For May & June, our PRYC Spring Series shifts from Saturday mornings to Tuesday evenings. Our Winter Series was fun, but I was a little disappointed there wasn't any 'uptick' in participation, but hey -maybe other's aren't as excited as I am about boating in Februrary(?)- it is what it is. So it was re-assuring to see 8 boats on the line for our first night of the series. We've had the whole gamut in terms of weather -from dropping anchors to avoid adverse current, to champagne sailing, to 'what the heck are we doing out here -hang on!'. May is probably the busiest month for Club activities, and as the current Commodore, that meant it was a busy month for me as well. We had our first 'proper' post CoVid Closure Flag Raising/Sailpast event, with representatives from local Services in attendance. Our Victoria Day Club Cruise to Montague had a healthy turn out and lots of fun for all. We also snuck in a Boating Safety Day to round out the month, with both RCM-SAR and USCGA members on dock to inspect vessels from around the Basin; many Club boats took advantage of that opportunity. | |
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With all the time off since Winter Series, it was a struggle to wait to Mar. 11 to get back out racing. With the new furler, it's nice to have headsail options. Given the low-wind forecast I saw leading up to the Sat., I had a Thurs. afternoon available to go down and change sails (while they were still dry) and be able to take my time to ensure all was good with the new system. Of course predictions & actuals are never a guarantee, so Saturday morning kept us guessing. The wind shut off just minutes before the into current race start -so we finally crossed the start line 28 minutes into the race. I would have felt worse, if it wasn't for one of the boats that did cross close to the start time was actually even farther down current than us by the time we crossed. The wind did pick up to the higher end of the predictions, so with every one parked on the rail we made good headway and managed to get to the front of the pack. Unfortunately, 'Prime' clawed her way back and took Line Honours in the last few hundred yards. Given the forecast, it ended up being a great day on the water -looking forward to next weeks race, but have to spend some time figuring out how to silence our newly installed AIS unit that was continually warning us of collisions. Some crew found that a little disconcerning. :^) I have to say that it's been great having Volti back on this side. She's enjoying getting out a lot more, and we're happy to go along for the ride. Fall Series racing wrapped up the beginning of December. While we were fortunate to top the Series, I'd have to say it was more about showing up consistently, than it was the strategical mind of the Skipper. We're now into February, and even though I'm usually chomping at the bit -with the time off until February to begin the Winter Series- this year the first two races have already been called due to cold temps.
The Vancouver Boat Show was a thing this year, and the Seattle Show was also accessible, so we were keen on hitting up both of them..... just because we could! Schedule wise, it looked like we'd be doing back-to-backs, with the VBS one day and the Seattle one the next. We ended up only doing the Vancouver event because we tapped out the credit card for a deal on an AIS unit. That project will quickly get wrapped up as I'm waiting for an ordered switch to come in to finish the install with. In the interim, I approached repairs to our furler with optimism, but reality led us to replacement. We didn't plan on blowing all the boat bucks this early in the season, but that's how it goes sometimes. I'll find out more tomorrow when I return her back to PR from Steveston where Steve White Rigging has completed the job. It's been the typical juggling of time, weather, and tides to get this completed. I was looking forward to trying things out with a race on Saturday, but it now looks like that won't happen until March :^( While last year there wasn't much worthy of entering here; the 'boating' we were doing was more like, go check on the boat in Ladysmith -go check bilges, run systems, etc., before heading up to visit family in Nanaimo. Few of those days even allowed for a quick (or slow) sail down the length of the harbour. So it was quite thrilling to have the boat moored back on this side of the Strait, and would have expected there to be many entries posted here. So what happened? Well, life gets busy sometimes, doesn't it. First off, we got a chance to use, spend time with (and on) Volti a lot this season. After the past couple years, that was a priority for us and I'm glad we were able to correct that. However, with lots of other activity (a life outside of Volti? Really?), I simply didn't get much (okay anything) up in terms of updates to this blog. So with that said, the following is an abridged version of our time since returning Volti to PRM. April 2022 Back at PRM. Finally. We had always moored over on the north-west side of PRM. We had previously watched for a deep enough slip over on E-Dock (home of PRYC), but there were few that would allow us to remain off the silty bottom all year round (the -tides in Jan. and Aug. drop WAY down). With the abundance of slips available (including one that pre-closure was deep enough), we took a slip on E-Dock. As Commodore of PRYC, it seemed proper that I be more 'present', especially to welcome returning vessels if/when they chose to return. Settled in, we were glad to be back to regular access to Volti, and to be able to get started catching up on deferred maintenance and cleaning chores that go hand in hand with keeping a vessel in a proper manner. Around this time, I also noticed that there appeared to be less water below Volti's keel; after dipping a lead line and consulting tide charts, it turns out this area of the marina had silted in over 1' since we'd been away. This was not going to work for us -a boat is supposed to float in water, touching the bottom is taboo, even if it's just sediment. So we elected to move directly across the marina from E-Dock. While no longer on E, it was only a 100' span, and within shouting distance. As others began noticing the same issue with depths, more considered -and began moving their boats over to N-Dock as well. There was a Club work party to clean up the couple years of accumulated filth of our Club float, and to put the vinyl roof back over the frame. Given the shallowing issue, some membership brought up the idea to consider moving to a deeper dock before too many boats begin returning to the basin. Lots of time spent negotiating that potential with the Marina and initiating discussion/polling the Club membership, etc., but bottom line was that we'd be moving across the basin. Around February, Lisa began her deep dive into creating a new dodger/cockpit enclosure for the boat. We were happy with the previous one -with a few tweaks- so using the old one as a starting point, away she went. She started in on the dodger around February, but fitting and fine adjustments with the boat so far away really added to the challenge. That said, she had the dodger basically done by March. For the enclosure, she adjusted the size of the cockpit window to shift the vertical zippers to facilitate easier winch use, and split the bimini to allow the section between the dodger and back half to zip out to allow for seeing/adjusting the main. If you check the photos page, you'll see some of the work progress chronologically. PRYC Easter Cruise (Poet's Cove) With most of the Club boats were still moored outside of PRM, our first Club cruise was to Poet's on S. Pender Island, but we were the only boat crossing from US waters. The Maritime Border restrictions/Closures were separate and