WIndy Bay was true to its name. Where most anchorages I've spent time in, you coulld almost set your watch based on when the wind would pick up during the day and die in the evenings. Not so with Windy Bay. because of a gap or saddle between two mountains the wind funnels down creating a constant wind that is near constant. In one respect once you are anchored you can be pretty sure you're not going to be "sailing" around the anchorage and the constant tension on my anchor chain meant that I had a really good set and sat comfortably during the night.

Today is the day I'm leaving Clayoquot Sound for the next and likely last chapter in this adventure, heading to Barkley Sound, Ucluelet and the Broken Group Islands.

While enjoying a cup of coffee I listened to the marine forecast that was predicting light wind in the morning of 5 to 10 kts increasing in the afternoon with ocean swell to 1 meter. Knowing that I might be in for a long day making the passage I opted to leave at about 0830 before the typical afternoon wind increase on the ocean.

I weighed anchor in Windy Bay and proceeded to motor towards Tofino. After winding my way 7 miles through a veritable minefield of crab pots and the fishing and smal boat traffic in Tofino I headed for Templar Channel and the exit of Clayoquot Sound out into the ocean for the first time in a couple of weeks.

As it turned out the winds were exceptionally light and I started out motoring south. when the wind became about 5 kts out of the northwest, I headed about 3 miles offshore, turned southeast, and unrolled the genoa motor sailing at 6 to 7 kts towards Ucluelet. It was a glorious "sail" of almost 20 miles with the wind aft of my beam and runnung with the moderate swell.

Arriving in Ucluelet I found one space on the dock that was maybe 45 to 50 feet and slowly and carefully shoehorned Fairtide in between a small fishing skiff and another sailboat. As it turned out the "other sailboat was, Jeff and Sharon on Boog, my neighbors on D dock at Shilshole, who is in Barkley Sound with a group of boats from the Puget Sound Cruising Club (PSCC). About 15 minutes later a Tripp 47, carbon fiber and Kevlar, racing boat named Celestial came. As there was no space left on the dock they rafted up to Fairtide and I met owners Scott and Donna who have sailed Celestial over 50 thousand miles around the world. shortly after that John arrived on his 36 ft Lord Nelson Cutter Poeme and we helped get him docked in the space available after Jeff and Sharon pulled out heading for an anchorage nearby.

Because the boating community is such an inclusive family, we all became instant friends and headed out for a late lunch at a local pub sharing stories of places we had visited. when I returned to the boat I met a local couple relaxing on their small sailboat who gave me some great hints for anchorages in and around the Broken Group. the night ended on John's boat Poeme, talking about some repairs he needed to make, had a couple of drams of rum (the obligatory sailors drink that one dares not decline) I headed back to Fairtide ending my first day in Ucluelet.

Tomorrow I plan to go for a walk around town and to the Coop for a few additional provisions before heading out looking for interesting anchorages.