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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Fish Farming Tonight...

Today was an interesting day -- we left Campbell River at 7:00am and motored 10nm through Seymour Narrows to Deepwater Bay for the start.  The current in Seymour Narrows was so strong that a number of boats couldn't make it through and had to wait for it to diminish.

For this leg we took to guests with us from the BC Salmon Farmers Association -- I think they had a great time and we gave them an experience they likely won't forget.

We had a conservative 2nd row start (J3 with a reefed main) in 20 knots of wind.  For this leg we had to head up from Seymour Narrows, around Chatham Point (lighthouse) and then up Johnson Strait.  The breeze was on so we later had to downshift to the J4 in 30-35 knots of breeze with a very steet 4-8 foot chop with wind against the current.

We nearly eclipsed our previous record for this leg (2:48 set downwind several years ago) finishing the race in 6th and six (6) minutes out of first place!  Given the positive current all day it was not a good one for the big boats.

Following the race the entire fleet tied up at a working fish farm where they treated us to a full-on banquet in the middle of nowhere (ie, paradise).

Tomorrow we head to Telegraph Cove -- the currents will be mixed and the course longer so we would be able to leg out on the fleet...