The Good, The Bad, and the Spectacular!

We have covered some ground in July.  From Barkley Sound we headed to Esquimalt and stayed at the CFSA dock (Canadian Forces Sailing Association) where we got a few chores done, including putting new zincs on the boat.  Now we could have paid a diver $200 to do this, but Tony decided that he had a wetsuit, a pair of goggles, and an allen wrench, so he could just as easily do it himself.  Too bad he didn't have dive tanks 'cause he just about drowned trying to hold his breath while he attached the zincs to the prop shafts.  But it got done and we only lost one $15 zinc to the ocean depths, so all in all it was a boating and a financial success!  GOOD.

We then headed to False Creek to visit our youngest daughter, Lea.  It was sunny and hot for a change (isn't July supposed to be sunny and hot?) and we really enjoyed seeing Lea and providing copious amounts of groceries to the starving student.  We also went kayaking with our friends, Nadine and Alan (way to go with the retirement plans, Nadine!!!).  Definitely GOOD.

Then it was off to Pender Harbour, where we picked up Teresa and Mark for a voyage up to Jervis and Princess Louisa Inlet and the final prize of Chatterbox Falls. We started in brilliant sunshine and could hardly wait to see the sun shining on all the incredible scenery that this area has to offer.  But Mother Nature can be fickle and the clouds and fog set in as soon as we entered Jervis Inlet.  By the time we made it to the dock at Chatterbox Falls it was pouring with rain.  Now, we could call this BAD.......but........it's the rain forest and there was something cool about seeing it in these conditions.  Mist, rain, and huge volumes of water shooting out of the 90 odd waterfalls that surround the end of Princess Louisa.  And of course, Chatterbox Falls was SPECTACULAR!

Finally, we headed to Jedidiah Island to enjoy some hiking and swimming, since the weatherman promised that sun was on its way.  He was right on, for once, and we enjoyed some beautiful weather and even managed to dry out most of the boat.  A nice little spinnaker run back to Pender Harbour to drop off Teresa and Mark and we are sitting at the Madeira Park Dock getting ready for the next adventure.  Life is truly GOOD!

The Zinc Man commeth

Lea takes a spin in the kayak in False Creek

Apparently there are 90 waterfalls emptying into Princess Louisa Inlet...these are only a few of them

Chatterbox Falls

Teresa, Mark and Kobe enjoying the Falls

Vakasa at Chatterbox dock

Mark and Tony finally get to hang out in the sun at Jedidiah Island

Kathy and Teresa....or a couple of Jedidiah mermaids?

Even the dogs (Rizzo and Kobe) love a nice spinnaker run

VICE Wasn't Really Nice!

We arrived in Barkley Sound on June 25th, three days before the planned departure of this year's VICE fleet.  VICE (Vancouver Island Cruising Event) is an offshore sailing event put on by the Blue Water Cruising Association and is designed to give those sailors who are headed south to Mexico in Aug/Sept a chance to practise some offshore sailing.  The fleet this year was comprised of 7 boats and their brave crew and we planned to sail to a waypoint 142 nautical miles due west of Ucluelet, out into the blue, blue, Pacific.

Tanner, our extra crew member, arrived at the marina in Ucluelet on the night of the 26th, just in time to join the pre-departure festivities and pot luck dinner, and to help with prepping Vakasa for the voyage.  Then, despite warnings of Gale Force Winds off the West Coast, all 7 boats headed off between the hours of 6 am and 10 am on the morning of the 28th.  Brave?  Or just stupid?

The conditions were exactly as the weatherman told us they would be......for a change.  We had winds of 20-25 knots per hour (about 50 km/hr) and 3 metre seas.  The boat was rocking.  We were averaging about 7 knots/hr, and appeared to be travelling an equal distance vertically for every metre we went horizontally!  An hour or so into the trip our faithful four-legged crew member succumbed to seasickness and tossed her cookies.  Tanner, who had decided to put his faith in holistic anti seasickness drugs, joined Rizzo in her misery an hour or so later.  Fortunately, Tony and Kathy put on Transderm patches the night before and were only a light shade of green compared to the rest of the crew.  As you can imagine, none of the carefully prepared and pre packaged food was eaten!

Of the 7 boats that started the journey, 2 turned back by about noon.  Another lost heart by dinner time.  Vakasa and her crew decided to head back after 13 hours (around 10 pm) of "getting the crap kicked out of them".  3 ultra crazy boats went all the way.  The experience for us was phenomenal.  We coped with heavy weather, successfully practised some storm tactics and realized that both the boat and her crew are made of pretty tough stuff.  We sailed at night, relying strictly on our instruments. We utilized both the Coast Guard and Tofino Traffic when things appeared hairy (think very large Cargo ships on collision courses).   We made good decisions.  We learnt that we will never voluntarily sail in those conditions again!

