Article and photos by Christine Berven
It was early June 2023, and along with members of our local sailing club I was doing final preparations for our yearly cruise in the Salish Sea. This year was to be a longer trip starting in Bellingham with us crossing into Canada to circumnavigate Salt Spring Island, returning two weeks later.
However this was not to be for me. I had discovered six days before our departure date that my passport had expired. After frantically trying to find a way to get it renewed quickly, I realized that I couldn’t join my friends, but perhaps the preparation could be salvaged.
I unloaded the charts, current atlas, and dividers form the boat and with the chart laid out on my living room floor, I started to plan a solo cruise for myself. I knew I had the skills and knowledge to do this trip, but there is no substitute for actually giving it a try to find out. This is my story of that trip.
Trying to enjoy at least some of the camaraderie, I decided I’d depart from Bellingham with my friends for the first day’s trip to Sucia Island. This is a common first day for us, if a bit long at 21 nm and taking over 10 hours. It’s well worth the effort, though, since the island is both beautiful and a great jumping off point for other destinations.
For those of you familiar with the San Juans, you will know that the first day’s destination and timing can be no accident. The choice of departure date and time was determined by wanting favorable currents during the daylight hours. In the case of crossing Bellingham Bay, up Hale Passage between Lummi Island and the mainland, and then to Sucia, this meant leaving at 09:00 and then being at the south end of Hale Pass by about 12:30 to 13:00 so we wouldn’t have to fight the currents much.
The sail across Bellingham bay was brisk, in cool westerly winds to 18 knots and forecast 3-foot wind waves. It was the crossing of the north end of Rosario Strait to Sucia that was going to be the challenge. With the flood tide coming on, the course I took in my Sparrow 16, along with my friend Sam in his Montgomery 15, was about 45 degrees “upstream” of the heading to our desired destination in an attempt to crab across. This turned out to be a smart move, as with our smaller and slower boats, we couldn’t afford to pushed too far north and still make Fossil Bay on Sucia, even with the wind still blowing at 15 knots. After arrival we all had a good visit swapping stories and comparing notes on the currents and wind.
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