July 8
We visited old Rupert friends, (The Fletchers), who moved to Port McNeil over four years ago. We saw them last time we were in with our boat. We had a great meal with them and their fabulous water front view. Many residences of Port McNeil have water front views.
We left Port McNeil at 5:15 a.m. and started to make our way to Campbell River. We figured we would get as far as the tides and wind would take us. We never thought that we would ever stop in Kelsey Bay again after our last experience. We were swinging back and forth in a gale force wind storm blowing into the docks. This time, we were happy, sailing fast down Johnstone Strait, when gale force winds came up behind us very quickly. Mae turned the boat into the wind and floored the rpm to 2800 to maintain control so Marty could down the sails. Once the sails were down and tied, we headed for Kelsey Bay once again.
This time, it was great there as we met several people at the campsite and invited them over to our boat. First a retired American couple came over after we toured their amazing camper. Later a Swiss family of four came over. They had two very polite boys of 11 and 13. The parents spoke English well. They agreed with our banner TANKERS DO NOT BELONG; however, the other Texas couple were not speaking on the issue but we figured out their position when we found out that he had retired from the oil business down in Texas.
July 10
We left Kelsey Bay at 6:00 a.m., as we wanted to use the tides and get down Johnstone Strait. First we had to get through Race Passage which can really rip! At the start, we were only able to move 2 to 3 knots running the motor at 2300 rpm. When the current finally turned in our favour, we were going 5 to 7.8 knots. We especially picked up speed going through Seymour Narrows on our way to Campbell River. Marty clocked the fastest speed of 14.2 knots on the boat. We were flying through to Campbell River. It was very very hot there and the breeze was a good thing.
