We pulled up the anchor in Blunden this morning at about 0900 to make the tides as they came up the Queen Charlotte Straits. They were headed Northwest before then and we needed to wait for them to be going Southeast so we actually got to sleep in this morning instead of having to be up and out by 0500.
I put on my foul weather gear--from my hat to my jacket to my bibs and the boots, I was covered in Gill foul weather gear. I was the man in red today. Tracy gave it to me as a Christmas present years ago while we still lived in Denver. It never saw that much use while we were there but it has been invaluable since we started this trip. As we left Blunden, the clouds had settled on the water with very little visibility so I stayed outside to keep watch. We had the AIS and the radar all fired up, but there are times that eye sight works better. The electronics are good, but some times they don't pick up everything. It's easy to miss a small blip on a screen. I cleaned off the rain on the windows of the dodger and off we went with me standing at the bow to make sure we didn't hit any dead heads(floating logs). As I said before in a post a few days ago, vigilance is key. As we motored across the strait(no wind of course), we would suddenly run into a stream of logs or kelp or just garbage floating across the water for as far as the eye could see. No reason for it that I could see, it was just there. We carefully steered around it or picked our way through it as best we could. It is one of the reasons I clean the raw water intake filter for the engine. It can suck in so debris in short order.
We saw fishing boats and sailboats and other power boat cruisers as we went. We crossed paths with a tug taking goods to Ketchikan. They were on the same course that I had plotted in for Zephyr, only going the opposite way. Needless to say, we altered our course to stay out of their way.
As the tide changed, we started experiences eddies and overfalls(like a mini rapids in the middle of no where). They had no problem throwing Zephyr all over the place like a cork in a tub was all we were to them. With me outside, Tracy had them all to herself. They didn't get really bad until we closed in on Pearse Island, our stop for the night. I made the mistake of plotting the course around the East side of the island so we could go in the passage from that end little realizing that the current was flowing through the passage from the West. As we passed around the East side of the island, we were swept up in the current and overfalls making Zephyr almost impossible to control. There was no way that Tracy was going to get into Pearse Passage Anchorage from the East side. Around we turned and back out the way we had tried to come in. We had approached the island from the North and now we had to go around the South side to get to the West entrance.
The "Sailing Directions" book(like Coast Piloting books out by the US government) put out by the Canadian government for British Columbia says this about Pearse Passage: "Pearse Passage separates Pearse Island from Cormorant Island and is about 0.7 mile wide. Gordon Rock, in the middle of Pearse Passage, has two drying heads. The passage is narrowed by drying and above-water rocks lying off the east side and by shallow depths off the west shore. The best channel is to the west of Gordon Rock, but neither is recommended(the last part is in bold type). Tidal Streams set obliquely through Pearse Passage and attain 4 knots at times." We just took off for the passage and didn't look back. Tracy watched the depth sounder and kept a firm hand on the wheel and continually complained that she hates these things as we plowed through the eddies and overfalls. I stood outside in the rain and kept an eye out and the windows clear for her. On we went, past Gordon Rock(we of course passed it on the East side). I could clearly see water roaring past it as we went by. Over more overfalls and through eddies and into Pearse Passage Anchorage through a channel about 50 feet wide. Water was pouring in through the entrance as we came in.
Tracy turned Zephyr to the West to face the current head on and tried to slow to a stop. Nope, that wasn't going to happen as the water current passing by grabbed hold of Zephyr and tried to move her East with the current. Tracy put the prop in forward to regain control and keep us pointing West and out went the anchor. We were in about 28 feet of water. I let out 100 feet of chain and the current started pushing us backwards. The anchor grabbed and let loose. Grabbed and let loose. The anchor wasn't holding so up she came. What came up was the biggest wad of seaweed, kelp and sea grass I've ever pulled up off a bottom. It was easily 4 feet in diameter at the anchor and 10 feet long. I grabbed our biggest boat hook and started trying to get it untangled from our CQR anchor. It was a mess, but I knew that if I dropped the anchor back into the water the way it was, it would just bounce along the bottom since there was no way the point of the anchor could bite into anything with all that kelp and seaweed on it. I finally got the last of it off and down it went. This time, I let out over 120 feet of chain and she bit in just fine. Since then, the current has reverse itself and is now pouring through the anchorage from the East reversing the direction that Zephyr is lying at anchor. With all the chain out, there should be no problem as there is little to no wind for the night in the forecast(not that that means anything). So as of now, we are all safe and sound in Pearse Passage Anchorage(50 35.019N 126 52.235W) for tonight. We covered another 33.2 miles in just over 5 hours and with the eddies, currents and overfalls managed to hit a max speed of 9.2 knots.
Once anchored, I came back in the cockpit and took off my foul weather gear and draped it over the steering wheel and stand to dry. My"water proof" gloves(I'd soaked two sets today)were hung in the engine room to dry since they were more soaked than I was. We cleaned up the cockpit, turned off the VHF radios, and put away all the charts and guide books we use and settled in for a wet afternoon. Since it was raining outside, we even managed to take a shower to get all cleaned up.
Tomorrow, we're off for Turn Island at the North end of the Seymour Narrows. There we will spend the night and start the first part of our trip through the Narrows at 0600 and stop at Plumper Bay(a whole 12 miles) till 1200 when we can catch the narrows at slack tide so we can get through with ease. At least, that is the plan as of now.
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