Klaskish Basin

A Gorgeous Anchorage – with an Attitude

The risks of strong winds in this basin seem remote at first inspection.  The classic signs of a calm anchorage are immediately apparent as a boater enters – no drift logs of any sort, and the trees growing right down to the waters edge with their lower foliage all trimmed to the level of the highest tide. There are also moorings in the basin, the sort of industrial strength affairs that the Canadian Government placed in many anchorages along the coast, primarily for use by commercial fishing boats.

Don Watmough, in his classic Cruising Guide to the West Coast of Vancouver Island, describes the beauty, and serenity of this beautiful anchorage.  But, he does not mention the possibility of katabatic winds dropping down into this anchorage when strong southerlies are blowing.  Similarly for the Waggoner guide. 

Don and Reanne-Hemingway Douglass, in their guide to the west coast of Vancouver Island, devote more than a full page to this inlet.  They well expressed our feelings when they said:  “Boaters fortunate enough to visit Klaskish Basin are struck by its wild yet quiet beauty.”  They do include one sentence about williwaws “screaming” down high slopes and into this valley. 

The best discussion I have found about katabatic winds in Klaskish Basin is in Living with Weather Along the British Columbia Coast, by Owen Lange and published by Environment Canada (pages 135 & 136).  Without these warnings, the risks of katabitic winds in this basin would not be readily evident.   I did have this book aboard Sirius and had read with care the sections on the northern BC coast and the Queen Charlotte Islands during our travels there.  However, I had not yet found this discussion of the Klaskish Basin before we anchored there. 

We went into Klaskish Basin to wait out the passage of a weak trough that was bringing heavy rain, but relatively light winds.  Based on the afternoon forecast we heard while en route, we expected a one-day wait for better weather for rounding Cape Cook.  The 1600 forecast that next day, for the first time, mentioned a “rapidly developing low” near BC coastal waters.  It would be the following afternoon before the strength of this new low became clear.  The closest anchorage to Klaskish Basin without the risk of katabatic winds is Klaskino anchorage, 4 miles to the northwest as the Raven flies.  However, it would entail traveling about 15 miles, and require careful navigation to thread through the rocks and reefs scattered throughout the entrance to the Klaskino Inlet.  Not the sort of exercise that one readily takes on late in the day in foul weather. 

As noted in our log, we remained anchored in Klaskish Basin during the passage of that next low.  It did, indeed, bring gale force winds to the northern portion of the west coast of Vancouver Island.  Based on the rapidly rising barometer when we experienced Katabatic winds in the anchorage, the low was probably already northwest of us.  Hence, the winds around the Brooks Peninsula had probably backed into the south or southwest.    Owen Lange says of these katabatic winds: “There must be very subtle factors at play that dictate their development.”  However, we can say that there is nothing subtle about these winds when they do occur.  So, use this anchorage with caution.