I have been remiss in my blogging of our life on the water. Truth be told, we have been really busy with a new architectural practice, our son's emerging new stage in his life, and with myriad little things that seem to have eaten up so much time. We will try to do much better keeping the "Captain's Log" on what's happening on Terratima. Projects for the New Year include enclosing the cockpit and doubling our solar panels pray to get more power to ensure the batteries are recharged when we are at anchor and it's sunny. We are also planning our departure and routing into the Pacific when time and circumstance allow us to set out.
To all of you sailors and sailors-to-be, a Very Happy New Year from the skipper and crew of Terratima - Island Packet 465 in the Pacific Northwest.
It has been over 5 years since we moved out to the coast, bought Terratima and began living aboard. Last summer (Summer 2014), Carolyn went to Edmonton and we sold or gave away to charity and family 5/6 of what we had in storage. We simply did not miss any of it. We still have a few cherished items we will keep in storage.
The issue now is the way forward. The plan is very simple, retire and head south into the Pacific Ocean. That said, we need to ensure we have some modest income and that we can continue sailing as long as our health holds up. So how much is enough? Our needs are not great, but we have an Autistic son and the issue is how he will move forward into adulthood. He is so loving and wonderful, yet we worry so much. There are no easy answers, but we continue to feel each day out as it happens - and we pray.
We've decided to make enclosures for our Bimini. That means ordering vinyl window material, Sunbrella material, YKK No 10 zippers, binding and the required tools to do the job. Then I need to look at the YouTube video and pick up a few shortcuts.
Our friends aboard Grinn II - a Hunter 49 - is in a marina in Nuevo Vallarta (just a bit north of Puerto Vallarta). They sent two messages prior to 5 PM this afternoon pacific time. The first was that they had been preparing Grinn II for the storm. The second indicated that the marina was being evacuated and everyone taken to a shelter in the nearby resort buildings. This is an immense storm and we hope our friends are safe.
We have our country back. The Liberals will form government in Canada after a decisive win of a majority of seats in Parliament. We bring to an end the ridiculous right wing politics of division and cynical games played by the previous conservative government. The task now is to undo all the legislation that was put in place by those clowns.
I voted yesterday in an advanced pole for the October 19th General Election here in Canada. I have voted in elections since I came of age in this country. This is the first election where I felt so angry because of the nature of what has been happening after 9 years of Conservative government. This is not the Progressive Conservatives of past times. This is a deeply right wing government that has been systematically gutting the country's environmental regulations, muzzling its scientific community, participating in foreign wars, using racist rhetoric and scare tactics to dismantle our democratic rights and making secret deals they claim to be in the best interests of the country.
I do not recognize the country anymore. We were a peace loving country. We tried to protect the most vulnerable among us. We introduced a universal health system. We were peacekeepers at the UN and spoke there with moral authority. We are now losing all of this because of a government voted in by a flawed system with only 30 percent of the popular vote. What is the track record that has resulted? I think Danny Williams - former Premier of Newfoundland sums it up very well:
The very fact that I am posting a video of a former Provincial leader making the comments he is on our current Prime Minister is unprecedented. It is a measure of how low we have sunk. God help us on the 19th if we get Harper again.
We are nearing the date for the Canadian General Election. I have never taken an election quite as seriously as this one - not because I am more interested in politics than I was previously, but because I see the Country moving further and further to the right. As we do so, we are giving up what I had taken for granted for so many years. Whatever happens in this election, God help us.
We had desiccated to go to Nanaimo for the Labour Day Long Weekend. Alas, the winds were 33 KNOTS at the sand heads which is the point that the Georgia Strait goes from deep water to shallow. With flow of tide and current against wind, you can plan on steep short wave seas that is horrendous to blow through. Knowing what we were failing, and not having a lot of flexibility, we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and we stayed put. Just as well as I ended up with th nasty cough and a fever which meant the whole weekend was spent in my bunk.
The wind has piped up to 30 knots int eh marina - and this is "Shelter Island" which describes the location. Out in the open. it's mayhem as can be seen from these posts on VancityBuzz.
Damaged Skytrain Car
Downed Power Lines and Trees
Right now, power is out in the marina and surrounding area.
ALAS, we are not yet full time cruisers. We have the most beautiful boat we could i,age, yet we are dockside. We will get away soon as we begin eh process of winding down professional life and taking to be a retired sailor.
