Clawing our way down Clarence Strait

 We had an uneventful passage through Wrangell narrows and found an an anchorage in Snow Passage. 

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated the next day. Strong south Winds, driving rain and reduced visibility . We headed out and started bashing into the wind , pretty soon we were down to two knots and things were looking grim. We pulled into Coffman Cove for a respite. After a couple of hours things looked a little better so we pulled out and started bashing into it. After a few hours we made it to Ratz hbr about 14 miles further up the strait. We anchored and settled in and decided to listen to the weather. It was grim with forecast winds of 20 to 25 knots for the next three or four days. That night it was supposed to ease off to 10 knots before resuming 20 knots the next day. 

My task was to convince the crew we had to motor all night into a south Wind. We had been up since 0430 that morning. Anyways we headed out and that is what we did, bash into the wind all night. We pulled into Ketchikan at 0800 the next morning and shortly after that the wind was blowing 20 knots again and of course driving rain.

Yo say we both were a little discouraged would be an understatement. There was talk of beating a retreat back to Skagway.

What a difference a little sleep makes. There is a gale passing through tonight and it looks like there will be a little weather window in which we might be able to sneak down toPr Rupert. Today we had a couple of hours of no rain . That cheered us up but it is now pouring buckets.





I took this picture because it proves that for a few moments it is not raining.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back in Nanaimo

 While we were midway in our SE Asia trip we received the disconcerting news that our boat had been broken into. A homeless person had broken in and set up housekeeping while at the same time removing about $5000 worth of our belongings. To say this caused us some sleepless nights in our travels would be vastly understating things.  Thankfully our good friend Angus Mcintyre was keeping an eye on the boat and was actually responsible for reporting the incident and assisting the RCMP in arresting this person. He also cleaned things up before our arrival. What a great guy and we are forever indebted to him.  I was actually able to order a bunch of stuff from Asia and it was waiting for us when we arrived. Since then we have been cleaning up and going on shopping sprees to replace the missing stuff. The missing stuff included my log book , and Yammys and my personal clothing. I suspect a lot of our stuff is in a dumpster or a land fill by now.  I was tempted to throw in ...
Read more

Into the Gulf Islands and San Juan Islands

Image
 We had a few days to kill before Yammy headed home to the Yukon. We decided she should go bus ferry bus to the Vancouver Airport, leaving from Sidney.  We stayed once more at Pirate's Cove where we discovered the pirate's chest had been refilled.  Then Montague Hbr and then Royal Cove close to Sidney. After that Yammy left and I was on my own for the first time in many months. I spent a couple of beautiful days  on Sidney Spit . Then Friday Harbour where for various reasons my entry into the US was a two hour ordeal.  The next day I went to Sucia Island and spent a couple of days there.  Then it was over to Stuart Island  and the next day back to Sidney Tomorrow I start heading North.
Read more