C&C Trip Report 2023

This past weekend was the annual C&C West Coast rendezvous with 37 C&C yachts attending. This was my second year, so I guess I'm not a rendezvous virgin anymore.

Last year I attended by myself, single handing Opus. This year one of my race team members, Sergii, and his son, Gordii, accompanied me. Because of logistics, it made for a long day. The journey to the gathering went like this:

So, basically, a 14 hour day of boating. Unfortunately, despite best efforts, the autopilot was not yet repaired, so all of that was hand-steered. Thank goodness for being able to share duties! I was able to catch a couple of hours nap as we crossed the Strait of Georgia once I was sure we were going to be able to get through the tidal gate of Active Pass. If we hadn't been able to, we would have had to wait for the next slack tide event and arrive at our destination at approximately 2 or 3 in the morning.

The approach down the inlet to Telegraph Harbour is quite narrow and somewhat shallow. Complicating matters even further is that it's used as an anchorage/moorage for quite a number of boats, none of which turn on their anchor lights (legally, they don't have to since it's a designated anchorage). So coming in, late, in the dark, when tired, requires caution lest a boat suddenly loom out of the darkness directly ahead. I was glad I had been there before, though, and knew about the hazards first hand rather than just reading about it from a cruising guide.

I had left a phone call and an email to the port stating that we would be arriving quite late in the evening or very early in the morning and would they leave space on the outer dock for my reservation. I expected to arrive to a bare spot on the dock, though I also expected it to be tight as I was sure they would be busy due to the long weekend. Unfortunately, they didn't leave me any room at the outer dock, nor any of the inner ones. There was no space at any dock at all. Just as we were resigning ourselves to having to leave to find a place to anchor, we realized there was a mooring ball empty. It was a private one, but at this point I was pretty sure the owner wasn't going to be using it this night. I did have some concern about depth, but a bit of exploration whilst watching the depth plus a thorough going over the tide tables convinced me that we had naught to worry about. We had found our "berth" for the night. Sure, we probably shouldn't have, but at this point I really needed some sleep.

The next morning was a radio call to the harbour master. They asked if we could wait an hour where we were and we agreed. Sure enough, some dock spots opened up and we were told to come on in. Of course, nothing is ever that simple. As we we came off the mooring and headed for the docks, another sailboat came powering in at high throttle headed right for where we had been told to dock. They weren't talking to anyone via radio. I was about half again as big as they were, and I guess when they were getting close and realized we were going to be in their way, they sheared off and puttered away, still not talking to anyone. Admittedly, if they had come much closer, I would have backed off. I admit I was curious about what they would do.

Our plan was to leave on Monday and travel the reverse course of our trip to the gathering, excepting no stop at Semiahmoo. That would have meant Thetis to White Rock to Point Roberts. After thinking about it, we elected to leave on Sunday and travel about 1/2 way home, stay overnight, and then finish the trip. No marinas in that direction had room for us, so we ended up on a mooring ball once again, overnight. Next day was a run to the White Rock.

The customs dock at White Rock is fairly small. in fact, Opus is longer than the dock. Further, the north side of the dock is too shallow for her excepting at quite high tides, so that leaves only the southern side, which hasn't silted in yet. Often there are crabbers and fishers using this small dock. They understand that they are there on sufferance and that when a boat is coming in, they need to pull in their lines and crab traps to let the boat dock. Well, all but one officious wanker who seemed to feel that he was entitled to the dock and boats be damned. Unfortunately, once the approach to that dock is started, the water is too narrow for Opus to maneuver safely, "In Extremis" I could probably stop her and back her back out again, but the time while she was at the mercy of tide and wind is such that it's possible she would end up aground.

Well, this 20-something twit seemed to believe that he had some legal right to utilize it, and started shouting at me. He did eventually pull in his trap but continued to spout pseudo-legal arguments at me and even took a picture of the vessel, likely to try to report it for some imagined infraction of his imaginary rules, eventually leaving. The other people were quite polite. One of them asked how soon I might be leaving and I told him I wanted to get out as soon as I could, which he took in good grace. As soon as we were able, after debarking Gordii (who can't come into the United States as he doesn't have his visa yet), we set out on the last leg for home.

Traveling due south to get over the border, we eeked our way through the line of crab traps into U.S. waters and started the customs paperwork via their pretty handy app. The App crashed. I filled it all in again. The App exited to the login screen. At this point I had the bright idea of checking the version and it turned out that the app needed an update. After managing that, filing in the information once again, and submitting, the expected statement that it was being processed appeared. Now we wait for that to occur while we are headed to home. After 1 1/2 hours on hold and just as we were approaching the entrance to our home marina thinking we would have to stop at the customs dock and wait, our clearance arrived and we were able to go straight to our berth.