By Larry MacDonald
Is it the journey that counts – or the destination?
My wife Sandy and I are avid sailors, although for many years we didn’t actually own a boat. To get our sailing fix, we simply chartered yachts in a variety of destinations. Typically, we would follow routes suggested by the charter company, always returning to the home marina within a week or two. And often, especially on our last day, our course would be directly into the wind, requiring us to beat, motor or both.
“Wouldn’t it be nice,” I often suggested, “to have our very own boat so we could have the freedom to just sail with the wind?”
Then one fine day, we came across a used boat for sale that piqued our interest. After scoping it out, we made an offer conditional on a successful sea trial and marine survey. All went well and after completing the paperwork, we became the proud owners of a cruising sailboat.
Wind Dancer lay in Ladysmith Harbour on Vancouver Island while our home marina was in Powell River on the BC mainland, about 60 nautical miles to the north. If the wind blew briskly from the south, we’d be home in a few days, allowing some time for sightseeing.
We spent our first day aboard Wind Dancer provisioning and planning routes, keeping in mind that we would only sail with the wind. The next morning, following a joyous christening, we began our maiden voyage by motoring out of the harbour into dead-calm conditions.
The nearest land was Thetis Island, where we dropped the hook in Preedy Harbour and explored the grounds of Capernway Retreat: 97 acres of woods, meadows and seashore. We spent about an hour on an elevated point, admiring the well-protected harbour and, of course, our very own boat bobbing gently in the quiet anchorage. Had the wind been suitable for sailing, we likely never would have discovered this enchanting setting. Chalk one up for no wind.
Getting under way the following day, we eagerly hoisted our sails to run with a faint northerly. But the southerly current had other ideas, resulting in zero headway. After an hour of senseless flopping about, we motored the short distance to Chemainus, a charming Vancouver Island town with the world’s largest outdoor art gallery – 33 colourful murals painted on business establishments – and a jolly good ice cream shop to boot. Another fortuitous encounter, again the result of no wind.
I was beginning to think, somewhat radically, that sailors can have a good time, even without wind. Or to put it another way, it’s not the journey that matters, it’s the destination. Did I get that right?
Slowly…
In two days, we had traveled a total of eight miles, all under power. Our idyllic notion of sailing with the wind was clearly responsible for our mollusk-like pace: at this rate, we might make it home within the year. Our feeble efforts to rely solely on wind power gave us renewed appreciation for the achievements of legendary sailors Lin and Larry Pardey, who circumnavigated the globe in both directions without auxiliary power. I can only imagine the exhilaration they must have felt being whisked along by consistent trade winds.
Our plight was more akin to early sailors stalled in the horse latitudes, having to throw livestock overboard to save provisions. We weren’t quite that desperate just yet, but you get my drift…oops, bad choice of words!
Hooray! On the third day, a northerly perked up to about 10 knots, encouraging us to head south wing-on-wing into Sansum Narrows, an S-shaped channel that leads to Cowichan Bay. When we made our first turn, the prevailing wind shifted directly onto our bow, prompting a U-turn which would have taken us back to the spot where the wind would dictate another 180. Had we adhered to our sail-with-the-wind rule, we might still be frolicking in the narrows.
Furling the sails, we motored to Dungeness Marina in Cowichan, where Sandy and I discussed the need for a change of mindset. We concluded that sailing only with the wind depends on at least two factors: infinite patience and the degree of urgency to get someplace…like home. If our boat was our home, we would only have one factor to consider – and in my case, that’s the deal-breaker. Patience is not my strong suit – whenever our speed drops below two knots, I reach for the ignition key.
To this day, like most sailors, we still prefer to sail with the wind at our backs. But now and again, we find ourselves beating, motoring or both, just as we did in our chartering days, to reach a destination. Doing just that, we finally made it home to Powell River in a few more days. Obviously, the Greek god of the south wind, Notus, was busy elsewhere during our voyage.
Photo Captions
Photo 1 - Wind Dancer…sailing downwind.
Photo 2 - The author and wife Sandy aboard Wind Dancer.
Related Articles

`Boating Oops Awards 2014
Monday, 30 December 2013 11:35What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done while boating?That’s the question I asked fellow-boaters over the past year. About half reported some real doozies, while the rest reported minor mishaps...

Oar and Sail to Desolation
Friday, 11 October 2013 09:00As a rower and dinghy sailor, I was pleased to discover a slim volume entitled Oar & Sail - An Odyssey of the West Coast by Dr. Kenneth Macrae Leighton. Leighton rowed and sailed his 14’ boat,...

