JOHNSTONE STRAIT and other considerations...
The other evening, my wife leaned over my shoulder to examine what I was doing on the computer.
- "Why are you spending so much time looking at those sailing charts?" she asked.
- So I safely transit around Vancouver Island and come home to you...
What causes me to explore the maps and zoom in on such places as Seymour Narrows?
This little bit of data from Wiki...
Seymour Narrows is a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) section of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia known for strong tidal currents. Discovery Passage lies between Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay, British Columbia and Quadra Island except at its northern end where the eastern shoreline is Sonora Island. The section known as Seymour Narrows begins about 18 km (11 mi) from the south end of Discovery Passage where it enters the Georgia Strait near Campbell River. For most of the length of the narrows, the channel is about 750 metres (820 yd) wide. Through this narrow channel, currents can reach 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).
Seymour Narrows was described by Captain George Vancouver as "one of the vilest stretches of water in the world." Even after Ripple Rock was removed (
the locals blew up the rock in 5 April 1958 Ripple Rock - Wikipedia ), it remains a challenging route. In March 1981, the freighter Star Philippine ran aground in the narrows.
And this on the Canadian Hydrographic Service Charts.
The goal is to safely passage between Campbell River at the northern end of Georgia Strait (in the lower right corner of the map) and Port Mc Neill which is on Queen Charollet Strait (in the upper left corner of the chart).
The most direct route is Johnstone Strait. It is also one of the more dangerous passages of water which begins with Discovery Passage (Seymour Narrows).
As the satellite image shares, there are not a lot of warm and inviting pubs along this stretch of water. The Canadian Sailing Directions for this area describes it as, "Settlements in the area are limited."
So how will we do it?
In my discussions with Michael Davis and Leo using their local knowledge of the waters, we will circumvent the more dangerous "narrows", mind the weather, and time our travel through the rapids, narrows, and overfalls at slack.