Siren Calls

This past BC Day holiday weekend was a real stunner.  A solid high pressure front brought a forecast of nothing but sun and warm temperatures for the next week.  Curtis posted his availability for the weekend and wondering if anyone else was interested in getting together for a little impromptu mini cruise of southern Howe Sound.  Murat and I both jumped aboard. 

Bluster spent the Friday night in a berth at the Gibsons Marina after a day of sailing with Lisa and Farley.  On Saturday I motored clear of the breakwater and hoisted the mainsail for a splendid run down Shoal Channel and reach across the south shore of Gambier Island to Halkett Bay on its eastern tip - hitting 5.5 knots on the GPS at times.

Conditions were so enjoyable that I stayed out sailing between Gambier and Bowen Island until 5:00 pm when I dropped the main and sailed into the bay on jib alone.  This was a first for me to manoeuvre through an anchorage and drop anchor under sail alone.  

I set about tidying up and relaxing before Curtis and Murat arrived in their matching 16’ Sirens after sailing up from Vancouver.  We rafted up and set about making dinner after which we applied our collective innovation skills to help Murat with his jammed jib furler.  Curtis had a second ‘hank on’ style jib along so Murat removed his jib/furler.  The jib halyard was pulled through the upper block so we performed a daring at sea lowering of the mast to rethread the pulley.  By dark Murat was back in business.  

We separated to anchor individually for the warm and beautifully starlit night.

The bay was mirror calm in the morning and Curtis gave us a demonstration of his Yuloh (Chinese sculling oar) skill.

Once the fleet assembled we motored out of the bay and tacked our way westward for the next couple of hours until becalmed just off Langdale.

Lots of fun for me to sailing in company for a change.  I had commitments ashore so I then headed back to the ramp at Gibsons Landing while Curtis and Murat poked around further before ending up at the Plumper Coves Marine Park dock where they spent the night before sailing back to Vancouver on Monday.

Small boats – big adventures.  Thanks guys for a great weekend!

Sea Dog

After years of being a strictly cat household and after much reflection and research my wife located and adopted a rescue dog.  He is a terrier sort of mix and he has quickly become a much loved family member.  We renamed him Farley as he arrived in our household the day the iconic Canadian author Farley Mowat passed away.  He is always happy and but happiest when with Lisa whom Farley adores.  We bought him a Farley sized PFD and took him for a short day cruise around Shoal Channel this past weekend and he passed the crewman test aside from sleeping while on duty.  

Welcome aboard Farley!

Bee Fun

Sailing has taken a bit of a back seat to other activities and commitments this year so it was not until the recent August holiday weekend when we finally got onto the water.  For the past two years I have been storing Bluster in a commercial storage lot in town.  Although not ideal (which would be a free, enclosed, pull through building on my own property) this storage arrangement has worked out OK.  The lot is well managed and secure.  Over the year I stop by regularly to check the tarp, tires, etc.  On the last check I noticed a small bee’s nest attached to the lowered mast just over the motor well.  It looked empty at the time so when I arrived to remove the tarp and hitch up the trailer I would use extra care.  As I lifted the forward tarp I was confronted with a very active softball sized nest attached to underside of the in the area of the tabernacle.

This was getting out of my league so I made a call to the local exterminator and within thirty minutes he arrived on site.  The ‘forward’ colony he identified as the relatively docile umbrella wasps and the ‘aft’ colony as the aggressive yellow jacket wasps.  He suited up in his bee keeper’s outfit and proceeded with extermination.  In the end he found four umbrella and one yellow jacket nests.

 After this minor setback we are off to the ramp!