Getting hard on the fuel bill!

Date : 26 August
Log: 56087
Bar: 1017
Sky: Sunny
Location: Thurston Bay Marine Park, Nodales Channel -- N50*22.9' W125*19.3'
Comments:

We left Cordero Islands at a leisurely pace this morning at 1015 and spent some time sorting the anchor rode and chain and cleaning the anchor locker (which was really becoming rather nasty!)

Motoring again today (*sigh* still no wind...) down Nodales Channel to Thurston Bay Marine Park. We saw many small boats fishing along the rock walls (and in fact, some fishermen were also catching!) We anchored behind an island in the bay, which we shared with just two other boats, some distance away. We had a view of the channel and in the distance, Chatham Point, in Johnstone Strait. The outboard chose to stop running (water in fuel perhaps?) so rowing was the exercise of choice today. Our short day ended at 1330 and the rest of the day was well-spent in dedicated sloth -- to hell with the outboard!

Cheers, Turicum

Alas no wind again

Date : 25 August
Log: 56077
Bar: 1015
Sky: showers/clearing
Location: Cordero Islands N50*26.7' W125*19.27'
Comments:

We had planned to go from the Mist Islets (which lived up to their name this morning) in Port Harvey to Forward Harbour today, but we took a hard look at the Tide & Current Tables and realized that our best opportunity for getting through Dent & Yucultas tomorrow was to get ourselves through Greene Point rapids today.

We motored (no, no wind yet...) down Johnstone Strait , noticing more boat traffic of all kinds. The days in the Charlottes and on the north coast when we would rarely see another boat are definitely over! Johnstone Strait was placid and flat today (okay, who stole the wicked Strait and replaced it with a millpond?) and we were joined for a short while by a pilot whale. The showers caught up with us as we entered Sunderland Channel, but fortunately they were brief, and the sky started to clear by mid-afternoon.

We motored through Greene Point and anchored by around 1600 in one of our favourite spots behind the Cordero Islands, and noted that we went 49 nm today! In discussing our plans for next day, we decided to go down Nodales Channel and then through Okisolo and Hole in the Wall instead of through Dent and the Yucultas as it allowed us an hour more sleep and still make slack water at both.

Cheers, Turicum

Rental alert!

Date : Aug. 24
Log: 56028
Bar: 1010
Sky: O/C showers
Location: Port Harvey -- N50-33.68' W126-16.09'
Comments: On our way out of the anchorage yesterday, in the only deep channel, we were confronted by a large powerboat appearing from between some islets on our port side about 200 yards away. We were quite surprised to see it as our charts showed shallow water and rocks in that area. It immediately became obvious that they had no intention of changing course or stopping even though they were give way boat so I slowed down to let them pass -- I was also very interested to see where/what they were going to do.
I was not disappointed -- they continued to motor into an area where I had seen some drying rocks at last night's low tide and as we are almost at another low, things were looking more interesting by the moment.
Ah, yes progress came to a sudden stop.
As we continued out toward Knight Inlet they appeared to have extracted themselves and were heading into the anchorage we had just left.
This was the second time we had witnessed someone either not paying attention to navigation or not having a clue as to what they were doing. A day or 2 earlier we saw a 70+ft powerboat suddenly come to a stop when they missed the marker buoy and went over the Neill Ledge shoal by Port McNeill.
I guess anybody can rent anything now.

The rest of the day was very uneventful with rain showers and a rather tedious motor up to Minstrel Island and then down to Port Harvey. Our original plans to anchor at Warren Islands got blown away with the SE gusts of 25kts and not enough protection.

Off to Forward Hbr tomorrow.

Cheers. Turicum

You may note a format change --- we are going to try to make this look more like our actual log. Log number is like the odometer in a car -- our total miles traveled

Whales and porpoises, seals and sea lions, oh my!