on a different timeline than land crossings. In fact, as I dug into researching what the new (that weekend) requirements would be I was getting multiple interpretations from multiple agents. We had a late start to our crossing, and it potentially could be an even later arrival to the Rendezvous if we were asked to go all the way to Sidney before back-tracking to Poets. Fortunately, the agent allowed us to clear at Bedwell directly -although we were to phone in again upon our arrival for our Clearance number (a change in procedure?). As it turned out, there were agents attending to the seasonal office they keep at Poet's in preparation of its opening. I was still a little confused/uncertain after our check in the previous day, so went to speak with them directly. While I did everything correct on my end, it turned out that I really should have been sent to Sidney, so we dodged one there. They were actually very appreciative in my stopping by to discuss it, as they recognized the rapid changes to regulations was also hard for their field officers to keep up on. It was great to get back and be able to start the season with a Club Cruise. While things were still SLOWLY returning back to normal, that was a nice first step. A great time was had by all. At the beginning of April, the idea of mounting a Spring Racing series (traditionally beginning in May) was, sadly, out of the question. But another keen member that had also recently returned was willing to give it a go (sort of the 'build it and they will come' attitude, so although we began with only the two of us, we had other boats start to buy in, and we had as many as 5 boats out for one of the race evenings. It was a start! Moving forward bit by bit. In regular times, April has historically been around the time that boaters start bringing their boats out of hibernation and begin getting it prepped for the upcoming season. So to with the PRYC Club Float, and just like the boats that had been left down in the basin without any TLC, the Float was in dire needs of some. The biggest need was for our main Club sign; that took a few weeks of time -in 2-4 hr blocks every couple days- to bring back, but boy it turned out nice. In May, Lisa continued forging ahead with the enclosure portion of the canvas work. her 'workshop' was full of the various (11 pieces in total) window sections. We also had a Club dual destination cruise for the Victoria Day long weekend. We were 1 of 4 vessels that attended at Sucia. With quite a low tide and the deeper spots of our original destination of Shallow Bay already taken, we opted to go around to Fossil Bay instead. When checking the forecast for our intended Monday departure, strong wind warnings were part of the Maritime forecast. While we opted to head out that evening as a result, the others stuck around and found Monday to have Champange conditions for their trip home. Oh well. Lisa got the canvas basically wrapped up in June, although there were still final fittings/fastener installations to do. As great as it was to have it finished, she also knew that shade and relief from the fast approaching summer sun/heat also needed to be prepared for. So began her fabrication of our shades & screens (can you see a pattern developing?). With school still in, sailing was mostly just Tues. night racing, with preparation for getting away for extended trips in July and August. Summer Break Looking forward to getting out for more than a weekend, we opted to head down into the San Juan Islands, rather than join the majority of the crew heading north to Desolation. We hadn't been able to head down there for the past 2 years, so wanted to re-acquaint ours with it. It became apparent fairly quickly that our solar issues, which I thought were dealt with the previous year, were still an issue. This meant that we weren't able to spend as much time away from the shore-power weather as we had planned. As frustrating as it was, I must say that, once diagnosed, Pacific Yacht Systems were great about follow up service. They had replacement panels (warranty) put aside for us upon our return, and updated controllers (we had changed battery types since our original solar install and for efficiency, opted to match their charging characteristics) on order. So although it took a couple weeks for all of that to shake down, when we cast the lines for the next trip, it was like new -and nice to return to 'forgetting' about fridge loads. Summer Break Looking forward to getting out for more than a weekend, we opted to head down into the San Juan Islands, rather than join the majority of the crew heading north to Desolation. We hadn't been able to head down there for the past 2 years, so wanted to re-acquaint ours with it. It became apparent fairly quickly that our solar issues, which I thought were dealt with the previous year, were still an issue. This meant that we weren't able to spend as much time away from the shore-power weather as we had planned. As frustrating as it was, I must say that, once diagnosed, Pacific Yacht Systems were great about follow up service. They had replacement panels (warranty) put aside for us upon our return, and updated controllers (we had changed battery types since our original solar install and for efficiency, opted to match their charging characteristics) on order. So although it took a couple weeks for all of that to shake down, when we cast the lines for the next trip, it was like new -and nice to return to 'forgetting' about fridge loads. August was mostly in the Gulf Islands. We did manage to get both girls out with us for a 3 day weekend to Sucia. As much as we love having them, the boat sure gets smaller! Sucia was our 'go to' spot when the girls were young, and there's always great fun and memories when we're able to return there with them. September was busy w/the Club Labour Day Cruise -returning to our traditional destination of Stuart Island. Turn out was less than I was hoping, but those there had great fun. With the Club jumping over to N-Dock, we got a work crew together for the weekend after Labour Day to barge the Club Float over to our new digs. I'm sure it was a sight of entertainment for all that got to watch! Fall racing also started up again. We had a few more boats join in, although still lots of room for the fleet to grow. We had a couple horrendous starts, but by consistently showing up (along with a few non-horrendous starts) we eek'd out First Overall for the Series. With a few adjustments to our rigging, I hope to improve on general boat performance for the upcoming Winter Series in February. The only sailing for Oct. & Nov. was for Saturday Club races. There was less wind overall this year, it seemed. One definitely got rewarded (or hurt) with current calculations -and they weren't always what/where you would expect them). The Club replacement shed finally arrived, so there was an after-race assembly/work party for that one day. There was the Club AGM; I would liked to have seen another candidate step up for Commodore, but in the end I agreed to serve for one more year. We had a nice turnout at the Riverhouse Club Social at the end of November. Now in a mid-December cold snap, my boating activities centre around checking on the heater and creating parts lists for new year projects; hopefully there'll be some warmer days between now and mid-Feb. to complete them. But for now, that's the Cole notes on a year that has flown by. For starters, I can't believe I didn't have any entries last season. Although we didn't use Volti anywhere near enough, she did actually leave the dock a few times. Ladysmith is a great little place to tuck in your boat, but between needing ferry rides, taking care of requisite maintenance type stuff, and making needed time for family on the Island, there wasn't a lot of joyous boating.
