We motorsailed the 55 miles from Nanimo to Comax with a dying southerly pushing us along. We had planned to stop a couple places along the way, but with the forecasted strong winds now upon us, I'm glad we did not linger. Even secured in the harbor, we are seeing steady 30+ kts of wind, with gusts to 40 kts. With the strong winds and rain we are hunkered down on the boat, but are warm and dry with water, power and WiFi. Yesterday it was nice and we enjoyed a long geocaching hike (excellent parks on Vancouver Island) and in the afternoon we took a bus over to the sister city of Courtenay to explore.
Also yesterday, an F27 called Sistership came into the harbor. This boat is part of a diverse fleet of boats competing in the Race to Alaska (r2ak.com). These hardy sailors and rowers are competing with only wind and/or human power in a race from Port Townsend, WA to Ketchikan, AK. So far, in less than a week, they have been battered by 3 different fronts carrying gale force winds and large seas. Respect and fair winds to Sistership and her all woman crew, they're certainly tougher sailors than I.