Finally another addition
19 December 2011 | still at French Creek
Don
It has been so long since I entered anything in my blog that I forgot I had one! It is the Admirals fault…she hogs the ‘puter every day looking for a bigger boat, playing some stupid pop the bubble game, and of course, working on her on-line farm game. I finally had to rip it out of her hands threatening MUTINY or even worse… refusing to empty the dreaded porta potty!!! I am pretty sure it was the latter that convinced her to release her grip on the computer ‘cause the deed needs attending to today. She is now sitting next to me pretending to read a book. I know she is pretending cause I don’t think anyone is allowed to print the words that she is muttering under her breath through gritted teeth and every once in awhile she looks over the book and gives me the dreaded “STINK EYE”.
We have done some serious sailing (serious for me anyways) going through the Gulf Islands for a couple of weeks then over to Vancouver. English Bay to be exact. We watched the fireworks during the Celebration of Lights from our boat at anchor off Jerrico Beach. We were a bit too far away to really experience the thrill of it all but didn`t get hassled by the water Gestapo as they were busy boarding several of the hundreds of boats anchored closer to the event. I got to have a glass of lunch, snack, supper, and had sundowners before bed.
I guess the weatherman forgot to mention that 30 knot winds from the northwest were going to hit the day we were going home. We no sooner got out of the harbour when the winds started to come up and of course they were right on the nose. I reefed the mainsail and furled the headsail back to half way and continued on our way with a port tack tight to the wind. I did pretty good allowing for drift and set and only missed Nanaimo by ½ a mile. A good sailor will shudder if he reads this because being off by ½ mile in 35 means I would miss Hawaii by at least a half and ocean!!! Well I am not one to make excuses, try sailing a 26 foot boat in thirty knot winds and 6 to 7 foot breaking waves while suffering the effects of the previous evenings liquid meals and sundowners. In other words I was a bit hung under… and steering, manning the sails, and heaving my guts over the leeward side does not make for accurate navigation specially when green water was coming over the cabin top every once in a while.
The Admiral wasn’t too impressed because every book, ornament, dish, mirror, and cooking pot that wasn’t battened down joined her on the bunk while she was doing what most admirals do when they have nothing to do….sleeping. I managed to steer clear of her wrath because the cabin hatch was closed so the green water that I mentioned earlier couldn’t get in. If she had seen me with one hand on the tiller, the other on the safety line, and my half my body over the side while I emptied my system of evil “spirits” I am sure she would have called coast guard on the radio with an SOS Man Overboard and then kick my sorry ass over the side!
We stayed a couple of days in Nanaimo anchored at Newcastle, while everything, including yours truly, dried out and then headed back to French Creek under sail wing on wing with a good following wind. The trip was uneventful.
July sort of came and went the high point being our forty first anniversary. How about that!!!! We’ve been married over twice as long as we’ve been single. One would think that this would have been a night for celebration and….well….U know!!! Unfortunately the Admiral found out about the no fraternization between ranks rule and used it as an excuse instead of a headache and even saluting got me no where!! I guess I’ll have to resort to refusing to empty the porta potty next year.
Most of the Summer was cool and rainy so we did not do a lot of sailing; just day trips and the odd overnighter. In late August our daughter and her husband (Sarah and Darin) and our grandkids (Owen and Sienna) came to visit for a week and Darin and I went fishing most every day in the tender. The highlight of the visit (not counting our wonderful grandkids) was when I caught a 21 lb spring and Darin caught a 24 lb spring salmon on the same day within 2 hours. I caught mine first then Low and behold if Darin didn’t hook one that was HUGE but it threw the hook as we got it to the boat. It was getting late so I said we would make one more pass around and catch it again and then head home. I’ll be darned if Darin got another!!!! He played this one a little longer and finally brought it up to the boat. I managed to net it but the fish was only half in the net and trapped against the side of the dinghy. I was half way over the side screaming at Darin to give me a hand so I didn’t go overboard. Darin acted quickly, grabbed the net and pulled the fish into the boat leaving me to fend for myself. Nice guy!! Thankfully no one was around to capture our antics on video. Just picture it. Me precariously balanced on the port side pontoon, Darin dancing around laughing hysterically, a 24 pound spring salmon with plenty of life left in it flopping around swatting me with its tail trying to knock me overboard, and Owen trying to hold this magnificent fish from jumping out of the boat while attempting to avoid his dads size 19 boots from trampling him to death. Well I managed to claw my way back into the boat holding my hand in the air for balance. Darin mistook my action as calling for a high five and slapped my palm so hard that he near knocked me over the side again. It still tingles to this day.
