The Highs and The Lows

This time Co-Cap William has written the post... read on...

Dear Readers,

A 1043 mBar High has stalled over Western Canada and brought cold clear skies with a northerly flow from the Arctic high latitudes in their clockwise Northern Hemisphere flow.  These global patterns created by opposing high and low barometric pressure differences determines the weather conditions we experience here on surface Earth.  (Google:  Weather, Canada  click on AB or BC then "Analysis Modelling" then "Complete Northern Hemisphere Coverage) or click here   

or see map below:

These atmospheric pressure "cells" are truly gigantic, dynamic and fascinating.  Consequently meteorology is on the study list for off shore voyagers. We have been studying the works of Alan Watts' The Weather Handbook and the Modern Weather Marine Workbook  by David Burch and beyond in the weather chapters of all our Cruising "How To" texts such as Lin and Larry Pardey's Storm Tactics Handbook.

How did we get so old and not investigate this body of knowledge available to us all?  This preparation will aid in our decision-making on the high seas with SSB, GRIB files and expert synopsis analyses available to use bounced off the Ionosphere.

(Note from Co-Cap Catherine: for all you non ham radio readers Bill is talking about accessing this information through our ham radio which uses the ionosphere for us to send and receive messages!  Who knew??)


Avoid one of the Earth's greatest energy sources and violent weather i.e. hurricanes- hence studying leading expert analysis and historical records of the planet's weather zones is all part of the quest.

The Highs and Lows of yachting stretch beyond weather and the rest of this entry will not be a "family Christmas Card"!

Readers please be advised the following may be disturbing to some:

Balancing life's opportunities generally do not include circumnavigation in a small vessel by senior citizens, virgin in this pursuit... even sailing the "Coconut Milk Run".  Right.  We are a double-handed well found vessel bound for trade wind latitudes.  We are not a solo, nonstop, racing, Southern Oceans vessel.  Even so, as previously mentioned declaring our intentions in destination and especially ETD (Estimated Time of Departure) we raise the spectre of risk.  The sad tale of  Donald Crowhurst who died while competing in the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race exposes this pitfall for all we "wanna-be voyagers".



Hence our push to be totally re-fitted, blue-water ready by 2011.  "Island Time" has been a major Low in my High Pressure Emotional Cortex.  My error has been to honestly declare our ETD of June 2011... a January ETD may have given my voice more value with our mechanical team working for us.  That aside, the bimini will be built, the solar panel installed, the battery monitor working, the SSB-Pactor modem (communication system) functional, the life-raft cradle mounted, fans wired and paperwork in order.  We shall overcome and progress on and "The List" advances as we remain securely tied to the dock at April Point Marina.

Terrwyn safely at dock in April Point Marina

"Live without a boat???"  "Why bother?" quips a Newfoundlander surgeon colleague, as recently questioned, with honest bewilderment in a room filled with conservative economically blessed gentlemen.  They had just replayed the "Two best days of a boaters life..."; "The wooden/plastic hole in the ocean..." and now " Boat Units" from their padded armchairs.  The Newfy's questions were received with blank superior stares.  To each their own...

Boating, rather like dogs, woodfires, sex and mountaineering can be lots of work, messy, frankly dangerous and, oh yes, expensive.  All of these costs are too much for many older folks with too little time, and too much money to lose.  I believe many have forgotten their childhood dreams, their best friend puppy, the warm dry crackling fire after a day on the mountain, gymnastic sex or a breathless virgin summer view.

Co-Cap Catherine on S/V Terrwyn at anchor in Melanie Cove, Desolation Sound July 2010.

The stable average barometric pressure of urban life with it's "fixed address" concrete foundations with property lines defined under shiny street lights to mall and superstore just down the tree lined street and regular paycheck deposited safely in one's growing portfolio... Is contested with the Highs and Lows of the perpetual motion of a small vessel at sea and 24/7 watches shared between a crew of two charging across the ocean in the middle of another night, where we have never gone before... The High and the Low.  

 Balance and compromise; to go or to stay.  It is all a compromise on a sailboat.  After all, the kids are all grown (almost), the mortgage paid (almost) and the career fulfilled (almost).  However, our time here is almost gone and we are not getting any younger.  In fact, time is running out at an ever accelerating pace.  Terrwyn is ready (almost) and there are only six months to go.