But because we are still dock side, we will talk about and blog about our working lives as well. You can have a life on the water and work on the hard. However, your soul longs for the sea, the sound of water as the boat slides along, the ring of wind int eh rigging, the physics of the disused telling you all is well and you are at peace.
When we went out earlier this month, I was constantly amazed by the motor yachts running to the next stop. There seemed to be an essential difference in motive between the motor yacht and the sailing yacht. The difference is not so much the boat itself, but in the entire of idea of why you are out on the water. In sailing, you must understand the wind, the tides, the weather and how to take best advantage of all of these to go in the direction you might want to go. These are not as important when you have power generated by a large diesel engine.
For a sailboat, there is an entirely different idea of getting anywhere. It is about the trip - not as much about the destination.
Here we are a week into our summer sail and we have not posted much. Forgive us for that, but we are really needing the down time. The other issue we are encountering is limited internet access. Even in the larger marinas, we find wifi frustratingly slow or not working at all. It starts making satellite connectivity something you might want to look at were it not for the cost of both antennas and data plans.
After such an interesting crossing we stayed a couple of nights at Otter Bay at North Pender Island. We then decided to sail off to Cowichan Bay and spend a day or two at this wonderful little town with a really cool waterfront.
There is a phenomenon that is created when wind driven waves run counter to tide and currents. That got us this morning. We left our home marina at 6 AM and started down river. We were in no hurry and were enjoying a cup of coffee and the early morning sun. As we approached Steveston, the wind piped up and we could see whitecaps out toward the Sandheads and whitecaps on the blue waters beyond. Checking the wind direction and speed we were showing 20 knots from the northwest with gusts to 25.
The Sandheads is the end of the breakwater that protects the Fraser River channel. This is also in the vicinity of the spot where the water goes from about 600 feet deep to about 50.
Sand heads Light - South Arm
Fraser River
Add to that the traffic! In this case one lone sailboat outbound and three vessels in bound: a huge freighter, a pusher barge ferry whose deck was filled with trailer rigs, and a fishing boat - all jockeying for position in the channel.
Now for the piece de resistance: steep breaking waves on our starboard quarter and an a very rough ride as the boat pitched and green water breaking over the bow.
So now my wife is seasick and heaving and my son is doing the same below deck. I am struggling to steer clear of all this traffic and not have the waves hit us broadside. Oh, did I forget to mention the enormous red channel buoy on our PORT side? Well yes, we find ourselves between the traffic and moving toward the damned buoy, so the give it full power on our auxiliary, come up behind the traffic and well ahead of the buoy. Lots of rocking and rolling. I get the sails up and size up the situation, close hauled to Porlier pass or broad reach to Active Pass. Hell, broad reach it is. The boat settles down nicely, making 8 knots in 22 knots of wind. and we are on a perfect track to Active Pass. Seasick wife is NOT amused.
We had a few experiences of dragging with our Delta anchor and we had the right scope for the depth. It unnerved us so much, we decided to invest in a Rocna anchor after a number of IP owners enthusiastically recommended we do so. So here it is on our bow roller:
Rocna 33 on the Bow Roller.
Side view of the Rocna. It Has About Twice the Spade Area
Last night we attended the St. Patrick's Regional Secondary School Grad Dinner and Dance. It was held in a ballroom at Vancouver's venerable Westin Bayshore Hotel.
Bayshore Hotel, Vancouver
It was a special night for a very special young man. We came here 6 years ago to attend a school that integrated autistic children into a regular high school environment. It has made a huge difference in his life and ours - thanks to the dedicated staff at St. Patrick's.
I decided to quote this post from the blog by Charles Doane called Wavetrain:
Bummer. Here I was looking forward to telling you guys all about the singlehanded passage I just did on Lunacy from St. Martin to Bermuda and instead I think I better go into this first. Details are pretty sketchy, but it seems five different yachts caught in a bad blow about 500 miles south of the Azores all called for help two days ago. A large SAR operation coordinated out of Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel, which involved five different aircraft and four different ships, resulted in a dozen people being rescued. Tragically, one of these, a 6-year-old French girl who spent seven hours in the water after her family's Lagoon 400 catamaran capsized and sank, died from hypothermia after she was recovered.
According to the best info I can cobble together right now the yachts involved were as follows:
Kolibri, Norwegian flag (evidently a Swan 44, see photo up top), with four crew aboard between ages 45 to 56 recovered by a Portuguese EH-101 helicopter. Kolibri reportedly had suffered a capsize and two knockdowns and had no engine or communications when her crew abandoned her. One crew member was injured, possibly with broken ribs.