A Summer’s Day on the Credit
Tuesday, 20 August 2013 15:10Three boys, a homebuilt raft and a slow-moving river, launch a lifelong love of boats and the water. After owning our Spencer 35 sailboat for almost 30 years, Anne and I recently sold her with the...

Kelowna Yacht Club
Tuesday, 16 July 2013 10:28Who doesn’t love the folklore and myth of sea monsters? Some say it’s the fodder for ancient sailing logs and others fill story books with these mysterious creatures. Ogopogo, also...

Clayoquot Sound
Monday, 24 March 2014 15:10Clayoquot SoundClayoquot is one of the major sounds on Vancouver Island’s wild West Coast, and a haven for cruisers in search of peaceful, remote harbours.At the dock in Victoria, we were filled...

Dockside in the San Juans
Thursday, 30 May 2013 15:54The San Juan Islands offer an eclectic alternative to Canada’s Gulf Islands, including eight superb destination marinas. Few cruising grounds can match Washington State’s Puget Sound...
Boat Reviews
CY Virtual Video Boat Tours
We all love boats and nothing can break us up! So, what better way to spend our time than looking at interesting boats and going aboard in a virtual ride or tour. We have asked our friends at various dealers and manufacturers to help us assemble a one-stop online resource to experience some of the most interesting boats on the market today. Where the CY Team has done a review, we connect you to that expert viewpoint. If you can’t go boating, you can almost experience the thrill via your screen. Not quite the same, but we hope you enjoy our fine tour collection.
Read more about the CY Virtual Boat Tours....................
Cruisers Yachts Raises the Bar for Day Boating
By Andy Adams
Once again, Cruisers Yachts is leading the market for day boats with their new 42 GLS model that premiered at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show at the end of October. The concept of a large day boat is now a very well-established trend made possible by the amazing new power and efficiency of the latest four stroke outboards.
Buyers are looking for a different boating experience and we think that the 42 GLS nails it. Fast, handsome and versatile, the 42 GLS is designed for fun and adventure.
Destinations
Bahamas – There and Back Again - Part II
In Part I, Sheryl Shard ended the story at June and the start of Hurricane Season when they were once again joined by friends.
This time it was Noel and Tracey Dinan, whose new shallow-draft Allures 49.5 was in build at the time, we headed north from the Exumas across the expanse of the Great Bahama Bank, dodging coral patches as we sailed to Eleuthera then Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco. Another commercial centre in the islands, we cleared out of the Bahamas here after provisioning for our offshore passage up to the Chesapeake Bay on the US mainland and out of the Hurricane Zone until mid-November...
Oak Bay Marina, Photo by Derek Ford
Oak Bay Marina achieves eco-certification in Clean Marine BC, which helps boating facilities to reduce the impact of recreational boating on the Salish Sea and beyond through the implementation of improved environmental measures, including the reduction and containment of toxins, collection and disposal of various wastes, water and energy conservation, and habitat protection.
“It is important for us to be recognized as environmental stewards because we take caring for these local waters seriously,” says Jennifer McKimmie, General Manager at Oak Bay Marina.
DIY & How to
So you want to be a better boater? Boating skills for novice to advanced boaters
By Amy Hogue
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unexpected changes in our lives, impacting everything from boating to vacations and these trends look to continue into the future.
In summer 2020, those trends were seen in the unprecedented numbers of boaters flocking to marinas and boat launches seeking a COVID-friendly vacation on the water. While the waterways were more crowded than ever before, the boaters you were likely to encounter weren’t necessarily in the know for boating etiquette, or marine know-how.
Marine Products
Green Ghost, Blue Ocean – No fixed Address
“A Sailing Adventure Across 40,000 Nautical Miles” over a 17-year span, chronicles the adventures of Jennifer Smith and her husband Alex Nikolajevich (Nik) after they have sold their car in Vancouver and backed their boat out of Coal Harbour.
They had willfully severed their land life – was it reckless? Did they know what they were in for? With seasickness overcoming Nik just three days into their dream, all Jennifer wanted to do was to “undo all of this…. To reverse the hundreds of decisions we’d made that had brought us here to this heaving patch of ocean to these towering seas, to the forty-knot winds rushing us south.”
“Why We Roll” - Epifanes Poly-urethane Rocks The Roller!
Who could have imagined it would get this easy? With Epifanes Poly-urethane yacht coatings, all it takes is rolling and it rolls beautifully — with a four-inch, high-density foam roller and without all the painstaking overspray protection that spray painting requires or the double-fisted duty of rolling and tipping.
The crew at Epifanes headquarters in Thomaston, Maine has always known that all you needed was a good roller and good paint. Epifanes paint can deliver incredible results: a head-turning glassy finish — on fiberglass, wood, aluminium, or steel.