Voyage of Tuffy: A Foggy Crossing and Some Final Thoughts.

It’s the ‘going’ that’s the reward

Article series by John Hughes

Smooth, shaded waters

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The warmer weather combines with the shorter days to steer thoughts and conversations south. It’s been a long time away. There is another spot the guide books tout as a “must stop,” so we backtracked north up Fisher Channel 22 miles to Ocean Falls, a rare modern day ghost town. Gunboat is a skinny little backdoor passage out of Shearwater, it’s quite beautiful and hosts narrow Jackson Pass with its nearly 90 degree bend. Several years ago Bob witnessed a wolf swimming across Gunboat. It’s the way to go for sure.  

Ocean Falls, while certainly unique, was a bit depressing for me. This was a roaring town until the early 70s, when the loss of a paper mill contract (to supply the LA Times) destined the town’s quick demise. The huge dam behind town is certainly impressive—it both creates a beautiful lake behind it and provides power for communities as far away as Shearwater and Bella Bella. It also supplies power to the newest employer, a Bitcoin mining operation that, unfortunately, has only one employee. Everyone moved away simply abandoning their homes which, with few exceptions, now stand testament to just how brutal the winters are. A few year-round residents (40 or so) have refurbished their houses, and the courthouse stands proud with a new coat of paint, but just down the street walls are falling inward atop a collapsed roof, and the next street over are rows of overgrown rubble to mark where houses once stood. The government built a most impressive ferry dock a few years ago and started service. The ferry runs once per week in season, probably not really enough to assist a turnaround. If you’re a history buff and interested in how a vibrant Canadian coastal town can die overnight, there’s a good book on it called The Rain People.

Ocean Falls power generating dam

Engine Check at Ocean Falls

Finally found some social Pacific Whitesided Dolphins

The following day we changed our destination while en route. Our plan for a long run to Fury Cove prior to tackling Queen Charlotte Strait again morphed when Environment Canada added another day to their high wind warning forecast. Instead we revisited Pruth Bay, home of the Hakai Science Institute discussed earlier, on an island it shares with wolves. There’s a trail we hiked to what has been billed as the prettiest beach in BC. It was a pretty beach, but that’s a very tall order to fill.  For instance Fury Cove, where we moved to the next morning, has a couple of contenders. Transiting to Fury on a calm morning with windless seas, and looking down Fitzhugh Sound to Queen Charlotte, we couldn’t help but think we could have made our crossing… but, regretting not going across an open exposed passage when you could have is much better than regretting heading out into one when you shouldn’t. 

Mizzen beaches in Fury Cove

We awoke to alarms set for 4:45. Fog! Pretty thick too. Mostly it was not right down to the floor, so we headed out. In a previous era we wouldn’t be doing this, but with Navionics and Garmin working overtime, and keeping one another in sight, we worked our way out of the islets. The fog stayed thick all the way down Fitzhugh Sound, lifted briefly as we cleared the islands, but then closed in again as we approached and rounded Cape Caution. The nice thing about fog is there’s no wind, so the rolling swells were not dangerous and we breezed around a potential trouble spot that had us surfing and spraying in all directions on our way north. Visibility improved as we navigated the islands marking midway and then became patchy again as we crossed Gordon Channel. The fog broke for good as Malcolm Island became our bearing, and as we made Port McNeal, Vancouver Island’s snow covered peaks were sharp against a spectacular blue sky. 

Here’s the thing about Port McNeal, for all you future Scallawags—the only showers are at the Port Authority Harbor Docks, but what terrific showers they are. You pay $5 when settling your slip arrangements and you get the lock combination. It’s the typical starter box except instead of a looney slot there’s a big black button. Each push gives you 2 minutes. 4 pushes = 8 minutes. Still some conditioner in your hair? Give another push for another 2 minutes. If you want you can go back to your boat for a nap, and then head up for another shower—feel free, it’s yours all day. That’s a $5 value shower in my book, especially for unkempt vagabonds working their way up (or down) the Inside Passage.  

Tough Duty at the office

Johnstone Strait is often easier on the way home because the prevailing wind is northwesterly, making for following wind and waves. You take a look at the current action at the other end (Seymour Rapids), and develop your strategy. We had two alternatives—Billy Goat Cove on Helmcken Island in the middle of the Strait, or Turn Bay where Johnstone turns down into Discovery Passage. We were losing our tidal push so we chose Billy Goat to lay over instead of fighting a current that can exceed 6 knots (it’s pretty, and well protected from Johnstone’s potential rage).  