So as the world (or at least our little corner of it) begins some measurable movement out of our CoVid hibernation, some limited access to Point Roberts began back in mid January. Since that time, un-interrupted land border access (no testing requirements; other than random ones) has remained in place. With annual moorage renewals typically done for April 1, we started thinking more about when/should we return back to the Point. At that time, maritime entry into Canada would still require testing, and that would be unrealistic for us logistically. Rumours started mid-March about a relaxing around those restrictions, but with no official announcement, we still held off. Finally around the 3rd week of March the government made the anticipated announcement, so we had to make an actual decision. So on the Friday night (April 1) we headed over to Ladysmith for our last night moored there for the foreseeable future. The boat was pretty well prepped already, so after getting breakfast and a sandwich for lunch, I pushed off shortly after 0800. Lisa took the car up to visit her mom for the day -she'd be coming over on the ferry later and would come down to PR to pick me up. We got a diver to scrub the hull and prop, and to change the zincs a week before, so there was barely a ripple behind us as we motored out. The wind predictions were varied and I still wasn't sure of my route to PR; either via Polier, or Active Pass. Once out of the harbour, it looked like down through Active would be best, so south I went. There were a couple brief periods where I rolled out the headsail to help out the motor a little -the Current Tables said slack would begin at 11:45, so my concern was simply to get down there on time. Once rounded Tent Island, the headsail was beneficial for most of the way down to Active Pass. The wind/direction had me furling up and transiting AP under motor. After all the concerns of getting there for slack, it turned out the current tables were wrong and I still had a 2 knot current to push against. Once out the east entrance, the sails came up and we were off on a close reach to the Point. The winds were pretty much 9-12 kts. over flat water, and happy being out and was doing 7.5-8+ the whole way. She touched 8.9 a couple times as the familiar landscape quickly approached. I also started realizing I was feeling a little more helm -the increased winds of 14-18kts. may of had something to do with it. I think she was happy to get a chance to run and enjoyed the outing as much as I did. Economically, the whole Point, including the Marina has been hit hard by the last couple years; the place has been a ghost town and no sort of maintenance or improvements attempted while there were no boats there to impede progress. While the place looks a little dilapidated, the bottom line for us however, is that it will be great to have regular access and use of Volti again. Long ago, in a land far, far, away...... It somehow seems an apt phrase, seeing my last post was from Dec. 2019. Both Volti, and her crew, are still here. February & March were Winter Racing times at Point Roberts, but a tired Traveller was causing issues, so after spending time investigating less expensive options, and with Boatshow pricing, a new 4:1 unit was ordered. Just as I began installations, a CoVid related Border closure was becoming more and more likely. I did get the install completed just in time, but having not secured moorage yet, didn't remove her from US waters. At the time I truly believed it would be a 1 or 2 month (max!) event. Boy, did I ever call that one wrong. While we begrudgingly lost our Summer boating season, I REALLY didn't want to leave her unattended through the less favourable Fall/Winter seasons, so finally managed to arrange for her to get hauled, bottom cleaned, zincs replaced, prop scraped, and delivered to me at White Rock Pier in late August -so here's the late start to as much cruising as we can manage to make time for..... Wed., Aug. 23 White Rock - Montague Harbour As much as I needed to get on the boat, I think Lisa needed it even more. So with moorage finally secured in Ladysmith, and delivery to WR scheduled, I stuffed(!!!!) the car with gear -I'd take the boat over to Ladysmith, spend a few days cleaning/organizing her, and then Lisa would join me on the weekend and we could head out and get a week aboard prior to the new school year starting. Well, if you've walked WR Pier before and you think about my stuffed car comment, you can already imagine what the start of this adventure was like for me. I'd actually never walked it before; but with 11 or 12 trips of it that morning, I think I made up for that! I was bagged before leaving the dock. It had been a busy morning for boat deliveries that morning and things were backing up at the dock, so I tossed the lines and got out of the way. I hadn't even attached the main, just wanted to get off the dock! The predicted 18-20kt winds were more like 2-4kts so I knew it would be a motoring trip anyway. After lunch and a bit of time to recover, I thought of installing the main while underway, but then figured it would be better to wait until getting to Montague. As I approached Georgeson Point, the typical pick up in wind appeared, so I began to unfurl the headsail. Unfortunately, it was jamming and would only allow me to unfurl about half of the sail. Rather than get distracted with that, I grumbled a bit, then continued on with an uneventful motoring up to Montague. It was busier than I had expected it to be. I was hoping to grab as spot on the dock -simply because it would make my evening easier; I still had plenty to do