Smooth roads never make good drivers.

Smooth seas never make good sailors.

Clear skies never make good pilots.

A problem-free life never makes a strong and good person.

Be strong enough to accept the challenges of life.

Don't ask Life: "Why me?"

Instead, "Try me..."

                                -Anonymous-

Jessica Watson on her newly refit 34 ft. yacht Ella's Pink Lady

And then there is Jessica Watson to put us back on our heels... In May 2010, at the age of 17, she unofficially became the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world... Congratulations to Jessica!  WOW!

Fair leads
Co-Cap Bill

P.S. - JUST IN!!!  Terrwyn's crew is now complete!  Angi (Minetta) Norrie and Nicholas Dormaar will be joining us in Tahiti bound for Tonga and then on to New Zealand!!!  They will be taking the starboard saloon sea berth... Welcome Angi and Nick!

Angi (Minetta) Norrie and Nicholas Dormaar

The Fine Art of Storage in a Small Boat in Readiness for a Big Voyage!

With that title I feel like we are hobbits... actually living on a boat is reminiscent of life as a hobbit, I'm sure!...we will be living in a small roundish abode and go on lots of adventures... Yup, I guess we are hobbits at heart!  Speaking of which, did you hear that they are going to start filming The Hobbit Part One in New Zealand, February 2011?  By the time we arrive we should be able to visit the new set!!  What fun!

Anyway back to our hobbit- hole, I mean... boat!  Lately we've been focussing on what we can take on our voyage and where we will put it all!  A seemingly daunting feat, but seems amazingly do-able after re-reading (we have mentioned them before in our list of greatest books but they deserve an encore):

Lin Pardey's The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew  

                             and Beth Leonard's Voyager's Handbook

 If you are planning to "sail over the horizon" these books are a must in so many ways...  I don't know what we would do if we didn't have these two experienced authors sharing their incredible experience and insights!

Also, we found a great resource in the provisioning pages of Dave and Rhonda Mancini's website about their 2 1/2 years of cruising the tropical South Pacific in their PSC 34 SV Swan.

SV Swan anchored at Moorea

Oh yes and don't miss checking out  Beth and Evan's website chock full of incredible helpful information.


So... last week my friend Maria Mirka drove with me and our two 'puppies' (one is 10 years old and the other 15!) out to our cottage on Quadra Island, B.C. where my co-cap was already hard at work doing a locum at the Campbell River Hospital.  Once we arrived Maria and I went to work measuring all of the storage space on our boat... actually Maria did all the work as I sat at the computer struggling to get the d**n thing to cooperate (no luck on my part!)... did I mention that I HATE Microsoft???  ...actually maybe I hate computers in general (more like a love/hate relationship I guess).

Enough of that, back to the storage issue...  as I was saying before I headed off into my tirade about our computer woes... Maria measured every nook and cranny however large or small that looked at all like a place for us to use as storage.  Bill had suggested that I print out a diagram of our below decks and make our measurements on that...

After all the measurements were taken:

It turns out that with the mattress taken out of the quarter berth we can stow twelve, yes you read that right, twelve 12" sq. plastic milk cartons... amazing!  Now, don't you think that two mid-sized adults could survive on that much food over 6 months?  Considering the longest passage will be approximately 5 weeks when we will then be able to re-provision (is there such a word?).  So I'm thinking that this might not be too onerous a job as I first thought!  Also, let's not forget all the tuna, mahi-mahi, flying fish, squid etc. that we will be catching as we sail along... and believe me, we have a lot of fishing gear that we intend on using heavily (now we will just have to persuade all those little fishies that they want to swallow our hooks!). 

I bought a number of plastic food storage containers (the largest being 5 litres with handy little oblong snap-open access covers on top) - we will use the largest of our two hanging lockers, which are located in mid-ships, to stow the large containers filled with flour, rice, beans etc. and from those I will fill smaller containers for daily/weekly use which will be right in the galley.  I am also thinking that we need to put some moveable shelves in the larger hanging locker to make that space more useable and yet still able to revert back to a space to hang things. Hhmmmmm... so that's  why it's call a hanging locker!

