August 07, 2014 - Three days with Alfred Barr

Good Day all!

Alfred after doing the Grouse Grind... done in 40 minutes!!!

In the next three days, Hank and I (Tarka) have a very special guest aboard... Alfred Barr... a young fellow Hank met while living in Fort Nelson. Hank met him through his church group, and became is boarder for a short while, just before Hank left Fort Nelson. Alfred will be staying here for 4 days, and wanted to check me out!, great eh!

Below was the sail plan...

Blue - 1st day , Red - 2nd day, Green - 3rd day

First Day (Blue Route)- We set sail for the open waters of Georgia Strait (11:00am). It was hoped that the winds would be in our favor, providing a great ride with lots of wind and wave height... as it was, the winds and waves  were light. I had to motor in places to enable us to get to our destination (Gibson) in reasonable time.

We rounded Bowen Island, now going down Collingwood Channel... with the wind on our stern, it was decided to try out my asymmetrical spinnaker...

Free flying the spinnaker

 The winds picked up, and now running with the wind at a respectable speed. :)

Skipper Alfred at my helm... doing a GREAT job.

Flying a free flying sail takes a lot of helmsman concentration, to ensure the the sail stays full. A slight error in direction and my sail will collapse and stall. We got to our waypoint, backside of Keats Island, ... time to take down the spinnaker, and just sail all with my working sails (jib and main).

While sailing towards Plumper Cove, the winds were perfect, going at a respectable speed. While tacking, my UV strip on the jib got hung-up on my spreaders, ripping the strip off my sail. We ended heave-two, coming to a complete stop. So much for sailing for now. Hank will have to take my jib down and sail with with my genoa, a large but lighter sail.

Hank decided to stop off at Plumper Cove, just for a short visit, enough time in for Alfred to go for a short swim and take a hike over Keats Island.

We're off again to Gibson (still on the Blue Course)... motoring all the way over, arrived (6:30pm) and berthed at A19.

Alfred and Hank took off for dinner at the local Chinese restaurant overlooking the bay... food tasted great.

View from our table

Happy sailor! :)

The next morning, while Alfred was preparing breakfast, Hank replaced my torn sail, with my 160 genoa. We now have a much larger and lighter sail to work with... good for light to moderate winds.

Day 2 - the Red Course: After a great breakfast Alfred prepared... off to First bay on Gambier Island to look the HMCA Annapolis Warship . This ship is destined to be an artificial reef in Halkett Bay

Leaving the "warship bay".

Now we set sail for Snug Cove... The winds were perfect, 10 - 12 knots! perfect winds for my genoa. Alfred at the helm ,doing a fantastic job all the way over to Snug Cove.

Alfred taking a relaxing moment... texting home.

Safety arrived at Snug Cove, the boys went out of dinner at Doc Morgan's Pub on the outside deck with a live Jazz band playing in the background. After dinner, they walked over to the store that rents kayaks and paddle boards... one of the things on Alfred's bucket list to do. Needless to say, one more thing off his bucket list.

Alfred tried his hand at the paddle board, without question, no problem for him! He did fall in a few times... just for practice... right!?

Next morning:

• Alfred went for a hike to the "look-out area", overlooking Vancouver.
• Had breakfast at the Snug Cafe
• Made a new friend at the kayak shop ("Bromley"), took him sailing with us, around Passage Island (Green Route). Bromley took the BC Ferries back to Bowen Island
• Great winds... tacking upwind to Passage, then running with the wind with the spinnaker.

All good things come to an end... Sailing for home... ending Alfred's sailing vacation. :(

I will miss Alfred, he handled me with respect and kindness, I will miss his touch at  my helm. He is welcome anytime.

Now at my berth in Horseshoe bay, waiting for Hank to repair my working jib!

till then...

Tarka.............. out!

he HMCS Annapolis

he HMCS Annapolis