A summer of drifiting

I ended up spending much of the summer on Drifter, a 24 foot C&C sailboat. In total, since I bought her near the end of May, I have spent more than 7 weeks cruising the Gulf islands, visiting the US San Juans, sailing down to Victoria to meet up with old friends, crossing to Vancouver to visit my brother, and sailing up to Desolation Sound and the Discovery islands to cruise there with my friend Ian. The following map shows this summer's trips.

In June I added a nearly new 6 horsepower Tohatsu motor bought second hand in Port Alberni. It is specially designed for small heavy boats, rather than dinghies or runabouts, with an extra long shaft and a small battery charging magneto as well as a modified propellor. I tried to sail the boat without an engine for two more trips totalling 8 days after her first delivery voyage and concluded that the engine would make things enormously easier, especially in the very light airs of the Gulf Islands.

Drifter in the boat yard at Maple Bay with fresh bottom paint

Old farmhouse Jedediah Island

Tranquil anchorage in Malaspina Inlet

In July I hauled the boat out and cleaned and painted the bottom, which made a huge difference in her speed. She was like a different boat after this both under power and sail. In this time I also replaced the compass, fitted a depth sounder, and added an anchor roller and chain deck pipe so that the anchor can be easily raised and lowered, with chain and rope rode storage in the forepeak. I also added a 50 watt solar panel and charge controller to top up the battery and additional support under the mast compression post.

Sunset and quiet water

Drifter ghosting along

The first major trip was only about 80 miles in total - a visit to Cadboro Bay in Victoria. However due to light winds, a somewhat fouled bottom, and having no motor, it took me 6 sailing days to cover this distance. One night I had to sail out the anchor when I woke in the night to find the wind had come up and set me onto a dock in the bay in which I had anchored. The boat did not respond to the helm as I hauled up the anchor and I had to gybe her around and run her in very close to the beach to get her under control. What followed was a stressful night that ended at 2 am after three hours of downwind sailing, navigating using a small scale paper chart with occasional fixes from my cell phone GPS. I had to locate an anchorage I could enter under sail in the dark without the benefit of depth sounder and chose the shoaling water on the north end of James Island near Sidney as my 'landing spot'. The return trip was equally exciting when I ended up drifting into the ferry lane near Schwartz Bay around dusk after a day of painfully slow progress. I was forced to anchor in very deep water to avoid becoming a hazard to navigation because I could not fight a 2 knot current with my sculling oar. I ended up accepting an offer from a kind person on a passing sailboat to be towed into a better location. All this decided me to fit a motor. Perhaps if I had cleaned and painted Drifter's bottom before this trip, I might not have made this decision, for she would have made much better progress in light air.

Jamie Orr's Orkney Lass near Montague Harbour on Galiano Island

Chuck Godfrey's Blue Moon

Her first larger trip with the motor took me down to San Juan island in the US for a visit to friends Gary and Beth who have a house on the island. Rani and I had met this couple in Mexico where we cruised together for a couple of weeks. I anchored in Garrison Bay off the English Camp historic site (where the British army stationed a garrison during the so called Pig War - a border dispute between the colony of Canada and the US). This is a well protected anchorage and I felt comfortable leaving the boat there for a couple of days. After this I took Drifter to the Small Boat Rendezvous at Sucia Island that my friend Jamie Orr organizes every year. You usually meet interesting people at this kind of event - the type of people who are not afraid of traveling long distances on small boats. I met one fellow on an 18 footer who has sailed and rowed his craft in the race to Alaska a couple of years ago. No mean feat for a healthy 30 year old, but he was into his 60s at the time. From the San Juans I cruised in company with Jamie in Orkney Lass - a small wooden schooner, and his friends on Blue Moon - a 34 foot Pacific Seacraft. We sailed up into the Gulf Islands, parting way at Pirates Cove on De Courcy island from which I sailed to Vancouver to visit my brother's family. I anchored Drifter in False Creek and spent a few days ashore hiking and rock climbing and took the family out for a sail around Stanley Park and under the Lion's Gate bridge. I returned via Gabriola passage with a short stop to visit my friend Andy who has a house on Ruxton island. This trip was two weeks long.

The longest trip of the season (22 days in total)  took me up to Campbell River, via Nanaimo, and then on to Jedediah, Lasqueti, Hornby, and Savary islands.  It took about 6 days to reach Campbell River following this route and I particularly enjoyed a tranquil but spectacular anchorage in little Bull passage between Jedediah and Lasqueti islands. The trails on Jedediah Island (which is a park) were excellent walking and there is an old farm to explore on this island as well as lovely woods and rock formations. The anchorage at Tribune Bay on Hornby island is open to the south and was too exposed for a comfortable sleep so I headed round the corner to a more protected anchorage after a few hours ashore walking the beach and trails. Savary island looks like it should have a good anchorage protected from NW winds, but I found that an annoying swell wrapped around the west end of the island and set Drifter rocking back and forth for several hours.

Ian Costanzo enjoying breakfast on Drifter

Ian and friend on Quadra Island near Rebecca Spit

Ian on Drifter with Don Selden's Grampian 26 in the background

I met Ian in Campbell River, docking at Fisherman's wharf for a day to make this easier. We provisioned and headed off for 6 days cruising in the  Discovery Islands. En route we met Don Shelten who was also sailing a smaller boat - a Grampian 26. Don had spent nearly 10 years restoring his boat and she was clearly a work of love. Together we cruised the coasts of Read and Quadra islands, seeing humpback whales almost every day and enjoying pot luck meals on both boats. Back at Campbell River, I dropped Ian off and met some more small boat cruisers on an Alberg 30. Mick and his daughter Mathilde and son Tristan were nearing the end of a 3 month cruise and we decided it would be fun to sail together to explore some of the anchorages on Cortes Island. Video below courtesy of Ian.

Don's 'Little Blue Boat'

Old fishing boat in Hjurth Bay, Read Island - just needs a lick of paint to put her in order

Mick was leading an interesting life and seemed quite fearless to me, having driven down and around central and south America on various small motorbikes, usually with his son or daughter on the back. He had a doctorate in waste water management and managed to make a living in between adventures consulting for clients mostly in the US. Mick and family had lived on board a 23 foot sailboat one summer at Mansons Landing on Cortes island and made excellent tour guides when we visited this island.

Mick's wife was joining the boat at Gorge Harbour on Cortes, so I parted with them and headed south, stopping to visit friends in Powell River and on to Garden Bay in Pender Harbour. Here I met up with Paul Scott who had sailed his Contessa 32, 'Wind River' to Pender Harbour to attend the Chamber Music festival that has been held here every year for 15 years. We had met Paul and his wife Susan in Mexico 10 years ago when we sailed there on Ladybug. I managed to get last minute tickets to the Sunday concert and really enjoyed the experience of world class music in such a beautiful setting. Paul and I left the next day for a rough beat to windward down to Nanaimo. The 3 foot chop and strong winds made for a tiring day and had the only incidents of the trip on this day - a dinghy rescue under sail when the painter (towing rope) chafed through, a lost winch handle (non-floating) during this rescue, and some dings to the bow when the danforth anchor broke free from its clips.

All in all it has been a great summer on the water and I am very pleased that Drifter has turned out to be a good little cruising boat.