Storage containers for the boat - gotta love that Walmart!

During our long passages our forward berth will be used as a sail locker and even the head will be used for storing our  45 pound CQR anchor and 300 feet of nylon and chain rode!  Okay for you non-boatie types the head is the toilet... and you might ask "Well, then where do you...?"  Don't even go there...

Bye for now and...
see you when we see you.

Co-caps
Catherine and William

Progress Report & Summary

Dear Readers,
           
All men dream:  but not equally.  Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity:  but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.
                                                              T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Thank you for following our dream.  The voyage of Catherine and William (Norrie) is EDD "Bound for N.Z.", June, 2011.  Our blog was started June 2010 at the one year countdown after 18 months of refitting "Terrwyn" our Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37, hull #231, 1990.

"They name vessels girls' names as we love them so"... and in honour of our mutual Welsh heritages we renamed our baby - Terrwyn this spring (see earlier blog).

This"voyage over the horizon", "across the ocean", "around the world" has been a lifelong dream of ours (after all it's all about climbing mountains and crossing oceans as old mountaineers go to sea).  Our plan to complete Terrwyn's refit by 2011 is on track with new electrical system and bimini under construction this month.

So far:  all sails, rigging, topsides and upholstery have been replaced.  She has been upgraded to ocean from coastal cruising potential with the addition of a Monitor self-steering vane, H-3 windlass with all chain rode, larger anchors and a Fatty Knees hard dinghy.  The navigation system included redundant GPS's, Nobletec chart plotter, complete paper charts from her home port of April Point Marina, Quadra Island to Gulf Marina, New Zealand.  Pilot Charts for the South Pacific, multiple cruising guides, C Plath sextant, H.O. 49 Reduction Tables, Nautical Almanac and Star Pilot T-89 calculator. Communication equipment includes DSC-VHF, SSB ham radio with antenna tuner and Pactor 3 Modem [in progress].

Two seasons of cruising Northern Georgia Strait and Desolation Sound have provided our sailing, heaving to, anchoring and general seamanship practise grounds.  Study has included all of the Pardey's, Hal Roth, Beth Leonard and the Hiscock's books.  Entertainment ranged from Slocum's voyage, Shackleton, D. Lewis, Dove, God Forsaken Sea,  B. Moitessier, H. Melville, J. Conrad, Bowditch's bigraphy, C. Hasse, B. Toss, P. O'Brian, Robin Cox-Johnson etc. etc.

So there we are, 8 months to go.  We crossed yet another Rubicon last week with the purchase of our Ocean 4 man life raft in cannister.  After decades of anticipation it is done; may we never see the inside of that 29"x16"x12" cannister.

Thank you all for reading and please comment and ask us any questions you may have.

Fair Winds
Co-cap William

"Messing about in boats."

Short... often... and full of photos! 
 That is what a good blog should be all about (thanks for the reminder, Myrna)... so even though I love to go on and on about what we're doing I promise that from now on I will do less 'talking' and more showing :-). 

Just thought I'd throw in this great little photo of some Quadra Island ocean life that my sister Carole and I saw last month to 'illustrate' my point!

Now...as Ratty solemnly says to Mole from my favourite book...  The Wind in the Willows written by Kenneth Grahame and published in 1908 (oh I could tell you ever so much about it... but that, I guess is for another blog... hmmmmm...)

...which was purchased for me by my beloved hubby, co-cap William, son Cam, and all my brothers and sisters-in-law and numerous other relatives and friends...for my... GULP!!!... 60th Birthday on September 8th this year... and by the way...

Who ever thinks they will ever get that old???)

Here I am at Arts on Atlantic (great little Inglewood gallery speciallizing in book arts) where I...

...pick up my new treasure...

Ooooooohhhhh...

Wow!

Co-cap Catherine proudly displaying her 'birthday book'...

...the most beautifully created Centary limited edition of Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows illustrated by Charles Van Sandwyk of Vancouver, Canada...

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply...

One of Charles Van Sandwyk's cards

 ...messing about in boats!"
Now, you may think that since we are back in Calgary (yes, you got it right...smack in the middle of the Canadian prairies and thousands of miles from any ocean) with co-cap William hard at work in the hospital and me picking up contract work at local school libraries... that we are not messing about in boats... oh but you are sooooooo sooooooo wrong!! 

