The forecast was again good and the weather fine for our planned rounding of Cape St. James at the very southern tip of the Queen Charlotte Islands archipelago. After lazing around all morning, we got going about 13:45, bound for Woodruff Bay. We motored and sailed back down Houston Stewart Channel. At Arnold Point we ducked inside the Gordon Islands then cleared Bowles Point. The wind was NW 10-15, with a large swell running, but perfect for a nice reach down the island. By 17:15, we even changed the headsail to the genoa. It was a glorious afternoon and we were all enjoying the sail. By 18:00, we had Cape St. James (on St. James Island, just to the south of the southern tip of Kunghit Island) in sight and started our turn to the east, to sail through the narrow channel through the Kerouard Islands. We were now on port tack and on a close reach, headed NE, when, in the space of 5 minutes, the wind went from NW12 to NNW 33, with gusts to 41. To get through the channel, I had to furl the genoa completely and triple reef the main, as well as switch on the engine (which mercifully started on the first try). Even so, we had the starboard rail under for 10 or 15 minutes and were closer to the sea-lion covered rocks to leward that we could smell them and hear them bellowing at our intrusion. The Admiral and crew were merrily snapping photos and I was sweating bullets. Once through the narrowest part of the channel with a bit of sea room, with the help of John's older son, who was traveling with us today, we managed to haul down the Genoa and hoist the #2 jib and were able to sail again, now in the lee of Kunghit Island, but still with a steady NW 20-30 kn wind. Our original plan had been to anchor in Woodruff Bay, where we arrived about 18:30, but it was far too rough here to contemplate a good night's sleep, so we moved up to Howe Bay. This was also too rough and the wind continued howling, so we had no choice other than to either turn SE and run for Bull Harbour (~150 N-m away) or carry on north to Heater Harbour. We were not really ready for a long overnight slog, so we continued north to Heater Harbour; the wind was now down to a steady NW 18. We turned into Heater Harbour at 21:00 and the wind immediately abated to the extent that we had to motor the rest of the way. We were finally anchored at the head of the bay at 22:25, emotionally and physically drained. After a late dinner, we all crashed for the night.

52-07.57'N, 131-02.99'W; Log = 36 N-m, Sum = 625.7