The Fleet:
Dulcinea (Dave and Mary Weale)
Endless Options (Dave and Susie Garland)
Humuhumunukunukuapoa’a (Dave and Sarah Tideman)
Mahalo (Marshall Browne and Sarah Joy)
New Shoes (John and Kerstin Hilton)
Selah (Stuart and Linda Scadron-Wattles)
Winterlude (Chris Cheeseman and Gillian Taylor)*
*Canadian boat
DAY Minus One: Tuesday 31 August
The weather could hardly have been better for this first international HAPS rendezvous. The day before the rendezvous’ official start, New Shoes, Endless Options, and Selah met up in Swanson Channel in 17-20 knot southerlies and a three-foot quartering sea and made good time sailing downwind to Montague Harbor on Galliano Island. All three boats were able to grab provincial park mooring balls close to the dinghy dock. As the winds died down, the anchorage heated up and sailors headed over to the Crane & Robin restaurant for margarita happy hour.
DAY One: Wednesday 1 August
The day dawned fair, and Endless… and Selah went ashore to secure a couple of tables and and a grill for the happy/potluck dinner hour reception. Mahalo arrived early afternoon and grabbed a mooring ball, and Humuhumunukunukuapoa’a anchored out. The wind in the anchorage wound down from 12 to 2 knots southerly. We had just gone ashore and started our 1600hr festivities when the crew of Winterlude, a Canadian Hunter 380c hailing from Ganges on Saltspring Island, arrived with the words “HAPS, we presume?” and the party was complete!
DAY Two: Thursday 2 August
The southerlies freshened up for our 0900 departure to Port Browning, on the east side of South Pender Island. We short-tacked upwind in 16-22-kn winds and choppy seas through the Active Pass traffic, dodging ferries and each other as we made our way through Navy Channel. Winterlude later informed us that this marked the first time that they were able to sail through the channel in those conditions. Some of us sailed, others motorsailed, and some just motored. In Plumper Sound, the winds stayed strong and on the nose but the seas moderated, and we sailed down to our mark, and rounded downwind for a quiet finish into Port Browning. Endless Options and New Shoes anchored out, the rest headed to dock at Port Browning Marina Resort. The new owners have made improvements to the pub and added a bistro, but the docks remain their quaint and electrically unreliable former selves.
We reserved a table for twelve at the pub, and met up for dinner and more conversation, a good deal of which ended up being about transiting Customs in each direction.
DAY Three: Friday 3 August
The day dawned with light winds and cloudy skies, and that’s how it remained. Departure was set for 0800, but some of us left earlier, astutely anticipating a Friday noon crush at the Roche Harbor Customs Dock. Once we arrived at RH, and those of us who needed to clear at the dock did so, New Shoes and Winterlude anchored out, and the rest headed for the end of India dock, where the Roche Harbor Marina had prepared for five of us to moor, since we were expecting Dulcinea to join us at some point.
The sun made its expected appearance, and we all departed in our dinghies, parading single and double file down Mosquito Pass to Westcott Bay, where we tied up at the Westcott Shellfish Company docks, and proceeded to feast on bivalve fare galore. On Fridays during the season, the Company runs an oyster barbeque, with a menu that includes steamed clams. We ate our fill, as we continued to enjoy one another’s company.
We returned to find Dulcinea arrived, and rafted up to Selah.
We finished the day with a happy hour that turned into a musicale, as the Hiltons and the Tidemans brought out their instruments, and sang until we could sing no more.
DAY Four: Saturday 4 August
We all gathered on India dock for a hearty breakfast. Many of us had been out cruising for a while and had the usual boat chores to attend to afterwards, but all of us found time to enjoy the Roche Harbor amenities, including the sculpture garden, the shops, the hiking trails past the limestone quarries, and the ice cream stand.
We bade goodbye to Kerstin HIlton, who boarded a seaplane for Lake Union at 6PM.
A potluck dinner gave us more time to enjoy one another’s hospitality.
Day Five: Sunday 5 August
A continental breakfast gave us a quick opportunity to say our good-
byes. Some of us were heading back to our home port, others resuming our cruise. All of us were HAPpier for the time together. While the Canadian contingent was small in number, we were enriched out of proportion by their presence, their generosity of spirit and their local knowledge.
We look forward to future international rendezvous with an ever-increasing proportion of Canadian Hunter owners. Nice boats, nice people, nice times: regardless of the hailing port.