WORLD
Pacific Northwest Chartering: Gloriously Clean and Green There are a great number of reasons that we love chartering in the Pacific Northwest, not the least of which are that it's close to home, affordable and intensely beautiful. But the region's most appealing attribute may be that it's so wonderfully lush and green, as if laid out by Mother Nature as the ideal antidote to the modern urban/suburban lifestyles that most of us endure, surrounded by asphalt, concrete and steel. Every time we head north to charter, even before our arrival flight lands at Seattle or Vancouver, the vast carpet of greenery beneath us begins to melt away our stress and put smiles on our faces. Ancient healers theorized that different colors contribute to our moods and emotions, and modern studies seem to confirm such centuries-old contentions. "Green is the color of Nature and the earth," say believers in chromotherapy (color therapy). "It is balance and harmony in essence, and possesses a soothing influence upon both mind and body." You may dismiss such declarations as pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo, but even the most cynical among us would probably concede that a walk in the woods will leave you more calm and refreshed than you were beforehand. This is a long way of saying: Trust us, a week or two of chartering in the waterways of the Pacific Northwest will make you much happier and more refreshed than you were before you Hikers never tire of exploring the pristine islands of the Salish Sea. Inland, you might find majestic waterfalls and swimmable lakes.
stepped aboard. But why are we pitching a summeronly sailing destination in the middle of winter? Because in order to have a good range of boats to choose from, you need to make plans right now, and seal the deal with a deposit. Fleet sizes are not huge, as they are in the Caribbean and Med, and Northwest waters attract many repeat customers. As you begin to do your homework on this region, you'll undoubtedly come across the term Salish Sea. Although this moniker came into popular usage only a few years ago, it's a clever way of referring to the 200-mile cruising ground that extends from Seattle north to the narrows beyond Canada's Desolation Sound, and from Vancouver Island east to the mainland of Washington state and British Columbia (see illustration, right). There are three principal chartering venues here: The American San Juan Islands, the Canadian Gulf Islands and the Desolation Sound region, a lesstraveled venue with almost no shoreside development that lies toward the north end of the Salish Sea, along the BC mainland. It's not only possible, but easy, to charter within both the US and Canada during a one-week cruise, although a longer stint would be better. That said, though, as you sit down to make plans, your first consideration should be where to start and end your cruise. There are bareboat charter bases throughout the region: at American harbors including Seattle, Bellingham and Friday Harbor, and at the Canadian harbors of Sidney, Vancouver and Comax. Although fleets are relatively small by international standards, the short May-to-September season inspires companies on both sides of the border to maintain their fleets at a high level. Most boats offered are monohulls, although there are a some multihulls. (And yes, there are lots of powerboats for hire also, if you must go over to the 'dark side'). The reason we feel compelled to mention
ALL PHOTOS LATITUDE / ANDY
This month we'll take our annual look at the unbeatable Cruising T Grounds of the Pacific Northwest's Salish Sea.
this — while seemingly a sacrilege for a sail-only magazine — is that winds tend to be light and variable throughout the Salish Sea, especially in mid-summer. But you won't find us poking around the Northwest in a stinkpot. Even if we have to motor once in a while, the sailing can be glorious in the tree-lined straits and fiords of the Salish Sea, especially under occasional cloud cover, where you often find a bit more breeze. Navigating these waters is simple enough, especially because most rental boats are now equipped with chartplotters at the helm station, but every skipper does need to pay close attention to currents and tides when planning passages and choosing a spot to anchor for the night. Currents can run twice as strong as in the Bay Area, which can give you a wonderful boost if you factor them into your plans correctly, especially on days when your game plan dictates covering a lot of ground. Every boat is stocked with a highly detailed Tide Atlas that makes maximizing use of currents pretty simple. Likewise, if you pay close attention to the tide tables when you anchor, you won't have any trouble. But if you're
