05/11 - 05/14 - Friday Harbor 2023

DayBreak · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 11:20 pm Post subject:

Steve,

Quite often the dock space fills up fast in the San Juans or on the Islands/Coastlands of Canada. When this happens, you will find yourself at anchor or on a mooring ball. At that time you will wish you had your dingy as a minimum to hike and explore the islands. We find that we use our dingy 50% of time because of this. At-least bring the dingy. Gary

Peter & Judy · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2023 11:33 am Post subject:

If you cruise around in the PNW you will find that many of the best places to spend the night are at anchor, so having a dingy or kayak is a necessity.

Dora~Jean · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2023 11:52 am Post subject:

OK, thanks guys, dingy's coming along.

colbysmith · Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 9:25 pm Post subject:

In two weeks, Rosanne and I will be towing C-Traveler out to California for the Delta Cruise. Afterwards, Rosanne will have to fly back home for work, and I'll head north for the Friday Harbor gathering. For those that don't know, or have forgot, I hope you will indulge in my coloring book! I've already picked out some new pages to color at the Delta Cruise, the Friday Harbor gathering, and then for the Chatterbox Falls group. From the title page of my coloring book:

I won this book in a silent auction at the 2016 C-Brats St. Johns River gathering. While I’m not really into adult coloring, this seemed like a great opportunity to have something to remember the great times and new friendships made or old ones rekindled during various C-Brat gatherings, be they formal official gatherings, or informal meetings on the water (or land for that matter) at other times.
I ask that you take part in this endeavor by coloring in some detail of a picture, and adding your name and boat name to the item you colored in. If by chance you are joining in the gathering without a boat, please be a part of this anyway even if you don’t have a boat name to add.
Once you are finished, please pass it on to the boat or person next to you. Each gathering or event has a page/picture assigned to it below.
Thanks so much for your participation in this event and for coloring in the book. And BTW, no excuses about not being able to stay in the lines, lol. I can’t either…
Before the end of the gathering, please insure this book finds its way back to me. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Colby Smith / Midnight Flyer C-Traveler

Peter & Judy · Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:02 pm Post subject:

colbysmith · Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 1:14 pm Post subject:

Hunkydory · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 2:53 pm Post subject:

JoLee & I, may also join the group to PLI. For us it depends a lot on how JoLee is able to handle being on the boat during prior days around the San Juan Islands & Friday Harbor Gathering. Due to health problems, she has spent very little time on the boat, since our last SE Alaska extended cruise in 2018. Shortly after that cruise, she had extensive orthopedic neck surgery. We may continue on to Prince Rupert from PLI. The area from Nanaimo to Price Rupert is the only area, we haven’t boated, between Sequim & Skagway, Alaska.

With record snow fall & continuing snow & cold now, preventing the normal snow melt cycle, flooding here is a possibility, so also waiting to see how that goes before heading to Port Townsend to Launch. We hope to leave Wyoming by May 1.

kennharriet · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 5:25 pm Post subject:

Hey Jay. We may bump into you. Our tentative plans are to launch from Port McNeil about the third week of May. Not sure how far north we will get but planning for at least Hartley Bay. If we don’t see you there we have reservations at Yellowstone in July.

Prayers that Jolee’s health allows a great trip. Winter won’t end here either🙂. Ken

Hunkydory · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 5:54 pm Post subject:

Ken, if all goes well by the 3rd week in May we should be around or north of Port McNeil, so maybe we will see you up there. If not, we will have the boat in Yellowstone for the summer, so will see you there.

Jay

Peter & Judy · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 6:15 pm Post subject:

Vancouver Island Update. It's still well below normal here as far as temperatures and today we went 'Shushshoeing" in the sleet instead of boating. We are hoping for a change in the weather for next week and hope to launch Monday near Campbell River about a week later than we planned. Campbell River had snow twice this week and daily gale warnings. Winds were to peak today at 90 kmph. We come here almost every April and this is the coldest spring in the 20 years we have been doing so. Let's hope for more normal weather soon.

Hunkydory · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:16 pm Post subject:

Peter & Judy,

Before the possibility of flooding here at home we were considering heading up to Prince Rupert from Port Townsend in April & being back to Friday Harbor before the Gathering. As your situation shows it’s a good thing it didn’t work out for us. Twice we’ve left home for Skagway, Alaska in mid April & like you had a good road trips & cruise, though in 2012 it was a very cold wet spring in SE Alaska, but overall a great experience. Looks like the weather is going to improve for you with some sun by the 25th.

