Today is the open water crossing around Cape Caution. We leave the protection of Vancouver Island (well, sort of) and are in the ocean for a couple of hours. Dave had been looking at the weather for days picking Thursday as the best day despite gale warnings. BC marine weather forecasting typically covers a very large area. Outside Vancouver Island, the forecast was for 25+ knot winds while in the shadow, we only saw 10-15 knots. The picture below shows the winds howling west of Vancouver Island (red and dark red) while our route (red line) is in relatively calm waters (blue, light green). Knowing there is 6 foot seas at 6 seconds only a few miles away is nerve wracking but PredictWind nailed the forecast perfectly.
Dave made notes on a map based on PredictWinds forecasts at various times along our planned route. The plan was if we saw much different, we would duck into one of the bays before Cape Caution. The map shows the number of hours elapsed (1-9), some wind predictions and sea conditions at the Cape. This forecast is from Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday's forecasts were for nicer conditions.
We set the alarm for 4:45AM and were off the docks precisely at 5:00AM. Light rain began around 8:30 and pretty much followed us the whole way. Dave is sure glad to have the wipers working again. Nine hours later, we arrived at the same anchorage (Green Island Anchorage) where we first met Joint Decision 13 years ago. All in all, it was a pretty easy crossing.
Green Island Anchorage is a lovely spot. It was super calm inside. Later in the evening, a sailboat came in through the passage Joint Decision told us to avoid. Sure enough, the next morning when they tried leaving, they hit bottom. They were going super slow but Dave could see the mast suddenly lurch when they hit. They backed out and went the way we came in, instead.
