Captain Ron’s Top Considerations for Rounding Cape Caution

Capts. Martha and Ron McGough

This was written by veteran cruiser Ron McGough in 2007. Many of us use his considerations when rounding Cape Caution. Enjoy!

When rounding Cape Caution, either heading south or north, you're venturing out into say twenty-five miles of open ocean. You'll want to leave at the most opportune time so you have as comfortable passage as you can.

Veteran cruiser Ron McGough suggests you take the time to consider:

• Wind
• West Sea Otter Buoy
• WX and weather buoy reports
• Ocean depth
• Transit time
• Electronic charts
• Currents and moon phase

Wind.

• Recognize that prevailing winds are out of the south & west. An ebb tide is more likely to create a larger chop when the winds exceed 15 knots.
• Winds are typically stronger in the afternoon (see 2007 Waggoner’s, page 300).
  

Sea Otter Buoy.

• Bob Hale believes that if the Wave and Wind height is less than one meter, you can expect to have a safe and easier trip. Swells can continue to run long after an offshore windstorm abates, and monitoring of this buoy provides a check on that. Remember, once you turn north, you can expect rollers that are off your beam.
• We have made the trip when West Sea Otter was 1.4 to 1.6 meters and we were forced to tack frequently to minimize the rolling. Safe but not fun.
• When we traveled with the West Sea Otter buoy registering below 1 meter, we certainly had a much better ride
  

Arrow points to West Sea Otter Buoy

Wx and Weather Buoy Reports.

Jerry Schutzler (Puffin) suggest the following, “We have also found that a chart with the BC weather buoys and other reporting stations is very useful in interpreting the weather updates. We keep that chart open when the Wx update comes on the VHF and follow the comments for each station. That way you can get a much better idea of the Wx pattern in the area than from just paying attention to West Sea Otter and Egg Island.”

Ocean Depth.

If you stay at least 1 3/4 miles off CC (deeper than the 250 foot to 300-foot contours), the effects of shoaling and wave reflections from the land are reduced.

Transit Time.

• It is about 24 nm from Allison Harbour to Smith Sound (Inside of Table Rock). At 8 Knots, I usually plan on at least 3 hours.
  
• We like to use Miles Inlet or Allison Harbour as our stepping off point, since we can then minimize our travel time in open water. The disadvantage is that you start close to Nakwakto Rapids.

Electronics.

• Have good electronic charts and radar; it is much easier when you instantly know where you are relative to South Iron Rocks, North Iron Rocks and Egg Rocks. The rock groups are usually visible from breaking waves, but I like to concentrate on the waves/rollers and not resetting or checking my course on paper.
  
• To shorten our trip, we like to cut inside, between South Iron Rocks and Hoop Reef, when conditions allow.

Currents and Moon Phase.

The first three list above are by far the most important considerations; however, we will not know wind and West Sea Otter buoy conditions until we are near Cape Caution or at an overnight anchorage such as Allison Harbour.

The real question, then, is how do we choose a time to arrive at Cape Caution and begin our wait for good weather? Under any given wind conditions and recent wind history, currents are key to the swell and wave height at West Sea Otter. Therefore, I like to select target dates based on currents that are less likely to aggravate any existing winds.

Here is my suggestion:

• Check the currents as follows (Examples for 2007 are attached):
  • There is a current out-flow from the large number of rivers in Rivers Inlet and Smith Sound. This tends to increase the Ebb intensity and decrease the Flood flow. I like to check:
  • The predicted currents from Tide View BC North Coast (in the area of Sea Otter group), and
  • The Egg Island Tide range for the day. If you do not use Tide View, you can get a sufficient indication from the tidal range at Egg Island. For example, the tide range on 6/23/07 is 4 feet and the tide range on 6/14/07 is 11 feet. Tide View currents show very low levels of current flow on the 6/23 and high currents on 6/14..
• I check the currents in Gordon Channel and Nakwakto Rapids; these are good indicators for our Queen Charlotte Strait passage.
  • The max out-flow from the rapids can be easily 6 to 15 knots. Unfortunately. the ebb/slack/flood cycle, of Nakwakto, is “out of phase” with Gordon Channel.
  • When Gordon Channel is at slack, Nakwakto is often at near peak flow. Selecting a time of neap tides, automatically selects lower peak in/out-flows of Nakwakto Rapids.
  • I believe this much reduces the difficulty of choosing a “target date” for rounding CC
• Dates near Neap Tide are best, because the max current intensities can be 1/2 to 1/3 of the levels at a New Moon.
  

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