Motor to Chatham Island
I thought I might motor to Chatham Island this evening. While the wind was a respectable 10 Knots from the North, I had arrived a little late in the day and didn't want to bother rigging for sail. I know, lazy right? I wanted to see how the new dinghy towed. Turns out, it's a pig. The RHIB is OK, but the six horse power, four stroke outboard is too heavy. Under tow, the bow is up to high and the stern drags way too much water. While I don't really want to have to lift the damn thing on and off T2's transom mount, I might be able to improve the towing by removing the motor from the transom of the dinghy and lay it down farther forward, in an effort to flatten the dinghy while under tow. Still a hassle.
On another note, the engine (Yanmar Diesel) was not cycling it's typical amount of cooling water and there was much steam coming from the exhaust. So, I shut it down and opened the through-hull valve by a few more wrench turns. That seemed to take care of that and the engine is now performing nominally. Whew! After a half-hour motor to Chatham Island, it turned out that the North Easterly was blowing right off Haro Strait and into the anchorage. Given that the tide was fairly low, I couldn't get far enough into the bay to shelter from the wind. That and the fact that the sun was setting, I decided to forgo anchoring and return to Cadboro Bay.
Leaving Chatham Island, I soon had a warming fire going in the wood stove, below deck. When I returned to my mooring buoy, I quickly scurried below and warmed myself by the fire. I enjoyed some greasy meat and cheese for dinner and then left T2 and headed home. I can't wait for the days to get longer so I can enjoy evening sailing after work!
En route to Chatham Island. Note the wake off the stern of dinghy.
Sunset through Banes Channel, returning from Chatham Island.
