ready to go

We are almost ready to go.
A final dinner with Ken and Carol Anne and Ken Calderwood from Calgary and then with Barry, Toni and Roland who have been anchored in Tsehum Harbour and helping us ready the boat for the last 6 weeks off and on. A great thank you to both Toni and Barry for going beyond the call of duty in assisting us with anything we needed.
We will probably leave Wednesday to go to Friday Harbor to clear US customs, then Seattle to pick up our repacked but hopefully never needed life raft. Then to Port Angeles where we will await a weather window which will allow us to sail to San Francisco with great winds and sunshine!!!
We had an enjoyable week with Darlene and Skip from Calgary, and Roz and Bob from Comox. Many hours spent with spinnaker ropes in all directions—thanks Bob for being here and allowing Ken to try out every possible sail plan with no complaining even when twists and ropes everywhere seemed to be the norm. Bob also turned out to be chef extraordinaire and is welcome any time he wishes to take on cooks duties—I could easily become just a pretty face!! Darlene, suffering from grade 4 retirement withdrawal had us all make newspaper hats for Ken’s birthday party and encouraged resumption of the much needed yoga practice. Blueberry tea became the theme of this sector of our summer. Tea and /or cappuccinos with white chocolate berry scones have been a staple all summer.
Aaron then arrived but had to hang out in Tsehum Habour for a couple of days where we had a new autopilot installed and the freezer part replaced and new filter systems put on the engines. However we did manage to get a great sail with 22 knots of wind at a beam reach with one reef in the sail and reach 10.4 knots. Our current record since we have had all of our instruments working—we hope to get something like that to San Francisco and we will get there in 4 days. Our crabbing spot had become depleted, I guess we ate them all, so had to find a new area. On the final day Ken caught another big ling cod which he now claims to be the biggest??!! Judge for yourselves!!! Ken assures me that all of Dave’s fish in a barrel would not stand a chance against his new record fish!!! Blackberry season is in full swing so blackberry crepes are for breakfast.
The summer has been great for spending with the family. Mike unfortunately joined us in Comox before we were ready to sail so needs to join us in the near future for some fishing/sailing adventures. We have loved having the time with the grandkids, memories of wading in Tribune Bay in ankle deep water with Alora surrounded by sand dollars and crabs. Helping Isaac with his self imposed math quizzes and helping Miss Smarty Pajamas Arianne(not smarty pants as she very seriously informed me she was wearing pajamas not pants) , dress Dora in her appropriate pink or purple clothing for every occasion. Dora seemed to have more parties than the rest of us.
It is with mixed emotions that we head off leaving family and friends but we hope they will join us on our travels and we leave our children knowing that they are all happy and successful in their lives, perhaps as much as any parent can hope for.We will miss all of you but please keep in touch with your emails and we will update when we arrive in San Francisco

Summer 2006

We returned from our NZ/Asian trip to Comox in April to ready the boat for our big trip. Many frustrations and many $$$$ later we were ready to sail around the Gulf Islands with family and friends to see what else would break down.
First family visitor was Alora, Amy and Rob’s 12 year old who we picked up in Comox. She was a delight to have on board and quickly became the anchor girl and dingy girl. She also caught what was debatably the biggest fish so far of the summer—must get a scale to settle all family arguments!! Monopoly became the game of choice and many happy hours were spent making our way to Sidney to pick up Amy, Rob and Isaac.
We evolved a “tour route” which took us to “old haunts” for our children so they could introduce their families to where they used to go. All partners look aghast when we point out the 21 foot boats around and explain we used to have 7 of us on board one of those for weeks of summers past. They think a 42 foot catamaran with beds, hot water, showers and comfort is the norm!!
Saltspring Saturday market, Sidney Spit for digging in the sand for little people, Bedwell Harbor for swimming in the pool at Poets cove—it allowed showers for everyone as the water situation was stretched by so many on board, Portland Island for hiking and it proved to be the choice fishing and crabbing spot.
Isaac became the lifejacket police ensuring everyone had theirs on when necessary and making sure the head was pumped 12 times!! Both he and Rob caught their first fish, neither however was close to Alora’s record Ling Cod. Cranium became the game of that sector and despite what Amy claims she did not win!!!
Ken and I then sailed back to Nanaimo to collect Dave, Becca and Arianne. We had some good winds and Dave managed to get us up to 9.4knots. Arianne having just turned 3 is very sweet although has David’s “do it myself” personality. She also caught her first fish and helped haul our big hauls of up to 10 large dungenus crabs using the fish guts for bait. They camped on Portland Island for 2 nights but seemed to arrive for supper each night—I guess Becca’s Mr Noodles did not appeal!! Scrabble became the choice game for that sector but after Ken won we switched to balderdash which seemed to be Wendy’s forte.
We picked up Kristen and Kyle to overlap two days with Dave and Becca from Sidney. Spent the time together eating more crab and fish and have since declared a moratorium on both—enough already!!! A fishing derby with Kyle, Dave and Ken was on the final day and I think Dave won but there seems to be a bit of a dispute and was it was bigger than Alora’s? Kristen is 6 months pregnant and is doing well.
On a sail to Montague harbor with Kristen and Kyle we happened on a large pod of Orcas who were feeding, slapping their tails and moving together slowly and were able to get very close. It was amazing, we had got close with Amy and Rob to some but they were spread out more so were able to see one at a time.
All in all so far it has been fun having everyone on board and we have friends coming next and then Aaron. That will take us to the 28th august when we hope to be ready to take off to San Francisco for the first leg of our “big voyage”.