What's In a Name?

At the beginning of this blog, we explained the name of the boat.  It is named after a lodge in Alberta that is a favourite place.

Terratima Lodge

"Terratima Lodge is a year-round vacation retreat located on the edge of the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Guests enjoy cross-country skiing in winter and cross-country biking, hiking, white-water-rafting, canoeing and relaxing in the summer months. Terratima is famous for its pristine forest location, excellent food and accommodations and divine, relaxing atmosphere."  

...to quote the web site

The door to the bathhouse

An exterior deck

Main lodge fire place

It's a wonderful place - as is her maritime namesake.

Weather Update

Damned, I wish I had a great few days to sail.  The winds would be perfect

Strait of Georgia - south of Nanaimo

Winds

Issued 04:00 PM PDT 22 October 2011

Tonight and SundayWind southeasterly 10 to 15 knots increasing to southwesterly 15 to 20 early this evening then diminishing to 10 to 15 late this evening. Wind becoming variable 5 to 15 early Sunday morning.

Weather & Visibility

Issued 04:00 PM PDT 22 October 2011

Tonight and SundayChance of showers this evening. A few showers beginning Sunday afternoon.

Revised Plans

SOOOO.... here I am in the Air Canada lounge at Edmonton International Airport waiting for a plane home.  I have a campus master plan to do and the time line is short.  In addition, my wife and sailing companion is ill with the flu, so we are staying in our slip this long weekend.  First time we haven't gone sailing on thanksgiving since we bacame liveaboards.

Celestial Navigation 2

Ahh..the romance

How does this GPS work??

The reason for it all

Celestial Navigation

Here it is the beginning of October already.  We are planning to go across to Clam Bay for our Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend (which is next weekend).  This is a great little bay enclosed by Thetis and Kuper Island

So, while we think about our short weekend at Clam Bay, I am looking into Celestial Navigation.  Even though we have all the bells and whistles on Terratima, trusting the GPS and not having the fundamentals under my fingers - particularly offshore seems silly.  Ergo, I have taken to various sites to learn the techniques, logic and math.  

A good sextant is really expensive, so for now, I'll cheap out and read.  here is a great site:

http://www.celestial-navigation-course.com/

Maybe it's the MIT Geek in me, but I love this stuff.