July 14-17 - Puget Sound (#50)

I did a solo trip down to Puget sound to get a sense of how easy it was to cover a good distance and to check out a few places. I cleared US customs in Port Townsend by prior arrangement which was simple and straightforward. I then spent a few hours at the Pygmy boats kayak shop and chatting with John Lockwood.

The Port Townsend area - click to enlarge

I stayed at Shilshole Bay marina in Seattle which was huge (1400+ slips) but well equipped. I was able to take advantage of good pubs in Ballard and did some shopping. I went for a day trip to Blake Island State Park which is a a nicely set up marine state park in Seattle's back yard.

exploring the Seattle area -click to enlarge

The crossing of the strait was relatively easy both ways. On the way out I saw humpbacks twice as well as porpoises. Nothing on the way back. The only lumpy water i experienced was around point Wilson where the currents made for confused seas. The crossing to Port Townsend takes about 1.5 to 2 hours.

The overall trip - click to enlarge

Martin helped me to launch and retrieve Natural C-lection at the beginning and end of the trip in the most efficient manner. He drove the truck back home after launching while I went by water to the mooring. On the way back we did the reverse. It was very easy to launch and retrieve with someone in the boat while doing so. I also cleared Canada Customs by phone in Cadboro Bay which was nice and easy as i have now done it several times.

Launching and retrieving and clearing customs - click to enlarge

285 km and approx 210 l of gas.

May 20-23 - Pender and San Juan Islands (#49)

Monica and I took the boat up to Pender where we joined Jack and Mary at Ainslie Point Cottage for the weekend..We did ssome successful crabbing in Bedwell Harbour, a trip around South Pender and a day trip to Friday Harbor. A full tank took us 105 km...(loaded with either gear or people).

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179 km

July 30 to August 2nd - Clayoquot Sound (#44)

Peter, Graeme and I went to Clayoquot Sound for 3 nights. We were trying for our annual flyfishing for coho but had very little success - 2 coho in 3 days! The three of us were able to camp and live on board without too much trouble as well as fish. I modified the bimini so that it can easily be raised out of the way when fishing and the new set up works well. We decided to go and visit Kyle in Hot Springs Cove so we made our way around Flores Island and spent a wonderful our in the springs - all to ourselves! We also got to check out Kyle's property. I was happy with how everything worked on board, and the camping was good - nice weather - but the coho fishing was disappointing.

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229 km, 172 l, 1.33 km/l or 3.13 mpg (port engine 272 hrs, starboard 274 hrs)

July 24-28 - Ladysmith and northern gulf Islands (#43)

Monica and I went up to Ladysmith to participate in the C-dory gathering there. We had a great time getting together with other C-dory owners and then went over to Pirates Cove for Sunday lunch and then Silva Bay for Sunday night. We then made our way down to princess Cove on Wallace for Monday night, exploring the cliffs of Valdez on the way. When we left Ladysmith there was a very darl cloud behind us over Vancouver Island. The heavy rains in Victoria and area missed us!
I was able to test the Torqueedo and the Kaboat, both of which worked well. The key for using the Torqueedo is to keep the power to under 150 Watts and then one has plenty of range and a reasonable speed. The Pelican 45 quart cooler works very well as a food cooler.

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the kaboat track around Wallace - click to enlarge

232 km,

May 15-18 - San Juans (#41)

Monica, Jenny and I took Natural C-lection over to Friday Harbor for the annual c-brat get together. We joined up with 43 other boats for a couple of days of meeting old friends, making new ones, look at boat mods etc. A great pot luck was had on Saturday evening! There were 9 Canadian C-dories present which was a record for this event. On the Saturday, I went to the swap meet, checked out West marine, and then the three of us walked over to the Friday Harbour Marine labs where they were having an open house.
After Friday Harbor, we made our way around the South and East of Orcas and had a nice lunch an a walk on Clark Island before making our way to Shallow Bay on Sucia, where we met up with 8 other c-brats. We had a nice happy hour together with the others aboard Sam's Safe Harbour (37 footer!).
We had several good porpoise sightings on our way back home.
We used the West Marine Scamper II as our "tender"/dinghy and it worked quite well.

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trip length 151 km - not sure how much gas I used yet!

September 1st - Chatham Island (#30)

Monica and I took the boat for a test drive and BBQ picnic on Chatham. This was the first trip since I had the autopilot, fuel flow sensor, and anchor windlass installed. All worked well. We looked for the sea otter at Cadboro Point twice but did not see it. The BBQ worked well as did the sensor and autopilot.

