This session, our 61′ yawl, Carlyn, is on her annual voyage up the Straight of Georgia, with eight campers and four staff.
When he gets internet access, our Captain, Ryan Downs, will send us updates, and we’ll post them here. Here’s his first update:
Ahoy from Nanaimo, B.C.! We have had some of the best sailing I have seen in 12 years up here. A brief recap of what we’ve seen and where we’ve been. It was a whirlwind at Camp getting ready, but our campers have been extremely helpful and cheerful in sharing the work. They moved aboard, stowed their gear and loaded the boat with food for the trip. Our Galley Coordinator, Edward, has been making us some amazing food.
We left on Wednesday the 27th for Friday Harbor to clear out of Customs, with no problems. We had a lovely breeze in San Juan Channel, and got three cheers from 2 other Camp boats on the way! Schooner “Adventuress” passed us heading south, and we also saw “Journeyman” heading out with Shining Mountain for a trip! We crossed the border in the early evening, and dropped anchor in Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island. We cleared Customs by phone and set down to our first dinner in Canada. We slept very hard that night, as we were pretty tired!
The next day, we had an INCREDIBLE morning of sailing. The campers have learned very quickly how to handle Carlyn, and the crew are feeling very comfortable in giving them more responsibilities. We went to an island that I’ve never been to before; Portland Island, also known as Princess Margaret. This is a protected B.C. Park, with trails all the way around and lovely views. We arrived after lunch and hiked all afternoon. After a leisurely swim, we decided to pull up the anchor and head to Saltspring Island in order to get a better position for the next day’s trip to Wallace Island. Wallace didn’t work out, due to a TON of wind we’ve had. We anchored instead at DeCourcy Island for some swimming and hiking on this lovely tiny island.
This morning we left early to get to Nanaimo and hide from another windy day. We had some burgers in town and have been enjoying civilization. Tomorrow we head for Princess Louisa Inlet, the jewel in the crown of the trip. We will check in again likely at Powell River, B.C.! Until then…