Bull Harbour and BEYOND
Thursday June 7, 2007
Well, after getting tired of the dead fish smell in Port Hardy (only when the tide was out), we left for Bull Harbour on Monday. The wind was coming from the NW and we where basically going west so we ended up motor sailing in about 6 knots. We got into Bull harbour mid afternoon and the rain let up shortly after we got in (of course). The government dock noted on the charts actually belongs to the local First Nations tribe. There is a small settlement at the north end of the harbour with half a dozen houses or so. Tuesday we spent the morning on boat chores and in the afternoon we went for a walk out to "Roller Beach". The beach faces NW and is completely open to the Pacific. The surf roles in and the rocks roll up and down. Quite a beautiful sound when you stop to listen. Parts of the beach have been beaten into sand and if you could ignore the cold wind and the fir tress, you could almost imagine a south pacific setting (ok if you had a really GOOD imagination).
Part of the reason for the stop for the day at Bull Harbour was weather related as the forecast called for winds shifting from North to South and then North. The other part of the reason was to get another hour's sleep before we left to cross Nawhitti bar. The sailing directions are quite clear that it is best to cross at high water slack tide. We planned for this and left Wednesday morning at 04:00 to get slack at 04:30 (yes, in the morning!!). The NW wind had settled in and we motor sailed with double reefed main and about 2/3 of a headsail into 15-20 knots until we crossed the bar then sailed to Cape Scott. 7 hours and 20 miles later we rounded Cape Scott and finally eased sheets to head down towards Quatsino Sound on a deep reach. We are both quite tired of sailing to weather, especially in 2 meter short period seas with gusting winds. It was quite frankly a slog until we turned the corner. From Cape Scott to Winter Harbour (35 miles) we had a great sail in 10-20 knots with headsail and mizzen on a deep reach. We ended up at the dock at Winter Harbour as I had to do some telephone banking. A LONG day but worth the trip. This was the first time we had sailed Tarun on the "ocean", and our first time back on the ocean since we left New Zealand in 2000 (the Gulf Islands just don't count). We stayed at former BC Packers Dock in Winter Harbour, now "The Outback" for 50 cents a foot. We got away from there about 10:00 this morning and headed out for a bit of a sail outside of Quatsino to try and sort out the wind steering system. We are getting closer but still have a few bugs to work out. We came back into Quatsino Sound and motored about 15 miles to Pamphlet Cove. We anchored near the bottom of the cove and are very protected from pretty much everything. One thing that struck us as we were coming in was the sheer volume of logging that has gone on. That and the fish farms. We passed 4 farming operations in the 15 miles to get to Pamphlet. I think that to find unspoiled wilderness in Canada, you will probably have to travel to the high arctic. The logging that we can see from the water looks like they used a lawn mower to take down great swaths of trees. The resulting cuttings are eroding and will take a long time to recover.
Well, after getting tired of the dead fish smell in Port Hardy (only when the tide was out), we left for Bull Harbour on Monday. The wind was coming from the NW and we where basically going west so we ended up motor sailing in about 6 knots. We got into Bull harbour mid afternoon and the rain let up shortly after we got in (of course). The government dock noted on the charts actually belongs to the local First Nations tribe. There is a small settlement at the north end of the harbour with half a dozen houses or so. Tuesday we spent the morning on boat chores and in the afternoon we went for a walk out to "Roller Beach". The beach faces NW and is completely open to the Pacific. The surf roles in and the rocks roll up and down. Quite a beautiful sound when you stop to listen. Parts of the beach have been beaten into sand and if you could ignore the cold wind and the fir tress, you could almost imagine a south pacific setting (ok if you had a really GOOD imagination).
Part of the reason for the stop for the day at Bull Harbour was weather related as the forecast called for winds shifting from North to South and then North. The other part of the reason was to get another hour's sleep before we left to cross Nawhitti bar. The sailing directions are quite clear that it is best to cross at high water slack tide. We planned for this and left Wednesday morning at 04:00 to get slack at 04:30 (yes, in the morning!!). The NW wind had settled in and we motor sailed with double reefed main and about 2/3 of a headsail into 15-20 knots until we crossed the bar then sailed to Cape Scott. 7 hours and 20 miles later we rounded Cape Scott and finally eased sheets to head down towards Quatsino Sound on a deep reach. We are both quite tired of sailing to weather, especially in 2 meter short period seas with gusting winds. It was quite frankly a slog until we turned the corner. From Cape Scott to Winter Harbour (35 miles) we had a great sail in 10-20 knots with headsail and mizzen on a deep reach. We ended up at the dock at Winter Harbour as I had to do some telephone banking. A LONG day but worth the trip. This was the first time we had sailed Tarun on the "ocean", and our first time back on the ocean since we left New Zealand in 2000 (the Gulf Islands just don't count). We stayed at former BC Packers Dock in Winter Harbour, now "The Outback" for 50 cents a foot. We got away from there about 10:00 this morning and headed out for a bit of a sail outside of Quatsino to try and sort out the wind steering system. We are getting closer but still have a few bugs to work out. We came back into Quatsino Sound and motored about 15 miles to Pamphlet Cove. We anchored near the bottom of the cove and are very protected from pretty much everything. One thing that struck us as we were coming in was the sheer volume of logging that has gone on. That and the fish farms. We passed 4 farming operations in the 15 miles to get to Pamphlet. I think that to find unspoiled wilderness in Canada, you will probably have to travel to the high arctic. The logging that we can see from the water looks like they used a lawn mower to take down great swaths of trees. The resulting cuttings are eroding and will take a long time to recover.
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posted by Brian Ackles - S/V Cygnet at
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