Life Happens

It was suppose to be a hardcore weekend of sailing at this years VRC summer regatta but on Friday night fate had other plans.

I had just gotten home from dinner with Curt-ASS when I got the call that my brother had been in a motorcycle accident and was being airlifted to Royal Columbia Hospital. We hopped in the car and took off to New West. When we got there they ushered us into the "bad news" room away from the other emergency waiting area.

We got there before the helicopter and we sat there waiting. I knew very little about his condition other than they were trying to stabilize him and he had a serious head injury as Cheryl and I waited there. We had heard from his distraught wife that he had been working on his dirt bike and taken it out for a ride around the block to see if it was running well. Of course he hadn't worn his helmet and no sooner did he get around the corner than he was clipped by car that left the seen. Let's face it they don't give you a helicopter ride to the Trauma Centre for BC if your doing well.

Nothing could have prepared me for when they brought him in. 5 tubes were jammed down his throat and his face was covered in blood, and one eye was so swollen black it looked unbelievable. All his visible body was covered in road rash and there was a ton of expensive kit plugged into him.

We were held back as they worked on him. As they worked on him they were prepping him for a head CT scan so they invited us in to take a look. No one else had arrived and as my parents were out of cell range camping it was just Cheryl and I. He was a mess. Hands and feet discoloured. Machines pumping fluid into him and others sucking it out. Pretty rough stuff. Cheryl looked at me and said the machines were breathing for him. The nurse came by and handed me his wedding ring because he was going in for the emergency CT.

I pulled it out of the little paper envelope. This is when I lost it. It was bent and scratched up and covered in blood. The last time I had held it was at his wedding when I was his best man. I really thought I could be the last one to see him alive.

The next two days were a blurr but in slow motion if that makes any sense. Sleeping in hospital chairs, getting brief updates. Trying to get a hold of parents. By Sunday good news had come in and he was improving dramatically. Just a skull with lots of fractures and he should be okay.

I would like to Thank Curt-ASS for letting the crew know that we couldn't be there with such short notice. I know you all cancelled plans to do the race. Also I would like to thank Fatty and his girl for taking care of Kingsley the Terrible Terrier.

Thanks,

T.

Umm..Is it summer yet?

An anchoured vacant boat off kits beach starts to lose its sails.

Yesterday English Bay was pouneded with cold winds from the North West. This is not totally uncommon for the winter but this is July!?!

The winds in English Bay throughout the day reached 30 knots and the seas rolled in with one-two meter chop. By race time at 6:00pm the wind was in the twenties and the seas were really rough easily one - two meters. We were a bit dubious as we headed out especailly when we passed other shell shocked boats heading in. This was also going to be the first time out sailing for Curtis's friend Mike who had never been sailing before.

We decieded to go with a conservative sail plan and hoisted a reefed jib (90%) and a double reefed main. With some sheeting in issues with the jib we were not able to point as well as I would have liked but by the end of the race it was sorted out.

Our start was decent and we got away about middle of the pack. The first up wind leg was good but our pointing put us in 5th rounding the freighter out of six. All of the other boats went on broad reeches jibing in to the leeward mark. We took a risk and went dead down wind. We weren't prepared to hoist the kite in that weather so we flew down wing on wing and we made up alot of ground. We were the 3rd boat rounding the leeward mark on the heels of PEGASUS who was in second.

Th next time round we had sorted out the sheeting in issue on the jib about half way up and lost ground rounding the mark 5th again. We followed our same tactic for the downwind leg. I was surprised to see that noone copied us and again we made up ground probably 3rd or 4th crossing the line. By this point the wind finally subsided and we had a lazy sail back to the marina.

In the end it was a great and challenging race. Our sail plan was probably a bit too conservative but I feel that we could have done alot better had we been able to sheet in the reefed jib better.

A big hand too the crew: D-Hog, CurtASS, and the Rookie.

Summer Time and the Living is Easy

For all of you out there who share in the joys and pains of sailing with me on the SEA WEASEL I thought I would post a rough calendar for the rest of the summer.