As we order, dream about, purchase and adjust our ever changing lists of "Things to buy" and "Things to do" for ever more new hardware, software, books, upholstery material, navigational technology, life raft, 'ditch bag', forward seeking sonar,...

...and pour over the full set of the Pilot Charts that we just bought (which tell us what to expect along our South Pacific journey in the way of the winds and currents)...

 ...and read and re-read books of our soon to be visited South Pacific destinations,

and continue to change, add to and check off more of our "To do" and "To buy" lists...

We are most definitely are...  

                                  ...messing about in boats!

Sailing Desolation Sound

We're baaaacccckkk... no we've not forgotten our blog nor you, our faithful readers, just busy with life...you know how it can be!

Bill has been working so hard lately that we finally decided we needed to get out sailing for a few days to remind ourselves how wonderful it is and why we are doing all of this!  Hence we flew to Quadra, bent the jib on and loaded Terrwyn ready to head for Desolation Sound... right at our back door, as it were!

Notice... no jib!!

Ready for the jib to be bent on...

...and then Terrwyn was ready to go!

We knew that our friends, Dan and Alice from Seattle 

 were sailing their 29' BCC, Shaula, in the area, in fact they had anchored right off Rebecca Spit just in front of our cottage for a few days earlier in the summer.  That was a nice surprise!

...and so we got in touch through Sailmail to meet up with them somewhere in Desolation Sound.

The day we headed out was a beautifully calm and sunny so we decided to do some fishing and also try taking a "noonsite' with our beautiful new sextant.  Bill has always wanted to own and really learn how to use the world's best sextant and now he owns one and in typical Bill fashion is madly studying all about it's use!  I, too, am learning celestial navagation but Bill is taking the lead on this one.




 As we trolled back and forth just south of Cape Mudge just off  Wilby Shoal (where the fish tend to gather, apparently!).... Bill did a successful noonsite with his beautiful new sextant...

... and once he "brought the sun to the horizon" (which is the hard part) I did one too...

...and how was the fishing you may ask??  Well, not one of those big or little fishes was willing to sacrifice him/herself to our delicious looking lure!... Huh!!
So with empty net but full of excitement we headed off to find Dan and Alice ...  whom we eventually found tucked in a little bay way up at the end of Pendrell Sound...

... and, after they finally caught our attention by turning on their strobe light as they watched us merrily scooting by, we zipped in and rafted up with them for the night... had dinner together with the main course being Greenling - delicious fish that Alice had caught that day...mmmmmm oh so good!  Since we had no fish to bring to the table (as it were) I did the rice and salad!

Of course we are constantly picking their brains, (Dan and Alice, that is, not the Greenling!)... about cruising as they have had 17 years experience of cruising in the South Pacific.

So Bill and Dan crawled all over both boats comparing and discussing details and ideas!

  The next day we headed down Pendrell Sound to our next destination, which was a little anchorage in behind a tiny island called Ellworthy Island, at the bottom of the Sound. While sailing there we had our first experience of "willy waws" or "unpredictable sudden, strong gusts of wind down drafts" sweeping down from the high hills surrounding the Sound...keeps you on your toes, that's for sure!

When we finally had to head back to Quadra thick fog had rolled in and a Scotch mist added to the magical feeling as we sailed along.

 We took that opportunity to practise using our Nobletec digital navigation charts and radar.  The digital charts showed us not only where we currently were but also where we were heading (nice to know about that large rocky island hidden in the fog just off our port bow)... and our trusty radar let us know if there were any boats or other nasty obstacles in our way that wouldn't show up on our charts!
Phew!!  We made it safely back ready for our next adventure!

How to get from 'The Great White North' to 'Down Under' OR Planning the South Pacific Route

 We are back in Calgary and the weather is sunny and warm - just great for sailing... hmmmmmm... oh well, instead of 'doing' we are busily 'dreaming' (all you Bluewater Cruising Association members will know all about those terms!).  Doers, Dreamers, Doners!