After Vice, we hooked up with Bryn and spent a blissful 5 days touring around Barkley Sound.  It was so nice to have both her and Tanner on board, especially whent the sun started to shine.  The highlights of the trip were swimming in the falls at Lucky Creek and the Iron Chef Cook Off......Tony and Kathy think that Bryn and Tanner's blueberry/bluecheese burgers beat out their chocolate/chipoltle ribs......

Intrepid VICE 2012 participants

The first crew member to succumb (yes, the salon looks like a train wreck!)

Tanner's in there some where - we know because the puke bucket is always with him

Our brave captain at the helm

Fishing, swimming and glorious sunshine in Pipestem Inlet

Winners of Vakasa's 2012 Iron Chef Cook-off

Puget Sound and Other Destinations

We can't believe that an entire month has passed since we left the dock at Victoria and we've already managed to idle away one third of the time before we leave for Mexico.

We began by taking our eldest, Bryn, to the San Juans for a few days and then headed to the Spring Bluewater Cruising Association Rendezvous at Bedwell Harbour (where we were given our "leavers package" that included a mouse and a rat trap!  Yuck!!  What's with that?)  Following this, we turned south again and began a 3 week tour of Puget Sound.  What a wonderful cruising area, with lots of great anchorages and marinas, and not nearly as busy as we thought it would be.  Our favourite spots were Port Madison where we anchored just off one of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's "summer places"; Gig Harbor where we went out for a fabulous 31st anniversary dinner; Blake Island where we got lost on one of the great hiking trails that criss cross the island; and the locks and bridges leading into Lake Union in Seattle....not to mention our recipricol moorage at the Tyee Yacht Club in Lake Union that was directly under an I5 bridge. Talk about NOISY.....  And, finally, who can say enough about the award winning Penn Cove Mussel Chowder in Coupeville?

After Puget Sound we returned to Bedwell Harbour and Kathy joined up with 6 of her UBC Rehab Medicine buddies at Poet's Cove Resort for their annual reunion....it's the 22nd year that they've been getting together to celebrate their friendship.  After lots of gabbing, kayaking, boating, eating, drinking and a deep tissue massage, she returned to the boat totally exhausted!  We'll have to give her a good rest before heading off on our next adventure.

Brad and Angelina's place in Port Madison

Weekend races off our moorage at Blake Island

An audience as we go through the locks into Lake Union

Three long and two short blasts and they open the bridge for Vakasa

Yummy mussel chowder in Coupeville, Whideby Island

The reunion girls onboard Vakasa 

New Toys and Gadgets

We are down to the final countdown of days before leaving Victoria.  We'll spend the next 3 months doing some local sailing; exploring Puget Sound for the first time and revisiting some of our favourite spots in the San Juans and the Gulf and Discovery Islands.  Then it's the big offshore trek...first leg to San Francisco, second to San Diego, and third to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!  We'll arrive in Mexico somewhere in the first week of November.

Both Tony and I are scrambling to get the last of the chores that need to be done at a dock finished before next week.  I think we're almost there and it feels good!  Vakasa has already been offshore with her previous owners (several times in fact) and probably thinks that she was perfect just the way she was, but  here are just a few of the new toys and gadgets we've added to her.

New Radar

New Spinnaker

New Watermaker

New SSB Radio and AIS

New Main and Jib

New Salon Ceiling

Almost Time To Cast Off The Lines

We're just 2 weeks away from leaving Victoria's beautiful Inner Harbour and setting sail for what will be 11 months at sea.  We've had a great winter in Victoria.  We've taken enough sailing courses to melt our brains and worked on so many boat projects that our bodies are weary and our bank account is empty.  Getting Vakasa ready for sailing offshore has been tough but rewarding...and the logistics of sailing to, and living in, Mexico have been complicated.  But we are more than ready to cast off the lines and start enjoying the life that we've spent the past 2 years preparing for.

The only one who may not to be quite ready for this adventure is Rizzo (our faithful boat mutt), who has absolutely no idea of what is coming her way.  However, she loves boat life and we're sure that she'll settle in just fine once she figures out where to pee and poop on those offshore legs (despite our most diligent efforts, we've been unable to convince her to do her toilet on the boat while we're tied to the dock or within sight of land).  We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that she'll figure it out when the time comes!

So if you want to follow our travels, check back once in a while and we'll keep you posted.  Fair winds to all.