In the case of the August storm, prior to it arriving, we were at Sea Otter Cove and that morning the wind was out of the northwest blowing at 24 knots but with a clear blue sky and little white caps in the anchorage. Most boats were on the mooring buoys and we had a trimaran on a buoy on each side of us.
There was just something about that morning I didn’t care for and wanted to get going buy my wife said she wanted to tidy up the galley and stow everything. What was about an hour later (seemed like eternity) we finally got under way. In the meantime all the other boats had left except for the one tri on our port side. By then the wind had died down to something like 21 knots. “See, I told you so! Not to worry!” she said.
As we sailed down the coast the wind became lighter and lighter and the sky became less blue, you know, the northwest “blue-white” kind of sky. Then one could see the mares tails. We were flying the chute and there was only a very small swell left over from earlier that day. Finally the boat speed dropped so low that it was time to take the chute down and fire up the Yanmar.
Not much later the wind shifted to out of the southwest and little cats paws started appearing on the glassy surface. A few miles later, maybe 20 minutes or so, we rounded the lighthouse to Winter Harbor and it was blowing something 21 knots with whitecaps everywhere. By the time we got into the marina, what, about 6 miles in, the wind was howling well up in the 20s and the sea in the inlet was probably around 3 feet.
Some blokes from Salt Spring Island on a Niagara ~35 (?) we rafted two boats in on the dock and they kindly allowed us to raft onto them, making us the third boat, but there was a couple fishing boats also rafted 3 in but their draft was less. The Niagara had earlier followed us (raced us???) around Cape Scott from Bull harbor the previous day and followed us into Sea Otter Cove that afternoon.
The storm came in two parts. Sunday it blew like crazy and Monday the grocery store opened around noon or 1 PM. At that time we had an ice box so stayed for the ice and decided to go the next day because there wasn’t enough time left to round Brooks. Two Sea Birds (bluewater boats, about 36 feet with cutaway keels) who were buddy-boating left to round Brooks but I think everyone else decided to stay.
That night the second part of the storm hit and that was when Solander blew away.
A couple days later we and the Niagara left and we quickly wound up in pea soup fog. The Niagara had Loran (GPS didn’t exist in ’91) and they allowed us to follow them. The Niagara is a high-aspect double spreader rig and when I was standing in the cockpit and both boats were in the bottom of the swell, the crest of the swell (there really wasn’t any wind) left over from the storm clipped their TOP spreader! How high is that? I’m guessing the swell crests were probably over 30 feet, maybe 35 feet???
It was totally pea soup and I had to almost ride their stern to keep them in sight. Powered up the swell then throttled back on the downhill side to keep from running into them. Rounded Brooks without ever seeing it.
The storm caused debris everywhere, all the driftwood on the shore as well as new debris floated on the surface and had to be avoided. The ocean water was a muddy color and all the kelp marking rocks had been blown off. It was like this all the way down to Tofino.
The two Seabirds: They aborted their rounding of Brooks Pen. went into Klaskish Inlet. One tied onto a storm buoy along with a fishing boat while the other anchored. The fishing boat had a hand-held anemometer and got 88 knots on the deck. The other Sea Bird had to anchor and dragged anchor until (he said) the stern almost hit the rocks when it finally held. The wind would blow one direction then switch 90º to another direction causing the swells to break into the cockpit (no walk through transom).
The trimaran that was the last boat left in Sea Otter Cove?: As we cruised down the west coast of Vancouver Island there became a, I think, Pan Pan (or something like that) about a missing or overdue trimaran for many days. The boat was eventually found floating upside down in Queen Charlotte Sound but, if I remember correctly, the crew was saved.
And remember, this was early August, the GOOD time to cruise.
In the Charlottes (1993) we participated with one other boat and the Coast Guard in a kayak rescue. A large group of kayakers from Alberta charted a Queen Charlotte guide company and two of them became missing. They were eventually found. One of them was rescued while the other one died of hypothermia. This was another day of high winds, huge waves, and more pea soup fog. This time we had a brand new radar (and needed it!) and a brand new Magellan 4000 GPS (which didn’t work very well when it was wet, like heavy fog or rain).
So, yes, while this is not considered the stormy time they do happen so don’t let your guard down. With today’s weather satellites and better forecasting, it should be better.
