Sailing the Karina C

Voyaging on the Gorge
We made a trip to Victoria to take in the BCA rendezvous of us folks who are boatless here in Canada and for my appointment with Dr. Blood. Fortunately, he didn't do his MD in Vienna nor practiced in Cornwall (although he had a bit of English accent) like the 1961 movie character. His first name is Paul. The movie character was Peter. hmmmmm.
The BCA rendezvous was fun and the food was good. It was so nice to visit with many of the people we have been with in Mexico.
We made it to David and Tina's place just short of 2100 on Saturday night. They were off at a dance, but left us the key in a secret place. We found the bedtime stuff and were soon sleeping peacefully.
We had a sleep in (for us) to 0815 on Sunday morning. David and Tina were up not long afterward. We got things ready for our "voyage" on the Gorge Harbour. We had a little difficulty finding a good place to launch, but eventually found a good spot. Then, I scoped out a likely spot to pull out of the water at the other end. We drove around to the park where I thought we might pull out and it didn't look too good. I went to another place and it was a little better. I found out this is where other paddlers pull out and so we went with that. Finally, we were on the water around 1200. There was a Harbour Patrol guy who told us that we couldn't sail on the Gorge. He then offered that his area ended at the little biking bridge a little further up. We raised sail at that point and managed to beat our way up the Gorge to Tillicum Park where we had our lunches.
There was a Columbian group having a picnic there and they displayed some of their dancing. At one point they played a recording of their national anthem which they sang heartily. Right after that they did an equally rousing version of O Canada. How many picnics have you attended where the national anthem was sung? I was thinking that is is a likely place for Columbians to move to (British Columbia). It was obvious they enjoyed the benefits of life here in Canada and celebrated the best of what life offered in both Columbia and Canada.
After our lunch, David and Tina joined the dancing with a few steps of their own. This impressed the Columbians. I must say, they do dance well.
We were soon back in our kayak and paddling/sailing up the Gorge past beautiful homes on the peaceful waterway. Soon we were in Portage Inlet and paddled up the creek where we met our van. I returned David to his car and we began the process of pulling our kayaks back to the vehicles and home. The park we pulled out was View Royal Park. I highly recommend it for it has a hose to rinse off your kayak at the public garden (tres deluxe). It is just off Helmken Road near Craigflower.
We made it back to the Lee place at 1700 and Tina whipped up a nice salad of Su Choi. We were pretty tired by the time we made it to bed that night.
Monday, we were on our way to meet with Dr. Blood. He was very patient with us and answered all our questions. Basically, I was concerned this "c" cancer would become a "C." He assured me that, with prudent monitoring, all should go well. The Gleason 6 pathology indicates it is not aggressive and will likely remain indolent for a long time. Anita asked what "indolent" meant. I said, "like your working career." (long pause) "Oh....good." I will get regular PSA tests and (the ever popular) DRE (AKA the fickle finger) every 3 months. Next spring I will get another biopsy. As the biopsy is random and the cancer was only found in 1/10 samples, it is entirely likely the next one will not detect the cancer. It is odd that, in my situation, this is not something you die from. More appropriately you live with. Dr. Blood assured us that the risk of mutilating my continence and sexuality as well as dying in surgery is much higher than the risk of this cancer getting out of hand in the next 25 years. If it does start to develop, there is plenty of time to make a decision about treatment. As I get older there are less invasive options for treatment that, while often not as effective, are good at giving me the time I would like to die from something else. It is odd that science has such sensitive ways to detect things that may never become a problem in our lifetime.
After the appointment, we decided to plan a quick trip to Mexico next spring (between my March PSA test and June biopsy) to bring Karina to La Paz . We will prep her for shipment to Canada and get back in time to receive her in Canada. I will then need to get in for my annual biopsy (Oh joy) in early June. We should be able to enjoy the summer cruising in Desolation Sound and the S Gulf Islands. It will be nice to be back in the "hood" again. We may get a chance to take in the Vancouver Jazz Festival as well as the fireworks. We will take in lots more BCA activities too.
I am thinking about the heater that I haven't fired up in 5 years. Wonder what evil creatures live in the fuel tank? I used to throw all the extra fuel from old filters into the heater tank. Not a good idea. I am sure I am going to have to take apart the carb a couple of times before the thing will work well. Maybe I will run the whole tank through a couple of coffee filters before I start it up.
Anita is relieved that we won't be sailing off to Hawaii and back to Canada. She was not looking forward to the night watches. I am not happy about her being uncomfortable as I don't think it will be a "fun" passage for her. She has always enjoyed the destinations, not the journey. I think that, if I ever want a distance "fix" I can always crew for another boat. Somehow, it wouldn't be as much fun as it would be if I had my girl at my side.