before continuing on the next morning, but it looked full. There were a couple of mooring buoys just off the dock head, so I took one of them and began whittling down my chore list, starting with the head sail issue. I really didn't want to go up the mast, and looking up through binoculars, I could see the upper drum of the furler was not turning, thereby causing the jib halyard to wrap and bind on the forestay. I unfurled the sail and wrestled it to the ground. In doing so, I noticed the distinct heavy purplish tinge to the top 3 feet of the sail. Once dropped to the deck, I could see the top of the furler drum, thanks to 5 months of PR bird guano, was seized; unable to turn freely. After cleaning, freeing, and lubricating, it once again working as it should. After that I got the main sail & battens installed, and then got ready to head ashore. Too close to the dock to bother with getting the dinghy kicker down, I got about 3 strokes into my trip before one of the oar locks decided it was time to tear away from the main pontoon of the RIB, so there I was -trying to row using the one good oar lock, while locking the other oar in place under my right arm-pit, somewhat like a crutch- I avoid travelling in a complete circle, but it wasn't a dead straight line either. Thurs. Aug. 24 Montague - Ladysmith Marina Next morning, by the time I had gotten to the top of the pass between Montague and Parker Island, the sails were up and out and I was in a great 8-10 kt. breeze to shake some rust of my sailing -had a great sail to the south end of Wallace Isl. until the wind abruptly shut off and I had to fire up the motor again. Saw/radioed friends on Persistence as we crossed paths while rounding Southey Point. The wind began to fill a little as I approached the bottom tip of Tent Island and I was taunted into sailing again. By Escape Reef, I was motoring again; and would be the rest of the way to Ladysmith. Found our slip no problem, but after being at Point Roberts, where once you're out of the breakwater you're gone, here it feels like you've got another half an hour still to go (and you do!). I got tied up, then immediately on the horn to Steveston Marine for a new shore power plug/receiver (more on that later), welcomed by a neighbouring sailor, scrubbed and almost finished power washing, when PRM L-Dock friends aboard Sequoia came by to say hi. We chatted briefly, then the went on their way, with an invitation to swing by for a cold bevy later; I was happy to oblige after another long day. Friday began with me starting to sort out all the chaos of 'stuff' aboard the boat. One of the things kept me hesitating on hiring a skipper, was I had our boat slipped on a different dock than our assigned location (where a dock box full of stuff, along with our dinghy were). While I was glad Westwind was willing to collect all our stuff -there was ALOT of stuff!!! Without a dockbox, I piled some stuff out on the dock -knowing it wasn't needed but would have to get taken up to store in the car once Lisa would be arriving Saturday, and continued working on sorting/storing things. The Sequoia team came by again, inviting me over for dinner later, so with that incentive in place, I hustled through the rest of a very warm day, had a quick shower, and got to enjoy a great salmon dinner and even greater company that evening. Lisa came over on Saturday, with still MORE stuff! So we continued catching up on cleaning/prepping both Sat. & Sunday. While we intended to get going on Monday, but spent the majority of the day dealing with a frustrating update of nav. charts. In fact, I used all but the last 10 minutes of a midnight expiry of file access. Tuesday, with only going up to Pirates, we enjoyed a leisurely, light wind sail. Where I thought we might be able squeeze flying the spinnaker, the wind shifted. For a while, I thought we'd be able to carry the south point of DeCourcy, we did end up needing to tack, but the wind still carried us around the east side and up to the approach into Pirate's. Our preferred spot here is stern'd into the Point; as it happened, 'our spot' was just being vacated by a boat raising their anchor as we came in, so without pause we were able to swing around, set anchor and stern tie, and enjoy a great afternoon from the cockpit. Wed., Sept. 2 Pirate's - Telegraph Although forecasted for sunny & hot, the clouds of the morning said otherwise. Looking ahead to a few days at Princess Cove, we opted to head to Telegraph; hadn't been there in a few years, and that way we could also ensure batteries would be topped up. Although hopeful of some sailing, any ripples we saw ahead of us kept dying as we neared them. As we came in to Telegraph, the first words out of a fellow taking our our lines was, "That is my next boat!". Not that many folks know about our boat (there were 41 made). Dropping back into old habits -even in the CoVid era- I extended an invitation to come aboard and view her. The next day brought his wife with him (Thetis Isl. residents, he was checking on his Fast34 they keep at the marina) and she agreed. While we're not about to consider it, it was very flattering none the less. Also had a chance to visit with Runaway IV -a Point Roberts boat that had began doing White Sails with us at PRYC back in the Fall. With the Munro's now questionable for Princess, and Rickard's likely Sat., we opted for another night at Telegraph; ensure batteries are up, and get some waxing done done. Plus, the Pie Shack ran out on Wed. -we got 2 small (Bumbleberry & Peach) pies on Thurs. though :^). A bonus of sticking around was seeing friends from LPS arrive for the Tollycraft get