All in all we had a wonderful visit, caught some fish, and enjoyed the company of my youngest daughter (Samantha) who came down from Nanaimo to visit as well. It was Darin’s first fishing trip on the ocean and he enjoyed it immensely. First thing he did when he got home was to trade his quad for a nice cabin cruiser. I expect next summer he will be back fishing in his own boat. Hopefully they will have the time and money to do a bit of traveling with us as our plans are to either 360 the Island or explore the inside passage and take 2 to 3 months to do it… weather, money, and health permitting.
We took off for Desolation Sound on Labour Day weekend. We left French Creek with a blustery Northwest wind on our port quarter and under full sail. It was blowing between 15 and 20 knots and we were making almost 6 knots. The boat was laid over on the starboard side at least 15 degrees. The Admiral felt a little ill from the bouncing around so she decided to lay down for a snooze. It was a beautiful day but I closed the hatches as the waves were building a bit and I didn’t want water to splash in the cabin. About two and a half hours into our trip I hear the Admiral calling me but with the wind and waves I could not hear what she said. I shouted back something like, “I can’t hear you. I don’t talk thru walls!”. Well that was not the thing to say to the Admiral. The hatch flew open and she screamed that we were sinking!!!! “Yea right”, I thought as I slowly made my way to the hatchway expecting that the Admiral was joking or had a nightmare. As I stuck my head into the hatchway I was met by a bucketful of ice cold water right square in the face. I could not believe that the Admiral would go to such extremes to get even with me for some silly thing that I might have done ( or written) sometime in the past. Half blinded and breathless I opened my mouth to scream my displeasure using words sailor type words and received another 2 gallons of water right square in the puss! As I cleared the water out of my eyes I realized that the Admiral could not have possibly filled that bucket from the sink in the time elapsed between the first attack and the second so the thought came to mind that we were indeed sinking! Skilfully ducking another bucket of water I let the boat come into the wind and climbed down the ladder dodging yet another bucketful of water.
The cabin sole was 4 or 5 inches under water and I could hear water pouring in at an alarming rate. The bilge pump was on and pumping but the water was getting higher by the second. The sound was coming from the galley cabinet under the sink! I ripped open the cabinet doors and saw water pouring from a thru the hull fitting. Actually it wasn’t the fitting but the hose coming from the fitting. I realized that the hose was coming from the bilge pump and seawater was both entering from the ocean and the pump was just pumping the water back into the boat. I lay down in 6 inches of cold salt water and reached in to hold the two pieces of hose together so the pump could do its work. It took about 20 minutes before the pump ran dry. By that time I was one wrinkled prune and my male equipment was tucked up so tight I questioned whether or not it would ever pop out enough to work again. I was afraid I would have to take a viagra in the morning so I wouldn’t pee on my slippers.
Water was still coming in a bit but I noticed that there was a ball valve so I shut it off. All this time my sails were flapping around like crazy so I went out on deck and lowered the main and furled the headsail. I then went back down and fixed the hose. I rolled up the carpets and threw them up by the mast. The Admiral was cleaning up the cabin and I stayed out of her way. I changed clothes and checked out my computer. The computer was fine but the charger was done as it was covered by 6 inches of water. I tried drying it out and plugged it in…no go…. just sparks and sizzling.
Now I use my computer for navigation. Oh, I have charts but it has been over 35 years since I actually used one to plot a course. I explained this to the Admiral who had enough (somewhat misdirected) confidence in my navigational skills to continue on our way. Following orders I raised the sails once again and we sailed to Scotty Bay and dropped the hook. We spent the next 3 hours cleaning up. I then had a sundowner (just one) and poured over my charts plotting a course for Blubber Bay on the north end of Texada Island. We made it without further incident. We dropped the hook and I plotted another course for Squirrel Cove on the southeast side of Cortez Island. I had a afterthesunisdowner and went to bed. We rocked and rolled all night long and we slept like babies.
The next morning we pulled anchor and headed out. No wind was blowing so we had to motor. Motoring is not my favourite pastime. It’s noisy and sailboats were meant to be pulled not pushed. The alternative was to sit there becalmed and I like that idea even less.
It is getting late and the Admiral’s getting really squirmy so I guess I better give her the computer back before she makes me walk the plank, or keel hauls me, or pours my sundowners down the sink or any combination of the aforementioned punishments. I will bring U up to date at a later date!!!!!!