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20 km

May 16-18 - Friday Harbor (#29)

Monica, Jenny and I set out for Friday harbor to participate in the C-Brats get together. We left Friday morning and crossed Haro Strait to the south of San Juan Island. There was a bit of a chop which slowed us down and we had a visit from the Shipriders (http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ibet-eipf/shiprider-eng.htm), a joint RCMP and US border patrol group. We passed inspection, but drifted quite a way to the south while being visited! We made it to Friday Harbor after lunch, cleared customs (we lost some tomatoes and a pepper!) and then started visiting with the "brats". We went for a nice dinner in the Grange Hall, organized by the owner of Downriggers (which burnt down since last year!). jenny and I went to the pub for an pint afterwards.On Saturday we went for a hearty breakfast and then rented a scoot-coupe and a moped  from Susie's mopeds for the day. We used these to drive down to American Camp, South beach, Cattle Point and then Lime Kiln State Park (where we ran into Alexander I, an old student of mine!). We had a great day exploring the island! In the evening we enjoyed the C-brats pot luck and good company.
On Sunday morning we made breakfast on board and then motored up to Jones Island, where we hiked around the east side trail and had lunch with several other C-Dory owners. After that we motored up to Stuart Island and went for another walk up to the old school house. We then motored back to Cadboro Bay where we cleared customs at the RVYC dock and then retrieved Natural C-lection at Cattle Point.
A Big Thank You is due to Barry and Patti who organized the event at Friday Harbor where around 40 C-dorys gathered for the weekend! It was great seeing many old friends and meeting some new ones!

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105 km

September 6-8 - Sidney C-Brat Gathering (#22)

I launched the boat on the 2nd at Cattle Point north ramp and went over to the mooring buoy where I left Natural C-lection until the 5th when I went up to Port Sidney Marina where I was hosting the Sidney C-brat gathering. I met a few of the "brats", had a nice Thai dinner and then came back to Victoria by car so as to work Friday. On Friday afternoon, I went back up by truck and dropped off the trailer to have the brakes fixed. We then gathered at Fish on 5th for a great dinner and a group of us went on to Boondocks for a couple of beers. Saturday was spent walking the docks, checking out everyone's boats, a Thai lunch, a visit to West Marine, a few boat christenings, and then a post luck dinner in the event tent. I was pretty happy how the event went and feel I would be happy to host another one in a year or so. I came back to Cadboro Bay late Sunday morning and left the boat on the mooring again. During the week, the trailer brakes were fixed, and I took the boat back out of the water on the 14th. Even in that short time, there was a rim of algal growth to remove, as well as several gull deposits!

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The album

Sidney Cbrats

61 km, not sure how much gas...

August 30 - prawning and Portland Island (#20)

Jenny, Claire, Jayson and I set out from Tsartlip ramp to go prawning and to visit Portland Island. We left the ramp around 10:30 and spent some time setting our traps in the usual area. we covered depths from about 180 ft to 270 ft and the deeper ones were more productive at this time of year. We then went around to Princess Bay where we shore tied with the anchor buddy, had a picnic lunch and then went for a walk inland and over to the Kanaka bluffs and back via shell beach. We then made our way around the east side of the island and back to our traps which produced reasonably well! The anchor buddy system works well, and my ACE prawn puller system also works well!

Portland trials - click to enlarge

The boat shore tied with the anchor buddy

It was Jayson's first time prawning and he had fun pulling traps and cleaning the prawns.

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56 km,

August 18 -24 - The Broughtons (#19)

Monica and I spent 6 nights out in the Broughtons exploring from Telegraph Cove to Bond Inlet and back.
Part of my track log has been lost due to my not realizing the log limits, so I will be recreating part of it from memory and my inReach tracks.
Here is a link to Monica's photos of the trip.
Map image and more to follow!

August 12-17 - Kyuquot Sound (#18)

Monica and I spent 5 nights at Spring Island with JF and the team at West Coast Expeditions. Our first day was pretty nice, but the remaining ones were damp as a result of a front that came through. We did some kayak fishing as well as fishing from the boat. JF had some great fish while kayaking and I had some good fish from the boat. The WCE camp at Spring Island is a great spot, and we enjoyed walks around the island, excellent dinners and good company as well as trips to Kyuquot village. We were very heavily loaded for the trip out (3 people, 3 kayaks (2 delphins and a Trident) plus lots of gear, so it was slow going. On the way back it was just Monica and me with two boats and less gear, so the going was better! Unfortunately, I did not realize that my Lowrance HDS8 has a limit on the track storage, so I lost our entire Kyuquot track. I am going to recreate most of it from memory and my inReach locations soon.
The c-dory performed well as a home base for the two of us in spite of inclement weather.
here is a link to Monica's photos of the trip.
map image to follow...

