Last minute details for VICE 2010
17 July 2010 | Off the West Coast of Vancouver Island
Carole
We were up early and on the dock for a meeting with Morgan, he went over the safety procedures, etc to make sure we were all ready.... our leaving time was set for 11am. Carole went to town to get the charts for Heck Seamount which was out farthest destination and also picked up milk. Ropes were off at 11:15am, we are on our way! We headed down the channel and out into the open water heading toward Heck Seamount, it was overcast with 3 ft seas and winds ranging from 3 - 8 knots, we were able to sail for the first 3 hours and then the winds decreased to 3 knots and shifting. The rigging was banging so in came the jib, we left a reefed main and motor sailed. Winds increased to 18 knots, we were on a close haul and making 6.5 knots of speed. Seas were 3 metres and 6 seconds apart. The winds were continuing to increase, 25 knots and we decided to bring in the jib, as we did so the furler came apart and we had the full jib out. As a crew the decision was made to pull down the jib and bring inside the boat as we were not sure of the extent of the problem with the furler at the time. Without a foresail it was felt it would not be a good plan to continue so we turned around and headed back to Uclulet, it was now 9:30pm. Darkness was setting in and tonight there was no moon, we did however have stars. Carole's shift was from 10:30pm to 1:30am, it was pitch black as I scanned the radar for targets, a couple of the targets were cruise ships that were completely lit up. Carole had been quite concerned about being able to handle the night shifts but feels much better about them now. Ken's shift started at 12:30pm. Ken and Laurant were checking and double checking the charts as NautiMoments was heading back in through the rocks at the entrance to Uclulet making sure that we were on a clear track. We arrived back in Uclulet at 3:30am and tied up to the Fuel Dock for the night.