together that was happening. Fri. Sept. 4 Telegraph-Princess Cove The max wind we saw was 2.1kts, so it was a motor over to Princess. With zero bars of Telus, we found a spot that could accommodate up to 3 of us with the option of rafting. We anchored second stern chain past the dinghy dock. Once secured and lunched up, we dinghies to Camping Point. Charm had both of us tearing up with laughter as she bounded around the rock hillside with the energy of a puppy. Spitfire crossed with good speed so elected to come directly to Princess, rather overnight at Silva Bay. We got them tied on our starboard. We haven't been out with them since last summer up in Desolation, so it was a great evening of catching up. Saturday & Sunday were pretty leisurely, a little puttering around, some hikes, etc. There was a clocking breeze along the west shore that was quite cool at times, yet directly across from us -on the west, or outside of the Point, it was windless and HOT(!), so everyone grabbed some blankets, snacks, and bevvies, and we continued visiting in much more inviting Labour Day weekend temperatures. We noticed a lot of boats emptying out late Sunday morning. As was confirmed by the EC weather report, a good blow was expected through the late Sun./early Mon. am hours. With that in mind, we decided it would be more prudent to each ride on our own anchor that night, and seeing as how the boat between us and the dinghy dock had bugged out, Spitfire set their own hook and we returned to more leisure time. RVYC friends of Drew's, who I've also crewed with on Spitfire appeared, so they squeezed in between Drew & and the Dinghy dock. They were a little close together, but not rafted either. Richard and family have sailed for years, but they were on a recently purchased, new to them, CS36. The wind did come up as predicted, but not quite the 30s they'd forecast. Unfortunately, we were anchored square to the shore, so the wind was abeam and had a good pressure on us. A few boat's bobbed and dragged that night. I got up and kept watch from around midnight to 3am. Spitfire and Richard's boat ended being a little too close, so Richard added a line to the dinghy dock to keep him higher windward. They also dinghy set a second anchor. I'm not sure anyone got any sleep on that boat that night. It was much more calm and peaceful when we awoke, but still windy in the Cove. Having a ferry reservation for the 3:15 boat, we took a hike down to Connover, in part to take a look at the wind/water conditions in the Channel. After the wind of that night, Lisa was a little cautious of heading out. We delayed our departure till near 11:00. We had actually waited a little too long, as we didn't even make Southy Point before the wind shut off on us :^( The extent of my checking fuel levels when we began the week was transferring what was in the 'emergency' gerry can and asking Lisa 'Is it full enough?'. So without a fuel dock in Ladysmith Harbour, we had to make a slight right and an additional stop at Thetis Marina to fuel up. Combined with the 3 or 4 boat line-up, we took our selves out of contention for the 3:45 reservation we had. After a bit of a boat tidy and transferring some stuff back out of the car and onto the boat again. It was around 5:30 by the time we got to Duke Point. Given the traffic reports and the Highway info boards were saying everything was 100%, we were pleased to actually get on the 8:45. It did mean a much later than intended arrival home, it could have been the 10:15 or even having to stay overnight. Yes, it will be different this fall and winter, but we'll take advantage of cruising that area -hopefully a little deeper (and earlier come Spring) through this Fall/Winter. Where the Strait can change a little quicker, and more severely during the winter, which does make weekend trips a little less relaxing, having Volti already across may actually encourage us to do more overnight trips this year. If nothing else, if all the CoVid restrictions ease off during the Winter, we'll finally have a chance of making the LPS Kick-off Cruise to Ladysmith :^) More photos here While I can't say I've been on top of keeping things up to date here, I'm quite happy that there's been lots going on that's kept me from doing so. First off was Fall Series racing. That was a lot of fun, thanks to a great bunch coming aboard as crew. We had some good results in the Spring in spite of some of my tactical choices, and began the series with a couple great starts. The cutlass bearing told me it was time to replace part way through the PR Classic, so missed a great second day of that. Mid Oct. was the Commodore's Reception, and the change of location (back to the Clubhouse -we're making a concerted effort within the Club to make more use of those facilities) was well received, and in spite of a couple tweaks we'll pursue for next time, I thought it worked out great. We had a great day racing and after re-assembling the boat I tied her up over on the Club Dock; Lisa came down to join me after the race for the evening's event and we spent the night on the boat. Our Cruise Director tied in a 'Cruise to Nowhere' as part of the weekend, and although it was an ugly, wet Sunday morning, everyone took it in stride and I think even took some pride in dealing w/the elements as we made a human shield to facilitate the barbecue lighting for pancakes. The rest of the series played out well, although the last race of the series was a little anti-climatic with no other Div. 4 boats out on crispy cool (beautiful, but becoming light winded) last day of November. We'd already secured the Series by showing up, although I still managed one of my worst timed starts to date :^( Mid November had me crewing on Prime again for 'Round the County', a two day race around San Juan County. We made good choices on the first day, sailed well, and were rewarded by coming out of Day 1 in 2nd. