7/5 Passage to Port Hardy

We waited at Cullen Harbor for our weather window.

We stayed an extra day due to a gale warning on Queen Charlotte Strait. The next day looked good.

We woke to another gale warning and hunkered down to stay yet another night.

Then, at 11:00, we listened to the 10:30 forecast. Perfect! Southeast wind at 15 - 25 knots decreasing by evening. It was just what we wanted, a long down-hill ride to Port Hardy. And we had exactly that, for two hours.

Then, the wind clocked around in front of us and hit us on the nose for the remainder of our 30 mile passage, varying from 25 knots and gusting higher to absolutely zero, mostly swinging from one extreme to the other just after we had completed a sail change. I got soaked on the foredeck wrestling sails down only to put them back up again minutes later.

At 4:00pm, more for entertainment than anything else, the wind still from the Northwest, we turned on the radio and listened to the latest updated forecast. The prediction for our waters? Southeast winds 10 - 20 diminishing in the evening. Did they forget to open the window and see which way the flags were blowing?

At one point, when it was blowing 25 steadily, and I put two reefs in the main to slow us down and finally have a little relaxation. We clipped along at 5.5 knots, for less than one mile, and the wind went to dead zero and stayed there, so we motored. We tossed and pitched and banged through the leftover slop from the previous 25 knot breeze. I went below and cooked dinner, putting each and every item away as soon as I had used it, taking extra care to keep our food from flying across the cabin, and double extra care to keep my chef's knife from damaging myself, my belongings, or our boat.

I would love to give an account of nature or the beauty of the water or land, to let you in on some sort of insight, but we arrived in Port Hardy just before dark (thankfully!), glad to be done with it, and feeling really beat up.

We woke up the next day just as tired as we were when we went to sleep.

（翻譯）
我們在卡仁灣等待適當氣候啟航。

由於氣象預報夏綠蒂皇后海峽颳起烈風，我們多停留一天，再下一天看來應該不錯。醒來之後又是另一個烈風預報，我們再窩了一天。

然後，早上11點，我們聽了10點半的氣象廣播─「東南風，時速15-25英里，夜晚風力逐漸減弱」。極是完美，正是我們所需，順風一路而下直達哈帝港。我們如期所願，只是僅維持2小時。

然後，風順時鐘轉了一圈正對著我們迎面吹來，我們卻還有30英里的旅程。風速則高低不定：有時大於25英里，有時趨近於零──總是在我們換帆之後改變。我在船首因換帆而全身被海水潑濕，卻在好不容易換好帆的數分鐘之後，又因風速改變得在更換一次。下午四點，風仍從西北方直吹而來。純粹娛樂自己，我們打開廣播收聽最新預報。我們航行海域的預報是？「東南風每小時10-20英里，夜晚持續減弱」。他們是忘了開個窗看一下外面旗子飛揚的方向嗎？

有段時間，當風穩定吹著25英里的速度，我決定將主帆縮收以減低我們航行速度，我們終於得到稍許喘息。我們以時速55英里前進，結果不到1英里，風消失無蹤，所以我們啟動引擎。我們被之前時速25英里的風殘留的波浪推擠、搖晃、和撞擊。我到艙內煮晚餐，每樣東西一用完就得馬上收好，還得留意防止讓爐上食物在艙內亂飛，防止菜刀傷到自己、船內物品，或是我的船。

我很希望能夠也描述對大自然力量的景仰、對海水或陸地美麗的讚嘆，讓你們因而獲得洞見，但是當我們在夜晚來臨前抵達哈帝港（還好！）時，我只是很高興此航程終於完成，精疲力竭。

第二天醒來，我們和睡去時一樣的疲累。