Who edits these things, anyway?

You know you are bored when you start looking for typos in the Tide and Current tables. But there it is: an extra parentheses on page 127 of Volume 6 of the 2009 Canadian Tide & Current Tables, right there on station index 5048, Blind Channel. Blind Channel! The editor is blind, that's who!

Rather than slowing down and winding our way through some of the most magnificent geography in the world, we elected to stay in the main channel of Johnstone Strait for as long as we dared today, which put us some way further toward our destination but didn't leave us with many options for settling up for the night. Rather than holing up in the large and placid Port Neville, less than two miles away, we are pinned by wind and waves into the marginal, bumpy Blenkinsop Bay.

It's just as pretty, and the wind is calm here, but the big rollers out on the Strait sneak in from time to time and leave us lurching... the occasional gust comes in and takes a shot too. We may be able to get around the corner later tonight if things calm down but they might not and so we're probably looking at an evening here.

Mandy is frustrated because she had her first successful outing with her crab trap last night, snagging what looked to be a little rock crab that was just barely of the requisite size, and was hoping to repeat her triumph in the idyllic confines of Port Neville. Port Neville is a very large, shallow, well-sheltered bay and one can easily imagine kicking back and enjoying a fine sunset with a glass of white wine and some slimy crab innards, but alas, it is not to be.

We spent last night off the Chained Islands in Kanish Bay, the same place I stayed coming up last year, and it was just as beautiful and adequate. Only adequate; the shelter isn't all that spectacular, although the holding is good, so we got bumped around a bit. We watched “Master and Commander” before bed. I got up to put the computer away and turn on the anchor light and there was a Macgregor with three guys aboard and no running lights wandering around the island nearby. I hailed them as they drifted by and they said they were looking for a shallow anchorage since they didn't have much rode. I pointed them further into the bay, which is better sheltered and shallower. From some remarks they made, I got the idea that maybe they didn't have any lights. But heck, with a Macgregor, you could practically just run up on a beach somewhere and spend the night... flat bottoms and plenty of horsepower.

We actually got some decent sailing in this morning, when I was still in my “stop and smell the roses” mood. The wind was good and the waves hadn't built yet, and with a strong following current we made pretty good time for a few hours. Things were starting to build as Mandy took over; we had the option of taking the back channels still then, but elected to fire up the engine and try to cover some ground instead.

I don't really think it was a mistake, just a choice, and we chose discomfort over enjoyment. It's possible I didn't emphasize that enough in the conversation we had. Anyway, we'll probably make Port McNeill tomorrow where I can post these log entries and get some laundry done. I just changed my underwear this morning, and what is the first thing that happens? That's right, I sit in a puddle of salt water. So now I will have stiff and itchy underwear, since I refuse to put on and possibly ruin another perfectly good pair.

For all that, we're better off than the other guy who just pulled in to the bay here. Mandy swears he came out of Port Neville and if so he has got to be regretting the choice... in those two miles he managed to shred his headsail and beat the crap out of himself and his boat. He struggled for a half hour or more getting the main down, then motored over to chat. He was with another boat, heading for Forward Bay, and got into trouble out in the Strait. He was single-handing and almost went aground when the sails got out of control. He still wanted to get to Forward Bay, but his partner boat encouraged him to take a time out and rest a bit so he anchored a bit inside of us. Unfortunately he dropped the hook right where a gap in the shoreline lets the wind through. He's not having a good day! I offered to help him get the headsail untangled (he made the same mistake we did in a similar situation of furling it once it was torn; they are almost impossible to unfurl or drop after doing that, and have to be cut away) but he was beat and sounded like he just wanted to motor to some place better. At least he can; Forward Bay is downwind, we can't hardly make two knots going upwind right now. So in Blenkinsop Bay we will remain!