Air Delivery Bella Bella

We exited Shearwater in the early afternoon, sailed past the small First Nation community of Bella Bella and made for open water against an incoming tide.  The "punch out" as Captain Jim, Shearwater dock mate, called it. Jim and his wife Barabara and their Labradoodle, Ella are sailing through retirement aboard their 50 foot blue hulled Hyla. Jim loves seeking out the wind. Today, he left earlier than we and no doubt had punched out and was flying past Aristazabal Island along the Hecate Strait. Given the building wind and tidal current, we opted to make for Saint John anchorage. It would be more like getting pummeled first and then ducking, sidestepping and delivering a well-place upper cut running with staysail deployed and riding 6 foot breakers abeam with 26 knot gusts, toward the shelter of St. John's harbor.