Hi Warren,
I probably wasn't too clear about what we're doing. There are five major sounds on the west coast of Vancouver Island. From south to north you come to Barkley Sound, Clayoquot Sound, Nootka Sound, Kyoquot Sound and Quatsino Sound.
We will be trailering to Clayoquot Sound and putting in at Tofino. You can stay in protected waters until you get to Hot Springs at the north of Clayoquot Sound. The furthest that we will go north will be Hesquiat Harbour. That requires just a few miles out into the unprotected open water. From Tofino it is about 20 miles of open water to get to Barkley Sound. If the weather is good we will run that distance, if the weather isn't good when we want to go we'll put the boat on the trailer and drive to Ucluelet and put the boat into Barkley Sound there.
I can't comment on others level of risk and comfort assessment, but I probably wouldn't run around the south end of Vancouver Island to get to Barkley Sound. The west end of the Strait can have small craft warnings for days on end even in the summer. We have to meet a schedule, and the west side of Vancouver Island is no place to be on the outside in a small boat if the weather changes. There is a 70 mile open ocean run with only one marginal place to get off from Sooke to Bamfield.
The last time we were in Bamfield in September, we woke up to a weather report of "hurricane force winds on the west side of Vancouver Island" on our last day out. That was in the second week of September. Our vehicle and trailer were 20 miles away in Ucluelet at the north of Barkley Sound. That was the fastest that we've every gotten ready and off the dock. From waking up and turning on the radio to pulling away was 5 minutes. The weather window gave us a couple of hours and we were tied up at Ucluelet (which has a very good, very protected marina) within an hour. No boats were able to go back out for a couple of days after that blow. The next morning we got up, put the boat on the trailer and headed home, on schedule.
So, we'll be in unprotected water for no longer than 20 miles or a couple of hours at a stretch. All of our other cruising will be in Sounds with protected water, islands and coves and towns with services. As an added bonus you can dock at Tofino and be a couple of blocks from world class restaurants or a 15 minute drive from the beautiful beaches of Long Beach National Park.
The trip around the outside would be pretty easy in your boat in good weather, but it could take days to wait out the weather coming or going. The road from Port Alberni to Tofino is steep, windy and narrow in places, but it is doable with a 25' boat. Either route leads to one of the most beautiful cruising areas in the Northwest.
Lyle