May 30, 2022
After a couple of days at Portland Island, we needed to head over to Sidney to pick up a sail. We didn’t have any wind, but it was going to be a short distance, so we were fine to motor over.
Sidney Spit is a couple miles off of Vancouver island and is part of the Gulf Islands National Park and there is a place to anchor, some mooring balls and dock space. We chose a mooring because we weren’t too sure where to anchor. Someone popped by to let us know a mooring did let go a couple days before, but there was no wind forecast, so we we comfortable staying on it.
We dinghied over to Sidney to pick up our new mainsail. Unfortunately, after carrying it (at a 50 lb deadweight) across town, bringing it home and putting it up, it didn’t fit. Spoiler alert: we don’t get this resolved for another 5 months.
With the defeat of the ill-fitting sail weighing over us, we took to the beach for some exploring with the dogs. Turns out is not an off leash park and the dogs broke the rules running free. After a short lecture from the park rangers about the leashes, we enjoyed some sundowners and an actual sundown from the boat.
NM Sailed: 8 NM
May 31, 2022
We decided we had enough of Sidney Spit and the mooring ball smacking against the hull, so it was time to move on. We were thinking of heading to Todd Inlet so I could see Butchart Gardens. There wasn’t much wind, so it looked like a long day of motoring.
After grabbing some fuel, we headed off and made some questionable navigational decisions through John Passage. Nothing is as nerve wracking as watching the water for from deep to very shallow in a matter of minutes. It was fine and soon we were back into some more comfortable waters.
It was exciting for both of us to motor into waters unknown as we headed into Saanich Inlet. Still not much wind, but with the current going with us, we had enough to put the sails up and drift. Eventually the wind picked up enough to have us scooting along at 3 knots. as we got closer to Todd Inlet, we kept seeing wind ripples on the water further down the main inlet so we gave up the original plan and followed the wind. We slowly wound through the rest of the inlet watching waterfalls go by in silence with the occasional squeal of people on the Malahat Skywalk. As we got further down the inlet, the winds picked up and we had a great downwind sail into the Goldstream Marina where we spent the night.
The next day we backtracked with equally good wind. We planned to sail as far as possible and spent a sold hour trying to round a point without the engine. Once we got back out to Todd Inlet, the wind died again and we were left with the decision of heading back to Montague in search of wind or around Salt Spring in hopes of wind. We chose our old favorite of Montague and set off with the engine running.
Our plans changed a lot in the last two days and we were learning it was more fun to go without a plan and just follow the wind.
NM Sailed: 56 NM