Sunday, August 9, 2020

Escape can’t be the only way…to escape.

July 19, 2020 Tofino Resort and Marina to Joe’s Bay, Walsh Island, Barkley Sound. 35 NM

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Escaping from Tofino proved to be close to the limits of what was possible for us in a single day.

After another poor sleep, with fishes being gutted on the dock next to us until 2200, then music thumping from a boat down the dock until 0200, I was keen to get moving this morning. The wake from sport fishing boats exiting the harbor woke me up around 0630. There is a significant current that flows through the marina, making it hard to maneuver boats on and off the dock. Today, the slack current was at 0700, which was low water slack, and 1320, which was high water slack.

I knew it had been shallow getting into the marina, but even at low water slack, the charts showed we should have enough water to get off the dock. So, I got up at 0630, checked the depth, which showed 5 feet below our keel, and looked outside at the weather. It had rained overnight, but the day was starting off clear, with a bit of low cloud, but no fog. I knew we had a fairly long day today, so I decided we should try for an early start. We could eat breakfast on the way.

Sara got up shortly after me, and we quickly had the power unhooked, the garbage offloaded, and the water tanks filled. Then, we untied, and slipped off the dock. The current was just starting to flow, but I used it to help push the stern around as we left the dock, so that I was pointing forward out into the channel. Then, we started to head off.

We had gotten about 100 feet, and were moving slowly, at just under a knot, when there was a sudden shudder, and we stopped. I thought the engine had died, but realized it was still running fine. It took me a second to realize we had run aground. Fortunately we were going slowly when we did it, and weren’t hard aground. In fact, between the current and a little bit of reverse engine, in first gear, we slid off the low spot back into slightly deeper water. I checked the chart again, and it looked like we should be fine, with enough water to get through.

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This is as far as we got.  Just a few feet off the dock, and we were on the bottom.

Sara was on the bow, and we decided to try again, closer to the dock, where the chart showed even greater depth. We crept forward, but once again, we slowed, and felt the bottom of the keel rub against the muddy sea floor, stopping our forward progress.

I slipped into reverse again, and we pulled back easily. By this time, the current had increased a bit, and it was getting harder to steer the boat. It was shoving me around as I was moving slowly, and didn’t have much steerage. I let the boat slide back into the deeper water near where we had started, and Sara quickly flipped the fenders and lines to the port side from the starboard. Then, crabbing against the current, we slowly brought the boat back to the dock where we began. We hopped off and tied her up, then sat down and took stock.

My adrenaline was pumping for a while, but overall, I knew intellectually that we were moving very slowly, and the bottom was soft, so the likelihood of any significant damage was minimal. I checked the bilge for any signs of new water, and saw none.

We sat down and had a cup of tea, and slowly the nervous tension faded. We decided to get off the boat and go for a walk, since there was no way we were going to get going again before high water slack in the afternoon.

So, we went for a long walk out to Tonquin beach. We could see from the lovely white sand beach that a thick fog hung over the open coast, so it was maybe just as well that we hadn’t gotten out there in the morning.

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Tonquin beach, with fog out to sea.

After the beach, we headed back through town. We grabbed a couple more groceries at the Co-op, and I had a bite of breakfast there, as well. This time, we managed to both get in the store at the same time, by lining up separately. We were there by 1030, and there was no one else in the store anyway, so it didn’t seem to matter.

Back at the boat, we took advantage of our extra time to have showers, wash the boat a bit, do some more computer work with the fast internet, and prepare once again for our departure. At 1300, the depth at the dock had come up from 5 feet in the morning to 13 feet. With an extra 8 feet under our keel, we felt confident to try again. We waited for the rapid current to diminish, and for the Harbour Air plane to leave. At just after 1300, we headed off again. This time, we were already pointed in the right direction, so we slipped slowly forward, over the shallow that had caused the problem in the morning.

I didn’t want to hit anything at any kind of speed, so we ticked along in first gear. We were going so slowly that kayakers were passing us. There are several shallow patches leaving the marina in Tofino. It really isn’t set up for sailboats, or boats with any kind of draft. Eventually, we got out into slightly deeper water, with about 20 feet under our keel, then 30, then 50.

We motored slowly out into the open ocean, but even as we left the main body of Vancouver Island behind, the water stayed shallow, consistently less than 75 feet for a long way out. I guess that is why it’s a good surf spot. The waves come up as the ocean swells come from across the Pacific, and then hit the long, shallow shelf off of Tofino.

Unfortunately for us, that meant that those same swells were built up high as we motored out to sea. We were riding over 8 to 10 foot waves, about 5 seconds apart. The rule of thumb is that comfortable waves should have a period of double the wave height. Less than that means a bumpy ride. We were seeing a period of half the wave height, so they were charging in fast and steep.

Eventually we were out deep enough to turn downwind, and put the waves more behind us. We couldn’t put them directly on our stern, though, as this would have brought us back to land. So they were on our starboard quarter. For the most part, they were OK, but when the big ones rolled through, the boat rolled side to side, and we could hear things in the cupboard bashing around. It was all very similar to our trip through Nawhitti Bar and around Cape Scott. The big difference was that the day was warm, and it wasn’t raining, so at least we had that going for us.

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It doesn’t look it from this picture, but we  had big following waves.

It was an uncomfortable ride down past Long Beach and Wikanninish to Uclulet, though. We alternated between surfing down the waves with them on our stern, to turning back out to the ocean when we started to get too close to land again. Despite all the wave action, there was minimal wind, and we were stuck with the motor on for the whole trip.

Finally, after several hours of taking turns hand steering so we could surf the waves safely, we turned into Barkley Sound, and came behind some islands that cut the swell. It was around 1830, and the wind was up a bit, so we pulled out the genoa, and picked up some speed with the help of the wind. As we got deeper into the sound, the wind died, and we motored the rest of the way in blissfully calm water, with the sun starting to glow as it got lower on the horizon.

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Finally some calm in Barkley Sound

We turned into Joe’s Bay after 1900, almost 12 hours since we first tried to get underway. We were both exhausted, but took the time to motor around the bay, and find the best spot to drop the anchor. It is a lovely, big bay, and there were 6 other boats already anchored. That sets a new record for this trip of other boats in an anchorage. As we head south, we expect to see more and more people. Right now, it’s kind of nice, as there is lots of room in here, and no one is too close, and everyone is being very quiet.

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It’s nice to be at anchor with other boats nearby.

We had a quick dinner of chicken, potatoes and Greek salad from the Tofino Co-op deli. Sara wisely grabbed something easy for tonight, as we knew we would be late. Now, the sun is setting behind the islands, and we are feeling ready for bed. The anchorage doesn’t have a breath of wind or a ripple, and we are looking forward to a quiet night and a good sleep.

Soundtrack: Dan Mangan, Road Regrets

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