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.

Vancouver Area Weather

Here's the scoop:  Wind warning in effect -

Environment Canada's Map

So here's the marine forecast.  The cool part about this is that these are the wind speeds (true) that our boat just thrives on.

Marine Forecast

Winds

Issued 10:30 AM PDT 17 September 2011

Today Tonight and SundayStrong wind warning in effect.Wind southeast 10 to 15 knots increasing to 15 to 20 late this afternoon except 25 over northern sections overnight and Sunday morning. Wind becoming southeast 10 to 15 Sunday morning then veering to southwesterly 10 to 15 Sunday afternoon. Wind diminishing to light Sunday evening.

Extended Forecast

Issued 04:00 AM PDT 17 September 2011

MondayWind variable 5 to 15 knots.

TuesdayWind southeast 10 to 15 knots.

WednesdayWind southeast 15 to 20 knots.

Weather & Visibility

Issued 10:30 AM PDT 17 September 2011

Today Tonight and SundayRain beginning early this evening and ending Sunday morning.

List of Official Text Forecasts

Nanaimo and Newcastle Island

The long weekend of Labour Day was perfect.  From a weather point of view - cloudless skies and warm sunshine.  From a sailing point of view: wind.  From the camaraderie of members of the Gulf Yacht Club who all met at Newcastle Island just across from the City of Nanaimo.




NANAIMO HARBOUR

At the docks in Nanaimo Harbour

A really large sailboat moored - 

very pretty boat

The pilothouse of the sailboat - lots of room

Another view of the sailboat - we were impressed

The view from the docks across to downtown Nanaimo

NEWCASTLE ISLAND

Picnic area with totem

The beach

Nanaimo in the background

The clear day and the beauty of coastal BC

More of the beach

Nanaimo/Horseshoe Bay Ferry

WOW

Beautiful area

The only entrant in the fishing derby.

The catch

At the public docks at Newcastle Island.  We 

were anchored out earlier.

SAILING HOME

Winds varying from 10 to 12 knots - boat

speed topping out at 7.5 knots - CLOSE HAULED

Close hauled and moving at 7.5 knots

Working at "Home"

The labour day Weekend gave us an opportunity to get away. I continued to work from the boat in what doubles as my office:  the nav station.  It is all by itself on the port side of the boat and separated fro the living area enough to afford some latitude to concentrate on the task.    We have an Apple Airport wireless network and a wireless internet hub that allows us mobile access most anywhere we sail within BC that has cell coverage.  So, I can work from "home" on occasion even if "home" moves to another location for a period of time

"Home" moored at the Nanaimo Harbour 

Authority dock