Voyages/
test sailing
 How'd she sail?
How is she at anchor?

 

  Outing #2

  Now that we know how she sails a bit, and we have some confidence, we took her out solo (i.e. without anyone else on board) to try some things out that we were too occupied to the last time. One of the questionable things was the flux gate compasses. We went around and around in the strait, as indicated in the instruction manual, and on the above chart. We were to push a button on the one connected to the autopilot, then make 2 minute loops until a light or something came on.

That compass calibrated right away, but the other one, connected to the radar and Furuno compass display, would only error. We later came to realize the septic tank level magnet moving around below it was making a mess of the magnetic fields in the area. That was remedied later on, but the damn thing still won't calibrate.

As we were spinning around and around, we were causing a bit of a stir ( excuse the pun! ) Dolphins were circling around with us! They probably thought we were crazy and left after a few minutes. Then the coast guard came by and radioed "are you guys ok?" After nearly an hour we'd had enough, time to do some sailing! It interesting to see how far we drifted in the current/wind while going loopy.

  One big issue that presented itself (again) was the genoa and how difficult it is to come around whist heading up, in any point of sail forward of the beam. Even though I had split a white piece of scavenged plastic pipe 7 feet long over the inner fore stay ( stay sail stay ) It was very difficult to pull the tack, and it's big knots, over it. Not impossible like before but hard.

Going down wind it wasn't an issue. We resided to partially rolling up the furling every time we tacked, which became tiring after a few times. We need to find a solution. Part of the problem is the sunbrella attached to the edges of the genoa (for UV protection) is not new, therefore kind of "grippy." We have a lighter Kevlar sail which we plan to try on the next outing. We do love the big "Jenny" as she is very heavy weight and will last a long time. Great for sailing in the trades in a set-it-and-forget-it situation.
  Another big concern, that is above all the little concerns, is the main. She sets fine with her Batt-Cars and the Andersen winches on the mast, but getting the sail back down is an adventure of it's own! Because there are only 2 of us now, while lowering the main there's no-one left to steer the boat. She doesn't track well in the current of the river and tends to lie as if hove to. This means the main tries to fill with air and ends up a heavy 12 ounce bag on the roof of the pilothouse. 

What is needed is some lazy jacks installed. These will cradle the main and make it more manageable. I have even thought of setting the autopilot to keep us on a heading while under power. I had marked the folds with red and green felt pen, but the first fold was messed up and everyone that followed was as well. We tried again, same thing. What's really bad is we don't have  a sail cover yet and  it's pretty embarrassing to put into a marina with such a mess on the boom!

  The wind started as a gentle breeze, then picked up to 15, then 20  knots making the boat heel a little. We had taken about 1000 lbs of lead out, but looks like we can take out the rest of the trim, about 600-700 lbs more. She is still rock solid. Even with that kind of wind abeam, she only heals 5 to 10 degrees max. This makes us happy!
Coming into the marina was Genas try. She (kinda) crashed into the pier support post, then rubbed the port side bow against the dock corner, which left yet another scar on Dulcie-Darlene's hull. Poor thing. Oh well, we'll be giving her another coat of paint before summer's end, and a new waterline too!

 

Outing #3 - weigh the anchor
  With the threat of hauling out to put on some anti-fouling paint and possibly fix the paint on the sides, I pressed Gena for a few days anchoring out in the islands somewhere. She agreed on one condition: that the exhaust system be re-built. After 5 busy days, we were ready to go out for the first anchoring experience!
It only took 3 days to do that ( with a lot of determination on Gena's part) ...     
...and we even checked more sails, removed some ballast, and I designed a new septic tank level, then installed an electric winch for the furling. It was on sale, right when we needed it!   
   I thought it may be a good idea to put on the dingy, since it's never been tested, nor have the davits, and we'll need it to go ashore once anchored right?