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Day 2. End result was mid-pack in our Div., but always a good race to do and Prime does it up great. The worst part of the past 3 months has been the abrupt change to wet, yucky weather. I've yet to get the sails off for inspection and storage, and want to do a little prep for the resumption of racing Feb. 1. I'm starting to think the boat will not be getting decorated this year :^( . But in spite of these trivial matters –it's been a great year of boating once again. We're so fortunate to be in a position to enjoy the beauty of the PNW. All in all, I'll definitely take it. More photos here. It's amazing how quickly Labour Day -my 'back to school' signal- came around this year. It's was also hard to believe that we only returned from Desolation Sound two weeks ago, as it feels longer. Wanting to make our departure align with a strong push around around Tumbo and down pass Waldron Islands, we went down to the boat Friday night for a reasonable 9:15am departure Saturday morning. While I wouldn't call it 'dark out', it was still past sunset when we rolled the cart towards our slip -50 yards away I could already recognize the bird bombs ALL OVER the deck that had just been washed and prepped 3 days earlier. Too late to deal with, but got to give it yet another scrub in the morning. The strong push gave us real good speed -7+ much of the last half, and sat at 9.9kts for 30 sec. at one point. We got in just past one, and found a good showing of PRYC boats already taken over one of the two floating docks near the head of the harbor. Saturdays weather was mixed, but improved as the day progressed. In the afternoon there were joint appies on the dock and lots of visiting into the evening, but nobody really lasted that long. Sundays weather followed a similar pattern, but by the time we began our 'Amazing Race' competition, the sky was blue. The crew from Avalanche did a great job of organizing it. There were several teams of two participating, but after a very slow start (thanks to me), we steadily worked our way through the ranks. After an AMAZINGLY fast scrambled letter/phrase puzzle (thanks to me!), we ended up bowing out to the crew of Zelda in the final event, beaten by 3 seconds. Congratulations to them! The evening pot luck dinner could have been renamed the 'stuff your face with all this delicious food' dinner. Nobody went hungry (yet somehow, most seemed to find room for dessert). Monday was the best day sunshine wise, as we awoke to blue, sunny skies. With most planning a later departure of around 2:00-2:30 (again the current around Tumbo), we did a group walk in the morning to help burn off some of the previous evenings' supper. The tide was not as predicted in the tables and we received much less help than we anticipated. There was a little bit of wind however (3-5kts) that allowed us to gain a little bit of weigh, so we still did make reasonable time motor sailing. All in all, one of those most enjoyable of weekends that end too soon. (more photos here) We did a lot of waffling on direction this year -north or south? To help ease the decision(s) we established a routine on BoB of one year north, one south, one the Gulf Islands. South, we might be able to connect w/Todd & Cheryl and there was also the Ulman Sails cruise that I thought we may be able to cross paths with, but the lure of hot sun & warm water -along with our friends wearing us down with the final year of what has become an annual tailgate concert in Prideaux Haven- lead us north again. Our 12 year old chart plotter partially died mid May and needed replacing before the trip. Integrating old sensors with a new display is bound to be an interesting project but also one to avoid -which I tried to avoid as long as I could. So, like last year with the solar panels, there was some additional activity in prep just prior to departure. This year most had gone up before us or were departing from home ports up in Vancouver, so we'd be playing 'catch up'. The biggest decisions to be made transiting north are where/how/when to cross the Straight of Georgia; for us, there's also the additional checking into Canada (because we moor in Pt. Roberts). I watched weather forecasts/models to help decide -would it be up the Straight or through the Gulf Islands? If up the Straight, check in at Jericho or Nanaimo? Right up to our heading down to the boat Friday night for a Sat. am departure, it looked like up the Straight -deciding on a check in point (Jericho or Nanaimo) as we approach Thrasher Rock as to which routing would be more favoured. A long run, but we were targeting Secret Cove for a Sat. night destination. In the wee hours of Friday night/Sat. morning we found unpredicted winds of 20-25kts waking us in our Pt. Roberts slip. Quickly confirming forecasts Sat. morning, all seemed okay except for the increased strong NW winds from Sechelt down to Vancouver for the mid-afternoon. Looking like Nanaimo would be the clearing location. As we got out from the the PRM breakwater, the seas were very lumpy and confused -which isn't uncommon, but they were bigger and carried farther off the Point than typical. Although farther north it looked to be settling down, the un-announced winds of the night before combined with what we experienced coming out was enough for us to re-think our plans; up inside the Gulf Islands.
