Sailing Vessel Karma

Cape Caution is where the more populated cruising grounds end on the inside of Vancouver Island. This is a mini cape area where the wind can pick up, the Slingby Channel exits to, and is the first place on many people’s journeys where they’re in the open ocean with ocean swells.

We were staged at the pirate sounding Skull Cove, ready to leave in the morning with forecasted light winds and good timing for the ebb of the channel. Just as we were motoring out into the dense fog and encountering our first start of rolling swell I read the description of Cape Caution, giving fair warning in the first sentence to “once past the Cape you have entered the Wet Coast. You may find but a few days of sunshine for the summer above this point”.

Motoring along, blowing the whistle, we were having a good time in the light swell and looking out for boats. Much like the Seymore Narrows a few weeks prior, it seems we picked a good weather window which would make this not too much of a deal to get through, even though it might be a long day’s motor.

Eventually we were out of the lee of Vancouver island, parallel with Cape Caution to starboard, and entirely opened to the west in the actual Pacific Ocean. The fog had lifted slightly and up went the spinnaker as some light winds filled in on our port side. The fog burned off and we could see Cape Scott off to the port side and we were visible out in the ocean. The swell made the sails bounce around a bit but we were moving and having a grand ole time.

The fog came and went as did the wind. Eventually we were heading up into the Fitz Hugh sound between Calvert and the mainland. A small IOR broach later taking the spinnaker down we were heading under sail to the first anchorage we could find which looked nice and protected.

The rain and fog came back in as we began to motor through the channels. This bit of country has a different, more remote feeling to it knowing that one has to essentially come around the cape to get here. All that said though, we weren’t expecting to pull into the anchorage and find about 7 other fully kitted out cruising sailboats all positioned nicely around the bay. Everyone kept telling us, ‘oh, once you’re north of Cape Caution you’re on your own. Weeks and weeks without seeing another boat or sharing an anchorage.

If fate didn’t come barging in to dismantle those sorts of expectations it wouldn’t have the reputation that it does, as we would find as we continued our journey north. Upon arriving in the evening we stopped in the drizzle anchored amongst a small fleet of cruising boats looking like they were outfitted for more longer term voyaging. Is this to be a sign of what is to come?