Day Seven -Blind Channel Marina, East Thurlow Is. to Telegraph Harbor, Vancouver Island, BC. We departed 0500 according to our plan to catch the calm conditions and favorable current. Weather permitting, we were aiming for Port Hardy, but that didn't happen. We enjoyed four hours of pleasant conditions, after which the wind started to build. We were able to motor sail with the wind and current at our back and maintained a good Speed Over Ground (SOG) between 7 - 8.5 knots, hull speed through the water was 6.4 knots. Late in the morning, the current changed and the wind from the Southeast picked up considerably, we reefed (shortened) the main sail. Although uncomfortable, we felt we could continue since there weren't many choices to duck out of the weather. We pushed on a few more hours when things got a little more severe. Wind speed built to 30 knots with following seas four - five feet. We were rocking and rolling by then. Anything that wasn't stowed or lashed down was on the floor of the cabin. Scooter, one of our poodles got seasick and both were nervous as they picked up on our stress. The autopilot kept us on track during the thrashing about but our little canoe stern boat rode the waves very well. After checking the charts we thought we found a safe place to wait it out. It was totally out of the wind but there wasn't any place for an anchor hold; it was all rock and 150 feet deep just twenty feet from shore. We met one poor fellow there with the same problem only he was going the other direction in a small sailboat with an outboard motor. We prayed he fared well. He was going to try and make it to a logging operation 5 miles up and stay in there. We made a decision to continue since things were only going to get worse and to push on eight more miles. For a time, the rollers subsided slightly, along with the wind but picked up again as we neared the Telegraph Harbor point. We radioed ahead to ask for moorage availability and were put on "please standby" for several anxious minutes. It turned out telegraph harbor was designed to hold boats 25' or less. They did find us a place along the pier without power or water, which we were fine with. As they say "any port in a storm". We arrived at 1315 relieved that we could finally get out of the weather. It was a good choice because the wind worsened and continued to howl all night long and the following morning until well after 1100am. Strong wind and weather advisories are all forecasted for the next few days. We may stay here until things get better.
Picture is Telegraph Cove marina is a historic port restored. The historic boardwalk reminds us of Pioneer Park in Fairbanks.