It is so hard for me to believe that summer is winding to a close, and fall is on our doorstep. For those of you who know me, I am NEVER ready to say goodbye to warm summer nights, ocean swimming, less clothing and of course flip flops!

This has been a summer to remember for so many reasons! Moving to our new neighbourhood opened the door for us to explore favorite places as well as discovering a few new ones (not sharing) within just a few hours from our doorstep! We proudly put on a 150% sail that had been tucked away in our storage unit, with hopes of doing a lot more light air sailing. Although it didn't look the same after being rolled up for the past 8 yrs, a little discolored, a little stained, we coined it "Big Ugly" and decided to use it anyways. This sail has proved to be amazing! It may not look the prettiest, but it opened up a whole new world of enjoyment for us and sailing. We spent so much more time sailing this summer, and learnt first hand what a balanced helm actually feels like! The boat is happy, the owners are happy and Big Ugly was definitely the key!

We had an epic weekend a few weeks ago with our son and his girlfriend aboard for the day! We went out with the purpose of relaxing, enjoying family time and doing some salmon fishing. It was a beautiful morning, we were lucky and the guys did get a few beautiful fish. We had a bit of wind to sail back to a beautiful nearby beach spot for dinner. We cleaned and bagged the fish, put the heads and tails in a trap and went to the beach to put our toes in the sand and stretch our legs. We returned to a few keepers in the trap, enough for a lovely appy and enjoyed a beautifully prepared BBQ salmon. The sunset was amazing (picture above) the moon and four happy stomaches and hearts full!

LOVE our lifestyle, we are truly blessed.

The flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and this girl has a new found spring in her step!!! As much as I love and embrace our lifestyle living aboard, it is no secret that spring and summer are my definite favorites! Thankfully Darren pulls out all the stops during the winter, ensuring the boat is warm, comfortably tied to the dock during storms, and preparing some absolutely delicious comfort meals aboard. Yes, I am one spoiled girl!

To update, after living in downtown Victoria for the past three years and making the most of sailing weekends when we could, we decided in February to move the boat to Sidney, which is known as the Gateway to the (B.C) Gulf Islands. This has increased our weekend sailing options immensely, and has us both very excited! Although missing our boating friends/neighbours, we are feeling really good about our decision. We have traded the busy Inner Harbour for peace and quiet, and a true walk about community. The community theme is nautical, which is lovely, and the sunrise and sunsets are so spectacular they take your breath away!

Missy has done well making the adjustment to her new neighbourhood also. We have several walking options at the top of the ramp, and she decides when we get there which one it will be today. There is also a sandy beach spot for her to romp around on, saving stray pieces of kelp whenever she gets the chance :)

Living aboard a sailboat with the two of us sharing a very small closet often means staying on top of clutter. Darren has always been so good at this, which I admire, while it continues to be my challenge. I tend to just pull and shove when I put things back on my shelves, so no surprise that it starts to look like mayhem. I try very hard to practice the "bring one aboard, lose one" motto, but bringing things aboard becomes very insidious. When you have both of us doing that, it's not long before things get cluttered and at times seeming out of control! Thankfully we are very compatible in that we both dislike clutter and appreciate living within tidy surroundings.

Embarrassing to admit, Darren has been tripping over my "stuff" throughout the boat, and I assured him I would tend to this while he was out of town. In all honesty, I was tripping over my stuff too, but turning a blind eye to it as this fall weather has been so nice! If the sun is out, my kayak calls, dog walks, time with friends etc. You get the idea.

So.......the time had arrived and I had two weekends to accomplish this daunting task. Last weekend was so beautiful that there was no way I was spending it indoors! This past week I secretly hoped for not so nice weather and this weekend worked out beautifully for me. The fog rolled in, and only improved to be high clouds and grey.

The Purge is on, yippee! As proof in the photo, from our closet alone I purged 24 items from my clothing! This doesn't include magazines, recipes and other misc stuff that I removed too. You probably find it funny that I counted them, but in living with our motto above - I now have 24 items to my credit to bring aboard!

Obviously we don't stick to our motto item per item, or I would never have to be faced with a large purge in the first place, but I do enjoy teasing Darren!!

As I sit today enjoying the warm sunshine, it seemed the perfect opportunity to settle in and do a much needed blog post.

This has been a crazy, busy year for us. Each running in different directions due to employment and making the most of our time together when we could. Darren was working out of town for six months so our lives suddenly became a schedule of week on and week off, trying to cram "life" into a week. It proved to be exhausting, both physically on Darren and mentally on me and not something we were truly enjoying. We reminded ourselves that life is just too darn short to not be enjoying our time here. With this and some creative planning, Darren has since started his own business utilizing his lifetime trade of 35 years working with Glass! We are both much happier with him being home, and besides that, his time away was seriously cutting into our sailing/pleasure time!

Since August, we made the most of our sailing weekends, until one weekend which abruptly came to a halt with a mechanical, thankfully while we were just outside the harbour. The problem was not obvious and had Darren scratching his head. He replaced all of our water system, both fresh water and sea water and eventually discovered it was our heat exchanger. With that repaired, we were in a hurry to get out and spend weekends aboard every chance we could to salvage the little bit we had left of summer!

It had been years since we had put up and played with our spinnaker, so the first "light" winds day we cut the lines and were off to play! It was so wonderful, and so colorful, I can hardly wait to have the opportunity to do it again!

Fall is now upon us, and the weather is spectacular! I am very thankful for the opportunities we had this summer to feed our passion, and hopeful for many more! We plan on doing more winter sailing this year and heading out for day sails, simply to play. It still amazes me how you can leave the dock for four hours, and it feels like it has been a few days! We return with fresh perspectives and happy hearts!

We have so many things to embrace and be thankful for! Family, friends, & good health are definite on the top of our list! Wishing all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

XX

Saturday March 9th, through the Bluewater Cruising Association courses are being held with women specifically in mind! This is a first time presentation in Victoria, B.C. and it has many of us women boaters excited!

Please take a look at the course selections above, and consider registering while there are few spaces left for this awesome event!

Hope to see you there!