Actually, this was kind of day 2. Yesterday we brought the boat around from its mooring in Ladner to English Bay, arriving just after sunset. Shannon and Shaun hopped aboard with their coolers, bags, and smiles. We anchored just outside of Dog Beach, and slept deeply until boats leaving Vancouver started creating their catamaran-rocking wake, shortly after the sun rose. But officially, we are calling today Day 1, partly because this was the day we departed from “home”, and partly because it is bad nautical superstition to begin a journey on a Friday.
For this trip, we decided to get more boat edumacated while en route. We’ve hired an instructor from Cooper Boating on Granville Island for our first 5 days, to come aboard and fill in the holes of what we don’t know yet. For some of us, the holes are a little bigger than for others.
Halyards and the mainsheet. Furling jibs. Shrouds. Stanchions. Spreaders. Leeward side. Cardinal buoys. Visual fixes. Magnetic variation vs. deviation. Lines. Winch handles. Traveller. Freeboard. Draft. Beam, broad and close reach. Clove hitches. Bowlines. Figure 8 and Stevedore stop knots. And so on.
We started with bright sunny skies in Vancouver, transitioned to gusty 6 knot sailing past Bowen Island and up the Sunshine Coast, and ended our day in the rain in Secret Cove. A very full day, we will all sleep well tonight.
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