Braving the Broughtons

White-tipped mountains ring the head of tranquil Bond Sound. A winter adventure north of the rapids STORY AND PHOTOS Braving BY JENNIFER AND JAMES HAMILTON Broughtonsthe 28 • December 2004 • www.pacificyachting.com Keeping cozy down below on a snowy Boxing Day in Claydon Bay. ueen Charlotte Strait was expecting near-hurricane force winds of 60 knots. It was the third successive night of big December winds and it wasn’t over yet. We listened to the weather report as 30-knot gusts boomed into our anchorage in Cullen Harbour. Q “A 960 millibar low west of the Queen Charlotte Islands will move inland over the coast this evening,” predicted Environment Canada. We weren’t suffering though. Our 30-kg Bruce anchor was well set with an all-chain rode and a 7:1 scope. The furnace was humming and we’d just finished a hearty meal aboard our 40' powerboat Dirona. One Christmas jingle, slightly modified, described our mood perfectly: “Oh, the weather outside is frightful…Let it blow, let it blow, let it blow.” We were having a wonderful time. STORMS AND STRAITS On our trip to the Broughtons last Christmas, we were really pounded by winter storms. Granted, we were further north, where the weather is worse, but there were just more storms. They didn't hinder us this trip though—we had good weather on the long runs up the Strait of Georgia and Johnstone Strait. And winter storms don't bother us anyway—we actually like them. You haven’t really expe- rienced the coast until you’ve been out in all its wild, wet and windy glory. The Broughtons do not feel as deserted in the winter as do other destinations like Desolation Sound because more people live up there. We frequently saw local vessels underway and there was much radio traffic. With the summer pleasure craft community gone, residents were the dominant VHF users. When we ran north from the Gulf Islands, Environment Canada was forecasting gale-force winds in the Strait of Georgia, so we didn’t expect to get past Nanaimo. But once through Dodd Narrows, conditions were still fine, so we kept going, expecting to stop before Lasqueti Island. We repeated this several times until we found www.pacificyachting.com • December 2004 • 29 COAST MOUNTAINS Tumbull Cove Bond Sound Sullivan Claydon Bay • Bay Watson Cove Thompson Sound Sutlej Channel Bond Lagoon • North Twin Lagoon Broughton Tribune Channel Sargeaunt Pass • Drury Inlet Island Broughton Cullen Echo Bay • Island Harbour • Knight Inlet GILFORD ISLAND Blunden Harbour Minstrel Island • • Waddington Bay QUEEN CHARLOTTE STRAIT Port Hardy Cutter Cove • Potts Lagoon Havannah • • Malcolm Island Channel Beware Passage JOHNSTONE STRAIT Fort Rupert The Hamilton’s route through the Broughtons. ourselves in Campbell River. Other than Strait was amazing. The mountains on head, with the snow-encrusted peaks dodging huge logs, we’d had no trouble Vancouver Island were thick with snow, of Kingcome Inlet visible beyond. We at all. and the clouds were high enough that continued through Tribune Channel past We transited Seymour Narrows the fol- we could see the summits. Watson Cove, where a large group of lowing day and were soon into Johnstone We turned off into Havannah Chan- perhaps 50 Pacific white-sided dolphins Strait. The temperature was just above nel, where glass-smooth waters reflected surrounded us. We hadn’t expected to see freezing, but the conditions were so calm the snow-capped peaks. Tranquil and any in winter, so it was a special treat. that we rode at our open fly bridge the deserted Cutter Cove, opposite Minstrel The weather forecast was for 45- to whole way. The scenery in Johnstone Island, was our anchorage for the night. 50-knot winds in Queen Charlotte Strait We had hot chocolate on deck as a light that evening. Seeking shelter, we WINTER COMFORT rain fell and both mist and sun sank anchored in the centre of empty Wadding- » towards the waterline. ton Bay. The wind did come up—the Two pieces of equipment that we anemometer recorded frequent 30-knot consider essential to comfortable winter WIND AND WEATHER The temperature gusts. We put on our coveralls and went up cruising are: a diesel furnace and marine was just below freezing and chilly the on the fly bridge to experience it. The survival coveralls. The coveralls are next morning. With the wind blowing wind was so loud that it sounded like a similar to ski jumpsuits, but with built-in 20 to 30 knots in Knight Inlet, chop and freeway or massive waterfall was nearby, flotation and hypothermia protection. spray kept