Sailing!

So much for plans.  There is a Canadian Military testing area called WG, or Whiskey-Golf, just north of Nanaimo, that is a no-go for recreational vessels when they are doing their tests (not sure exactly what is being tested).  No sooner than I had written to the blog our plan for Lasqueti Island, the announcement came over the VHF radio that today they were closing the area, which basically closed the route to Lasqueti.  Our backup plan was to head across the Straight of Georgia to the Sunshine Coast, so that became the day’s objective.

There was a very nice 15 – 18 knot breeze blowing from the NW.  One we were clear of the Departure Bay ferry traffic we hoisted the sails and turned off the diesel.  We started out sailing further south than a straight line course to our destination, in order to clear the bottom corner of Whiskey Golf, but we were scooting along at 8 or 9 knots much of the time.   (compared to the 6 knots or so we do when motoring along).  ( a knot is a nautical mile/hour and a nautical mile is maybe 20% longer than a regular mile).

Once we made the corner, we turned upwind as far as we could, and basically followed the eastern boundary of the test range north.   We got close to land just north of Sechelt, and turned the diesel back on for the final hour or so to our destination, Secret Cove.  We had the anchor down by 5:30.

The trip across was a very nice sail.  No one got seasick, and Emily spent the trip below decks, amusing herself in a variety of ways, including using the inclined floor of the boat as a slide.

It is common in this area to run a rope to shore in conjunction with the bow anchor, to keep the boat from spinning if the wind changes.  My trip to run the line in tonight resulted in the first bounty from the sea. 

I have eaten a lot of oysters over the years, but this was by far the biggest. Four swallows, I think!