Alaska Trip Day 93

9/14/11

Tribune Bay, Hornby Island , B.C.

Miles Travelled: 44

(Tor reporting)

Even after 92 days on board navigational mistakes can easily be made… I made the assumption that I knew which way the water was going to ebb in the channel outside of Campbell River.  I figured that the water was ebbing and now that we were south of Seymour Narrows it should be headed south along with us.  Boy was I ever wrong! 

We left the marina at around 8am which was only about 20 minutes past slack water.  As soon as we were outside the breakwater we were pushing against a 2 knot current and by the time we made it a half mile of so south directly in front of town, we were pushing against a 3 knot current.  Now, we only motor along at 5.7 knots full speed, so subtracting 3 knots from this is a pretty significant deal.  Luckily we were closer to slack water than full ebb, because full ebb runs at up to seven knots!! 

Jess and I spent the morning discussing the importance of checking the publications we have on board instead of just “thinking” it out.  I had also heard folks at the head of the dock comment that they would leave about the same time we planned on and have the ebb with them on their way south.  This turned out to be proof that more than one person can make the same simple mistake.  Once we made it past Cape Mudge and got out of the constricted channel the currents dropped off significantly and we were able to chuckle about it (by late afternoon).

We had consistently tempting NW winds that were never strong enough to only sail.  I raised sail three times and we were getting about ½-1 knot push with the wind, but never enough to justify shutting off Perky and only sailing.  At least not with over 40 miles to go to our anchorage!

We arrived at Tribune bay on Hornby Island and anchored amongst 5 or 6 other boats.   It seemed Very crowded compared with the last few months.  Once the boys were asleep Jess and I actually watched a movie on our laptop in the cockpit, a first for this trip.  There was some sort of kids camp on shore and all the noise made it seem like a busy Cineplex.  We are slowly working back towards civilization!