When we first started thinking about this trip the timeline of six months seemed like an eternity to be sailing... and definitely enough time to visit and enjoy the few little islands along our way to New Zeland.  Not so much!  Since getting down to the nitty gritty of planning the details of our trip it now seems somehow reminiscent of what planning "How to see Europe in 6 days" must be like!

We've been pouring over books that provide details of the islands, anchorages, harbours, points of interest and helpful hints that we might want to experience.  Here's a couple of tomes that we have found that have some helpful info.

 Landfalls of Paradise, Fifth Edition by Earl R. Hinz and Jim Howard - covers all the areas we are interested in, and more!  Gives a good overview.



South Pacific Anchorages, Second Edition,  South Pacific Anchorages by Warwick Clay - provides another perspective of the islands and includes the Chart references for each island described.  Sketches of the anchorages with details of specific positions for anchoring and navigational hazards will be really helpful.

Yikes!!  After spending hours researching and reading what there is to explore how can we possibly fit in all we want to see and do in that miniscule amount of time???  Well - we'll try our best!

We've now come up with our latest "5 minute plan" - (a favourite saying of Bill's to provide an easy escape from the plan that can totally change within 5 minutes from it's initial inception :-)

Planning Itinerary for the Voyage of Catherine and William 2011

May 1, 2011  Leave Quadra Island :-(  and travel down the East coast of Vancouver Island,

stopping at:

Comox - what a great little marina they have!  The last time we were there we had invitations to a concert at the Yacht Club the evening we arrived;  neighbours volunteered to drive us to the local gas station when we put our empty propane tank on the dock in readiness for lugging it up the hill in a marina cart; interest in and admiration of our beautiful cruising boat (Bill loved that!!) etc. ;

Silva Bay, Gabriola Island-
This is another wonderful, hidden away little marina that we have stayed at when we were first delivering our 'baby' to her home on Quadra... it's hard to believe that was only one and a half years ago... it seems like we've had her forever!

Then we will scoot on down to Canoe Cove (near Sydney, Vancouver Island)... and...

Canoe Cove Marina, Sydney B.C.

during the month of May Co-Cap'n Catherine will be living on Terrwyn there provisioning the boat while Bill will be toiling away back in Calgary trying to top up the coffers... both of us will be madly working so that we have what we need to live on during our time away.  Gulp!!

The details and practicalities of filling a boat with the necessities of life for two people for six months both canned and other foodstuffs and all other provisions (how much tp will two people need for six months, anyway???)...

...may seem a daunting task but, as with anything, once one breaks it down step by step... or in this case can by can...  but that is grist for the mill for another posting.

OK now back to "the plan"...

Finally... TA DAAAAAAAA...  Begins our trip to the South Pacific

Leave Canoe Cove and Vancouver Island June 1, 2011(or the closest date to a good weather window!!)

Sails of Terrwyn

July 7 – ish  (Add -ish to all dates included in this itinerary as the worst thing a cruiser can do is adhere to a schedule.  Problems, often fatal, can occur when one takes unnecessary risks just to meet a deadline.  Time, weather, sea conditions etc. are all dependent on each other and cruisers need to attend to the most important issue - SAFETY!)  Enough lecturing...on with the fun of dreaming!

After 5-6 weeks at sea we hope to spy landfall and what a landfall it will be!:

Arrive in the Marquesas Islands which is the eastern most group of islands of French Polynesia.   Boats can check in with the officials at the port of entry in one of the Marquesas Islands, Nuku Hiva, to get permission to spend time in French Polynesia which includes quite a large area...avoiding the busier and, some say, ruder officials of Papeete, Tahiti - (OK if you are reading this and you happen to be a port of entry official in Papeete, Tahiti - I don't mean you!!) and then spend the next 4-6 weeks exploring the islands and atolls of the Marquesas:      

Nuku Hiva

                                           

Ua Pou

                                         

  Hiva Oa

                                                      

Fatu Hiva

                                          OK - I think you get the idea... Tropical Paradise!!

August 15-ish (alright, I know, you get it!  It's not written in stone...)    Leave the Marquesas for Society Islands ... the largest island of this group being Tahiti (we are still in French Polynesia)!

