There are all sorts of styles of cruising. We used to think we liked the macho type, with the challenge of sailing a very powerful vessel efficiently by ourselves.

Now that we’re more "mature" in our outlook on things nautical, we’ve taken to a new approach. This might best be summed up in the photo above. We’ve traded our sea boots for slippers. We’re still cruising, of course – just the style has changed.

Weather usually has a pattern to it. The past six weeks in Northern British Columbia and Southeast Alaska has had a pattern of rain, overcast, wind, and then more of the same. But with our approach things have changed, if only for a little while.

The intense low pressure system of a few days ago, with storm force winds, has given way to high pressure and a bit of sunshine. The photos above show how the narrow channels between Khutze Inlet and Prince Rupert look in the sunshine.

It was even warm enough so we could venture up to the flying bridge for this family photo.

With most cruising boats going or coming down the same channels, there is a chance to check out how other boats are equipped. These Canadians are set up for this part of the world.

They’ve got their dink, crab pot, kayak, fenders, stern shore line, and floats all hanging out on the stern where it is out of the way. It might not be the best approach in exposed waters, but for this part of the world it works fine.

The art of cockpit enclosures and dodgers has been refined around here for the past decade (for lots more on this subject see Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia). This system works as well as a hard pilot house, for a fraction of the cost and weight.

Here is a less aggressive take on the cockpit enclosure concept. Lower and sleeker, rather than an additional room, this is optimized for watch standing.

Note the surrounding handrails on the sides, aft and forward edges. Somebody knows what they are doing on this vessel.

Here’s another riff on the extra room concept.

We’re not keen on the looks, but you don’t see it from the boat when it is in use.

Just to show we’re not biased against stinkpots, this handle little ship is heading south. Of course their pilot house is built in – that’s one of the reasons people cruise on these boats.

And since you can never have too much space, these folks have enclosed the aft deck.

The passage through the channels was pretty uneventful until we neared Prince Rupert. Then we got a chance to give our radar a real work out.

The image above shows three ARPA targets (round circles) and a whole bunch of other targets – all fishing boats, most with gill nets set. The area in which we are all operating is restricted by islands and reefs.

The image above is a crop of the previous radar photo. The cyan colored lines projecting from each ARPA target are their course "relative" to us. The erratic lines behind each target are their previous positions, since the radar computer has first acquired them.

Here you see the same targets, this time with their projected course representing the true heading of each boat. In traffic we often switch back and forth between true and relative projected headings. True gives us a feel for what the targets are actually doing.

Here we are with trails turned on rather than ARPA (you can use both of course). The length in time of the trails, as well as whether they are true of relative, can be changed. We normally leave trails on True and vary the time depending on our proximity and the amount of traffic. In this case the radar is showing us 15 minutes of trails. Note how some of these boats are moving – long trails – and some are still or very slow with short trails.

This is the same area, only we have moved a mile or so closer to Prince Rupert. As the radar has been set on trails for a longer period, there is more length to the fishing boat trails. The wide blue soft-edged trail behind us is our wake showing up on the radar.

OK, it’s not as much fun as sailing in the anchor at a crowded harbor like Falmouth during Antigua Race Week, but working our way through all these fishing boats is still good for a shot of adrenaline.