  Being in a bit of a hurry, not everything was checked but she seemed seaworthy enough....just wish we had those lazy jacks!
  From the weather forecasts, very important when planning a sail, the wind is going to be going our way, almost directly south, at about 15 knots. The tide will be going out until noon, better for traversing the river and miles along the jetty to Sand Heads. If we make good time, we will arrive when Active Pass, between Galliano and Mayne islands, will be at slack current. In BC this is pretty important as the max currents in many passes, including this one, can be 8+ knots. Some are even 15 knots. Because we can only go 7 or maybe 8 knots under power, we wouldn't make any way if going against the current. Going with the current might be equally as bad because there are eddies, standing waves, even whirlpools. We've been in a whirlpool once, we don't want to be in one ever again.
   This is the very first time planning for us. It all worked out quite well. The return trip and alternate day's return trips were also planned.
  It's also a good idea to plan an alternate anchorage, should the weather change for the worse, or something go wrong with the boat (or us). A little bay at Mayne island, albeit not ideal, is our alternate.

  Our tracks can be seen in the chart to the right. It was a nice downwind sail as predicted, with my only complaint being the boom snapping due to lack of wind pressure on the main as we went over the rollers. A "preventer" is definitely needed. We just tied a small rope from the bail to a stanchion and that calmed things down.

  As luck would have it, the wind died out about 2/3 of the way across the strait, so we motored the rest of the way to the pass.
We arrived about an hour early so the current was still flowing our direction, which sped us through the twists and turns. I radioed Victoria traffic to check for lurking ferries and other possible hazards ahead and we got the all clear. One ferry came in as we were leaving. I was mostly worries about tugs pulling large barges stretching their cables across corners, but later found out they are not allowed in this pass.

  There was another sailboat behind us who seemed a bit menacing and we had to keep an eye on him as he was pulling up around us then falling back, always changing position. We wondered what the heck he was doing. A few days later we found out the boat belongs to the owner of Ocean Rigging who put our mast on! He had followed us all the way down and was probably wondering why we hadn't waved to him. There goes the "under sail" photo my mom wants so badly.....

BowCam while entering harbor

 
   We were doing "some" navigating by buoys and land features, but double checking with the GPS and Fugawi 3.0 running on the dash computer. There are a lot of hazards in the pass, and, unless a person was either very knowledgeable about how land meets sea, or knew the area, going through here without a chart would be very dangerous to ship and crew. There are tricky corners around spits and points, some very shallow and others jutting up from the depths to just below the surface. It makes one wonder how the ancient mariners did it! Of course, many failed and ended up as shipwrecks. 

 

  After coming around the corner into Montague harbor, our fears were confirmed. It was still the weekend so the anchorage was pretty crowded. Being new to this situation, Gena and I had some disagreements on (a) how close up into other boats should we anchor, and (b) how much scope should we roll out of the chain locker?

It took 2 tries. First I was at the helm, and Gena was managing the anchor/windlass. She gave the order to stop, and started dropping the anchor. Then I reversed to let it pay out once it had touched bottom in the 40 foot depth. By the time we had out some scope, we were almost inside the boat behind us. We switched places, me at the bow, Gena at the helm. After going right up behind a large motor yacht, I dropped it down and ordered the reverse. I payed out 100 feet and then requested the dig-in power reverse.


"Quick" video of anchoring!
If no good in browser, click here
As I had read somewhere that anchoring etiquette demands hand signals not yelling (as sound travels well across water) I was trying to indicate to Gena that the engine should be cut.....in many animated ways. She was mostly looking aft, so didn't see me at all. That was equally as embarrassing as yelling I think. Gena insisted we pay out to 175 feet, which was probably good considering the way the weather went the next night. A 5:1 scope is recommended if a gale comes in, but that's be 200+ feet. No room!

  Once the shenanigans of anchoring were over,  we sat back in the cockpit and had a look around. What a peaceful, serene place this is! Despite all of the boats, there was very little movement, just peace and quiet.... that is until a float plane landed then taxied into the marina pier.  We arrived fairly early in the evening, so I had some time to play before cooking supper. Lowering the dingy and going into shore was my first priority. Gena just relaxed on the boat as I rowed away. Luckily I took the camera along as I snapped some great photos of Dulcie-Darlene happily sitting at rest, away from the dirty marina, noise, and dock. I wish this could last for ever, but we must haul her out for a bottom coat to keep the tiny creatures at bay, and to repair some minor nicks in the paint job.

