Vacation has started!!!

Well, it has been 6 days on the water now...

First at at Elliott Bay, stayed overnight, with Hank's Brother Will coming along for the ride... It was great having Will ride my decks to Elliott Bay. He camped out on the concrete wharf right next to me. It must of been some site, seeing a tent right beside me on the wharf.
.

The next day we had a great sail to Gibson, (winds were around 15 knots), the home of the beachcombers, there, we met Robert McDonald, a good old friend of Hank. Will left for home, taking the BC Ferry back. Robert took Hank to his recording studio,and informed him of a possible business venture he and a friend was considering.

The next leg of the trip was going to be the most challenging section... going into strange new waters, waters that I never sailed before. Destination Secret Cove! The sail over was mostly motored (4 hrs). Total time from Gibson to Secret Cover 4.5 hrs. The charts, compass and GPS were right on... Hank made it there perfectly. Little Tarkie, bobbed behind me without problem, but I'm sure he took at least 1 knot from my top speed. Hank read the currents correctly... we had a 2 knot current with us all the way. Top speed was around 7.5 knts, with an average motored speed of 6.0 knots.

We arrived at Secret Cove, greeted by friendly power boaters... only two sail boat at the marina. Hank and Caroline took little Tarkie around the Cove.... they say it was a great place to explore. I'm glad that Hank returned as I was being engulf by a red and white monster of some sort. Boy, did it stink!!! (see photo). I'm glad Hank thought of using Tarkie's outboard engine to scare it away; I was worried about my beautiful black bottom.
Hank and Caroline had a great time relaxing around, great dinners at the local establishment.
Omn the second day, it was time to leave... refueled... only $15.21 of diesel fuel... at least I don't drink up the fuel like most other power boats. This saving was used up in dinners out. :)

Well after a slow start, we are off to Pender Harbor Resort, only 3.5 hours away, sailing at 3.5 knots with the 2 knot current... needless to say, light breeze. Caroline made a great lunch along the way. We arrive at the Marina without any problems. Our West Vancouver Yacht Club has a dock here, so the cost is $ 0.00. With this saving and no fuel cost, I over heard Hank saying they're going to take a 2.5 tour around the Bay with Sol Cat tours.
Well, I'm all caught up now, except for the pictures to insert.

New dingy!

Well, I now have a new little partner sailing with me... an brand new aluminum rigid hull dingy! named "Tarkie", she is at least twice the size as my old little rubber buddy. She is gray and white with a very deep hull. Here Caroline and Hank can sit in comfort while touring the coast lines, while I sit and rest.

Hank is getting me ready for our 2-3 week cruise up to Desolation Sound today. He already has prebooked all the marinas that we will be staying at.

We will keep you posted with pictures and comments along our vacation!

Till then...

June 29 2011 - Wednesday Night Race!

Ah, good to be at the race waters again... Wednesday night race! sponsored by the West Vancouver Yacht Club.
Hank was not planning to race this evening, as he had other plans, but at the last second, we're racing! Winds were OK, around 10-15 knots at the start, going down to 8-10 knots at the finish. Max speed over ground was 6.2 knots.
A few points of interest, Never start too far above the race committee boat, as you will have to "barg" into the start line. (Being the windward boat, you have to give way). Well, we were too far upwind; Hank tried to "barg" the start line, just to get yelled at by the other sailboats, "to pull hard to port". Now this maneuver caused us to be at the BACK of the pack! About 30-60 seconds behind. This does not seem like a lot, but if you review the race results below you will see what difference it makes.

Division 5 Fleet - June 29, 2011 at 18:25 start
Rank	Boat	SailNo	Skipper	PHRF	Finish	Elapsed	Corrected
1	Windsong	1155	Terry Cloughly	229	192230	0:50:30	0:43:50
2	Mystique	33	George Streadwick	189	192327	0:51:27	0:47:10
3	Silver Shadow	396	Bev Parslow	215	192744	0:55:44	0:49:17
4	Tarka	19579	Hank Schut	205	192756	0:55:56	0:50:09
5	Avontuur	84	Dave Bruynesteyn	120	192344	0:51:44	0:52:33
6	Equilibrium	49581	Bob Johnston	176	192832	0:56:32	0:52:48
7	Lopeka	52	Jason  Bowman	185	193323	1:01:23	0:56:36
8	Baloo	74393	John Noble	153	193220	1:00:20	0:58:16

As you can see, third place was only 52 seconds ahead of us (Corrected time due to our handicap rating). Well.... at least we BEAT the Avontuur... first time! Oh ya, almost forgot to tell you... Hank sailed solo... just him and me (Tarka). He knows how to handle my sheets and gave me words of encouragement during the race. Using only the rear winches and keeping my main sail mid-ship, he seemed to have no difficulty handling me through the winds and waves. Speaking of waves... tacking up winds was quite a beating... 4' waves at times. It was really great coming towards the finish line...the "Silver Shadow" and I were neck and neck all the way down the finish leg... almost got him! Well, that was the last Spring Sailing Race for another year, next racing will be the fall series, and the Jack and Jill in August and the Fall Stag Race to Silva bay (overnight race).

