The cruising season is OPEN! - Jamie Orr

Hi Richard

Wayward Lass kicked off her 2002 cruising last weekend with a short trip to
Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, part of Washington State.  If you go to
http://www.mapquest.com/, enter Friday Harbor, WA, in the search box, then
click on "big map", you should get a good view of the area.  In fact, if you
draw a line from the bottom left corner of Vancouver Island, to the pass
between the islands below Friday Harbor, draw another line from that pass
north, then west to Friday Harbor, you will have our route over, exactly.


Three of us were travelling over to an afternoon of Scottish country dancing
in Friday Harbor -- my wife Maureen, our friend Anita and myself.  The
forecast for Haro Strait to the east was good, with light to moderate winds,
the one for Juan de Fuca to the south was not so good, strong winds were
forecast, a small craft warning for later in the day.  (Our track took us
right along the line where the two Straits touch.)  Since we would be there
by noon, I decided we could go ahead, but I had some reservations about the
trip back on Sunday, as the Juan de Fuca outlook was for stronger winds.

We got away from Oak Bay Marina at 7:15 am, pushed along by our 5 hp Honda.
There was quite a tide moving around the end of Vancouver Island, and it was
kicking up a few waves.  However, once past Discovery Island, visible on
Mapquest just under the "a" in "Victoria", it quieted down and we turned
into the wind to put up the mainsail.  Unfortunately, the wind wasn't strong
enough to fill the sail with the motor running, and we needed the motor to
meet our deadline, so after a few minutes we took it down again.

The south end of San Juan was hidden in fog.  I had a course plotted on the
chart, with allowance for the tide pushing us south, but also had waypoints
entered on the GPS -- I went with the GPS, keeping the chartwork for backup.
Traditionalists will be pretty disgusted so far, what with using both engine
and GPS.  That's a shame, because that's pretty well what the trip over
consisted of.  I will say that our planning was sound, in that we avoided
the small craft warning, but we hit some big waves south of San Juan,
resulting in some pounding.  Maureen was napping in the cabin, and got some
air time off some of the waves.  Luckily, what little wind there was threw
the spray the other way, so we stayed dry and enjoyed the mini-rainbows.
After the turn north through the pass, we got a good boost from the tide,
making good speed to Friday Harbor.

Once there, we landed at the customs dock and phoned the office.  Since
Wayward Lass and I are in the system already, we were able to clear over the
phone, so were free to go and arrange a berth for the night.  The we all
went off to the dance and a barbecue after.  Later, Maureen and I slept
aboard while Anita was billeted with a local dancer.  The marina is big, and
was noisy in the evening, but quieted down after dark and we had a good
night's rest.  I recommend it as a well run place, but it's kind of like
living in a floating city.

Next morning, there was a small craft warning for the eastern end (our end)
of Juan de Fuca, but Haro was still just fine.  Being on the cusp, as it
were, I didn't know what to expect once through the pass at the bottom of
the islands, but thought we'd better go and see.  If it was too rough, I
could always come back and put my passengers on the ferry.  We set off at
8:45 so as to arrive at the pass at 10:00.  We needed to go through before
the tide turned, but didn't want to catch the strongest part of the ebb
because we'd be fighting it once we turned west.  As we approached the pass,
we were all dressed for the worst, but as we came out into Juan de Fuca, we
found ourselves enjoying a sunny summer day.

There was a nice south east breeze, so we put up the sails, and stripped off
all the foul weather gear.  I guess Juan de Fuca is a big piece of water,
and our little corner was well away from any stormy weather.  We planned to
hug the shore to work our way north before crossing Haro Strait,so that the
ebb would not carry us to the south, and  this worked very well, we found an
eddy that helped us on our way for about 6 miles along the San Juan shore.
(We went north about level with the printed "Gordon Head" on the Vancouver
Island shore before we crossed.)  When we finally struck out into the
Strait, the ebb came from slightly behind us, and we made an excellent
crossing.  We motor-sailed until I was sure of making the northern entrance
to Oak Bay, then shut down the motor and enjoyed the quiet.

The northern entrance, Baynes Channel, and I don't get along very well --
again I found I was fighting the tide there.  I'd misjudged the turn so we
had to start the motor again to get in, but after such a good crossing, I
could live with it.  Once at the marina, we called the Canadian customs, who
also cleared us by phone.

A good start to the season -- sunshine and only a few waves.  I know from
personal experience that that stretch of water can be very uncomfortable, so
I was relieved not to have to fight our way home.  The plan is for Maureen
to keep enjoying these little trips, and only be exposed to rougher weather
once she is at home on the water -- wish us luck!

PS  I hope the reference to Mapquest helps -- let me know if it did or not.
Thanks.