July 19th-20th: VRC Summer Regatta. This is a two day race in English Bay hosted by the Vancouver rowing club. This race counts for our Div 7 VARC standing. http://www.vancouverrowingclub.ca/EN/summer_regatta/

July 23rd, 26th, 30th, August 2nd: HSBC Celebration of Light. This year Canada, the USA, and China compete in the annual fireworks festival. Unlike last year SEA WEASEL will be going out for all nights. This will likely be a simple motor out and anchour. We will leave the dock around 6:30pm and stay out until 11:30pm. Please email me to register your interest. http://www.celebration-of-light.com/

August 16th: TCYC English Bay Scramble. The best yacht race of the year! http://www.englishbayscramble.com/

Other Events:

July ~TBD~ and September ~TBD~: Guy Cruise 2008. A semi annual event this is a chance for the boys to get out and force "Fatty" against his will no less to partake in some unsavory behaviour. This years goal: no dead mammals on the boat. The dates will be determined and posted soon.

July ~TBD~: G.I. Cruise Two. Cheryl and I will be heading off with Kingsly to cruise the Gulf Islands. We will post a schedule and encourage friends to come meet us enroute.

Thursday Nights: Every Thursday night this summer and fall we will be out racing. We are looking for crew! We leave the docks around 5:15pm and return around 8:00pm. BYOBFB.

