Cruising around the world on an aluminum catamaran.

Showing posts with label Sunshine Coast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunshine Coast. Show all posts

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Day 2 – Secret Cove (Sunshine Coast) to False Bay (Lasqueti Island)










We awoke to foggy but clearing skies. After stopping briefly for a few provisions, we headed out into the chuck by mid-morning. Another great day for sailing, we hoisted both the jib and the mainsail. Shannon and I practiced our navigation by charting our course and using our hand-held compass to establish fixes of our location, advising the boys when to change course and what our new bearings should be.

Our first destination was Bull Passage between Texada and Lasqueti Islands. The steep cliffs of this throughway eventually brought us to Jedediah Island, where we threw down the anchor, had lunch, then dingied to shore and explored the volcanic rock and warm lagoon.

After swimming and solar bag showers for some off of the stern, up came the anchor and we continued our journey west along the north coast of Lasqueti. The wind was directly in our face, which is not good for sailing unless we were willing to tack (zig-zag) to our destination. Which we were not.

Harden the sails for a close reach. Ease the sails for a broad reach. A beam reach would be ideal. But you can’t sail if the boat is in irons.

About supper time we entered False Bay of Lasqueti Island. Joining the company of about a dozen other boats, we dropped the anchor, poured ourselves some drinks, and enjoyed the sunset.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Day 1 - Vancouver to Secret Cove (Sunshine Coast)














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.