Tahiti

Check in at Papeete - not for long as it is very commercialized and expensive.  There is even an International Airport here...mmmmm... maybe just long enough to possibly pick up another crew member ;-D 

Papeete, Tahiti

Other islands in this group that are on our wish list are: Moorea then possibly Bora Bora; Huahine Island (closest of the leeward isands to Tahiti - 90 miles to NW); Raiatea; Tahaa; Toapui Island...

Are you beginning to see our dilemma??
   
Leave French Polynesia September 7          Arrive September 15 (remember... ISH!) 

 Cook Islands

A typical Rarotongan beach

    Check in with officials at the entry port for Cook Islands which is Rarotonga.  The name Rarotonga means "in the direction of the prevailing wind, south," the place where the chief of Atiu promised early explorers they would find an island. It's fairly small, just 31 km around.
Scuba diving on Rarotonga features coral drop-offs, canyons, caves, walls, sharks, wrecks, and swim-throughs. All beaches on the island are public.

(By the way, this is the favourite holiday spot of our friend, Linda Steen, who is there, as we speak!  She goes there for 3-4 weeks every second year.   I know she will have many nuggets of info for us of things to see and do when in the Cook Islands!  Hey Linda - bring us back a beautiful sea shell to carry on Terrwyn and we'll take it back to it's home.)

   Leave    Cook Islands September 23           Arrive beginning of October - Tonga
          
Vavau –(group of islands)

The Vava'u (pronounced "vav-ah-oo") Group of islands lies 240km (150 miles) north of Tongatapu and is the northernmost of Tonga's three island groups. It is fairly isolated and many of the local people live a traditional subsistence lifestyle, owning small farms and serving most of their needs from what they produce. This group of 50 or so thickly wooded islands has excellent diving, with visibility often as much as 30m (100ft). Vava'u is also popular for the fabulous beaches, swimming, snorkelling, and reef viewing and is a Mecca for sport fishing and big game fishing.
Local attractions include the Fangatongo Royal Residence, the view from Mount Talau and Sailoame Market in Neiafu, the main town.

We have found some incredible information about the area at the Tonga Cruising Guide
My question is:  what did people do before the internet???

Leave Tonga  October 15  Arrive early November – Whangerei, North Island, New Zealand

Final Destination!

 Both Bill and I have lived in New Zealand - I have dual citizenship (NZ/Canadian) -but, even though I lived in Dunedin on South Island for six years I had never explored north of Auckland - I know, shame, shame Cathy!  Bill, on the other hand lived in New Zealand for only one year and seemed to have found time to even live and work for a bit in Dargaville, Northland  (if you look on the map you will see it on the east coast of Northland).     

We hope to buy a little car for our time there and tour around the tropical part of New Zealand!  Of course we will cruise Terrwyn to Bay of Islands and discover some of the beautiful little bays that abound that north eastern coast of New Zealand.  

Once we are in the Bay of Islands I will have our crew take a photo of Bill and I swimming around Terrwyn...just like this!

Whangarei is where we plan to leave our sweet Terrwyn, on the hard, in one of the boatyards where she will await our return!

November 29 - no ISH this time :-(    Leave for Calgary

Preparation Step #7 - Sailing, sailing and more sailing!

After recovering from our re-naming/de-naming celebrations our next big training opportunity was to be a full seven days of sailing in North Georgia Strait and Desolation Sound.  The latter is a destination that sailors from afar come to enjoy and we are lucky enough to have it at our back door!  How lucky we are! 

Before our big trip we had done a few days of sailing after Terrwyn came off "the hard" during which time while unfurling the jib my foot rolled off a sheet lying on the cockpit locker (where I was standing) and I crashed down smashing my ribs (not to mention a nice bonk on the noggin!!) on the side of the cockpit.  Since then I've been hampered by the pain (literally) of a number of broken ribs.  Note to self: make sure all sheets and lines are freshened immediately after use (i.e. as an old sailing captain I once knew used to say "ship shape in Bristol style!") and also perhaps think about wearing appropriate footwear (or ideally no footwear) so one can feel what one is standing on.  Oh well, that did not stop us from having a great time Sailing the Sound! 
Here's a clip of Co-Cap William enjoying one of the few times he was able to be on the helm (they don't call me Helm Hog for nothing!)... OK don't ask me why I decided to turn the camera on it's side part way through this video - I don't know maybe the broken ribs thingy affected my brain!