June 27, 2011 - Snug Cove weekend

Well, I'm back out sailing again! We went to Snug Cove for the weekend... Hank sailed off on Friday afternoon with his friend Aaron, docked at A09 Snug Cove. They had a walkabout, viewing other sailboats at the marina. Caroline arrived that evening... had dinner.
The next day the weather turn poorly, rain most of the day. They went for a hike around the lake and the Snug cove Community.... an OK day. For me, I sat around with a bunch of "stink-pots" (power boats) all day.
The next day (Sunday) the weather turn perfect... sun and light winds. We left the marina at noon and headed up to Elliott Bay. On the way up to the bay, being down wind most of the way, Hank decided to raise the flying sail. Unforunately, the sail got twisted around to the point, that is was best that it came down, and stowed away for now. :( I sail of this size is best flown with a crew of three, or two well seasoned sailors. :))
I was really looking forward in presenting my red sail... humm... some other time... right Hank!
We reached Elliott Bay without further incidents. We were greeted by Jason, who  helped me come along side their dock. After a couple of hours, we were off again... going home and geting ready for their two week vacation in the Gulf Islands.
work to be done...

• customize Chart table (make a lid for it).
• paint and varnish stairs
• paint area around navigation station
• paint tool box to match
• mount transducer
• print emergency contact sheets (2)

Buy...

• Carpet runner
• 26" hinge for chart lid
• 8"x10" vanity mirror for kitchen area
• paper towel holder
• new HD screen for nav station

That is it for now...

May 31 2011 - status

Hi all, Just to let you know that Hank has, hopefully repaired the toilet. He installed a new "joker valve", even though the existing one looked pretty good.
Looks like I will be sitting at the marina for a while... Hank will be gone on the Van Isle 360 race with the "MoJo". Racing around Vancouver Island for 2 weeks, then he is off on a short motorcycle trip to Sooke then up to Courtney to visit his daughter.
However, I understand that I will be taking Caroline and Hank on a two week cruise through the Gulf Island when Hank returns, this should be interesting reading I'm sure.

Til next time... happy sailing..........

May 23, 2011 - Cruising on down to Elliott Bay

Sailed Caroline and Hank to Elliott Bay to see their friends from the yacht club. Nice and easy sail, sailin between 3 - 6.8 knots. Not bad weather... cloudy and a bit of the wind. We were greeted by Peirre and his wife... helping me dock right next to the BBQ hut. Caroline and Hank had a great home made lunch, and then Caroline was taken out on a small dingy, to see if one of those will suit her needs. The one I have now is too small for Caroline, so Hank would like to upgrade to a different one. From the photo, I'm not sure if this one will do. :)
Sailed home without problems... except when we arrived home, Caroline mentioned that my toilet has backed up and most likely will need to be repaired; the smell down there was ... you know. :)

Bye for now...

May 18 2011, Another Wednesday night race!

For an old sea lady of 38, I'm sure doing a lot of racing with Hank and Paul, (our other crew member). Last night they took me on a race with 15 - 20 knot winds. Even though he reefed my jib to 50%, I still heeled over to my rails, with waves breaking over my bow.When 10 boats racing, we came in only 7th!!! not good for a good old lady like me.
to recap...

1. Hank got to the start line too early and had to run down the line to the marker. Unfortunately, we ran out of start line and had to jbye, now on a port tack heading into the fleet who are on a starboard tack... not good... we lost at least 3 - 4 minutes.
2. During one tack, our starboard winch was wrapped to many time and the winch knotted; we had to pull up into irons and undo the knot. lost 3 minutes.
3. During a port tack run, we had to give way to another race boat on a starboard tack. Hank was hoping to slow a bit and pass on his stern, but another race boat was just up wind on our starboard side. So we had to do an emergency tack. Paul was still on the windward side so he to scrabble to get to the sheets. Lost about 1 minute.
4. Estimate time lost 7 minutes.... we could of placed 2nd if all went well... but that's racing eh!

1		Radiance		David Chard	WVYC					40:02	1.0
2		Mystique		George Streadwick	WVYC					42:08	2.0
3		Equilibrium		Bob Johnson	EHYC					42:28	3.0
4		Avontuur		Dave Bruynesteyn	WVYC					42:45	4.0
5		Lopeka		Jason Bowman	WVYC					45:13	5.0
6		Silver Shadow		Bev Parslow	WVYC					47:28	6.0
7		Tarka		Hank Schut	WVYC					48:37	7.0
8		Wildwind		Gary Wildman	WVYC					1:29	8.0
9		Baloo		John Noble	WVYC					1:27	9.0
10		Lark Not Registered									10.0
11		Solaris		Rand Thompson	WVYC	209			DNC		12.0

Well you can see from above, it does not take too many minutes too loose / win. :)

Afterwards, Hank went for a great dinner with Jason and Andrew at the Yacht club... Paul had to go home - family committment.