Desolation Sound Sailing Trip – Log 1

14 June 2013

Excitement woke us early and by 7:00am we were showered, dressed and ready to eat. Our dear friend Frankie arrived and helped load the last of our gear and vittles into his car. By 9:45am we were casting off the mooring lines and humming the tune …. “It’s passage time” by Eileen Quinn.

We smile at each other, feeling the instant freedom that comes when one sets off for unknown destinations. I look up and notice that the blades of our brand new wind generator are slowly turning. Wolf finished installing it a week ago and he has not had time to test it. I ask why it is turning so slowly and he explains that it is set to generate power only when the batteries are low. “But,” he says, “I could fool it!” And off he disappears to the navigation table. In no time it is whirring so fast that I cannot make out the blades. He takes another look and begins yelling, “It is smoking!” He rushes inside and switches it off. The blades are still spinning and to make sure that no further damage occurs he ties the blades to stop them from turning. “Will have to check it out once we get somewhere quiet” he adds. He thinks he might have wired it incorrectly when he assembled it.

By 11:00am we are sailing past Musgrave Bay on the shores of Salt Spring Island. We hug the coastline to scout for possible future anchorages.

The rock formations are fascinating.   We are purposely taking our time, judging the transit through Sansum Narrows to coincide with the slack tide and north bound current.

The Sansum Narrows connects Satellite Channel to the South with Stuart Channel in the north and flows between high mountains on Salt Spring Island and the Malahat Mountains on Vancouver Island.

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A small ferry passes on our stern carrying passengers and cars from Vesuvius to Crofton Harbour. The temperature is perfect as we sit in the cockpit eating our lunch of pasta and salad and marvel at the beautiful scenery. Tent Island comes into view and we wallow along its shore in very light winds. I laugh as Wolf says we are being blanketed by the Tent. He reluctantly switches on the engines and immediately adds another 2 knots to bring the speed up to 5 knots.

At 3:30pm we arrive at the Telegraph Harbour Marina and Pub on Thetis Island. After tying up on L jetty we grab our cameras and head off along the road to stretch our legs and take photos. The walk leads us up a steep winding road into the thick forest; where we focus our lenses at the rays of light playfully casting sunbeams through the massive tree-trunks and onto the lush ferns.

Today is Wolf’s birthday so we decide to have a meal at the pub. Live entertainment by Gord Gunold keeps us sitting a lot longer than anticipated. Neither of us is hungry so we order a small beef and mushroom pot pie.

We chat to Gord and his wife Rosio as well as some of the locals and they give us valuable information about where to go in Desolation Sound.

Rosio suggests we stay an extra day because there is to be a gathering of Beneteau boats at the Telegraph marina and Gord is providing live entertainment on the dock. The marina is packed with Beneteau yachts already, and more keep passing us on their way to join the others.