It should have been a sign, really. Wednesday night saw a magnificent sunset, the kind you want to just stand and look at open-mouthed until the last fleeting seconds of colour drain from the sky.
The night sees us picking up speed almost alarmingly. The sea is following, and at times we're zipping along at over twenty knots. When the sun rises on Thursday morning, the cabin quickly warms up, even though the air temperature outside is still quite brisk.
As for me, I'm feeling a little fragile. The thousand miles from Adak to Kodiak did more to me than leave me exhausted. My insides have taken a battering, and without going into all the gory detail with the symptoms, I'm suffering from bruised kidneys.
But now we're approaching the top end of Vancouver Island. Once again we're delighting in being close to land. We know our little spaceship will protect us even when we're hundreds of miles from land, but the feeling of comfort when you're close enough to touch it, to smell it, is incalculable.
We very nearly take a wrong turning for Telegraph Cove, ending up at the bottom end of a bay and a large logging camp. Our destination is in a tiny inlet near the entrance to the bay, an old salmon saltery and sawmill which has been lovingly restored into a holiday resort with a real difference - timber cabins and houses all joined by a boardwalk which skirts the cove.
It's a prime spot for anglers, whale watchers and anyone who just wants to get away from it all. It's here that we meet ex-pat Welshman Ray Jones and friend Bob with respective wives, all sporting Cardiff Arms Park T-shirts. They've been following us on the website, and they've driven here to meet us. We enjoy the most fantastic barbecued salmon meal in the Old Saltery Pub, courtesy of Telegraph Cove owner Gordie Graham.
We're stopping here overnight, not least because we don't dare travel down the channel between Vancouver Island and the mainland at night. We've seen a lot of massive logs floating in the water during our approach, and we wouldn't stand much of a chance if we ran into one in the dark. But we also have to time our short run to Eureka right so as not to spend time drifting offshore until the marina opens.
One thing we have been told is that we should be back in shorts and T-shirts by the time we arrive. We certainly hope so.
Clive Tully
FACTBOX
Kodiak - Telegraph Cove
Time of leg: 2 days 23 hours 42 minutes
Length of leg: 1,057 nautical miles
Total distance covered: 15,371 nautical miles
Distance to go: 9,770 nautical miles
Average speed over leg: 14.73 knots
Time from Gibraltar: 60 days 13 hours 42 minutes
Fuel consumed: 2,119 litres
Average fuel consumption: 2.0 litres / nautical mile
Next stop: Eureka, California, USA
ETA: Sunday
Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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