Here's a viddy of their rescue:
Rêves D'ô, French flag, a nearly new Lagoon 400 S2, with a family of four aboard. The boat reportedly capsized and sank; there may also have been a fire onboard at one point. The mother, Sophie, age 37, and the older son, Hugo, age 9, made it into a liferaft and were recovered by M/V Yuan Fu Star, a bulk carrier out of Hong Kong. The father, Claude, age 39, and the younger daughter Inès, age 6, did not make the raft and were afloat for seven hours in life jackets before being spotted by a search plane and recovered by M/V Ezperanza del Mar, a Spanish hospital ship. Inès passed away soon afterward.
Inès and her dad aboard their boat. The family was apparently doing a circumnavigation together. You can check their blog site here
Manca 3, U.S. flag, with two crew aboard recovered by M/V Archangelos Gabriel.
Gandul, Dutch flag, with two crew, ages 45 and 56, recovered by M/V Cafer Dede, a container ship.
Missy 32, Swedish flag, with two crew who ultimately declined assistance from M/V Esperanza del Mar and continued on their passage
According to Portuguese authorities the five boats were caught in a low-pressure system that deepened dramatically over a short period of time. Wind speeds of over 50 knots were reported.
Here's a preliminary surface chart for 0600 UTC on May 6 that shows the low in question over the Azores.
I dealt with the front trailing off this same system during my passage (more on that later). I also spoke to several people in Bermuda who were aboard boats there when the low passed just north of there. They reported winds up to 45 knots inside St. George's Harbor.
I'm not going to do any kibitzing here, beyond noting that it is a little early in the season to be doing the run east across the Atlantic to Europe. (I know, I know. This from a guy who got in big trouble last year going to the W'Indies from New York in January!) And the weather this spring has seemed more unstable than usual. We've still got deep winter-type lows rolling off North America, and, believe it or not, there's already a named tropical system stewing in its own juice right off Florida.
You climate-change deniers can go ahead and deny all you want, but us ocean sailors know that the weather is not nearly as friendly as it used to be.
Mostly, though, I'm just agonizing over the loss of that little girl! My heart goes out to her family.
And major kudos to all the SAR personnel and vessel crews that helped recover the other survivors. These included a U.S. Coast Guard flight crew on a C-130 Hercules search plane out of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, who happened to be exercising with the Portuguese in the Azores at the time. They stood by and assisted the Portuguese helo crew that recovered the Norwegians.
I really find doing the brightwork on the boat therapeutic. It has been two years and there was a fair bit of deterioration. Much sanding and three coats of Epifanes later - I really like watching the water bead on the surface.
Just a quick video of the boat being moved in the travel lift.
We have been back in the water for two weeks now and forgot how much we like the boat in her element. When we were lowered into the water, we had tools with us to check that the thru-hull we added was dry and secure.
We put Terratima back in the water last Friday and have been sorting out other chores this weekend. Here are a few pictures of the travel lift taking here back to the marshalling slip.
We now have the zincs replaced at the propeller shaft and at the stainless steel connection from the keel to the rudder. Note the "locktite" to keep the screws in place.
After nearly three weeks on the hard, we will have the boat back in the water for high tide on Friday. That way, we can get back into our slip, tie up and settle into life aboard on the water once again. We will be all set for the May long weekend to head out under sail.
There is still a lot of arguing and finger pointing going on. Here is a photograph taken of the spill before the ship was surrounded with a containment boom.
This ship, the M/V Marathassa, has a containment boom placed around it after spilling Bunker fuel into English Bay. The Public was warned not to go into the water and not come in contact with the fuel which began washing up on the local beaches.
It's very annoying hearing the debate in the press that the Coast Guard reaction time was too long. The Coast Guard claims its reaction time was "World Class" while former Coast Guard personnel from the now closed Kitsilano Coast Guard station claim that they could have been there much earlier had the station been kept open by the Federal Government. There is simply too much bull***t going around. If the reaction time was "world class" we have serious trouble on our hands. This spill was a few thousand litres from a new ship (her maiden voyage in fact). Had this been a collision and the spill was tens of thousands of liters, the "world class" reaction time would be seen as pathetic with beaches fouled, marine life seriously compromised, business damaged and possible harm done to locals. All the rhetoric and spin in the world would sound like the tripe it is as we cleaned up the mess.
