2026 Flotilla to Alaska Day 3 - Clam Bay to Tribune Bay
by Slowboat 19 May 16:21 BST
Looking north up the Strait of Georgia © Craig Morris
The Environment Canada forecast didn't look all that great for the Strait of Georgia this morning, but after discussing the hourly reported condition (Windy.com, buoy reports, looking at the hourly trend, etc.) with Laura via the group chat, it looked like a little chop was likely the worst we'd get, so the group pulled anchor and left Clam Bay around 8am this morning, headed for Dodd Narrows.
The plan was to arrive a bit before slack at Dodd Narrows and go through early with a couple knots against us. It's good to see what it looks like when it's not dead calm, and also nice to beat the log barges and tows through. The log barges really need to go at slack (because Dodd Narrows is skinny, and they're slow), so if we can already be out of their way it's a lot less drama.
The first ones through (True Grit and Fleming Evenstar) said they had about 4 knots against them, but still made it with no issues besides a bit of squirreliness.
People are sharing lots of great photos in our group chat, so with permission we"ll be adding more to posts with the appropriate credit/watermark on them. Fun!
Conditions in the Strait of Georgia were better than expected — 1-2ft chop, 15 to 20kts of wind on the nose, but blue skies, puffy clouds, and sun! We'll take it!
The group tucked in for the night at Tribune Bay, which is a nice stopover as long as the wind is not from the SE. We expected a nice night since the forecast was for NE winds, and that's exactly what we had... Until about dinner time when the wind unexpectedly pivoted to SE and 2 ft wind waves began flowing into the anchorage. We were pummeled and rocked until about bedtime when things mellowed out. Folks mostly got to bed early because we have an early departure in the morning to make a date with slack at Seymour Narrows.