Well, in cruising life you have to take a few lumps. We knew it was going to rain on this passage, but did not get the memo about the Atmospheric River event that was to deluge us. Winds were 10 mph out of the north, with seas around 2-4 feet. We had a conference about our route planning and decided to head out. The next day, the wind would swing and we would be getting 2-3 feet waves on our beam, never a good feeling. That is definitely seasick city.
As we cruised along, I realized I had forgotten the North Channel weather formula. That is; take the prediction, multiply by 2, divide by 1.73, and add 1.
The seas built to 5 feet, with one bad boy hitting perhaps 7 feet. It was a good sea trial for this 44 foot Sea Ray. The boat did not even slow down. There definitely were a couple of wide eyeballs on the bridge though! This is a really good sea keeping boat. The big waves lasted about 30 minutes, then calmed to the predicted 2 feet, which felt totally calm after the weird wave set we had encountered. We landed at Gore Bay, cleared Canadian Customs, and were ready for a glass of wine!
Upon arrival, we met the folks that had purchased Mike's former Kha Shing, the Sea Angel. They have renamed her the Balclutha Too, which is the name of a tall ship in San Francisco harbour, built in 1886. Steve and Darci have done a tremendous amount of work the past few months, getting her ready to cruise on the Great Loop this year. It is always fun changing and re-rigging a boat to suite your personal style. They are rigged and ready to have a great year cruising on this super comfortable vessel. There is a pretty good chance we shall meet again in Florida.
We got together for Dock-Tails on their boat, and Darcie prepared a delicious Charcuterie board, complete with some of their California wine.
Then our ladies put together an Italian dinner that was complete with fried garlic toast, Michael's favourite.
A very fun evening.
Photo is of Steve, Darcie and us, on Balclutha Too