Hiding From the Storm...

Heading east in Chatham Channel this morning.   This blog title had me thinking about the Doors, "Riders on the Storm".  Which is my favorite Doors tune.   The song is about the struggles of people (humanity) to cope with the challenges of life in an indifferent and sometimes chaotic world.   More on the "Storm" later in this blog.

But for now, kelp...

Chatham Channel is narrow and very shallow.  At its deepest it is about 30' deep; at its shallowest it is only 20' deep.   Kelp will grow up here on any rocky bottom up to about 20'-75' deep.   So, this channel is chock full of it.   

For those of you who do not reside near cold water, kelp is a beautiful water plant with a 30+' long stalk and long leafy head that is anchored to the bottom at the base of its stalk.   The head will flow with the current.   They tend to grow in large clumps or forests.   Great diving can be had in kelp forests.  Anyway, in the above picture, that is what is all over the surface of the water.

Kelp isn't a problem for the rudder, prop, or thrusters, but it is for the stabilizers.   Our boat has fin stabilizers that swing back and forth and act like wings on a plane to generate force to keep he boat upright at all times.   

Kelp can become wedged between the hull and the stabilizer fins rendering them inoperative.   This happened once before in a narrow kelp choked channel.  We limped at very low speed to the nearest harbour, Victoria.   I ended-up paying a kid to dive the boat and cut away the kelp.

But the jammed kelp caused a problem with the fin that had to wait until we got home to have the Wesmar stabilizer people fix it.

Consequently, I am very careful in kelp.  I center the stabilizers and turn them off (so they can't swing out creating a gap between the fin and the hull to trap kelp.  I also speed up to push through the kelp so it can't stop me.

Today, was no problem.   We made it through without issue.

This channel marker denotes the eastern end of the channel and confirms that we are through!

Now we head out into Johnstone Strait for about 15 miles until we can duck back into the back channels.   I will say that Johnstone Strait did not live up to its reputation today.   All was quiet and peaceful out there.

  We arrive at Forward Harbour and are greeted by a black bear foraging along a grassy area near the shore and a huge number of jumping fish all along the shoreline near the head of this bay.

There are numerous freshwater streams that empty into the head of the bay making this a nutrient rich area.   Some of those streams are salmon spawning streams.

Looking back west towards the mouth of Forward Bay.   We are electing to ride out the forecast storm from here.   We are tucked well into the head of the bay and further into a little cove that juts to the east.  There is no wave action here, but the winds will get funneled down the valley and through the anchorage.  That should make things noisy as the winds pick up, but not otherwise exciting!   

I put out 180' of all chain anchor rode in 45' deep water, so slightly better than 3:1 scope.  I also put out the single bridle and an extra 30' of chain to act as a kellet. 

We should be good, I hope...

It is really howling out in the red area with winds from the south at 30+ knots.   Where we are (small white dot near the center of the picture) it is pretty peaceful with winds gusting to the 20's, but nothing more.   We like the magenta and blue areas!  Fingers crossed!

Dinner was Orecchiette in a light non-cream sauce with broccoli, mushrooms, spicy Italian sausage, and tomatoes.

Add a nice Caesar-esce salad and the 2022 Long Cellars Denner and we are in great shape!

A spirited after dinner game of Cribbage.  Karen won, thereby tying our games at this point.   This is going to go down to the wire!

 

Just a couple of sunset photos to wrap this blog up tonight.

The wind gusts are picking up fairly aggressively.   When they hit the boat shudders a bit and we hear the growl of the wind hitting all the flybridge canvass.   We are buttoned down tight, but it still makes noise.

This is forecast to last well into tomorrow afternoon.  We will see what daylight brings.

Good Night, Y'All.