It's another day of waiting for the weather to subside. We're in Silva Bay, south of Nanaimo. Winds have been blowing down the strait at 20-30 kts, gusting higher, for three days now. The wind speed is forecasted to moderate tomorrow afternoon and then the sea state will diminish somewhat later, which will be too late to make use of the day to move to another anchorage. It'll be Thursday morning before we can go anywhere.
Three extra days in this bay mean fewer days in Desolation Sound and Princess Louisa Inlet (PLI). Tina and Sapna hope to be in Campbell River (CR) on the 12th, so we'll have just enough time to get to PLI, spend two nights, and then make our way to CR.
I think this is the longest stretch of confinement to a Canadian anchorage I've ever endured. It'll be four nights, by the time we're done.
Had we been heading south, we'd have been gone long ago, into the protected waters of the Trincomali Channel. Or if we were entering the northern end of the strait, with the same winds the sea state would have been fine. But heading into the southern part of the strait with wind from the northwest deserves caution. The winds blow down the strait, building seas as they go.
At some point, being confined to the same anchorage day after day is its own kind of discomfort. In the absence of improving weather conditions we'd have to decide whether it's worse than bashing into the heavy seas. Thankfully, we're not there yet. Fingers crossed for a Thursday morning departure.
Opus was out racing on Tuesday evening. Our course took us out into the Georgia strait and into a wind-against-tide situation, though we were pretty close to shore the whole time. The wave action wasn't bad at all, barely setting us to bobbing slightly. Winds were around 12-14 knots. On the other hand, this was in the evening after winds had come down a bit. Winds were forecast to be a bit more sprightly up where you are.
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