Parks Bay, Shaw Island to Reid Bay, Stuart Island, July 7
Waking the morning of July 7th, at last the currents and wind were in our favor. We planned to head to a favorite location of ours, Reid Bay on Stuart Island. The bay is well protected and abuts a State Park. Hiking is great (maybe we’ll get that missed hike in) and there is a comfortable dingy dock.
After breakfast we set sail. Chris loves to sail off an anchorage raising the anchor as we sail away. Conditions were perfect and we gently sailed away from the bay. The sail to Reid Bay was roughly 10 nautical miles. We average about 3 nautical miles an hour sailing, and rarely can sail in a direct line, so the trip would take most of the day.
After breakfast we set sail. Chris loves to sail off an anchorage raising the anchor as we sail away. Conditions were perfect and we gently sailed away from the bay. The sail to Reid Bay was roughly 10 nautical miles. We average about 3 nautical miles an hour sailing, and rarely can sail in a direct line, so the trip would take most of the day.
We sailed up the San Juan Channel past Wasp and Jones Islands past the south side of Spieden Channel and turned slightly northwest to Reid Harbor. Sailing was wonderful, but through this area you always have to be on the lookout for ferries and large motor yachts.
The rules of the “road” for sailing is that the vessel with the least maneuverability has the right of way. Hence, freighters and ferries always trump sailboats. Mega Motor yachts also trump sailboats, but other than that technically our sailboat has right of way over other boats. We are small and don’t have much speed compared to other boats either under sail or motoring.
That being said, I almost got run over on a previous trip by a smaller motor yacht in the San Juan Strait. He had just come out of Spieden Channel and apparently set his autopilot and gone down below decks. He was heading straight towards us, but motor boats often do that and turn off in the last minutes, so I wasn’t too concerned. After a couple of minutes without him slowing down or changing course, we had to get out the horn and blast away. We saw some quick movement up their stairs and a quick course change to starboard to avoid hitting us. I wasn’t playing chicken. He was moving so fast that I wasn’t sure we could alter direction, change the sail configuration and get out of his way fast enough. So…we were very alert on this passage.
The rules of the “road” for sailing is that the vessel with the least maneuverability has the right of way. Hence, freighters and ferries always trump sailboats. Mega Motor yachts also trump sailboats, but other than that technically our sailboat has right of way over other boats. We are small and don’t have much speed compared to other boats either under sail or motoring.
That being said, I almost got run over on a previous trip by a smaller motor yacht in the San Juan Strait. He had just come out of Spieden Channel and apparently set his autopilot and gone down below decks. He was heading straight towards us, but motor boats often do that and turn off in the last minutes, so I wasn’t too concerned. After a couple of minutes without him slowing down or changing course, we had to get out the horn and blast away. We saw some quick movement up their stairs and a quick course change to starboard to avoid hitting us. I wasn’t playing chicken. He was moving so fast that I wasn’t sure we could alter direction, change the sail configuration and get out of his way fast enough. So…we were very alert on this passage.
We arrived safely in Reid Bay and found an anchorage not too far from the dinghy dock. After a glass of wine, we read our books and settled in for the night.