Hi,

Just came back from a short/long trip to Princess Louisa Inlet. Short in
"elapsed time" (4 days), long in how we felt after the trip: it was like being
in Desolation Sound for 3 weeks.

My Lady, James and myself headed out in Far Cove with her almost-broken-in
engine at 8am Friday, after packing up Thursday evening. Porecast was for
10-20 knot Easterlies (Yay!). Picked up said Easterlies just out of Vancouver
Harbour, and set up wing-and-wing.

Winds were gusty and there was lots of "bumps" from the tides, so wing and
wing was kinda hard to hold. Finally I dropped the main altogether and we still
were doing 6+ just with the jenny. Winds picked up even more, and finaly we flew
through Welcome Passage, with reefed jenny only, doing 6.5-7 with 30+ wind
behind us. Yahoo!

Stopped in at Secret Cove for fuel and ice-cream, and continued on. Winds
were much lighter north of Welcome Passage, so we had a nice sail (jenny-only)
to Pender Harbour. Started ****ing down rain 5 minutes after we set the hook
(and we sure need it here!).

7am Saturday we headed for PLI: 42 miles according to Wally at Fisherman's
Resort. Cranked her up to 2300rpm, which seemed to be about 6.5 knots (tidal
currents making it hard to gauge). Watched the incredible scenery flow by: 6000
ft snow-covered mountains, waterfalls, trees...and little fish jumping
everywhere. Ebbing tide against us often dropped our speed to 5.5, making me a
bit nervous: Malibu rapids can only be navigated at slack, so we HAD to be there
by 3:00.

Sure enough, turned the last corner at 1:00, so slowed down to make the 2:50
slack. Arrived at Malibu rapids about 2:00 and decided to go through. Still 3+
knots of ebb against us, and a very exciting entrance (VERY narrow at low tide!!).

But we made it, and Princess Louisa Inlet opened up before us. What a site!
Deep, calm water, mountains all around us, and every one seemed to have a
waterfall cascading down it. Incredible. We motored quietly to the end and
anchored just off Chatterbox Falls. But the wind was very gusty, and we decided
to go to the dock instead, and have a "cookout" on a fire in one of the
campsites. Yummy steak and potatoes, cooked on an open fire!

Next day we just Hung Out. Fished off the dock (100+ feet depth!) and pulled up
three nice rock cod for dinner that day. Later that afternoon (at the slack
tide) a number of American boats came in. In fact, I think there was only one
other Canadian boat on the dock. They were friendly, but loud and, well, it
seemed like they "owned" the dock. We played David Bowie's "I'm Afraid of
Americans", hoised our Canadian flag and left the dock to go to the mooring
bouys.

In all honesty, I think is was more that they were in a Yacht Club than their
nationality that created the irritating attitude. I've seen it from other YC's
many times: setting up the lawn chairs in the middle of the dock, etc. Anyway,
the mooring bouy was a nice change, and it would have been Excellent but for the
boats with open exhausts water-skiing (they came 40 miles to do this???)

Up at 7am to catch the 8am slack, this time high tide so it was easy. Went
through with a Canadian trawler and an American sloop. I let the sloop go first
so I could see how the tide was, but we eventually caught and passed it.
Strange, we three all decided that 6.2 knots was a "nice" speed, so we were
together for most of the trip back down.

Wind picked up to 20 or so against us, but we were thinking of going all the way
to Vancouver, so couldn't spend the time tacking on it. We did spend 1/2 hr at a
little bay fishing for Chinook Salmon, but didn't catch anything.

It was 3pm when we passed Francis Peninsula off Pender Harbour, and we had to
make a decision: sail on the nice, but directly against us Easterly and stay at
Secret Cove or Gibsons, or make a run for Vancouver. sniffsniff What's that
smell? Oh, yes: Far Cove has no showers. Vancouver it is! I thought we could
spend an hr or so sailing after we cleared Merry Island, but the wind died. So,
motormotormotor.

We entered Vancouver Harbour just as the sun was setting, turning the towers of
Vancouver into gold. Gorgeous. And we picked up a bit of wind: motorsailed at
7.5+, screaming into the harbour. We turned the corner into Lynnwood Marina at
10pm, averaging almost 6.5 knots over 87 miles. Not bad for one day! And we used
about 65 litres of diesel to travel 170 miles round-trip (ok, some of that was
under sail!)

So, Far Cove's new engine is now Officially broken in, and we're Very Relaxed.
What a wonderful trip!

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36