Jay

Catman · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 3:14 am Post subject:

Peter & Judy, you're sure welcome to join us to PLI if that's what the weather steers you toward. It would be great to have you along.

And you're right about the weather this April--it sucks! In fairness, not every day feels like January. Yesterday was actually sunny and allowed me to go biking. But today it was 46 degrees, raining, and blowing SW 13 miles an hour in Seattle. Repeatedly cold and windy days this month has me thinking this: If on May 13th and 14th the forecast for the week ahead is calling for small craft warnings and rain, I'm going to want to spend time snug in the San Juans and Gulf Islands until the weather starts behaving itself.

The question was asked about how long we intend to stay out. I think we're comprised of boaters with varying agendas once at Princess Louisa. Several are shooting for the Broughtons, others Desolation Sound. Still others might have two or three weeks and I imagine will spend days at PLI and head south, or west back to the Gulf Islands. So I really don't know how this will play out after we reach PLI. I have a hunch we'll buddy boat with people who have similar agendas and time constraints. But I don't want first-timers to feel abandoned in this new marine environment.

My hope is that when we break camp on Sunday the 14th, favorable weather has us clearing customs and busting a move northward. I like the idea of an overnight at Newcastle Island (Nanaimo), where we're poised for a blast across the Strait of Georgia when the time is right. But some may want to linger in the beautiful Gulf Islands for a few days, which they can surely choose.

colbysmith · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 11:04 am Post subject:

Dora~Jean · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 11:21 am Post subject:

Ditto on Colby's plans. We will be the caboose on the Brock-Colby train.

Peter & Judy · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 10:53 pm Post subject:

My thoughts on the Princess Louisa Inlet cruise after the Friday Harbour gathering. My original plan was to head into PLI about the 28th April to catch suitable tides and hopefully weather. This was to be part of our cruise into Desolation Sound. However due to poor weather and high winds we have lost a week of time and now hope to tack some days on to the San Juan Islands cruise and get into PLI with the C-Brats. My original plans were to come in from the north via Powell River and then up into PLI in a two day period.

We are in the slow boat category as the views and sealife are very important to us. Normally we cruise at about 6 knots and sometime turn it up when we need to get somewhere fast or just for fun. We are always careful to have lots of fuel with us. We are in no big hurry to get back to Alberta other than to get the spuds in the ground, so a few more days of pleasure in the islands and inlets is not a problem for us.

I will outline my (flexible) plans so that others are aware of our preferences. I would like to leave Friday Harbour on the 14th clear customs at Bedwell Harbour and then travel north towards Nanaimo. My preference would be to do this in two days (unless weather dictates otherwise) and spend one night in the Gulf Islands. Conover Cove on Wallace Island could be a nice mid point. It is well sheltered, has dock and anchorage for several boats and some nice hiking trails. The next day we could go towards Naniamo. I have never boated around Nanaimo, so there are several options on where to fuel, dock and wait for a suitable time to cross over the straight of Georgia. A family member used to like to stay at Silva bay on the east end of Gabriola before his crossing to Gibsons. There is a marina and fuel here. The other option would be to go through Dodd Narrows (9.5 Kt current) and stay near Newcastle Island Park. Once on the mainland side, Garden Bay in Pender Harbour was suggested, but Egmont (dock & fuel) part way into Jervis Inlet or the Harmony Islands (anchor) in Hotham Sound would be a good starting point to go the final stretch up Jervis Inlet. This route and trip plan would take four days to reach PLI on Wednesday May 17. I would like to spend two nights there and it would be a nice place to be on my birthday May 19th. On the return journey we will have to get back to Ladysmith and I would likely take several days for this journey, stopping at Lasqueti Island enroute. We would likely put the boat back on the trailer about May 22 or 23. I hope this plan is similar to others planning to head north and that a few of us can group together for the voyage.

Boating in an Armada will be new to us as we normally go solo. It might be fun to do the trip in a big Armada, but a dozen or more U.S. flagged boats heading in formation in Canadian waters might worry the Royal Canadian Navy. A few smaller groups of boats I am sure will be much easier to manage and we might see each other coming and going in and out of PLI.

A few other thoughts and questions. Is there a common radio channel used on these voyages? The weekend of May 20 to 22 is the Victoria Day weekend in Canada and could be quite busy as it is the summer kickoff weekend up here. It might be best to be in and on our way out before a lot of weekend boats come in. We look forward to meeting many new people during this trip and at the FHG. Hopefully we will finally get on the water on Monday and will check on the progress of the plans in early May before we head south.