After holing up in Nanaimo for a few days waiting for a break in the wind, we finally found a more reasonable forecast to set out northwards. We pulled up the anchor at 4:30am, eager to get an early start and hopefully make up some lost time.
We motored out around Protection Island and immediately understood why it earned that name – we were greeted by howling NW winds of 20-30 knots and steep short-period waves generated by the wind blowing down 60 miles of fetch.
Conditions like that really beat up both us and the boat. Bashing into the waves, our speed dropped to 1.5 knots even with the engine running at full cruising speed, and then some.
We hung on and put up with the conditions until we cleared a set of rocky islets near the coast. At that point, we were able to turn so that the wind would fill the sails and head for the Thormanby Islands on the east side of the strait.
We ended up having a boisterous sail in beautiful sunny conditions – flying along with double-reefs in both the main and jib.
