the Strait of Georgia
the Sunshine Coast
Westview (Powell River)
Monday, September 13, 2010TheCambrians
The forecast for the weekend isn't exceptionally good – 15 to 25 knots of wind from the southeast with showers – and, although we're well protected from the wind, it's time to seek out an anchorage with better holding. There are several “hurricane holes” in Desolation Sound – Roscoe Bay, Gorge Harbour, Squirrel Cove, Von Donop Inlet – so it was just a matter of picking the one which best suited our needs. So we untied our stern line and upped anchor pulling and old logging cable up in the process – the second time we'd been fouled in Teakerne – and started off for Squirrel Cove some eight nautical miles down Calm Channel.
By this time, the small trickle of water coming from the raw water pump had turned into a bona fide leak (after being fixed in October of 2008 and needs to be rebuilt before making our way down to Pender Harbour for the 14th Annual Jazz Festival where Jeff and Karry Bice, our friends from Washington, are going to drive up to meet us on Thursday. Besides, the laundry hamper is overflowing and we're low on fuel. Taking all of the above factors into consideration, there was only one conclusion to draw – forget Squirrel Cove, leave Desolation Sound for the year and make way for Westview.
Westview is a difficult marina under the best of circumstances so, with 15 knots of wind to contend with and a low tide which makes the main fairway even more narrow, I was worried about berthing. To make matters worse, the marina was full which meant rafting up to another boat – an easy task under normal conditions when you have someone to hand lines your lines to but not when it's raining and every one's tucked in below decks. By our second attempt, we finally caught the attention of other boat owners and, by the third, we were able to secure our lines for the night and plug into shore power for the first time since leaving Poulsbo in June.
Surprisingly enough, everything went our way this weekend. While asking the wharfinger who to call on Monday to press the bearings in the raw water pump shaft, David was pointed towards Shane and Mike of West Venture Tug Service who were working on a tug at the wharf and happened to have the tools for the job. They drove the old bearings and seals out and rebuilt the pump with the spares we had aboard...free of charge. It took some coaxing, but David was finally able to slip one of them a twenty to buy a couple of beers after work.
With only the laundry left on our “to-do” list, I hiked up Cardiac Hill again in the morning to the closest laundromat and was back by lunchtime. With everything done and the sun shining down upon us, we dropped our lines, went to the fuel dock and headed out into Malaspina Strait for Ballet Bay – a day sooner than we'd expected!
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