September Cruising Questions

San Juans in September

Whats the weather like in September curising the San Juans.
Its not as crowded I'm told. How about the winds etc.
Thanks Chris

September can go south fairly quickly, but can also rebound equally quickly. I alway cruise the last week of august and first 10 days of September. Yes, there is less boat traffic and the weather is still reasonable, but certainly not as nice as the end of July and first part of August.

We will be up in that region so we will need to touch base later on down the road so maybe we can cruise for a few days depending on where you plan on going. I may be on my own for a couple of days and it is always nice to have another boat around.

regards
shaun

moved thread reason

Hi guys,
I thought that this was a different topic than the Rendezvous, and so gave it new title. Hope you do not mind. More NW sailors might see and comment on it, now, IMHO.

Loren

We were out in the Gulf Islands and up to Desolation Sound last September for 2 weeks, from Sept. 10 until the 24th. We had Everything as far as weather was concerned. Gales from the NW, gales from the SE the next day, dead calms another, driving rain, beautiful warm sunny days, fog, etc. You name it, we sailed in it.
Mucho fun!

Desolation of Barkely?

Mike,

Where did you start and finish your trip, and did you find 2 weeks sufficient time or were you really busting butt to complete the trip. If 2 weeks is sufficient, I think I know where my 2008 trip will be. I keep vacilating between Desolation Sound and Barkley Sound. Have you done Barkley and which would you suggest I do first? The only thing holding me back from Barkley is I know I need radar on the boat because it can really get socked in out there.

thanks
shaun

Shaun,

We started and finished from Vancouver, BC, where we live and keep Papillon. We were not rushed and in fact, we spent a few days exploring ashore while we waited for better weather. The Admiral doesn't like beating in big wind, so when the gales were on the nose, we stayed in harbor. This is not to say that the weather was bad, in fact of the 4 days we saw gales on the Strait of Georgia, 3 were beautiful clear, sunny days. The one crappy day, we tried to motor the 45 miles to Comox, only to run for Gorge Harbor when our SOG dropped below 3 knots. What a fabulous misfortune, as this is one of the nicest places we visited. Awesome narrow entrance between rock cliffs, into a well protected anchorage. Fantastic marina and staff with a world-class West Coast restaurant where we gorged ourselves silly - and I thought the name derived from the entrance! I have attached a few pics to whet your appetite.
I hope that you can work out the timing, as it is truly one of the prettiest cruising grounds within reach of the PNW.
I have not been to the west coast of Vancouver Island and Barclay Sound. I think that Mark Reed and Vicki have done the trip a time or two. They, in fact have a great blog/website somewhere with a great diary of their circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

Thanks for the plug, Mike! Sorry our website is so seriously out of date. We've been back to both Deso (2x) and Barkley (1x) since 2003. Shaun, I don't think you can go wrong with a 2-week trip to either location. Barkley has more fish and wildlife, and less people, than Deso, but you face a pretty hard beat to weather to get there - unless you go around the top (not likely in 2 weeks)
We've never had the luxury of visiting Deso in September, but I'm told that's the nicest time to be there - less crowded, at least. We're hoping to visit both again Barkley and Deso again this summer, provided we can ever get our boat out of the boatyard! We've been hauled and/or dismasted for the past month now - new prop, re-pack rudder bearings, repair void in hull near rudder post, replace cracked exhaust thru-hull, replace standing rigging, new masthead sheaves, replace wire/rope w/ rope halyards, and new masthead LED tri/anchor light.:eek: