July 24, 2020. Pacific Gateway Marina, Port Renfrew (Port San Juan) to Quarantine Cove. 48 NM.
My adrenaline is still subsiding as I write this. 11.5 knots of boat speed through the tide rips south of Race Rocks a couple of hours ago, followed by a beat in 28 knots of wind, with a reefed main and luffed jib, heeling over with the rail in the water. Still coursing through my veins.
Let me start at the beginning, though. It took a while before it got that exciting.
I woke at 0500, as the fishing boats started to leave the marina. The marinas on the open coast are really not set up for cruising. Their market is strictly sport fishing, with a few slips set aside for the odd cruising boat. We debated whether or not to go into Pacific Gateway because of this. Port San Juan is pretty open, though, and we weren’t sure if we would have reasonable protection for a night in there, so we elected to do the conservative thing.
We were parked in behind the two other sailboats I mentioned yesterday, Soul Star and Bare Necessity. With the wind pushing us on to the dock this morning, and not much room in front or behind us, it would have been a challenge to get out of the marina before they left. So even though we were up early, we thought we would wait for them to leave before we headed out.
It was around 0730 by the time Sara and I were both up. I got the boat all prepped to go, filling the water tanks and opening up the mainsail, but there was still no sign of life from the other sailboats. We decided to go for a walk, and explore Port Renfrew a bit more. We hiked up the hill away from the marina, and walked along the road towards the pub. We checked out a few of the tourist cabins and lodges, which were quite cute, and had incredible views over the bay.
Exploring Port Renfrew
Eventually, we wended our way back to the marina. John and Doug, the owners of the other two boats, were seated in the cockpit of Bare Necessity. I chatted with them, and we compared plans for the day. The timing of the tide and current in the Juan de Fuca Strait was bad for us, as it was against us for most of the day, not turning until 1430. They had elected to have a late start because of that. We didn’t disagree strongly, even though that would mean a late arrival after a long day. As a rule, we don’t like to arrive in a new place late, in case we need to move to another spot. Nevertheless, we went along with the plan, and hung around until after 1000, when they both slipped off the dock.
The wind had come up a bit by that time, so it was just as well we waited. It would have been hard not to be blown into their boats if we had tried to slip out earlier. The tide was low as we left, and I had visions of our departure from Tofino, but we managed to get off the dock and navigate the wind pushing our bow around without touching bottom. The lowest I saw below our keel was about 7 feet.
As we motored out of Port San Juan, we were excited at the possibility of getting some good wind for a sail. It was blowing about 13 to 15 knots in the inlet. As we headed out to sea, though, John from Soul Star radioed us to let us know that there was only about 3 knots of wind out on the open water. It was looking like another long motor ahead of us.
Another cold start, with full foul weather gear
Sure enough, initially, the wind was non-existent, and we were motoring against the current as forecast. We were only able to make about 4.5 knots of forward progress. Before long, though, the wind started to pick up, and we pulled out the genoa. At first, we motor sailed to try and keep our speed up, but the wind picked up more, and we managed to turn off the engine and have a beautiful sail. By about noon, we were making steady progress, with small to moderate waves behind us, and both sails full. I popped down to the galley, and whipped up some of my famous “underway quesadillas” for lunch, which we enjoyed in the warming cockpit.
Soul Star wing on wing as the day warms and the wind picks up
The wind died again not long after that, and we had to restart the engine. As the current slowed, then turned, we began to pick up speed anyway. Around 1500, the wind started to come back up, and then really began to climb. We doused the engine, and pulled out the genoa, with a full main. We bore off to a broad reach, and started to really move, heading further out into the strait. It wasn’t long, and we started to see speeds of 8 knots, with wind and current conspiring to move us along smartly. The waves were building, but we were heading down wind, so things were still pretty comfortable.
Eventually we decided to jibe and head back toward Race Rocks, so we could make the turn around them, and head back up towards Quarantine Cove. The wind had built to over 20 knots by that time, and we talked about putting a reef in the main. It was still a pretty comfortable ride, though, and we reasoned that after we got behind the shore, the wind would die, so we would regret reducing out sail power.
As we approached Race Rocks, the wind and current continued to build. Eventually, we were seeing 25 knots of wind, with gusts up to around 30 knots. We had already switched to the small jib when we jibed, but we were flying along as the current concentrated itself over the shallow water south of Race Rocks. I kept taking pictures of the speed log as our pace increased. 8.8 knots! 9.5 knots! 10.3 knots! 11 knots!!! 11.5!!!!
Setting new speed records. After a certain point, this is not fun.
We were definitely moving too fast for comfort. I reefed the main as we flew along, worried about what would happen when we turned upwind to make for Quarantine Cove. Once we were through the tide rips, the water and our speed calmed down a bit. Looking back, we realized we had come too close to Race Rocks, and should have stayed out in deeper water. The wind was still pretty ferocious though.
As we turned to port, and further upwind, we heeled over steeply. Sara was steering, and was riding the ragged edge of luffing the main to depower it a bit, and avoiding a beam reach to heel us over any further. As it was, we were over far enough that the outside paddleboard was dragging in the water, and occasionally the rail was getting wet as well. We hung on, hoping for the wind to settle as we came into the lee of William Head, and into Quarantine Cove.
Eventually the wind did settle enough for us to bear off a bit. I furled the jib a bit at a time, letting it out on the starboard side, then coming back across to port to pull in the furling line. Once that was done, we slowed quite a bit, and Sara turned the boat up enough for me to drop the main. With the engine running, we motored into Quarantine Cove.
Despite being protected by quite a large hill, the wind is still blowing pretty hard in here. With gusts into the mid teens. We let out a lot of anchor chain, and set it hard in reverse. Normally at that point, we stop and relax for a bit, but we were both still a bit jangly from the wild ride in here, so we cleaned up all the lines, which had spaghettied all around the cockpit. We put the mainsail away, and cleaned the deck up completely. In a lively anchorage, we try to keep the boat as tidy as possible, in case adjustments need to be made in the middle of the night. The forecast is for the wind to settle overnight, though, so we are hoping we can sleep eventually.
We are sitting just off William Head, which is the site of the William Head Institution. From what I understand that is a minimum security prison. That may be why this anchorage is not listed in any of the guidebooks. No good opportunity to go ashore. We heard some First Nations drumming from the shore a while ago, but otherwise, we are hoping the inmates make quiet neighbours for the night.
I should mention that we sailed the whole day with Bare Necessity and Soul Star right along with us. They headed into Esquimalt for the night, though, so there is no telling when we will see them again. We’ll watch for them, though – they seemed like very nice folks.
Current Soundtrack: Apple Pie Bed by Lawrence Arabia. No apple pie for us tonight, but bed will be welcome, if the wind settles enough to let us get some sleep.
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