Pierless Adventures - Vancouver Island 2025 I bought Pierless in Mazatlan, MX. In 2023, I sailed north from Mazatlan, leaving the boat in Ventura California. Last year I finished the trip north, bringing Pierless home to Washington after 3,000 miles of solo sailing. This year I will enjoy taking trips that I want to do versus trips I have to do - starting with a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island during the month of June. This is a good month for the trip as fog won't be as prevalent, days will be longer and the coastal winds have made their shift to the NW, allowing for better sailing home on the outer coast. The plan is to circle the island counter-clockwise to make the best use of these winds.. I will have company on this trip in the person of Dave. He will meet me in Anacortes where I keep the boat. We plan to move north on the east coast of the island quickly. Once in the vicinity of the Broughton Marine Provincial Park, we will slo...
Day 1, June 11: It has been a frustration 10 days... One of the pre-launch projects was to install a new propeller shaft. There were several problems with how the new shaft was manufactured and after three attempts we decided to just go with the old shaft and deal with the new one after the trip. This change in perspective was thanks to Tracy when we told her we were likely to cancel the trip entirely. Her wise comment was "why not just put the old one back in? It got you here from Mexico." Sometimes you can get too close to a problem and need a little independent perspective... Pre Launch Due to tides, our launch was scheduled for 4 p.m. No problems with the launch (leaks, engine, etc.), so we headed out of Anacortes determined to make as many miles as possible before dark. We selected a few possibilities to choose from, depending on our speed along the way. Our hope was to make it to Canoe Island near the east side of S...
June 19-20: We left Refuge Cove at 10:30 a.m. for Laura Cove in Desolation Cove. This would be short but pleasant trip of about 13 NM or about 3 hours, and would be our first anchorage in Desolation Sound proper. The provincial park is fairly large, but this section is the most frequented area of the park. Passing Martin Islands We made the most of the short trip, passing inside the Martin Islands then between Morgan and Melville islands. I do enjoy passing close to land when depths allow! Morgan and Melville Islands Threading William and Scobell Islands Laura Cove is a real gem in the Desolation Sound archipelago- smaller than other anchorages and well protected. We wove our way through the channels and rocks to our anchorage toward the end of the cove. There were two other boats at the anchorage and everyone was stern-tied. Stern-tying is an effective way to accommodate more boats in an anchorage. You drop your anchor, then b...
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