Gulf Island Cruising Journal

Day One:
We set out at about 1pm on Saturday planning on meeting up with Adam and his girlfriend Alanna at Silva Bay. We got out into the bay and hoisted our sails and of course the tide was flooding and the wind was blowing out of the west resulting in an epic beat out to the flat top islands. This was relatively uneventful until the dinghy painter let go and the dinghy shot back drifting wildly in the chop. We affected a sloppy MOB maneuver and after a few passes we hooked the dinghy with the boat pole and dragged it back to the boat. Unfortunately in our sloppy circling of the dinghy the jib became fouled around the forestay. NOTE TO SELF: do not cut corners on a rescue and tack around more slowly. I told Cheryl to drop the jib and we would sort it out. It was grossly fouled. Cheryl had the bright idea to just jibe back the way we came in circles and unfurl the sail. Of course it worked and in 2 minutes we were back on our way. We attached a longer painter onto the dinghy and fastened it better to the boat.
We made it to Valdez and beat up the coast to Breakwater Island and then motor sailed into Silva Bay. There we found Adam and Alanna on their chartered Catalina 27 JOSS. We dropped our anchour and began backing up to set it so we could raft up when I yelled back to Cheryl to make sure the painter on the dinghy was in. Those who know Cheryl know that she does not like to be reminded of the blatantly obvious. She held up the loose bit of painter and said in a snotty voice that she did have it. Exactly as she held up the line the dinghy moved closer to the stern and the second shorter loose painter wrapped around the prop. The line yanked out of Cheryl's hand and the engine died with a loud thud. It was too funny. Adam rescued our dinghy that was now cut free and I ran back to the cockpit. I was ready to dive in the water and clear the line when I realized that I could just pull it off owing to our folding prop. The engine started again fine and we settled into a nice relaxing evening.
Day Two:
This day began with more drama when Adam could not get JOSS into any other gear than reverse. With no options they elected to stay and call the charter company for assistance. I did offer to tow their boat through the pass but even I knew that was not a good idea. We left JOSS and crew at anchour and motored through Gabriola Pass at slack water. On the other side there were light wind and sunny conditions. Cheryl and I cruised lazily along under white sales ducking through Ruxton Pass and making it to Clam Bay between Thetis and Kuper Islands about mid day.
At Clam Bay we tested out Adam’s outboard that he graciously lent us on SPARKLES (our dinghy). After Cheryl figured out how to control the fuel mixture we were set and bombed all over the place setting crab traps, being chased off the reserve on Kuper and visiting the pub on Thetis. When JOSS arrived we went on more dinghy adventures. Having an out board opened up a whole new set of possibilities and is a must for cruising.
Day Three:
We awoke in Clam Bay after a peaceful sleep at anchour rafted up to JOSS. We had a leisurely start to our day trading pancakes for coffee before heading over to Ganges. About mid day with the winds heading down from the North we raised anchour and headed south to Ganges. Of course the winds switched by the time we were ready to hoist our sails. We now faced a strong southerly wind and began beating against wind and current. It was miserable sailing with our 140% up. I had stupidly left the outboard engine on SPARKLES and looked back to see that it had flooded with water and was totally swamped. Sailing as fast as we were with the weight in the dinghy had caused water to back fill into the dinghy.
We heaved to and I brought the dinghy up to the side of the boat. This allowed me to jump into the dinghy and bail it out. This was quite freaky as the boat was making crazy leeway and water was swirling all around me. Getting most of the water out of the dinghy I hopped back in the boat and we executed a sail change down to our 110%. This made the difference and we proceeded with out incident until the end of Wallace Island when we gave up and fired the engine up for an uneventful motor-sail to Ganges. I had a nice sleep on the cockpit floor as Cheryl took over.
Once at Ganges we took a slip at Ganges Marina. For some reason we were way out on the far dock or leper dock. We had a good dinner at the Oyster Catcher and I made my usual impression on the service staff. After a nice bathroom sink bath Cheryl and I headed to bed.
Day Four:
This was another nice rain free day and we left the marina and sailed out of Ganges for the short trip over to Prevost Island. We had decided to stay in Annette Inlet that day and it was a really nice sail with us gently beating all the way up to the mouth of the inlet. JOSS gave chase but there was no way for them to catch the SEA WEASEL piloted by this courageous couple.
Annette Inlet turned out to be a perfect anchourage well protected deep enough for our drafts and packed with wild life. We saw seals, sea lions, bald eagles, deer, cows, and lots of other stuff. With the dinghies we were able to explore on land and even have a beach fire and marsh mellow roast in the evening. The dinghies also allowed us to set the crab traps out in the mouth of the inlet where we succeeded in catching numerous Red Rock Crabs. We only kept two for eating and managed to only catch one Dungness. This Dungness though made up for it. The thing was the size of my head and fed all four of us. We had a serous surf and turf feast that day.
Day Five:
Cheryl had a job interview in Vancouver on Thursday so we decided to motor back to Ganges that day so that she could catch a float plane and fly back. We motored back to the marina and settled in for a relaxed evening. Cheryl was feeling a little sick and spent most of her day preparing for the interview.
Day Six:
Cheryl flew out for her interview and I spent the day sleeping on the boat and doing a few light chores. When she got back I met her with flowers at the dock and we had dinner out. It was a nice evening and we went to bed early.
Day Seven:
Well rested and prepared from the day before we filled up our water and fuel tanks and left the marina first thing in the morning planning on meeting up with JOSS at Wallace Island. Of course we battled current and there was no wind to speak of so it was a longer motor than we expected. Princess Cove on Wallace Island is a great spot but requires you to stern tie. This was the first time Cheryl and I stern tied the SEA WEASEL. Luckily I had purchased 300+ feet of float rope off of craigslist. It came on a spool that made running it out easy. There were rings hanging off the cliff side in the cove that you could feed the line through and back to the boat but it was low tide so the ring was 10 feet up in the air. I busted out some of my Olympic grade mountain climbing techniques and scaled it to get the line fed through and rowed it back to the boat. While it was a little disconcerting being 20 feet from a cliff the stern tying worked really well and JOSS wound up taking up the next ring over.
Princess Cove turned out to be a beautiful spot with much of the island a park it was open for us to walk around and explore. We saw a lot of wild life: eagles, deer, snakes, raccoons, and even weasels! We also came across an abandoned jeep in a field. It turns out that at one point there had been a resort on the island that had been abandoned. Now the cabins have been boarded up except one has been turned into a covered picnic table area. Oddly now everyone hangs decorated driftwood in, on, and around this cabin with their boats names and dates they visited on it. It is actually pretty cool. Next time we go I am thinking about what I will leave behind; after all I got to represent.
Day Eight:
After a awesome day at Wallace Island we cast of our stern tie, hauled up our anchour and motored off to Portlier Pass. This time the tides were in our favour but there was not a breath of wind anywhere so we motored back to Vancouver. With our trip over all I could think of was how I wanted to do it again.

