Tugboat Island

When we leave Vancouver our first destination is often Tugboat Island. Located in the Flat Top Islands at the southern tip of Gabriola Island, it is about 10 miles before Nanaimo and about 24 nautical miles from downtown Vancouver. Sailing, it takes 1½ to 3 hours depending on the speed and direction of the wind. Under power, at a comfortable 8 knots we need about 3 hours, dock to dock.

Since winds in Georgia Strait blow from the north or the south (with easterly or westerly in them) if we are heading north to Desolation Sound or beyond, Tugboat Island and Silva Bay constitute a good layover if the wind is from the north. For the uninitiated, a sailboat cannot sail directly into the wind. While it can sail with the wind directly behind it, a following wind about 20 degrees to one or the other side of dead astern will move the boat faster. Thus if we want to go essentially north to Desolation we need to tack, keeping the wind about 30 degrees off the bow. Tugboat is usually one long tack from Vancouver, making it an ideal layover if we don’t want to go all the way north in one day.

Silva Bay Marina and Resort provides public moorage, a fuel dock, restaurant and liquor store. It also boasts Canada’s only full-time wooden boat building school, an amazing support for a threatened craft that once thrived in Canada.

While Silva Bay provides a good anchorage in most winds and a reasonable one in high winds, it also contains Tugboat Island one of the 7 private outstations owned by the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (RVYC). With docks, showers, toilets, clubhouse, barbecues, a playing field and playground, trails, shelving sandstone beaches, tidal pools, and a 4 acre private island it can be a destination in itself. Purchased in 1960 by the RVYC it has been preserved in its natural state. Deer, raccoons, otter, mink, owls and a multitude of seabirds frequent the island an the smaller tidal islands and reefs to the south provide low and mid tide resting spots for the 200 seals that fish here.

The clubhouse has an excellent view of the playing field from one side and of Silva Bay from the other.

Silva Bay has a number of serious hazards to navigation around the general area, in the entrances and within the bay, requiring caution and prudent navigation. The reef in this shot is within the bay, just after the narrow and principal entrance. At high tide it is covered and many imprudent boaters not paying attention to their charts have tried to “cut the corner” here and run up on the covered reef.

The Gulf Islands are in the rain shadow of the mountains on Vancouver Island. Receiving much less precipitation, their normal summer dryness makes fire an ongoing threat. There is no smoking on this island and the RVYC maintains large water buckets at a number of sites. There is not sufficient natural ground water on the island to provide fresh water so fresh water is produced by desalinating ocean water.

As the tide drops, the narrow channel between Tugboat and Sear Island dries affording a resident heron a better opportunity to earn his living stalking fish in the eel grass.

Low tide also provides enhanced access for raccoons to seafood.

Whether it is a question of establishing sibling dominance or just a contest for food, raccoons do fight – quite viciously. In this instance the loser’s head was held under water for about 1½ minutes, but he/she did eventually get up and walk away.

Seaplanes (sometimes called float planes) are an important source of communication and transportation on the coast and Silva Bay will see about 10 landings and takeoffs on an average summer day.

RVYC is a major supporter of sailboat racing in British Columbia and Tugboat Island is used as a layover point for some races. Some of these races will fill the docks with many boats rafted to
one another.

The playing field becomes a campground to accommodate the support people and some of the crewmembers.

As the earth rotates on its axis and the sun begins to sink, the musical instruments come out and the racers start to party.

Racing involves people from all segments of society and includes among its most dedicated

members, the Chairman of Cloverdale Paints, who showed up with his guitar and a new Riptide 50, an all carbon boat from Ian Franklin Boatbuilders in New Zealand.

Sunset led us to the quiet of our berth, after a tour of the incredible Riptide 50, and a snug sleep.

The next morning we learned that the “younger” racers had partied until 3 a.m. Ah the energy of youth.

While we’ve primarily described a private island that is accessed by boat, Gabriola Island is easily accessed by a 30 minute BC Ferry ride from Nanaimo. Gabriola has an excellent small shopping center, many arts and crafts outlets, parks, petroglyphs, and numerous bed and breakfast types of accommodation. It also has the spectacular Malaspina Gallery, a natural very long carved out sandstone “cave” along the ocean. You can get around the island by car, by bicycle (you might need to walk up a few hills if you haven’t ridden for a while) or you can rent motorized scooters. Go check it out! It is somewhat off life’s beaten path – and after a few days you’ll be on “island time”.