingsby Channel possess a great deal of potential bad juju.
