Sailing Vessel Karma

The first big stretch of water to navigate carefully when heading north is the formidable Johnstone straight. There are a few different routes one can take through, each with their own rapids and other various obstructions.

Interestingly, just south of Desolation sound the current switches directions on the east side of Vancouver Island. This, in combination with the now more narrow and broken up channels caused by the heaps of islands on the northern half, causes some rapids to occur as a huge amount of water floods and ebbs around the island. These can run up to speeds of 18kts in places. Definitely worth planning to hit these at slack tide…

The first stop for us taking the highway route of the Seymore Narrows is Campbell river. The last large town on the way north. The passage over was uneventful albeit extremely beautiful as always in this corner of the world. That was until we turned the corner into the Discovery Passage and ran up to our first taste of these extreme currents. While it wasn’t too long after slack, it took us almost 3 hours to go less than 3 miles to Quathiaski Cove on Quadra Island where we anchored in big wind and current rips. From here there is a 15 minute ferry across the passage into Campbell river, and Quadra has a charm of its own!

The first full day we spent wandering around the island, getting a coffee and pastry at their local shop in the town at Q cove. We then hit the streets to wander around and get a feel for the place. The next day was the day our backup starter we ordered into Campbell River was to arrive so we hit the ferry early and headed over to explore. It was surprising how loud walking around a semi-busy town felt after the last 4 weeks of no traffic noise. It was not long before we gravitated towards a nature preserve with a wonderful hike ended at a suspension bridge! At this point we heard word our starter was in so we headed back via a hitchhiking ride from a nice local fella and some fish and chips later we were back on Karma ready to hit the current to stage for the Seymore Narrows the following morning.

The Seymore Narrows is the first big gate to the north and the entrance to the Johnstone Straight. To hit the tide right at slack, which is very necessary with the possibility of the current running up to 18kts and effectively becoming class 3 rapids, we anchored just to the west in a huge bay often used for tug boats preparing log floats. One of these actually, very politely, woke us up the following morning to ask us to move just over so they could exit in the deepest part of the channel.

After a lackadaisical morning waiting for the 10h30 slack tide we set off. We fell in line with 3 other sailboats also transiting north and we hit the narrows at a perfect time. Felt like motoring through a lack. Once past the pinch point we raised the sail and tacked up Discovery Passage along side another sailboat. We ended that day anchored in Otter Cove, right at the corner of the official Johnstone Straight and Discovery Passage.

The next day was a motor fest, as expected, to hit the north bound tide in the river that is the Johnstone Straight. It was a scenic ride along side the huge mountain ranges on both sides of the passage and the sheer size of the channel was apparent when a giant log float and tug would go past and be more than a mile away up against the cliffs. Without their perspective it was hard to tell just how big the area was!

Nearing the end of the day is when we got our first taste of what makes the Johnstone Straight a force to be reckoned with. The wind picked up from about 3kts to 30, and of course it was right on the nose. This, against the current moving with us at 3 to 4kts made some 6+ foot huge standing waves and swirling water and all of a sudden we were flying around all over the place. Thankfully we were close to our stop at Kelsey bay, a tiny government dock, where we had a smooth but tricky entrance in the waves. It was a nice feeling to be secured to something after that rapid change in weather and largest waves experienced up until that point.

A lovely place without a doubt, Kelsey bay brought cold showers, friendly dock folk (one of who had dove on Karma in her previous life in Astoria!), and nice views as we walked around the small town, now without even a grocery store. We had a warm wander until it was time to depart once again out into the Johnstone where we made the same mistake as yesterday, leaving on the afternoon ebb, with the tide but against the wind. However, this time we knew what we were in for and just set out ready for the ride.