J. Monroe Thorington, The Glittering Mountains of Canada
In the pre-dawn darkness, I listened to the weather forecast and lighthouse and ocean buoy reports on the VHF as I packed my gear and got ready to get underway as soon as it got even a little bit light. I was the only boat in tiny Jones Cove, north of Cape Caution, the nearest protected cove to the Cape to wait in readiness for rounding it. Cape Caution! For the small boat sailor traversing British Columbia’s Inside Passage, it’s the equivalent of rounding the Horn, and frankly, I was nervous about getting round it safely in Fire-Drake, my 18’ sail and oar lug yawl.
It had been hard work to get this far. Last year, Yeadon and I had a go at the Inside Passage from south to north, but we got held up by a week of high winds at the north end of Vancouver Island, which scuppered our schedule and caused us to bail out at Telegraph Harbour. The Inside Passage was unfinished business for me and this year I resolved to complete the journey.
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