Ocean Ventures

I just got back from the sailing trials on my family's 33 foot sloop to Southern British Columbia. The solo sail back across the straights of Juan de Fuca from Sidney to Port Angeles was a great sail. Sailing across the straights is a relatively short passage, but a solo sailor should never let distance be deceptive. If caught out in the wrong time you can get hit by nasty weather quite suddenly. At 48 degrees north sailing exposed to the cold waters of the north pacific can be quite exciting at times!

It started with a very calm wind coming from directly ahead. The autopilot was acting temperamental and seemed determined to steer the boat into James Island so I took the wheel for a while. Once into the straights the wind began increasing steadily until it reached about thirty knots. The autopilot worked after some adjustments so I was able to work on other tasks aboard.

All would be fine except the wind came from straight ahead and it was a long slow beat into the cold wind. For those of you who don't sail, going upwind as opposed to downwind is like the difference between fighting up a hill and coasting down it on a bike. You have to fight for every mile. In addition, the motion is much greater aboard and life becomes tiled as the boat is pushed over by the wind and waves. However, I was as happy as ever because this was the training I was looking for.

I made it into Port Angeles just as darkness began to fall. The only mishap was that one of the lines had wrapped around the prop but that was cut free with a knife attached to a boat hook.

The Timmissartok foundation has been very kind with their support of the voyage so I would like to thank them here. You can visit their site at timmissartok.com.

I am busy preparing to talk to the next potential sponsor so that's all for now.

Cheers,

Ryan