us at the lower helm station while bioluminescence lit the wind We use Mustang 2175s, which are standard issue with the Coast Guard on en route to Tribune Channel. We returned wavelets in the bay. We returned below both sides of the border. We can toss up top in calm Sargeaunt Pass, which and listened to the weather report over these on over light clothing, add a pair looked like a bird sanctuary. There were a glass of wine. At 2030, the wind at of gloves and perhaps ear warmers, and eagles everywhere, plus huge flocks of Herbert Island in Queen Charlotte Strait be instantly warm in the coldest weather. mergansers, cormorants and buffleheads. was 44 knots gusting to 54. We spend We wear them to ride on our open fly The water surface ahead appeared to be a lot of time with Environment Canada bridge and in the dinghy, or to relax on covered with large, white feathers. As on these winter trips—they’re kind of our deck at anchor. we got closer, the feathers turned out to fireside chat. We initially bought the coveralls as be gulls, hundreds of them, littered across The temperature had risen to a balmy safety equipment, but they have the channel. 10° C (50° F) the next morning. The completely transformed our winter boat- Tribune Channel was impressive—all wind had fallen off a bit, but was still blowing experience. We no longer have to don the peaks were snow-dusted and water- ing in the 30s when we set off for Echo multiple layers of clothing for warmth— the hassle of doing that tended to keep falls spilled everywhere. We started down Bay to refuel. It really picked up when we us inside more often. With the coveralls, Thompson Sound for more mountain arrived, and getting onto the fuel dock we can be comfortably outside in the views, but 50-knot outflow winds drove was a challenge. Once tied off, we checked winter as often as in the summer. us out. Bond Sound was calm though. the weather station—it had recorded 52 White-tipped mountains ringed the knots while we were docking. 30 • December 2004 • www.pacificyachting.com We took the dinghy to explore the old fore- and-aft roads in Claydon Bay. trail. The woods were noisy—the wind A heavy rainfall washed all the salt was blowing the trees so hard that they water off my coveralls as we raised anchor The place seemed deserted, but we had creaked and crashed together at the tops. the next morning. We motored slowly confirmed before the trip that they’d be We were a little nervous that one might through Beware Passage to Farewell Har- open. “A little out of season?” the winter fall. We had to push through alder bour and through Swanson Channel into caretaker asked when he came down a saplings to get to the top, but the view Knight Inlet again. The coast looked few minutes later. The fuel dock was of snow-encrusted Mount Stephens was wonderful: wild, wet and alive. This is open, but after all that effort in docking, worth it. the time to be here, when it’s real and they were out of diesel for a few days. We still had the fuel problem to deal not all soft, warm and sunny. This was unexpected, as it would never with, so once back at Dirona, we set off After dropping the hook in Cullen Har- happen in the summer. towards Minstrel Island. We made radio bour, we set off in the dinghy to tour Twin We had also planned to hike into the contact with the owner, but he wasn’t Lagoon. The waves were nearly a metre hills north of Echo Bay for a view across on site—he was off visiting friends. He in Fife Sound and we quickly discovered Raleigh Passage and Cramer Pass. So we had a neighbour open up for us though, that our coveralls were not in fact water- wrestled Dirona off the fuel dock and so we got our diesel. We anchored in the proof. We must have looked crazy out onto the park dock, and started on the outer basin of Potts Lagoon for the night, there, pounding through the swells in our and recorded 30-knot gusts from the little three-metre tender. But we were hav- “Crazy tourists!” the Sullivan Bay winter caretaker said of our cruise through the bay storm-force winds that were predicted ing a great time, and it got even better in a snowstorm. for Queen Charlotte Strait. when a pod of dolphins swarmed us. The only downside was that we couldn’t take their picture in the wind and rain. SNOW AND ICE On Christmas Eve, we traversed Drury Inlet and anchored in Bond Lagoon. Christmas morning dawned hushed and still, with wisps of fog caught in the trees and a dusting of snow on the hilltops to our east.

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