I cast off a little early the next morning. Despite initially having to fight a strong current, I wanted to reach Seymour before it started to boil, whereas Bob likes to make a roller coaster out of it. I had made almost 10 NM when I called Bob to learn his overheating problem had returned, and this time couldn’t be sorted. Tuffy pulled a u-turn and, now with the current, made back in an hour what had taken two eastbound. We rigged up bow and stern bridles between boats, and soon enough we were heading back down the Strait the right way, the current even reversing to help us out. Late afternoon we zigzagged down Discovery Bay to eat up some time, arriving at Seymour just right to avoid whirlpools (I had visions of two boats, tied together, spinning opposite directions in separate whirlpools).

With Ripple Rock behind us now Tuffy towed Snow Goose into Gowlland Harbour Bay where we dropped the hook. 11 hours at the helm, 60 miles (42 of it towing Snow Goose) and I was zonked. We deployed Bob’s John Welsford-designed dinghy, attached a 2 hp 2-stroke motor, and Bob skippered me to the next bay insisting on buying me dinner at April Point… except they were closed. We did have a fun cruise around the bay looking at all the boats (Scorpio is available for $88 MM if you’re interested) and then returned to some tasty Terriyaki Chicken and Mott’s applesauce. 

After the tow, Gowlland Harbour across from Campbell River. 

That was to be our last dinner together on this trip. Bob was going to hold up in Campbell River, where all his parts can be acquired and mechanics abound. As soon as I was able to crab across the flood current the next morning  I topped off my port tank in Campbell River with a plan to book south down the Salish Sea as far as I could make. .. and this, my friends, seems an appropriate place to end the trip report series. My trip south will be long destination-oriented days, racing home to see my very patient wife.  

I do have a final thought though. 

It’s the “going” that’s the reward. The destinations are great, and all places everyone should see (few do). Life at 6 1/2 knots demands the principle reward is the day’s journey itself; whether that be the challenge of overcoming adverse conditions, the spiritual exhilaration of ideal conditions, the admiration achieved by connecting with other species, the Borg-like transformation into “part boat” (a slight change in pitch makes your eyebrows raise, or a half knot change in the current makes you sit up and take notice) or maybe it’s just the mesmerizing awe of realizing you are traveling through a creation 4 million years in the making. For me, it’s all of that and simply the feeling of accomplishment derived from multitasking chores away from your habituated life and returning with renewed appreciation to the family, friends, home and life that is real world. For as I cruise down a mirrored Stuart Channel in the northern Gulf Islands, with the sun rising over Kuper Island and Tuffy’s anchor pointed decidedly south, I know this must be fantasy. 

Those bright white Mizzen beaches of Fury Cove, the brilliant firework display of Wrangell Fourth of July celebrations, the majestic views of the alpine mountains and the calving icebergs of tidewater glaciers, witnessing such human qualities as the tenacity of the remaining Rain People in Ocean Falls, the fortitude of two guys kayaking the entire Inside Passage, the selfless assistance of mariners traveling to the aide of a fellow boater in distress—these are all incredible and worthy things to discover and see. But in the end, you must enjoy the long day’s slog up this strait, down that channel, around the point and through the islets. As with a job, if you don’t enjoy the 9 to 5 you need find a new career, because the joy is in the “going.”

If the sound of the bow stem punching through chop resonates with your personal syncopation… if using your rudder as a giant skeg (with an athlete’s “touch” on the helm) to surf an ocean swell pumps endorphins into your blood… if catching sight of a glistening humpback (maybe twice as large as your boat) surfacing unannounced not 20 feet away leaves you slack-jawed with awe… or if starting a day with a quick engine check and finishing it with a good strong anchor set just feels like a day well spent… well, you may be just perfect for a two month 2300 -NM odyssey up the Northwest’s Inside Passage. Just make sure you’ve got a good friend like Tuffy! And, of course, a buddy boater friend like Bob. 

Ruffy and Tuffy (with Puffy on top).

I purchased Tuffy for this trip, and while I have fallen in love (again), there are tugs and pulls in other directions. So I’ll be cleaning her up and finding her next captain, hopefully one to take her back to the waters Sam designed her for. She lives in a covered slip outside Portland, Oregon and has an older but refurbished and awesome trailer. Josh will forward your contact info to me and we’ll talk if you think you might be that Captain.  

Thanks to all for joining me on the journey of a lifetime.  

Ruffy on Tuffy •SCA•