Follow these links for more photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127115&l=4f227&id=859645000

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127148&l=e701f&id=859645000

Gulf Island Trip Report

The SEA WEASEL has returned after a week of cruising the Gulf Islands. We departed mid-day Satudray and returned the following Saturday. All in all it was a great trip. We met up with Adam and Lana on a boat they chartered, JOSS, a Catalina 27. The trip was interrupted by Cheryl needing to fly back to Vancouver for a job Interview but all in all it was a awesome journey that we can't wait to repeat.

I will be adding a complete Cruising Report shortly.

SEA WEASEL to cruise the Gulf Islands

The SEA WEASEL is setting out to cruise the Gulf Islands June 15th- 22nd. Following the Round Bowen Island Race SEA WEASEL will be anchouring in Mannion Bay and the following day begining it's Gulf Island odessey.

Anyone wishing to meet up with the WEASEL in any of its ports of call is welcome. We will be monitoring channel 16 and have our cell#s. Email us if you are in the area and would like to meet up with us.

Look mom, no crew!

I looked out the window and saw the weather I knew I had a problem. Rain can have a dramatic impact on the local Vancouver pussy. It can make him shy and unresponsive. Given this I realised I may be short crew for the race; but I didn't realise how short!
All kidding aside team SEA WEASEL is great and has been stretched lately with allot of races and the weather was miserable so I can't blame them; also some of them had real good excuses. So I sat on the dock looking at the boat and the prospect of getting a 12 point hit on our standings if we did not compete (DNC). "What the hell." I thought and went for it single handed.
While I have motored my boat single handed plenty of times I had not gone out in 10 knots of wind to race sailing the boat single handed before. I only knew what I had read. Preparation was everything. I spent most of the time at the dock rigging absolutely everything so that I could manage everything from the cockpit. Luckily the WEASEL has all the lines lead aft. I scrapped the idea of using the kite as I was not rigged up yet with steering from the bow. I choose the 110% as it would be easier to handle by myself and I knew there was some wind out there.
Finally I was ready to leave the dock. Luckily the new docking setup I had arranged worked like a charm and I was able to back up and leave without fussing with fenders and dock lines. Motoring out was of course easy as pie and when I got out into the bay I saw there was a fair bit of wind and tons of mist mixed with heavy rain. I put on the nav lights just to be on the safe side and motored out towards the committee boat.
The first test was going to be to put up the main. I throttled back and pointed her into the wind. I had pre-loosened all the sale ties before leaving the dock and quickly went forward and removed them. The sail went up halfway before it got caught up on one of the hooks on the boom. I was able to get forward and quickly clear it. The sail went up the rest of the way with out issue as did the jib.
I was then able to get in position for the start and stopped the engine. Unfortunately the one thing I did not prepare for was the start time. The only clock was in the cabin and impossible to see. I was out of position and missed the first two horns and the flags. I was racing back when I heard the one minute horn. Out of position I was late by about 3 minutes crossing the line.
Beating up wind was fairly easy except I had the jib cars too far forward and I was unable to point well. I managed 5.5 knots but I could have done much better. I rounded the mark and bared away. I stayed on a broad reach and gybed once to hit the downward mark. I was now grotesquely behind everyone else who had there kites up. As I rounded and headed back to the pin at the start for my half leg I saw the others were catching up to me. I rounded the pin at the start just ahead of the first boats in the division. At this point I had it down and finished up the race race in 8th. This meant a savings of 4 points and a retention of my 6th out of 11 place in the division four standings.
Dropping the sails was easy; I simply blew the lines when pointed into the wind and cleaned the sails up when I got back to the dock. The docking was the best I had done and the docking rig made tie up a sinch. In the end I walked away extremely happy with the experience. I have to say that I owe allot to Rick's suggestion of using a bungee line to tie off the tiller. I followed his advice and had a bungee line that could be clipped on to tie of the tiller. It provided resistance and pulled back to keep the tiller centered. The setup worked like a charm; I was able to go forward and skirt the sail (which is freaky) and handle everything no problem.