Evans Bay Back To Rebecca Spit

This was the third and last day of our short trip into this set of islands. I woke a bit later than usual knowing there was no rush. But, when I walked out of the trees, I saw the wind had blown the boat too close to the shore when the tide was ebbing. I called for Diana to help then walked over the large stones to lever the boat back into the water. Thankfully we had only a few feet to go. I used a few chunks of driftwood as pivots and we 'walked' the boat back to the sea. Sounds simple, but she weighed over two hundred pounds empty! After a half hour of struggle and a few cuts from the barnacles, we had earned our coffee on the shore.

The marine forecast predicted winds to remain from the north until about noon, then calm. We decided to pack up and try to catch that wind to avoid having to paddle and row any great distances after yesterday's long stretch of rowing. I thought my boat could easily sail the two of us and pull Diana's kayak, so we set out with that arrangement.

Once we got launched and felt the wind pushing us toward the mouth of the bay, I raised sails, but found our struggles with the grounding had dislodged the rudder from its position. A few minutes of lying on the rear deck and using my fist to drive it back onto the pins and we were in action!!! The wind blew us out of the bay and towards home, but slowly lost its vigor. After an hour or so, it was no longer much wave action. It didn't take much coaxing to unearth the stove and brew us a second pot of coffee and find a snack or two.

Our optimism faded with the last of the breeze. Back to the rowing station after the sails were furled. My muscles were not happy as the extra drag of the kayak wandering back and forth slowed us to about half my solo speed. I pulled into Twin Bay to let Diana climb back into her kayak, then we rowed/paddled our boats back into Sutil Channel for the long trip home.

Great news greeted us once we cleared Viner Point and felt the breezes. We thought it was best to not toy with the wind diva by having Diana move back to a sail-rigged boat. Instead I tied her throw-line between us and raised my sails. Oh Joy! The wind was on the beam and with enough force to pull us along at a speed of about 2.5 knots! Perfect! That wind increased a bit once we entered Drew Harbour on Quadra Island. I set the kayak free then had to let the Walkabout have some playtime! I tacked up the harbour with three long runs, arriving long after Diana, but with a big grin!

The pictures at the top of this entry show first, my favourite kind of view with receding islands and overlapping passes that invite the eye and the explorer to come and see what is just beyond. Second is a picture of the Walkabout 'mother ship' taken from the kayak, being towed back to the launch. Third picture is a beautiful rock face in Twin Bay.