Voyage overview
- Year: 2007
- Destination: Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Boat: Serena
- Vessel type: Beneteau 50
- Distance sailed: 305 nautical miles
- Skipper: Mark Daniel
- Crew: Chris Robson (“AC”), Simon Tyler (“DC”), Andrew Wagstaff (“BigDouglas”), Mark Wells (“Pressed Flannels”), Warren Creates (“Hair Bear”), Boris Ulehla (“Borish Columbia”), David Ashfield (“First Class”)
Logbook notes
A long haul for the Brits, who barely survived the first night’s hospitality before collapsing aboard a locked boat and sleeping on deck.
Strong currents in fjords demanded precision navigation — at one point we made seven knots through the water but advanced only one against the flow.
Disaster struck near Douglas Rock, where distraction at the helm led to an impact that cracked the hull and shifted the transom. Simon, in the forward head, experienced the collision face-first — and floorward, contents and person spilled liberally, Dasher smashed the galley, Boris swung from a cabin door.
We bilge-pumped day and night, after the Wellsvigator heroically dunked headfirst into murky fish-farm-faeced waters, to inspect the damage. But sail on we did, into the most beautiful anchorages, AC and DC swinging the lead as dinner was missed, sea plane rides were had while BigWag slept through the flight. Much fun.
All this and a painful but vital lesson: always look where you’re going.
For legal reasons putting the BC story down in print was considered ill advised, instead Simon created an audio book version this year, “BC Rocks!”
