Yori's Dock, Gorge Harbour
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Tue 9 Jun 2015 00:43
Alongside Yori's dock, Gorge Harbour
Wind: North West, F4 moderate breeze
Weather: sunny, warm
Day's run: 18 nm
It has been another short hop today, and a very pleasant hop at that. We weighed anchor at 8.20 to make use of the last few hours of flood tide to sail the last few miles of Discovery Passage and out into the more open waters of the Strait of Georgia. The tidal flows are interesting in this part of the world. The Strait of Georgia has quite a large tidal range, some four to five meters, despite the fact that it is a relatively large body of water with restricted communication with the oceans through many narrow channels, but I shall ponder this another day as it bears some thinking about.
We enjoyed a following breeze out of Discovery Channel, so were able to run wing on wing, until we rounded Cape Mudge and crossed Wilby Shoals extending to the Cape's south. We lost the wind for a short while behind Cape Mudge but soon found it again as we worked our way to the north east, now close hauled on the port tack. We enjoyed a brisk sail across the Sutil Channel, laying the southern end of Marina Island five miles distant in one tack. Once around Marina Reef the wind obligingly becked and allowed us to work our way up the channel between Marina Island and Cortes Island without tacking, until we were right up towards the entrance to Gorge Harbour. Here one tack sufficed to bring us to the entrance, where, due to the narrowness of the entrance, a foul tide and a headwind, I handed sail, started the engine, and motored between the steep rock walls, into the harbour, turned right and made for Yori's dock. I recognised it easily with the excellent directions Yori had provided me with, and a short while later, with Sylph secured, I was enjoying lunch in Yori and his wife, Ann-Marie's beautiful log cabin.
After lunch Yori showed me around their property and offered me access to his work shop for any jobs I need to do. Eyeing his drill press I immediately thought of one, the starboard sheet winch needs some broken bolts drilled out and re-tapped. Hmm, with water, power, tools, internet connection all on hand, I wonder how long Yori and Ann-Marie will be willing to put up with us.
Meanwhile, RC had to stay locked up on board because there is a robin nesting under the eaves of the house, and, while it was unlikely that RC would make it up to the house, he does like to explore. It seems that RC is not the only predator hereabouts. Yori tells me that there are also wolves and cougars on the island (though no bears). We are safe from the wolves for now, but one needs to be on the lookout for cougars at night. Their prey is deer, which presumably are quite plentiful on the island, as we had a fawn walk past the window while we were having lunch. The qualification with the wolves is given because there is a concern that the wolves might become a menace to people as well. Yori said that the wolves have lost a lot of their elders due to human hunting, and consequently the wolf packs have lost the skills of cooperative hunting and are no longer able to hunt deer effectively, except for the sick, young, and weak individuals, and cats and dogs. I shall not be straying too far away from the beaten path while here.
Ann-Marie has just invited RC up to the house. He loves a bit of attention, so I had best break out his carry container. Barbecue ribs are for dinner tonight, a very nice change from my usual one pot vegetable affairs. Time to go.
Oh, and thank you Thom for introducing me to Yori.
All is well.