The West Coast of Vancouver Island provides some of the most pristine and ruggedly beautiful cruising grounds in the world. It's a sailor's paradise with a dizzying array of beaches, deeply penetrating fjords and awe-inspiring headlands. It also has a reputation of testing the seafarer with swirling currents, aggressive winds and dense fog. My husband John and I set out on Sea Reach, our Spencer 42-foot sailing vessel on June 28 on a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island, logging in 744 nautical miles over a period of four weeks. We knew only too well the type of weather that could be on offer having been part of a failed expedition the previous year that was aborted after a spanking off the tip of Cape Scott. This year we were more prepared, sought the advice of former circumnavigators and most importantly left enough time to allow for layovers if the weather became too surly. Trip highlights included a wild downwind ride from Cape Scott to Winter Harbour, new found friends in Klaskish Inlet, a part to play in the landing of a 60-pound halibut, an anxiety-ridden day while rounding Estavan Point in impenetrable fog redeemed only by the luxury of Hot Springs cove at days end, a night moored to log booms while a large bear roamed the shoreline and two celebratory days in Victoria Harbour to end the marathon in style. Our passage down the West Coast was divided into leaps between staging points to round the large landmasses that protrude out from the shore causing wind acceleration around their capes and unpredictable currents. A vignette into that first leap out into the Pacific will provides a taste of the salty life. We made that leap from Bull Harbour, the most northerly anchorage on the east coast. We stole out of the harbour at 5 a.m. in calm conditions, perfect for crossing the Nahwitti bar - a submerged sandbar that juts across the opening to the Pacific and is notorious for kicking up a wall of standing waves when wind and tide are in opposition. We arrived at high water slack without a whisper of wind and slipped over the bar with ease. Cape Scott beckoned in the distance, daring us to step into the ring once again. As we approached the cape, there was still little wind but the seas became lumpy and confused where tidal currents collided and the now shifting wind pattern was re-orientating wave direction. Even on this glorious blue-skied day, the potential peril that this cape presents was obvious. By 11:30 a.m. the wind quivered along the surface of the water and we set sail on a broad reach. Leaning into her work Sea Reach powered up and soon hit a cruising speed of six knots. We were ecstatic. With Cape Scott now behind us and the wind blowing us in the right direction we had but to marvel at the spectacle that surrounded us, Vancouver's rugged west coast to our port, the mighty pacific stretching unbroken on the starboard, and two enthusiastic sailors on a well-found boat having the adventure of their lives.
