North Channel SWS Cruise 2000
Page 3 - Monday
Hotham Island

Quote of the day:
"Where are the boat rats"
Leo Smith


            The rains had stopped.  We awoke around 8:00 AM and spent the morning waiting for the others to launch.  Dave found a small snake and showed it to Mary and me.  He took it over to Roby and let him show Sandy and Ellen, who I am sure, really appreciated that.
           Gabrielle and Roby played aboard the Waterbed for a part of the morning, where they received the nickname boat rats.  Ellen and I found a rather large spider aboard and managed to fling it overboard, or so we thought.  This spider will be a recurring character in our story!
            The group decided to sail to the west end of Hotham Island, with a lunch stop at Harrison Point.  We received a tow out of the harbor from Nick and into a cove to raise the mast.  This is where I found out it is much easier to lift the mast on solid ground.  After several failed attempts, Dave swam over and raised it.  Dave swam back to the True North, and Ellen and I double-reefed the sail.  With winds of 18-20 knots, we sailed towards Harrison Point.
          Sailing in a channel near Green Island, we began to experience trouble.  We were unable to tack and the strong winds pushed us onto the rocks.  True North turned around to offer us aid, and Dave swam over to avoid having their boat end up in the same predicament.  We had cracked some fiberglass and scratched the leeboard, and the high winds had us very nervous.
           Dave reached us and we pulled the boat into a cove with a landline.  With Dave aboard we tried one more time and ended up in the exact same predicament as before.  Feeling defeated, and wondering if we had bitten off more than we could chew, we ate lunch.
           Dave, Gabrielle and Roby boarded the True North and we received a tow to Harrison Point from her.  We were relieved to learn from the rest of the group that they all found it difficult sailing through the channel.

 
        From there, we managed to sail down MacBean Channel around the west end of Hotham Island without incident.  That is, until we had entered into a cove, where we had to once again accept a tow.  Tacking up a very narrow channel with two reefs was a little more than our skipper, Ellen, could handle with only a summer of sailing lessons under her belt. 
        We rafted up with True North and Time Enough and waited for the others.  Gabrielle spotted a bear on the far shore, but it disappeared into the woods before anyone could get their cameras.  After eating dinner with Nick, Gayle, and Dave, we rowed away to find an anchorage for the night.  We chose to anchor off away from shore, to make sure we wouldn't have any bears visiting us in the night.

After a spectacular downwind sail we get to the quiet of Hotham Island

Click below or click a Day

Next Page     SWS Home