The Move

 The day arrived, and even after all of the preparations and planning, we weren't ready for it! I was so nervous I couldn't hold the camera straight. It's all behind us now, but I still get the "willies" when I watch this video.

A great job by All Tow Boat Moving in BC, she arrived in one piece!

The Launch

  We have done everything we can without knowing how things will be once she's in the water, so July 30th 2008 is the official launch date.

Andrew, the travel lift operator, sure knows his stuff when it comes to hauling boats in and out. Ours was a breeze and took only a few minutes from blocks to dock.

Her Maiden Voyage

    After buttoning things up and re-assuring ourselves we had checked everything involved with rigging, interior, and hull fittings, we gathered the courage to take her out for the first time, and have a sail.

Ian, of Ocean Rigging, came along to check out the rig and look for adjustment issues etc. He also helped us navigate out of the Fraser river which is a little tricky at low tide.

This video was taken with the camcorder, but the one below was taken from the webcam mounted on a bumrail.

WebCam of maiden voyage

  This musical video is short parts of a very long WebCam video (mostly because I accidentally left it on) right from the dock. For a big clear version click here (in wmv format)

I was piloting, and got out of the marina no problem :))

Easy Sailin'

  Here's a "quiet" video of sailing, because that's what sailing is, mostly.  We were off the wind but not much wind that day. She still clipped along pretty good which is a good sign. This is what we love.

We're here!

 This is a musical video of our first outing to stay a few nights at anchor. We chose Montague harbour because it isn't too far ( a days trip ) and isn't too tricky to get into.

The weather going down was hot and windy most of the way, up until the pass, where we had to motor anyway. The days spent at anchor were fantastic! THe second day we just putted around in the dingy, sunbathed, and walked the dog.

The return trip 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 never was video'd, had too much to do just then. After a couple of hours though we got used to it. Even with only 60% genoa we clipped along 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!

Sailing Downwind

Because we don't have a boom preventer properly rigged yet, or a "slopper stopper" as Ian at Ocean Rigging calls it ( more accurate really!) We didn't let the main right out, but that's the snapping sound you can hear. There's also the drone of the water generator in the background (because the mic was pretty much inside the boat near the hatch) and I must say I'm a little disappointed in it's performance. AT 6 knots, it was only doing 3 amps. Quite a bit lower than their curve indicated.