Silva Bay

We made it to Silva Bay this afternoon as planned, and caught a spare guest slip at the Silva Bay Yacht Club at Pages Resort and Marina. We're taking the opportunity to charge up, warm up, and dry out a bit. If I had more energy, I would go up and browse through the books in the marina office... it's also a book store! It's been wet, but we have been generally warm enough despite the sometimes balky diesel stove, and we've been making good time and hitting most of our stops according to plan. The weather has been lucky; it was only brisk during our crossing of Rosario Strait, and downright calm coming across Haro (although wicked rollers spoke of mightier winds somewhere south of us).

We cleared customs in Sidney and spent the night last night in Montague Harbour. Had a bit of drama coming out again... I put her aground rounding Gray's Point. A rising tide, liberal use of reverse, and (mostly) a halyard to a passing BC Hydro crew boat got us off quickly. Actually, I had been veering further inshore than I had planned to make way for the crew boat, who was coming up from astern; I can't figure out if that was bad karma, in that I ran aground trying to be nice, or good karma, in that the boat I was being nice to stopped and helped us off again. Anyway, I am sure the leading edge of the keel is a mess but no other damage, and the worst part is that this puts Mandy and I at 1-1-1 in the running aground department. I'm really sweating who hits bottom next. I'm also calling out everyone who told me I shouldn't feel dumb about having done it last time; clearly you are all wrong, I really am that stupid, and apparently this is going to be an annual event. Once may be a learning experience, twice is just dumb.

Anyway, I actually had a fairly nice sail after that, wind almost right astern... I shook the genoa out and rocketed up Trincomali Channel, one of the best places in the world for a dead downwind sleigh ride. Last time we caught it coming down from the north, but the place is just like a funnel, and it's laid out like a drag strip: only one way to go, as fast as you can.

Unfortunately, like last time, the wind dropped off the further we got, so I ended up firing up the engine eventually and then battling my way out of Gabriola Pass and into Silva Bay. The southerly whipping up the Strait of Georgia against the flood coming out of the pass had us on a roller coaster ride, and the entrance to Silva Bay is moderately intricate even if you hadn't already run aground once that day. The interior is clogged with moored derelicts. I'm more worried about trying to get out past them tomorrow morning, though, in the dark.

Right now, the forecast is about perfect; the winds in the Strait are supposed to drop from 15-25 to 10-20 overnight and veer south, which will put us on a sweet beam reach right for Vancouver. They aren't forecast to pick up again until late morning, by which time we should be well within English Bay.

Speaking of which, the kid at the gas dock in Sidney next to the custom's float told me there were three frigates standing guard off Vancouver during the games. He wasn't kidding. I heard them hailing and stopping sailboats on the VHF all day long today. I expect we will receive similar attention as we approach tomorrow... hopefully not too much of delay.

For all that, it may not matter ultimately. When we went to register at the marina office, the lady at the desk asked where we were headed, and when we told her, asked if we had tickets for anything. We told her that, too, and she gasped and said, "Oh, had you heard the news?" We hadn't. It will cast a pall over the event tomorrow, if in fact they decide to have the event at all... there hasn't been any decision so far. And it certainly puts grounding a boat into perspective in the scheme of things.