Beneteau 40 Cruising in the San Juan Islands

If you want to go far up north in your boat, maybe Desolation, maybe the Broughtons, maybe Barkley consider having someone you trust with your boat to do a delivery to or from your destination. It is a neat, convenient way for you to spend more time in the islands and a nice opportunity for your delivery crew.

This was the scenario in which I was entrusted with an almost new Beneteau 40. Le Reve, (the dream) is the name of the boat and owners had two glamorous weeks in Desolation Sound (87 degree water in Teakerne Arm!) and then we met in Nanaimo, where they took my car and jumped the ferry as I readied the boat for a trip through Dodd Narrows.

My crew was my lovely wife Sharon and our 3.5 year old son Axel. This was our second cruise as a family, the first being when Axel was 10 months old. The first cruise was a little shaky with an infant, but we either had forgot about it, or thought we were all a little older and ready for life on a boat. Our first order of preparation was to hire a babysitter for Axel's brother Dean, and we left him at home. We wanted a crew who was ready to do their part and take care of themselves for the most part. We wanted a nice, relaxing vacation. Fortunately, the crew adopted to life aboard straight away and it sure made me proud to have my son so eager to drive, navigate, coil lines, strike the ensign and all those things you do when cruising.

We had a nice journey through the islands and tried to make the passages short with the time on shore long. The Beneteau 40 is perfectly suited to island cruising. A big, safe cockpit protected by a dodger makes for a place in which you spend most of your time. The twin wheels allowed Axel to drive, while I could make sure we stayed on course. The boat is outfitted with the latest charting electronics, a furling main, and a purring Yanmar diesel engine. The boat is easy to handle and is comfortable everywhere. It even had a digital TV and DVD player that the whole crew loved because Axel could watch videos at the end of a crossing or at cocktail hour, and we could enjoy the solitude of a sunset.

A couple of items on the boat that were very nice in addition to the TV, were the Webasto furnace that we used several times, )even though it was August) and the hard-bottomed inflatable dinghy on the Sea-Wise Davits. Many people commented on this configuration and were envious of how simple it was to deploy and retrieve the dinghy. In the pictures above you can see the dinghy stowed on the transom, and the picture below is with it deployed and in the water, but not yet released from the davits. Axel could row his heart out, and I could cook the Halibut on the Magma Barbecue. If you can, go cruising now! You will be better for doing so. -allan