Date : Aug. 23 Log: 55999 Bar: 1017 Sky: sunny Location: Goat Island, Village Channel Comments: Leaving Port Hardy we were greeted by a pod of Orcas just outside Hardy Bay (photos up as soon as we can) Dall's and Harbour porpoises as well as seals and a sea lion all put in appearances today as well. Wind was very light, so we motored in the sunshine past Malcolm Island, across Blackfish Sound and into Whitebeach Passage. We saw a cruise ship, the Coral Princess, in Blackfish and fantasized (for a least a moment or two) about Mai Tais served next to the pool. We had planned to anchor at Farewell Harbour, but there's a fishing resort there, a power boat was anchored in what looked like the best spot, and there didn't seem to be any doggie beach available. We headed into Village Channel and tucked in behind Goat Island to anchor amongst a half dozen little islets. The people on a Washington power boat that was anchored near us warned us of a bear (the only remaining animal on our list to see) on the beach in the early evening (where June was about to take the dog ashore!). We had a pleasant evening at anchor (but no bear sightings!) On the "What's Next" front, a new set of spark plugs has worked wonders for the recalcitrant outboard -- it now runs on 2 cylinders not just one. That was balanced by nothing happening when we tried to start Turicum's engine and were met by stony silence -- turned out to be a wire off the starter but getting to it was a dismantle the boat story again. We are off to Warren Islands for tonight. Cheers, Turicum

Wind and Water

We had expected to be on our way this morning but alas it will be tomorrow.
We had planned to also be going down the outside but that has been literally blown away. We have been blessed with fantastic weather for the last 2 months so it is time to see some of the other side. The 30-40kts forecast and 12-15' seas outside are not what we were looking for so we are going to explore the inside route for the next 2 weeks.
To top it all off, the water main at the marina broke yesterday and that has postponed the laundry and the boat cleanup although we did have some water from Shearwater in one tank (an interesting tan colour) that was put aside for emergency purposes. We have been using good water from Hartley Bay and "Wheezy" the watermaker for the last week or so. We had been a bit tight on water after thinking that we could pick up water in Klemtu when we left in the morning only to find that the treated water supply was available ONLY when filling up with fuel.

Pamela Bendall, who we first met several years ago at the Vic Maui race (and who has done almost every job connected with the race) lives in Hardy and has been a fantastic help to us setting appointments, lending a car, and generally helping us solve problems.

One of the biggest and longest running problem has been the rather indifferent charging we have been getting from the alternator. At times the 150amp alternator and smart regulator system has worked fairly well although there has always been a strange pulsing and the occasional shutdown of the charging when the house batteries were clearly not fully charged -- even to the point of not having enough power to maintain the computer. The system seemed to work only when the engine was run at very low speed.
After a particularly frustrating day where we had to start the engine several times while we were sailing to maintain enough power to have our navigation systems working, I got out the data sheets for the regulator and reviewed the instillation and wiring with Dan and Marek. The book made a big deal about sensing battery voltage after the isolator as there is a voltage drop across it and the batteries would be under charged if we sensed voltage at the alternator output. I totally understood that and had setup the system accordingly. What I missed was that the alternator has to sense "house" battery voltage not starting battery voltage. We found what was happening was that the start battery was doing very well at 13+ volts while the house batteries were almost dead. When I had originally installed the system I followed the directions carefully and wired things as if there were only 1 general purpose battery.
We now have new wiring and the necessary relays so that the charging system "sees" the battery we are currently switched to and provides the necessary power to charge that battery. If the switch is set to all then all the batteries will be brought up to full charge.
I am very interested to see how this works out. The test at the dock looked good.

We don't have many pictures from the trip down --- Dan took off to his B&B and a round of golf and Marek had airplane to catch so I wasn't able to download their photos. I know they have some good ones and hopefully I can add them later.

Today is laundry, repair the fuel gauge sensor, final provisioning and getting ready for an early departure tomorrow morning -- we also have to do something about a haircut for Abby -- she is starting to look like a Hebridian cow -- we haven't seen her eyes for about 2 weeks now.

Cheers from Turicum

Pounding South

Just a quick note while we have a signal -- Leaving Shearwater and heading to Safety Cove for the "crossing" tomorrow. Sounds like NW 20+ so it should be a great ride.
We got in 3+ hours of sailing yesterday but things have been quiet so far -- rolling up the engine hours.

Cheers, Turicum

On to Klemtu

August 15

We left anchor this morning to motor to Klemtu, taking the opportunity of little wind to make today another navigation exercise. For no other reason than we hadn't been that way before, we took the channel down the east side of Sarah Island, easily passing through Hiekish Narrows.

We have a cell signal at Klemtu which is allowing us to get out some messages but we haven't got photos sorted as yet -- they will be added in the next few days.

Cheers, Turicum