Sidney Spit
It’s ten to eight Thursday morning. I’m prone on an air mattress, and using my laptop to block the sun which is shining directly on the cockpit. Some trouble, huh? I thought I’d take advantage of the dead calm to catch up on my logs. The voyage began on Tuesday afternoon when I left Cadboro Bay under power bound for Sidney Spit. The first port of call would be the Oak Bay Marina for fuel, water and ice.
Once clear of the marina, I raised the jib and pointed toward Baynes Channel. There was a strong wind warning posted by Environment Canada. Wind from the Southwest to 20 knots. So under jib alone, I was soon cruising at or just below hull speed. At one point in a fit of bravado, I raised the main sail. She had a heavy helm under that much sail. Even with the jib rather than the Jenny. In fact I was so overpowered under that much sail that when the jib sheet slipped the cleat, I dropped the damn thing and continued under main alone.
I got a good couple of hours in under sail, until James Island stood off the port beam. Then for reasons that aren’t clear this morning, I dropped sail and motored to the Spit. At anchor in my new ‘usual spot’ (Just off the beach, South), the wind came up from the Northwest. That’s about the worst conditions at the Spit.
Of course one of the big draws at the spit, along with some damn fine beaches, is the abundant numbers of Dungeness crabs to be caught, killed and consumed. The trick is to find the sweet spot to set your trap. Using my chart plotter, I scoped out what I hoped would be such a spot. There is a shelf just off the point at the entrance to Sidney Spit Marine Park. 25 feet of water at zero tide. I dropped the trap at that location according the chart plotter on my iPhone and must have missed because I ran out of line while lowering.
After jockeying around and dragging the trap toward the beach I found a spot where I had enough line (40 feet). How could I imagine that would be the last time I would ever see the crab trap that Dr. Hofer gave me.
The ocean was so choppy it was actually uncomfortable to go as fast as possible in Skully. As Donald Trump would say; “Sad.”
I tried to light the stove but there was no venting at all. Billows of smoke filled the cabin until finally I had to remove all of the smoldering kindling and throw it overboard. WTF?! Surely the flue pipe and/or spark arrester wasn’t plugged already. I’d only had a couple of fires since the last time I cleaned it.
Sidney Spit
Planning with strip charts.
Dinner the first night, at Sidney Spit.
