Vancouver Island Flotillas 2019

Day 9 | West Side of Vancouver Island Flotilla | Winter Harbour to Columbia Cove

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Around Brooks! This is one of the more significant milestones of the trip around Vancouver Island, and the weather has not been particularly cooperative this year. Wind this morning looked ideal. The forecasts called for single digit speeds and the early morning observations at Solander Island and Quatsino Lightstation backed that up. Our concern, though, was the swell. The wind has been blowing for several days and it continues to … Read more

Day 8 | West Side of Vancouver Island Flotilla | North Harbour to Winter Harbour

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The meteorologists called for another stormy day today. They were right. The rain began falling around 9:00 a.m. and didn’t let up for more than a few minutes all day. Although the wind didn’t make it into North Harbour or Winter Harbour, the reports from Solander Island weren’t encouraging. Sustained winds in the 30s, with gusts near 40. A good day to stay off the ocean. Since our progress has … Read more

Day 7 | West Side of Vancouver Island Flotilla | Kokwina Cove to North Harbour

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The weather for rounding Brooks Peninsula continues to be problematic. Today looked like a relatively light day of wind, but tomorrow it’s supposed to be blowing from the south (again) at 30 knots or so, possibly making Columbia Cove (one of our favorite anchorages) uncomfortable. So even if we were to go around Brooks today, we’d have to find wait somewhere for a couple more days before backtracking to Columbia … Read more

Days 5-6 | West Side of Vancouver Island Flotilla | Varney Bay to Kokwina Cove

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This morning we moved from Varney Bay over to Kokwina Cove, just 3.5nm away. We had little information about Kokwina Cove, so yesterday after anchoring the big boats in Varney Bay, we dinghied over for a look. Since it sounds like we’ll be waiting out some stormy weather tonight, we wanted to be as tucked in and protected as we could be, and Kokwina Cove seems to fit the bill! … Read more

Day 4 | West Side of Vancouver Island Flotilla | Sea Otter Cove to Varney Bay

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Environment Canada predicted light winds and a 1-2 meter swell this morning, not quite perfect, but pretty darn close. But by noon the winds were supposed to be blowing 15-25 knots from the southeast, and even more wind was predicted by the evening. Then, the real storm was scheduled to arrive the following day, with 45-55 knot winds. We needed to be somewhere safe and comfortable. We left Sea Otter … Read more

Days 1-3 | West Side of Vancouver Island Flotilla | Port McNeill to Sea Otter Cove

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We met the West Coast Vancouver Island group at North Island Marina in Port McNeill on August 14th. This gave us a few days to get to know people, do lots of provisioning, and answer questions before departing on the 16th. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating. Winds on the 16th in Queen Charlotte Strait were predicted to be blowing from the northwest at 20-25 knots, which would make for a … Read more