Sun. July 28 -Nanaimo to Silva Bay? While they are 'forecasts' only, predicted and actual winds were again not speaking to each other. We began early enough to beat the predicted rising late morning SE winds, only to find stiff NW already established. An hour in and barely past Fingers Isl. we opted to turn around. The return back to Nanaimo was going to no more comfortable, so we instead ran for Silva Bay. Lots of strong 8kt surfing, with a couple of momentary 9s. Having not been to Silva Bay before, we opted to enter via the conservative (and recommended) entrance from the south to avoid the strong, lee shore conditions on the north. Spent the day wrapping up a couple odds and ends and waited to see what tomorrow's weather would bring. Mon. July 29 -Silva Bay to Pender Harbour (PH Resort/Marina) We woke Monday morning to weather conditions much the same as yesterday, but with forecast for decreased winds for late morning, we optimistically waited for the 11:00(?) forecast. Re-inforced by the improving conditions coming in from the more northerly reporting stations, we departed; reefing the main before we left the protective lee below Silva. The conditions were much better -14/18 kts., with much improved sea state. Having much ground to make up -including the departure point of Silva Bay- we motor sailed. The winds lightened as we got further across, so we shook the reef first and then got a few miles sailing in. Winds shifted and lightened further as we got closer to the Sunshine Coast so we were back motorsailing -main only to allow us to 'cheat' the angle a bit yet still get a small amount of speed boost. After phoning in and securing moorage, PHRM had not actually texted us back w/our assignment by the time we arrived, so as soon as I had just finished tying up and securing shore power in what was visitor space last year, they re-assigned us to a slip on the outer-most finger. As we sterned out, somehow our dinghy dis-connected from its' painter; Lisa creatively got hold of it using the fender she had at hand just as someone yelled to us 'stern line in the water!'. Luckily it was the (now detached) painter, that was still secured to a cleat so its' shackle was only at the waterline. After providing that dockside entertainment for everyone, we continued un-eventfully to our assigned slip. Touch based with our friends from Spitfire, who informed us that one of the northbound boats had engine trouble and were diverting in to Pender to investigate. While doing a dock walk, we watched for them but didn't see them. Walked right into them the next morning however, and it turned out he was the one that spotted/informed us of the trailing line the day before! They were awaiting to get further diagnoses/recommendations from a mechanic before determining how they'd be proceeding. Tues. July 30 -PHRM to Lund Awoke to more wind within Pender Harbour than I expected for the forecast, but headed out -mindful of there'd been enough on the nose wind for Lisa already this trip. It was a lumpy 16-20kts as we got out of PH but behind the islets. Once we got out from them, the sea was more regular but windspeed was also building. We used the headsail to help steady and get some additional speed by more motorsailing up Malaspina Strait. Midway up we were in sustained 20s, with gusts to 22kts., but were making good enough time that Lund (rather than Powell River, was becoming a possible destination. Winds lightened significantly as we approached Grief Point, so we put in for refuelling at Westview Fuel then were off for Lund. It's always a fun game of Tetris for the dock team at Lund; and they always get everyone in, somewhere, somehow, and do it with smiles and cheery tones. We were rafted up to a trawler 'Pea Pod', a really nice couple from WA. Stretching our legs and walking over to the hotel, they've done MAJOR renovations to both the hotel and surrounding buildings since we were here last year. So we decided to try out the new pub for dinner. As far as we're concerned, when you've made Lund -you've made Desolation. Wed. July 31 -Lund to Laura Cove Our original plan, with our first stop at 3 Fathom Cove in Tenedos, was to meander up the west side of West Redonda before returning down for the big Dinghy Concert in Prideaux Haven on Saturday, but intermittent text service was enough for Avalanche to let us know they were already stern tied in Laura Cove, so we opted for there. We knew we'd only overlap for a day or two, so it would be great to get a chance to hang out before they began their trip back down. Lisa did a great job helming to raft on their starboard side. We visited and ended up inflating the water toys and into the water at Val's encouragement. Played an interesting game called 'Forbidden Island' after dinner. Thurs. Aug. 1 -RAIN!!! Unsuccessfully tried to raise Spitfire & Prime to inform them of our location, but within minutes heard/saw Jeannine hailing us from the bow of Spitfire. Set them up to Avalanche's starboard. A pretty quiet day with everyone hunkering down with good books, spotting new leaks, and generally hibernating. Departing PRM, I felt foolish having not gotten all the canvas enclosure 'bits' off the boat, now I was quite glad to have them with us as it made for a much brighter spot to sit and unwind. That evening the 6 of us were again into 'Forbidden Island'. Fri. Aug. 2 -looked like it was becoming a longer stay at Laura Cove than we had planned, but flexibility with boating is a requirement. A few other boats joined in the raft; Trade-Wins, and their friends on a 30' power boat, as well as Yvette on 4Souls, who had a couple friends aboard for a girls cruise. There was lots of anchoring entertainment today; neighbours needing anchoring instruction, drifting boats, overlayed anchor lines -some gong show scenes for sure. Sat. Aug. 3 -as we prepped for dinghying over to the concert, a couple hailed from a dinghy -it was our Seattle friends Todd & Cheryl! Although they had an adventure getting up here, they were guests aboard Spinner (Sue's now on her 3rd iteration of 'Spinner's -this one a Nordic Tug 41). We visited a bit, but were rafted so close at the concert that Todd swam over under half a dozen dinghies to hop on for a visit. Afterward we continued with a short visit onboard Spinner before they had to go to other commitments. The concert itself was fun; the country/trop rock worked for the crowd and the nature of the event. There were probably 200-250 dinghies, and 700-800 people Sun. Aug. 4 -this was the final year of the concert, and Desolation was packed for it. With most boats vacating today -and knowing they all had to be going somewhere- we opted to stay put and simply avoid staying with the moving mob at whatever the next location would be. Instead, we got a few chores done; scraped the prop, shaft, and keel bottom of barnacles, and got started on deck waxing -no dried salt residue to worry about after Thursdays monsoon. Mon. Aug. 5 -Laura Cove to Toba