The Captain rocking his war-wound from the day before
By hanging out in Lowe Inlet for a day, we had allowed the winds to shift from NW, a headwind, to S a trailing wind. When we arrived out in the channel, we were greeted by around 20 knot gusts coming from almost directly aft. So we decided some sail was in order.
Genoa rigged with a whisker pole. Very effective
The moment we got the sail all set up, our boat speed went up by about 1.5 knots. Pretty significant. Between the motor, the sails/wind and the current (which we timed perfectly), we were making 7+ knots through the water, which is damn impressive for our boat. We actually broke 9 knots over-ground speed at one point.
Just cookin’ with gas
The Talofa Lee is equipped with an autopilot system, which can be a god-send for longer trips as you don't have to man the helm the whole time. However, it takes some fine tuning and attention to operate properly, especially when sailing downwind or in choppy conditions. It’s usually controlled by a small knob in the front of the cockpit, but you can also attach a funky little remote control allowing you to move all over the boat and still control the heading. So after rigging the remote up, I was able to steer from the comfy seat.
18-ton remote control boat
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start!
The winds picked up a bit as we exited Grenville Channel. By the time we were in the harbor approaching Prince Rupert, the fog was coming in and visibility went down significantly. Perfect time for some radar practice!
We knew she was going to pop up at some point
After some excitement in Prince Rupert harbor, arrived, tying up to the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club.
64 1/2 miles in just over 8 1/2 hrs! That’s an AVERAGE of 7.6 knots! Pretty amazing stuff.
In Rupert, we were greeted by Alan’s parents, John and Joanna. Very nice people.
So ya, landed in Rupert.
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