December 30th - Saanich Inlet and Cowichan Bay (#10)

Monica and I launched NatC at the Tsartlip ramp ($14!) and went out into the inlet to drop some prawn traps. I had bought some nice large steel prawn traps earlier in the fall and it was the first test of the set. It was also the first (successful!) test of my line hauler.We dropped them in two different areas and then wen on over to Mill Bay looking for a lunch spot. Not seeing one, we carried on to Cowichan Bay where we tied up at the Government Dock and had a nice lunch at the Cowichan bay Pub. On our way back to the traps, we checked out several of the anchored empty freighters.
The prawning was pretty successful, with more than 250 prawns. The catch was pretty variable with one trap containing 133 prawns and another only 4! We were out from about 10:30 to 4:30 including our lunch break and made it a nice day on the water. The heater in NatC is very nice.
I also discovered by playing with the motor trim, that I can get almost 10 extra kph out of it by trimming the motors up (tilting the bow up a fair bit). I had to change the colorizing settings for GPSVisualiser to go from 0 to 50 kph instead of 0-40! I think we maxed out around 51 or 52 kph during the last section of the trip.

our day's track - click to enlarge

54 km

November 4&5 - Prawning (#9)

Monica and I set out from Cattle Point to try our hands at catching prawns in Oak/Cadboro Bays, since we had heard it was possible to catch them. I dropped some traps on the Saturday and we went again Sunday morning to check the traps. The catch was not that good, 25 or so prawns in total and we decided to leave the traps out again for the day. I went to the beach and dropped Monica off and then put the boat on the mooring. At the end of the day we went back out again only to discover no prawns at all! Just a few decorator crabs and a starfish! I guess around this area the prawning is at night! We had a nice time in the boat and I got to test out my line hauler.

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12 km.

October 6&7 - Sucia Island (#8)

Monica and I went for an overnight to the San Juan Islands. We set off from Tulista ramp in Sudney and made our way over to Roche Harbor to clear US Customs. We had lunch in Roche Harbor and then made our way up the coast of Orcas Island and over to Sucia Island (I had heard of some fossils there!). We picked up a state park mooring and spent a very relaxing evening and the following morning there.  Natural C-lection worked out well for camping, though we have lots of things to reorganize for next time!
We hiked over to Shallow Bay and Fox Point in the evening and then went for a hike to Ev Henry Point in the morning. On the morning hike we saw hundreds of clam fossils in the Nanaimo Group rocks along the shore. Sucia Island was a beautiful spot with weathered sandstone shorelines, honeycomb weathering and plenty of glacial erratics. We were by far the smallest boat in the bay. We saw a 25 ft C-dory over in echo bay on our way to Patos Island, where we checked out more anchorages and possible future destinations. We also checked out Reid and Prevost harbors on Stuart Island.
Clearing customs and immigration was remarkably simple on both sides - no idea why I have avoided it for so long! This was my first trip into the San Juans after 26 years in Victoria!

click to enlarge - 1600 pixels wide! 290 kb...

115 km (approx 74 L, 1.55 km/L, 3.66 mpg)

October 5th - Pedder Bay (#7)

I went for a fishing trip with Pete, Graham and Kyle out of Pedder Bay. Conditions were spectacular and we headed out to the shipping lanes off race rocks. Within 10 minutes we had two nice coho in the boat and thought we were going to have a busy day. Unfortunately, though we may have had a couple of bites, we did not get any more fish on until we wen inshore for some jigging. It was a fabulous day on the water however, so no complaints!

the day's track - click to enlarge

45 km (approx 36 l, 1.25 km/l, 2.94 mpg)

August 28th - Russel Island (#6)

Monica, Jenny, Claire and I went for a "family" day trip out to Russel Island. Jenny had been there by kayak once in grade 10 and Monica and Claire had not been there before. We decided to try our hand at crabbing and prawning. Crabbing success in the Sidney spit area was poor (one red rock crab) and the prawning success was better with 27 nice prawns in one trap. We put a second trap in deeper water and it came up with nothing but a few squat lobsters. Natural C-lection performed well giving us a comfortable ride and it was a great day spent together! My beach anchor system using an anchor buddy worked well also, keeping the boat off the beach while we went for a walk around the island. I used a trailer hitch extension for the launch which definitely helped as it was a 1 foot tide at Tulista. Retrieval of the boat is still a problem as the boat still does not want to stay snug up to the front roller after being pulled up the ramp. The boat runs along nicely at just over 40 kph at wide open throttle. Fuel economy was so so, using 61 litres to cover 82 km.

click to enlarge (gray sections of track indicate over 40 kph)

82 km. (1.34 km/l, 3.16 mpg)

August 25th - D'Arcy Island (#5)

I took Claire and her friends Celina, Mike and Justin for an afternoon ride up to D'Arcy Island. Conditions were beautiful - sunny and calm and we had a good trip and a nice visit. Cattle Point south ramp is still a challenge for launching, and I think I will try out my 18 inch hitch extension next time. Retrieval was not too bad, and it was easier to centre the boat on a gentler ramp I think.
I also met a couple of other boaters on the beach at D'Arcy and like their idea of using an anchor buddy line to keep the boat just off shore while beaching. Will look out for one.
We popped into Cadboro Bay beach to drop Celina off since she had to get a ride to the ferry!

37 km

August 20 & 21 - Port Renfrew (#4)

Peter and I went out to Port Renfrew to see how the fishing was. It was also a chance to test out the camping capabilities of Natural C-lection. The camping worked well and we both slept on board in the marina. Up early and spent a long but very pleasant day on the water. We did not see any chinoook, but came home with our limit of 4 coho. We also hit coho on the bucktail in 500 feet of water!

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Trailering the boat is not super easy. I am not convinced that the surge brakes are working properly and the fact that the boat slips back after being pulled up the ramp makes it move around more than I would like on the trailer. For some reason, the radar did not want to work when we were out in the strait, but it worked fine in the marina... need to figure out why.

87 km

July 22nd - Pedder Bay (#3)

Peter, Martin and I went for the first fishing trip in Natural Selection. We launched at Pedder Bay and had a great day on the water coming home with 6 cohos and one chinook. The boat worked well and the fishing was good. I need to mount a few more rod holder mounts and play with the trailer set up some more...

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40 km

May 26th -Swiftsure (#2)

Monica, Mary, Jack and I took Natural Selection out for a "spin". It turns out it was Swiftsure day, so we went and got gas and then went to watch the start of the races. After that we went round to Puget cove on Chatham Island to have lunch.
40 km

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My new boat

before the name was put on - click to enlarge

I decided that it would be good to start a blog about my new boat, a 22 foot C-Dory Cruiser which we have just named Natural C-lection (My old Silver Streak Aluminium 16 ft runabout was "Natural Selection"). I first saw the boat at the Victoria boat show in February and was intrigued... After discussion with Monica, I decided that a pilothouse boat would allow us to fish and cruise and even do a bit of mothership kayaking. So after a couple of months of planning, Natural C-lection has taken up residence in our driveway. I had the name made up by Crest Sign who happen to have their office down the street!
I have found the on-line community at C-Brats to be an invaluable resource - a great community of helpful fellow c-dory boaters, including several from around Victoria. On my first trip, (Sidney to Wallace Island) we even ran into two other c-dory 22s - both also with blue trim!