May 17-20 - Friday Harbor (#16)

Monica and I set off from Cadboro Bay on Friday afternoon to head over to Friday Harbor for a C-dory get together. We joined almost 50 other "c-brats" for a weekend of sharing stories, comparing notes and boats,eating,  and drinking. The event was masterfully organized by Barry and Patti of C-Cakes, and we enjoyed ourselves greatly. I learned lots and got many ideas for improvements to make on Natural C-lection. Barry had organised a visit to the West Marine store in Friday Harbor as well as a good discount, so I spent a few dollars getting bits and pieces - including the basics of an electrical hookup. There were three other boats from Vancouver Island (Anonymous, Nomad and Kerri On), and though most of the boats were CD-22s, there were a sprinkling of other similar boats as well. The potluck on Saturday was attended by the "crew of 49 boats as well as a couple of "boatless" people!
After leaving the gathering around noon on Sunday, we made our way up to Jones Island State Park were we paddled ashore (we have decided that the West Marine scamper 2 inflatable works well as a tender for Natural C-lection) and went for a nice walk around the west part of the island. After that we made our way past Roche Harbour to Garrison Bay where we visited the "English Camp" from the Pig war and spent the night at anchor. I used a stern anchor to stop us swinging as much, and it seemed to work quite well.
The following morning, we set off after breakfast and made our way down the west coast of San Juan Island and then back over to Cadboro Bay, where we cleared customs, put Monica ashore to get the truck and trailer, and then went over to Cattle Point to retrieve the boat. On our way out of Mosquito pass I noticed that a channel marker buoy (#6) had moved overnight and was able to inform the US Coast Guard to that effect.
Clearing customs and immigration was easy both in Friday Harbor as well as in Cadboro Bay. Though I only spoke to people via phone, all were friendly and helpful.
A great weekend! We made several new friends, and it was great to put faces to many of the people I had only "met" on the c-brats site. Now to get back to organising a September gathering in Sidney!

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100 km, approx 80 L, so 1.25 km/l (seems a bit low, but I guess we were more heavily loaded for camping...)

May 5th - Gulf Islands (#15)

Monica and I set out from Tulista ramp on Saturday morning to meet up with our long-time friends Jack and Mary who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary by staying at the Galiano Inn in Sturdies Bay (ours is in September!). There was a stiff northerly wind which created enough chop that we could not go too fast, so it took us just under an hour and a half to get to Sturdies Bay. After having coffee with Jack and Mary and organizing moorage at the Inn's dock, we set off to spend the afternoon cruising around (the wind had dropped and stayed down for the rest of our trip). We went to Montague Harbour where we had lunch and went for a short hike. we then went up to Wallace Island and cruised around it too before coming back to Sturdies Bay for the evening (great dinner at the Inn!). Monica and I slept in Natural C-lection and were rocked around by the occasional wake and bumped by a floating log a few times. We had a great breakfast (Eggs Benny all around!) at the Galiano Grand Central Emporium, after which Jack and Mary caught their ferry back to the mainland and home to Alberta. Monica and I decided to cruise a bit more and went around Mayne, past Saturna and over to Pender, into Bedwell harbour and through the gap to have lunch at the pub in Browning harbour. After lunch we made our way back to Sidney, A glorious sunny weekend!

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138 km, 100 L (so about 1.4 km/l...)

April 21st - overnight with Jenny (#14)

Jenny met me at Tsartlip ramp just after Pete and the twins had left (thanks for the drop off Monica!) and we set out to drop the prawn traps and go for an over night and a bit of a cruise. It was still a bit windy but we were able to put our traps down OK and then made our way to Portland Island. We had though of anchoring in Royal cove, but did not have a dinghy so lining to the shore was not possible. Instead, we made our way around to the bay by the Pellow islets which we had to ourselves. We anchored in about 10 feet of water and had a quiet night in the bay.
After breakfast the next day we set off to cruise over to Sturdies bay for a recce. We went for a slow cruise along the shore of Prevost and then scooted through Active Pass to avoid ferry traffic. On our way back to the ramp we stopped to pull our prawn traps and came home with around 140 prawns again. I think that there is a much greater likelihood of getting crabs, starfish and fish in the traps if one has a longer set...
The combine trips of today and yesterday covered about 140 km and used about 95 L of gas, so again about 1.5 km/L. Much of the trip was at fairly high speed.

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close up of the prawn zone

108 km

January 19th - Saanich Inlet Prawning (#11)

I met Pete with his twins Margo and Graeme at Tsartlip ramp to head out for an afternoon of prawning.
The weather was a bit cool to start with but it cleared up and the sun came out. We put our traps out and left them for about 3 hours. We came home with   334 prawns! Again, the catch was pretty variable, ranging from 4 to 135 per trap, and salmon carcass being the most productive. One trap had a small red Irish lord who seemed to have helped himself to a few prawns! The motor trim lessons from the last trip continued to be applicable as we were able to reach 50 kph and 5900 rpm fairly easily.
After dropping the traps, we went up to Coal Point and then over to Mill bay and then down the coast to Spectacle falls. From Spectacle Falls back to the traps we went at about 1700 rpm and 9 kph with Graeme at the helm (the yellow section). Margo did a great job of keeping stats on the prawn traps
The trap puller also worked well!

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50 km.

The last two trips were about 66 km and used about 50 L of fuel - approx 1.3 km/L

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

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!

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

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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