I was expecting sunshine and rough conditions underway today, but saw neither. We rode an ebb tide northwest through Johnstone Strait. It was a gray day, cloudy bordering on cold.
I set the rpm for a steady slog. And flew. We kept up 7-8 kts all morning.
The wind was forecast for 15-20 in the morning. We saw all of that. It died shortly before we arrived at the anchorage. It's supposed to pipe up again this evening, but has yet to get going.
I just rechecked the weather and the afternoon forecast has changed, essentially from windy to calm. A high pressure system is building over the area, so that'll bring sunshine and warm, calm days.
We have a late departure planned for tomorrow. There's eight miles to the entrance of Chatham Narrows. The Narrows have 16' of depth at zero tide and barely enough room to pass if you meet a boat coming the other way.
There are patches of kelp along the way to make things interesting. It is sometimes necessary to choose between steering into shallows or into kelp beds. Tomorrow's slack is mid way between low and high tides at 3' and 13' respectively, which will add 8' to the charted depths. That'll make the shallows a little less... shallow.
That's not to say the transit won't be challenging. In late summer the kelp beds can be huge. I've always made the trip in early summer, so this will be my first look at the late summer kelp beds in Chatham Narrows.
The current in the narrows is slack at three times tomorrow: early (too dark), noon, and late (too late). Noon it is (11:52am). To get there at that time we'll pull anchor at 10:30.
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