{"id":4897,"date":"2018-09-06T07:42:21","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T14:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leslieval.com\/?p=4897"},"modified":"2019-07-03T10:50:28","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T17:50:28","slug":"raiding-northward-august-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leslieval.com\/?p=4897","title":{"rendered":"Raiding Northward \u2013 August, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Saturday, August 18, 2018, we untied the dock lines and headed north on Cat\u2019s Cradle. Our goal: Catch up with Scott and Cora, now 12, and \u2018assist\u2019 in their competition in the Barefoot Raid \u2013 2018. ( www.barefootraid.net<\/a> ) We sailed and motor-sailed against the light northerly winds-first to Montague Harbor on Galiano Island, and then toward French Creek (north of Nanaimo) to meet Scott and Cora. At Montague on Sunday morning we carefully plotted our northward plan, remembering the dreaded Dodd Narrows looming about 20 miles ahead of us.<\/p>\n

Dodd Narrows is a 50 meter wide opening between the Gulf Islands of British Columbia and the open waters of the Strait of Georgia. We say \u2018dreaded\u2019 because we have had two past challenges here. Years ago, leaving Nanaimo early in the morning to catch the slack current at Dodd Narrows, we saw in the darkness of early dawn the red lights of a vessel ahead of us. No, that is a green light. Oops, it\u2019s both red and green. Now it\u2019s white. What is going on? We soon found out when we hit a big log that had escaped from a little tug that had been dashing around in front of us. The log cracked the extension that holds our propeller down in the water. BANG! This was not good. We limped home under duck tape and ropes holding things together and spent several months flying repair parts in from England.<\/p>\n

Then,\u00a0 just a couple of years ago, we came down from the north in the Strait of Georgia under spinnaker \u2013 hour after hour \u2013 mile after mile. Val was enjoying this and decided to carry on through Dodd Narrows under spinnaker.\u00a0 Leslie was \u2018driving\u2019 and Val was fiddling with the big green sail. All was going so well \u2013 until \u2013 just as we were 100 meters from the narrowest part and other vessels were squeaking by in the opposite direction \u2013 the spinnaker collapsed which completely blocked Leslie\u2019s view. She had the motor runinng but could not see what was happening. Val pulled and gathered and just before all hell would have broken loose, Leslie was able to see again and with various twists of the wheel, we made it through the narrows. A lesson here – \u201cNo Spinnakers in the Narrows\u201d.<\/p>\n

So, here we go again. Motoring northward (winds are weak), we adjust our speed so that we will hit the narrows at slack \u2013 when the current is zero. Seemed like a very prudent plan…..\u00a0 No spinnakers and no driving in the dark. All is going well \u2013\u00a0 actually, too well.\u00a0 A mile (15 minutes) before the narrows, a big tug comes charging up from behind us going very fast and throwing a huge wake. We grimace as our motoring sailboat bounces around. Why would that big vessel be in such a hurry in these tight quarters? Now, we are 2 minutes from the narrows and our timing is perfect. We will go through exactly at slack! Then, coming into view just as we are about to enter the narrows, we see a big tug pulling a huge boom of logs and seconds later, we see the big tug that had just passed us is pushing this way and that way at the other end of the fleet of logs. Men were jumping off that tug and running around on the bouncing logs. We put the wheel hard over and did about 10 very tight circles about a hundred meters away as the two tugs slowly got their tow through the narrows. Another lesson here – \u201cDon\u2019t try for slack, go an hour or so before or after slack when the current will help your passage and the log booms will have finished their maneuvering\u201d.<\/p>\n