We made it!!!!

We have completed the loop. We arrived in Friday Harbor at 3 pm, July 21st, just 15 days and 4 hour hours to complete the entire circumnavigaiton of Vancouver island. We ended up in a slip directly across from the one we left from so we litterally have done a complete circumnavigation.
We finally sailed! We left Victoria about 10 am this morning and the winds were about 15 out of the west so we put up the sails and averaged 6 knots for the next several hours and sailed all the way into Friday Harbor. First time we were actually able to sail faster than we could motor. It was a fun day, the sun came out part of the time and it did not rain.
We arrived at the customs dock in strong westerly winds and watched as various other boats struggled to get to the dock. We made it and passed through customs without any difficulty, Jeff is a very competent skipper and Fran is magic when smoozing officials.
Getting into our assigned slip was a bit exciting with 20 mph side winds as we tried to slide into the finger pier. We left a little smudge on the hull but no damage to any other boats and nothing that Fran can't rub out with a bit of elbow grease.

Several other skippers did not fair so well in their docking efforts. One large sailboat, the same one we helped get onto the customs dock, managed to mangle a 47 bayliners swim step as he left the customs dock.

Chris will pick me up tomorrow as I say fairwell to Jeff and Fran and they begin the short trip to Tacoma. I think they can manage that short distance without my expertise.

Despite the lack of wind, lack of sun, lack of heat and lack of caught fish lack of diesel it was a pretty darned good trip. The scenery is amazing, the people very friendly and the route is plenty challenging. I would do it again with a buddy boat but would probably not go all the way around. I think I would go from the south and not go beyond the Brooks Peninsula as most of the really good fishing and exploring is south of that.

Photos to follow. Till the next expedition, thanks for following along.