I could go on and on about the happiness we both feel at the moment, and, more true to my journal, describe our discoveries here, but that would be at the risk of sounding like a travel brochure. It really is beautiful here. No wonder the Gulf islands are a world cruising destination.  Alberta, where our boat was born, seems a long way away at the moment. For once, I feel truly relaxed.

 

The return trip

 
  Over the past couple of days at anchor, the weather has been pretty good, except for a rude awakening the morning we left. The wind was getting up pretty good, and we were bouncing around a bit, wind whistling through the rigging. I found myself out of character, not being worried about the anchor slipping, or zigzagging around behind the anchor in the now almost empty anchorage. I had slept well every night here, not stayed up late worrying about this and that. Gena did that for both of us, which is out of character for her too.

  The weather was only predicted to get ugly and rainy for the whole week, so we thought it'd be ok to go back to Steveston  today, then drive the 13 hours back to Edmonton to get our mail and visit relatives. Honestly though, if the weather hadn't have degraded so, we would have stayed longer.

  This youtube video saves writing a lot about the return trip which was pretty hair raising (for us!) as the winds got up to near gale force, and we had to reef the main. Most of the really good stuff wasn't video'd, had too much to do just then.
Coming out of Active pass, the wind had picked up to 25 to 35 knots at times. I was trying different things I'd learned from heavy weather tactics books and videos, turning off of waves etc. but the waves were short and choppy. The wind had turned 180º so we were going downwind once again and the sails weren't helping much to reduce the rolling motion.  The seas were coming from abeam too.
After a couple of hours though we got used to it though. Then gybing to the northwest left the waves rolling from directly aft, much more comfortable.  Even with only 60% genoa (Kevin the Kevlar now) and one reef in the main, we clipped along at over 8 knots. It rained and blew but we only had problems getting the sail back down and Gena dropping a bumper over board, which we retrieved after 5 tries...better work on those MOB skills next!

 I did some steering inside the pilothouse when it started raining again and while it was more comfortable, I was concerned with the lack of visibility aft, (important in shipping lanes!) and the lack of sound. It's very quiet. Too quiet. It seemed dibilitating for some reason. Perhaps a microphone outside going to a speaker inside would work, along with a small mirror on the side of the pilot house. Strange isn't it?

  Coming back into the marina, around the mega-yacht that left inches on either side to get through, it would have been my perfect docking except someone had parked a 30 foot sailboat in our spot!  It was only visible after I had made the turn. To make matters worse, Kevin the Kevlar is much thinner than Jenny, and was rolled up pretty tight so used up all of the furling halyard and was still out a couple of feet. This was catching the wind and blew us over, aft-first into a fishing boat. We didn't actually hit the boat, but the dingy tangled itself into the rigging, nets, and other complexities of the boat. I'm sure a few fisherman had a good laugh after seeing us "unseasoned" sailors plowing through everything within reach!

  Eventually we settled on parking in the launch area. We wanted to be hauled out anyway, so this'll get us to the front of the line. We were pretty miffed all the same. It all boiled down to someone showing up who wasn't supposed to, then a re-shuffling around the docks and one person misunderstanding where the little boat was actually supposed to be. I was sorry we hadn't stayed at the anchorage.

I cooked up some salmon, turned on the TV, and we hunkered in for our last night in the water for a while.

  I can't wait until we're back out there. It truly is "the life" for us. Winter will be coming soon, and the season a bit hardier, but we'll have to deal with it. I still have the intense urge to just head out into the Pacific, then go south until a bathing suit is over dressing. We can't though. The house still needs to sell, and we need some blue water experience. Stay tuned!!

Also, more has been added to finishingup.htm if you haven't already been there. The new paint job looks great!
 

Don't miss the videos:
        "Sailing Downwind" in wmv format or on youtube or on our own youtube hosted page
        "Easy Sailing" on youtube or on our own youtube hosted page

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