Bowen Island

Misadventure before we even leave the marina:
Due to the star-shaped docks in the marina, our slip is very tricky to get in and out of, and requires about 3 helpers and the boat to make a 90 degree pivot around the end I our dock. We don’t have bow thrusters. So we run a line from the bow to a dock piling and Kristine pulls the boat around by hand. Only we don’t have a long enough line, so Kolby ties two lines together. However this time Kristine set everything up before Kolby was home from work. See where this is going? Her ‘bowline’ came undone, she landed on her butt and we had to rely in two strong guys to pivot the boat using the midship line. Oh and it was gusty. Very embarrassing, for Kristine at least.

Bowen Island:
We love Bowen. As an island it has everything going for it: great hiking trails, a lake, a coffee and ice-cream shops, and it’s close to Vancouver. However, Friday was the first time we have anchored there in years. Why you ask? Because the bay has become the new home of all the derelicts that were kicked out of False Creek an couldn’t make it to Nanaimo to live among the squalor off Newcastle Island. And if that isn’t bad enough, everyone and there dog has put a bouy down in the bay. So even if it looks empty you have to navigate around the 100 floating fenders. Oh and most of the bay is 70-200 feet deep, minimizing the available space. After much fussing and cursing we anchored in 60 ft in the north end, after we watched a barge drop YET ANOTHER bouy down. Ridiculous.

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning I took the dogs (yes dogs, we are puppy sitting Lucy and now have 2 dogs on board) to Kilnary Lake and we enjoyed the lovely weather.

 

To Gambier:
Leaving the tangled mess of Bowen for Halcett Bay on Gambier, we attempted to sail, but the wind and tide was not in our favor. Kristine attempted to anchor and got as far as practicing some anchoring maneuvering, but lost confidence when the wind picked up. Plus there is that unmarked rock that we are vary wary of. Maybe next time.

 

Our boat todo list:
Written while on the hook in Halcett. It’s long. we will type it up and post it another day. Kristine is going to attempt most of it over the summer. Writing out the list inspired her to cross something off, so we finished the LED wiring in the cockpit and Kristine sewed Velcro onto the cushion (no more sailing cushion mayhem) and fixed the manual bilge pump. Not that our list got any shorter. We essentially crossed off three items but added four more. C’est le vie.

 

 

 

Sailing home:

 

We actually stuck with it and sailed out of Howe Sound with and inflow and SE wind. We probably tacked over 10 times, including the one emergency tack when Kristine looked over her shoulder and saw a ferry barreling towards us. As Kolby points out it wasn’t THAT close, but we did have to tack RIGHT AWAY. Sucker came out of nowhere. All the tacking was good for the dogs, who eventually settled down for the ride. Wouldn’t it be great to teach your dog to switch side when the skipper called out ‘tacking’?!