Into the “Broken Group”

Monday, July 1, 2024

It’s Canada Day, and Braesail is at anchor in spacious Pipestem Inlet in Barkley Sound near the mouth of a stream called Lucky Creek on a superb afternoon. There’s not a cloud to be seen in the sapphire sky, a cool breeze is breathing in the boughs of the evergreens surrounding the shore of our anchorage, and a warm summery sun, which came out to play early this morning, has frolicked all day above the “Broken Group,” the vast collection of islands strewn about this part of southwestern Vancouver Island’s coast.

The day started with Karen beginning to shower in the forward head and discovering that the shower discharge pump, which removes the water from under the shower floor’s grating, was not working. Walt and Martin performed diagnostic work, but could not solve the problem without the tools, wires, and parts that are at home in Everett and NOT on the boat. Fortunately, Karen was able to sponge off, and the shower pump-out in the aft head remains functional.

We were ready to leave the dock in Ucluelet not long after 11 am, and we motored along the town’s shores before stopping at the fuel dock for 100 liters of diesel.

As we were hanging the fenders from the life-lines, the hook securing one fender’s attaching line broke and the fender fell into the water near the dock. Martin, with a little help from the dock attendant, managed to retrieve it using our boat-hook, and we will attach another hook to the fender’s line. As we were leaving Ucluelet, Karen spotted what she thought might be a whale breaching the water’s surface near shore, and I could see what might have been a “blow,” some splashing, and what looked like part of a gray head. The creature MIGHT have been some sort of whale–we’ll never know.

We spent most of the shimmery afternoon sailing slowly through the “Broken Group” of islands using only our genoa (large foresail). It was wonderful to see the shores of the islands at close range and at a low speed! I did something I’d never done before, because we’re usually moving too swiftly: first I sat on a side deck, then I moved to one of the two seats in the stern to get a different view, and finally I went forward to the bow and lay on my back in the shade of the genoa with my head propped at just the right angle against the cabin top and my feet stretched toward the peak of the bow. As we glided along at about three miles per hour, with tiny wavelets providing encouragement, the only sounds were the soft splashing and gurgling of the water on either side of the hull (different on the starboard side than on the port), and the occasional comment made by a gull soaring overhead. Bliss!

We arrived and anchored easily in mid-afternoon in expansive Pipestem Inlet in Barkley Sound. Another sailboat was at anchor, and her crew were returning to her in their yellow kayaks; the boat soon departed, leaving us as the sole occupants of the anchorage.

Martin and Karen explored the surrounding shores and islands in Coracle, and located the entrance to Lucky Creek, navigable at high tides and leading to a waterfall. They laid our crab trap near the mouth of the creek, made plans to take Coracle up to the falls at high tide on Tuesday morning, and then went swimming near the boat in the cool, refreshing water. Walt and I read and dealt with email, I worked on blog posts, and Walt researched and developed plans for the last few days of our journey and our return around July 7 to Anacortes. I sat on the bathing platform in Braesail’s stern and dangled my feet in the water, but decided not to swim just then.

After an excellent dinner featuring grilled salmon, shared at the table in the cockpit, Karen taught us a card game called “Big Two” that she’d learned as a child, and we had a delightful time learning, playing, and drinking hot cocoa before we made our way to bed.