Power Boats

A REAL cANADIAN POWERBOAT

We have been on the go for about two months now – covered about 800 miles up and down the inside of Vancouver Island – from Sidney up to Desolation Sound ..down to Seattle, back up to the Broughtons – well it is a mobile life, but we are now starting to find out what works and what doesn’t on the boat. Out with the freezer, increase the size of the battery bank, etc (the spinny is living a life on the edge, more acting up and he goes overboard, replaced by a Honda generator)..

First off – broken expectations. I knew this place was a sea of American powerboats, but how could they manufacture so many Grand Banks? (for the non sailor reader, a Grand Banks is a very – yes very, expensive power boat manufactured to resemble a fishing boat from the east coast. They are as pervasive as the bugs – and seem to be populated by elderly couples with small dogs (or large).

Why is every anchorage filled with them? And why must they always talk to each other on VHF 16???

There is no reason for me to be offended – for some reason I had thought I left all of that behind in Seattle – silly me…

So – on our trip back up – we had been at a great anchorage for five days in the sun, then gone to a very remote anchorage where 11 chartered boats of a cruising club from Alberta (yes – that is inland) came in to anchor in a cove that was too small for all of them, the biggest fiasco of anchoring I have ever seen – think of a bunch of bugs flying around trying to find a place to land – in 15 knots of wind…

It all worked out fine (for 8 of them) – but there is really no escape from crowds up here…they appear where you least expect them.

First bit of business – we need to find someplace to go that is not dominated by American luxury boats – that means getting someplace out of Seattle’s backyard, which is what the Canadian Northwest has become….There are no Canadian boats where we are anchored now – and we’re north of 50.

The guide books we read seem to hype some places – what they say is not inaccurate, but then you get there and wonder, gee, who paid them off (Except the Douglasses – but you need to read through Waggoner’s and Dreambuster – oops – I mean Dreamspeaker – with a critical eye — boy those folks have made some real bucks off rubes like us….

OK – so I am laying it on a bit thick again – we have never really been anywhere in this boat except around the Northwest. ..but in our world travels we have found it pretty easy to avoid Americans and find some pretty cool places…

Travel to the Extremadura in Spain in August for a month.

Go to Ireland in late September – drive – stay off the beaten path places.

See Germany in October – it rains – so – everything is empty…

Visit Easter Island in Spring – it is cold – about 70 degrees (yes hurt me again — but the locals are all wearing sweaters)

Travel Chile in Spring

See – it is possible to get off the beaten path. Here are my new rules for Northwest travel…

Don’t …….there must be better places in the world…..OK; it’s beautiful here — as long as you avoid docks anywhere and everywhere. As soon as you get away from docks, nobody is there. And the scenery is spectacular and you can hear and smell the wilderness instead of everyone’s humming generators. When you’re around docks, you start acting like everyone else – running an engine, playing music….

I am afraid this is only going to get worse as we enter the really busy season. We will turn the corner for the wild west coast of Vancouver Island in July – in a bit, sail the boat on the ocean, and get ready to head down the coast…this wonderful ocean-ready boat is wasted up here in the Inside Passage….If I stayed up here I’d really need a powerboat – a big one, to keep up with everyone else…

By the way – we are in a really great anchorage, the sun is shining after a forty mile run, shooting rapids, having to use range markers, navigate 100 foot channels between mountain crags. Marianne’s navigation was perfect – Yes it is the northwest – it rained hard on us and blew like stink for the last two days. North of 50 is wet and cold and hot and beautiful…..we have lots to drink and there are shrimp and asparagus on pasta for dinner – I better enjoy this – it may not get a whole lot better….I just expected — more wilderness and fewer of MY KIND.

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