Now here are a few salty words from Captain William describing some of the highlights of our trip:

 Co - cap William  here

            We are just back from a full week of sailing, frankly training and putting Terrwyn through her paces in and about Desolation Sound. This was a major shakedown cruise for all three of us. She, Terrwyn, has been demo-ing "her" own personality and nature throughout (they don't name boats after girls by accident).  It's a matter of : presence, lines, movement, beauty, speed, curves, weight, toughness, forgiveness, proportions, and dare I say, possession and loyalty...  and did I mention love.

             Items on our agenda last week included flying our light air sails to storm sails all with Monti (Scanmar's Monitor Servo-Pendulum Windvane) doing his magic. (In this photo Monti does not have his 'sail' which is normally attached ).

Monti is our third crew and essential sailor. The windvane is a quintessential component to offshore sailing with a small crew and a totally new item of sailing where I had no experience. It is an amazing tool and  after a little practice and review with the folks at Scanmar we are up and sailing on all points of sail and with several different sail combinations.  All of which is a huge relief and puts joy in my heart. 

 

We also flew the Trysail ( a smaller, loose footed mainsail alternative, essentially a storm mainsail ) the "Try" has never been hoisted in 20 years and came to us with Lively Lady's initial wardrobe. We had Hasse and Co, of Port Townsend Sails, re-finish her, add a third row of stitching, a visibility patch and upgrade the luff slugs and tack/clew cringles. It has its own luff track and halyard to starboard of the main track. This allows us to put the main sail to bed under cover and lash the boom on the gallows which adds huge security to all crew below in the cockpit or on the deck. Then if flown with the spinnaker, accidental jibes are frankly a no big deal and increases the safe breeze angle of attack, as well as keeping the center of effort well forward faciliating Monti's job of keeping us on track from aft. The "Try" gives stability in taking down the spinnaker  and saves the main's integrity for another day, beautiful, fun, safe and easy but lots of sail area to drive the boat in light airs ...got to love it.  

 

 

The Try's other surprise finding was its ability in balancing the Storm Staysail to windward. The two together keep the center of effort amidships, the tiller 3 degrees to windward and trucking along 2-3 knots in 10 knots of apparent breeze! Once again a smooth, secure, easy and gentle ride...  a definite rest possibility in blusterous conditions.  I can't barely wait to fly these two beauties in 25 K  plus breeze.

During a quiet spell we deployed the 9 ft diameter para-sail sea anchor with its 300 ft  5/8 inch nylon rode and stern bridle to turn Terrwyn's bow 50 degrees off the predominate wave train.

      This is one of the ultimate storm tactics in addition to heaving to which we hope to never have to use. Now at least this manoeuvre is not a complete novelty to us and in our tool chest down below to stay we trust. 

     It looked like a surreal giant sea monster jelly fish when fully opened ... I couldn't stop snapping shots of it as it drifted out from the bow!

 

 

 

 

 We found we could easily empty the chute by pulling on a couple of the lines and quickly drag it back on board when finished.  Easy-peasy!

 

 

 

 

 Each night, at anchorages, we would drop the 45lb CQR anchor and raise it without incident via the  new  H-3 Lewmar horizontal windlass.  It worked like a dream and we tried out the manual override so again, hopefully, we will not have to use it again and it was good.  

 

Sparrow's bridle was next set up and we repeatedly hoisted the Sparrow in and  out of the ocean as well as having her own sail setup and sailed about Grace Harbour, Gorge Harbour and Prideaux Haven - great fun. 

 

Cathy swam about in her wet suit and looked great broken wing and all...

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's  about  all that happened  and aside from stripping off old stain and applying new stain on Terrwyn's gunnels and polishing the brass  it was a major relaxation holiday in perfect weather as the Pacific High finally drifted over to include BC and we were there!!  

 

Yahoooo!!...  as we are now back in Calgary keeping the other home front going ....till our next visit to our shiny new baby sailing machine.
     

Fair leads,
                    Co Cap Billy,
                                    S/V Terrwyn

I think Co-Cap William is beginning to enjoy adding his thoughts to these blogs... good job! 

Well... until we next "See you when we see you"...

Fair winds
Co-Caps Catherine and William