No normal weather anymore!!

Here is today's marine weather graphic summary, which has been pretty much the pattern since I got out here for the "near offshore" trip. Weather/wind warnings everywhere except near home harbour where we were not able to sail more than 5 hours a day before the wind died!!

Baptizing the new Dodger

This is video Neil took when we were in 20kts+ after leaving Silva Bay heading north on Georgia Straight. The new dodger and some crew were 'baptized' in spray. Tatoosh handled well with 1 reef and full jib. Later at slightly less than 20kts we shook out the reef and all was well.

Last Round Up

We appeared to have a weather window and made a long trek south down Georgia Straight, anchoring back at Otter Bay. It was about 12 hours and 7 of those were under motor. When we got to Otter Bay Terry had made the decision to not carry on.

Neil and I were gagging for a beer and Neil went "shopping" for beer on the docks and came back with 2 donated cans!...tasted great. We had a crew meeting; it didn't make sense to think about going offshore with only the three of us and as it turned out the weather window closed again so we would not have made it in any event.

Neil decided to join up with Leagh and her friends early rather than just putting in more time here. We will try to organize a short offshore trip before Hawaii so that Neil can confirm if he is comfortable being offshore/overnighting,etc.

We took all day Saturday following the wind to end up at Sydney spit to be in position to pick up Leagh and friends for a day sail on Sunday. Ralph agreed to stay for 2 days for my selfish purpose of getting more celestial training from him.

I'll post more later, but for all intents and purposes the "near Charlotte" trip mutated to "near offshore" to now being done! Sometimes the weather gods just don't cooperate.

some quick pictures

Skipper up themast for some minor repairs.

Pre trip crew photo with "official" watch caps made by Robin.

Day 5& 6

We left , on the advice of our Calgary weather router, early from Silva Bay to catch the morning blow before it was due to die in the afternoon. It was good to catch a shower and get some laundry done.

We had a good run with combinations of staysail, reefed main and all sails in winds that started at 20 kts. The new dodger and some of the crew, got baptized by salt spray today. The winds then died out quickly at about 13;00. We then motored for 2 hrs to Jedidiah Marine park.

Enroute skipper had to go up the mast to repair a lazy jack line, but it wasn't an quick fix, so he came down and finished it at anchor. We anchored at "white rock bay", just south of Deep cove, a very pretty spot.

Menu for today was grilled cheese sandwiches enroute, and a fusion dinner of Italy meets India; tortillini augmented with chicken, onions, mushroom curry and chocolate pudding for desert.

Day 6:
Still at Jedidiah: decided to take an off day and explore the island and have some quiet time. Ralph stayed behind on anchor watch and we three went ashore. It was low tide in the coves and we had to carry the dinghy about 300 meters to get it to a safe spot to leave it for our walk-about. The homestead here [ island was donated by last owners as marine park] shows how much work was involved in the good old days. After walking through dense forest you break out into a 15 acre hay field and orchard that had been hand cleared. The old house has a great view, but if you were trying to bring home the groceries at low tide, it would a long, muddy walk!

A breakfast of pancakes and ham was followed by breakfast burritos for lunch [ courtesy of Neil]. Skipper confirmed the damper bread receipe with home base and made up a fresh loaf of bread to have with the second bag of tortillini which was now turned into a soup using chicken broth, left over ham from lunch and some corn.

We plan on early getaway to take advantage of the morning winds enroute to Desolation Sound.
PS: update: weather window in Juan De Fuca seems to be opening so we are now planning for a n early departure to catch the morning winds and make a LONG run down Georgia Straight to Boundary Passage tomorrow...stay tuned to see if weather gods cooperate.

Day 4

Day 4:

We raised anchor manually this morning because the windlass wouldn't
work and I couldn't take the time to troubleshoot it and still make
slack at Active Pass. We transited right at slack and as luck would have
it, both in& outbound ferries had passed through just before us.

Once we exited we had about 12 kts of wind that died within the hour and
we then ended up motoring to Silva Bay. Before motoring we were able to
go through training on using harnesses and jack/safety line.

Small rodeo during docking due to tight corner, wind blowing the bow off
and tense skipper; however no damage done and we are safely at dock. My
voltmeter has died , which i needed to troubleshoot the windlass; so I
went to wharfinger to see if they had one I could borrow for 20 minutes
and got a very frosy reception. I tried the Silva Bay Boat building
school and found Cameron working on an old canoe; he said sure but he'd
have to go get his meter; turns out this meant leaving his work, getting
his dinghy and rowing out to his boat at anchor. We gave him a couple of
cold beer [ Neil had already scoped out the cold beer store here] for
his trouble.

We got chatting and turns out that a friend of his has just bought a
Valiant and he wanted to see inside,etc. He is also keen on being crew
for Hawaii! A final intersecting circle: his good friends in Kamloops
are the organizers for the 1200 Km Randoneer ride that Mike is training
for.

Oh yes, back to the windlass: while rest of crew was off having showers
and drinking the new found beer, Ralph help me troubleshoot the
windlass; it turned out to be a slightly corroded deck switch which i
have got working again. However, it pointed out that I should carry a
spare anchor windlass switch - about the only spare we don't have. [ and
get new voltmeter!]

Dinner tonight was a previously frozen stew [same as last night] but
resurrected by disguising it as pasta sauce with spaghetti and cabbage
salad. We also carefully cut the last of the Otter Bay strudels into 4
very equal parts.

The plan at the moment is to find some wind that is not a gale and go
sailing; will report on how we do later.

Over and out from Silva Bay.

Day 3

Day 3:

Weather forecast continues to extend with gales/near gales at west and
east entrance to Juan de Fuca; this means that IF there is going to be
an opportunity to get out offshore, we will not have enough time to go
anywhere. So, the decision has been made for Plan B; we will go north
in Georgia Straight and get some time with the crew in some larger
( but less than gale) winds.

We left Bedwell by sailing off the mooring buoy, short tacking out of
the channel; we got the genakker up again, only to take it down 20
minutes later when the wind died completely. We drifted and had lunch
while waiting for the wind to build. Fortunately the current was in
our favour and although we were not moving in the water , we were
making way over ground. The plan was to have an 'organic' sail, i.e
not use the motor; destination was Otter Bay to be poised for
tomorrow's slack water in Active Pass to get to Georgia Straight.

We then circumnavigated Prevost Island to get some practice time; it
was a very strange day wind wise; with wind shifts/fading and battling
current, it took us over 2 hours to get from opposite entrance to
Montigue harbour up to Enterprise reef, a mere 2 miles away! At some
points we were tacking 180 degrees and in others tacking and loosing
ground. However, we stuck to the organic theme and didn't succumb to
temptation to start the engine.

After a day epic tacking , we arrived 1 mile from Otter Bay to try
anchoring under sail, only to have wind die completely. In addition
the cold, overcast skies opened up , sun came out , engine came on so
that we could get in for happy hour.

Neil and I rowed in to settle a bet as to whether the Otter bay
condo's would have a leaky wifi I could piggyback onto; turns out the
marina has it [ not advertised] and it reaches out to our
anchorage.... so we didn't have to row in. However, the row in paid
off in finding authentic apple strudel.

Dinner was heating up a Bev-made stew augmented with more rice and
some strudel for dessert; rest have been saved for tomorrow's second
breakfast.