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Kestrel
Seattle, WA, USA
She/They pronouns My partner inspired me join his cruising and take up sailing. So my first major experience was on a chartered 40-something monohull in the San Juan Islands, WA with him and several friends for about a week in summer of 2021. Then I took my first sailing course, ASA 101, that following winter. After taking various additional trips up and down Puget Sound -- often with just us two -- and more sailing classes under my belt, I joined my partner to live aboard his 42' sailboat a year and a half ago. Finally, we untied lines for full-time cruising this past April! So far, we've made our way up north, traveling up the Salish Sea and crossing over into Canada, and continuing our cruising up to the North Coast, BC before crossing the Hecate Strait and spending most of July in Haida Gwaii. Most recently, we are making our way down south, starting with an overnight offshore passage from the south tip of Haida Gwaii to north tip of outer Vancouver Island at the beginning of August. We will be spending the remainder of the month to finish traveling down the outer (west) coast of the island before crossing back into US.
The biggest town we've been to since Campbell River at the end of May, we're excited to check out Tofino! After a night of bad sleep (unrelated to the weather), lots of rain, and the occasional 20 knot gust of wind, we made the prudent choice today to take the inside route to Tofino rather than going offshore for a rolly trip. The rollers just outside the anchorage made it immediately obvious that this was the correct choice.
Two nights in Bodega Cove with a backtrack to to Tahsis to get Internet for telehealth, then to Hot Springs Cove on Thursday. Which was a mistake. Turns out just because the 50km grid wind forecast I can get from the Iridium says we'll have just 11-13 knots doesn't mean that is true near land... 20-25 knot winds upwind around the Hesquiat Peninsula made for a rough day. But we arrived safely and are settling in to relax.
We continue to not be good at catching salmon in the places we go
We had an amazing time in the Gwaii Haanas, and a good first overnight offshore crossing to Vancouver Island! Pictures to come, will edit this post...
Lots of motoring, very little wind, lots of rain, and almost no other boats. Anchored in some very remote places this past week! The Hecate Strait was extremely sedate during our crossing, which is a lot better than its difficult reputation, so we didn't hate motoring across instead of being able to sail.
Spent three nights off-grid in the beautiful Spider Anchorage before heading to Bella Bella for a few days to resupply and do laundry before we continue heading north into even more remote areas. We've now been cruisers for 2 months!
Two beautiful days of cruising with some sailing and some motoring. Got around the notorious Cape Caution without issue and decided to skip our intended Thursday evening anchorage and go all the way to the Hakai Institute in Pruth Bay. Saw sea otters and even a humpback!
12-16kn at our backs made for a nice quiet hour
Super calm day on Johnstone Strait, so we took advantage of it and motored to Alert Bay
Two pretty chill days of motoring with little wind except when it was 15-20kn in our face. Anchored in Charles Bay the first night, now we're securely anchored in Port Neville.
We saw a lot of boats fishing just outside the entrance to Discovery Passage, decided to slow down and drop our salmon trolling rigs in the water, and *immediately* caught two salmon!
Didn't catch anything but I hooked one and got it near the boat before I accidentally let the line slack and it got away.
While the riggers work on our furling mechanism at their shop, we're going to relax.
Motored (and motorsailed) back to Comox on an day that got increasingly sunny. Getting some help from Blanchard Rigging tomorrow to replace bearings in our mast furling mechanism.
A very rainy morning in Desolation Sound got very windy (20-25kn) as we left and headed towards Lund. Taking Thulin Passage was a good idea as it protected us from the majority of the fetch in the Strait, but we were motoring directly into the wind!
Nice calm motor to Laura Cove in Desolation Sound
Didn't catch any fish or have any wind to sail on, but it's a beautiful calm day!
Nice calm sail then motor, we diverted over to Comox as our furling main is a bit stuck and won't unfurl all the way, so some riggers are coming by the dock to help us out.
We were able to sail most of the way, but had big swells on our aft starboard quarter rolling us around and making for an uncomfortable day.
We'll chill here for a little over a week provisioning and doing minor maintenance tasks... Plus celebrating my partner's birthday!
Quick stop at Silva Bay for the night before we head to Nanaimo tomorrow
Not much wind, but a whole lot of current, mostly with us. And now we're cleared into Canada!
Had a nice chill sail + motor up to Sucia, dropped the hook in nice shallow water in Shallow Bay, and even saw orcas on the way!
Had a 2-4kn current with us all morning until nearly half way across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, making for a nice quick trip. Glad we set off at 6am to catch it! Pity the only wind most of the day was light and directly in our faces!
First trip as full time cruisers, we'll head into the San Juan Islands tomorrow!
No wind to sail on until we were almost back to the locks, but we got to see a pod of porpoises playing!
Nice gentle downwind sail for the first third, then motoring on no wind!
Well, at least we had wind to sail on for the first hour...
Dead calm day on Puget Sound
15-20 knots outside, 5 knots of wind in Manzanita Bay. Time to tuck in for a cozy weekend.
Incredibly calm, a nice difference from the past several days!