Inlet Marina Splitting up the raft, we headed up Homfray Channel on the east side of E. Redonda Island, with Trade-Wins along for the trip. Because of the assigned inside slip I confirmed w/dockmaster of our boat's draft (which brought a chuckle from her) -once tied up, we had over 80' beneath us! It was a wonderful stop. Although the moorage was on the pricey side, the spectacular waterfall at the end of the hike was well worth it. Tues. Aug. 6 -Toba to Oyster Bay, Pendrell Sound Uneventful transit, but crossed paths with 4Souls, who were exiting Pendrell Sound. With their warning of a loud raft of powerboats, we opted for Oyster Bay instead. Beautiful spot -2 sets because I misjudged our backing down distances on our stern tie. Again, gen-sets filled the tranquil bay with sounds as we sat in the middle of it. Wed. Aug. 7 -Oyster Bay to Melanie Cove Originally trying yet again to make Three Fathom Cove, we were hailed by Solveig, Persistence, and Bucket List -on their way into Desolation. Their original anchorage choice was full (saw Prime again though), so rafted in Melanie instead. This was our first, and likely only, chance to be on the water with them this year, so it was great that our paths crossed. Thurs. Aug. 8 -Melanie to Powell River We made good time coming down the Copelands, and wanting to put al little more distance in, we bypassed Lund (no Nancy's Bakery :^( ) and continued to Powell River. While in the cue for a rafting assignment we fuelled up, but had no sea water coming out our wet exhaust. The strainer was okay, so with only 150 yds. to our assignment, we sterned in with out delay; shutting down the auxiliary before we were actually in and tied. After settling, we took care of other business -a bite to eat & food stocking- and allowed the engine to cool before I had to begin my investigation. Turned out something clogged the raw water exhaust intake when I restarted at the fuel dock. With a bit of ingenuity, we managed to clear it by blowing the blockage free from the strainer side of the intake with our dinghy air pump, and managed to avoid me having to jump in to the now much cooler waters of Powell River. Once checked over, we were quick to bed, as tomorrow's plan called for an early start. Fri. Aug. 9 -Powell River to Pender Harbour Weather looked good, current good, so we planned a 06:30 departure (after negotiations with the other 3 sailboats we were rafted with us). The current tables were in fact, about 3 hrs. late and we had a neg. current against us for most of the trip. We saw 4Souls entering into Pender Harbour just ahead of us and Spitfire was fuelling up as we entered into John Henry's -to continue onward to Secret Cove. Once we were secured, Yvette & Cindee popped by to invite us over after we'd all completed our respective chores. 'Appie Hour' became hours, and we had a wonderful visit with them. Sat. Aug. 10 -Pender Harbour to Smugglers Cove We began with 10-12kts on the nose, which dropped to 5-7 with calmer water after we passed after passing the southern reef. We stern tied in the same spot as we did on our very first Desolation trip many years ago. While there were only 6 boats in for much of the day, it began filling late afternoon -and a couple of the most entertaining anchoring exhibits I recall. Although we'd like to stay up this way longer, the updated forecasts are making tomorrow look like the best day to cross over towards Nanaimo; we planned to allow some 'buffer days' but looking like strong wind warnings for the following 3 days or so -best to use this one. Early to bed tonight. Sun. Aug 11 -Smugglers Cove to Nanaimo Rain began at 04:10 and woke me. The weather update held with the same forecast -light winds increasing late morning to a wind warning, so we stuck with our 05:45 departure. It rained much of the way and we motor sailed till a few miles off the Fingers. We used our NYC reciprocal, and with weather clearing, hung out the weather gear to dry. Talking with others on the dock, they'd been in touch w/friends that had a rough transit from Pender Harbour to Secret Cove that morning, so we appeared to make the right call for our crossing. Walked into town to get some supplies, then got my brother & sis-in-law down to the boat for a (too short) visit, and later, dinner w/Lisa's folks at a nearby pub. Mon. Aug. 12 -Nanaimo to Pirates Cove After checking w/ the dock master that it would be okay to stay past the normal check-out time because Dodds Narrows slack wasn't until 14:40, we did a little puttering about and I again changed the alternator belt (replaced prior to the trip, but even though it was the same belt# as the previous on, it was too long so picked up one length shorter yesterday on out trip to town). We made Dodds within 2 min. of slack and proceeded around to Pirates where we stern tied off the Point, below the dinghy float and between 2 other sailboats. With a tomorrows low tide -and the tricky, shallow entrance- we're opting for an earlier departure again tomorrow. Tues. Aug 13 -Pirates to Montague We opted to exit at 08:00, half an hour earlier than planned last night, simply to give a little extra breathing room for depth. Our depth meter momentarily showed 7.9 ft (we draw 6.8), so it was a prudent decision. Given the short trip and the relatively early departure time, we tried to take advantage of what I hoped would be a little sailing. We started with a whole 3.4kts. (!!!) and it continued to drop, not build. We were planning on trying out a couple of new to us anchoring spots, but the morning forecast included NW 10-20 winds (which never materialized) and both spots were exposed to the NW. We instead continued on to Montague and got a great NE corner buoy. A bunch of C&C 37s & 41s were already buoyed as well, having been at Telegraph Harbour for the past weekends C&C rendezvous. On Wednesday, we rented a couple e-bikes and loped around the south end of the island a bit -it took a little bit to get used to how they worked, but a fun way to spend the afternoon. Thurs. Aug. 15 -Montague to PRM Timing the start of push just after the 11:30 slack, we departed at 10:50. We managed to motorsail for a fair amount of the St.oG crossing, but ended up straight motoring for the last third of the crossing. Extended time on the boat is always a treat. We got all types of weather this year, but there was something special about every day of it. I'm not sure where next year will take us, but after 2 consecutive years north, I expect we'll be leaning south; well see. No matter what, the planning of possibilities is always a fun activity throughout the spring as we begin planning again. Until then, there's still a lot of potential boating weekends coming up, so things aren't quite done yet :^) |
AuthorAsk for more space and what do you get? More time spent cleaning out and organizing it!!! Tune in here for more rants and ponderings from my 'man cave' Archives
December 2022
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