We rise prior to daybreak and Shawn motors Kyra to shore. After motoring back, Shawn quickly stows the motor and dinghy. He also secures the battteries and pulls the anchor as we head out under extermely foggy conditions. The ebb tide is on, and we have to run across River's Inlet. We know this is not ideal, but we'd rather not be caught in afternoon winds. Fury Cove held ten boats last night. This morning we're the first to leave.
Visibility is poor due to fog, so we use radar and the chart plotter to guide us. Sure enough, the swell compresses and stands up from the ebb's outflow from River's Inlet. It's a starboard beam roll; not terrible, but rather uncomfortable. As we move further south, the swell elongates and diminishes a bit. Shawn radios the good change of conditions to the pack of boats following us out of Fury Cove. Beverly, of the Silver Star relays the message to the fleet experiencing the roll. Soon the fleet will pass us by.
Currents at Cape Caution are fierce, and we abandon our plan to run the mainland route. Instead we veer to the "outside" route past Pine Island. We have taken this route many times with the Tonie O. As long as the wind stays down, we're ok. The wind cooperates, but the fog makes for a tough passage, and it rains profusely all the way across.
We make it across Queen Charlotte Sound just fine, and Tonie cooks a spaghetti lunch for the final run from Christy Passage to Port Hardy. Once in port, we tie up at the Government Docks, and hike through town to Stryker Marine for showers and laundry.
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The Dickinson diesel stove works well. However, lighting it takes some practice, and sometimes tempts me to expand my sailor's vocabulary. |
