We woke to find most things in our refrigerator were frozen including the hard boiled eggs that I had prepared before leaving Bellingham. So we found some cheese and added that to left over french bread and it was great.  Leaving Poet’s cove was beautiful and the winds had calmed down to 15 knots so we had a perfect launch.  Rounding the western tip of South Pender Island, we entered the Swanson Channel heading North toward Galiano Island. The winds varied between 10 and 15 knots, so all was going smoothly. We sailed on a downwind course for 2 hours alternating between a broad reach and a “wing on wing” sail position.  By 1 pm the winds kicked up to between 15 and 20 knots, and we were really making good time at 8 to 10 knots of boat speed.

The weather was forecasted to change around 2 pm, so we were watching for that as we made the turn into the Trincomali Channel.  Lunch was snacks and a combination of pasta salad and asian noodle salad that we bought for a picnic the night before we left Bellingham. (Eggs were still to cold to eat).

All of the sudden around 2:30pm we saw a wall of black water coming our way. Not a wave but just the color and texture of the water moving toward us. The sky darkened and all hell was about to break loose. The first thought was to lower the sails, but the wind hit before we had that chance. Our jib sail (front) has a very poor furling system without a winch, and when we checked out our boat I inquired about that.  The guy said to “furl by hand”.  It didn’t sound reasonable but I let it go. Now we need to furl the jib before dropping the main sail, because being a catamaran there is no back stay, so too much pressure is on the mast if the jib sail is up without the main sail.  So we had to solve the furling issue before we could lower any sails. Meanwhile the boat is blowing all over the place in winds from 35 to 40 knots.  Wow. The furling line was not long enough to reach a winch in the cockpit, so we ended up tying another line to it, then wrapping it around a deck stantion, and running it to the winch.  I started to “bump” the power winch and the rope held.  It was working.  As we furled, the lines forward were getting caught in the wind, and we could see a “hair ball” of different ropes balled up together. We had the jib 75% in by then, so we had less “flapping”.  Dianna went forward with my knife with the intention of cutting the ropes free, until she noticed that one was part of our “lazy jack” system for lowering the main sail in the bag. So as the boat is bouncing around in the amazing winds, she was battling the “hairball”. Meanwhile, the canvas enclosure covering the cockpit was coming undone with some zippers giving way and snaps breaking free, so the confusion in the cockpit increased. I had started the engines (2 one in each hull) when we first encountered the high winds, so I moved us into the wind and dropped the mainsail while Dianna was working. It did not come down perfectly but it was down, and we were now much safer. We put on our personal flotation devices (PFD’s) just in case. The we heard a loud alarm with a light that the port engine was overheating so I turned it off.  Dianna was able to navigate the lines free and we could then furl the jib to completion. Now sails were down but I was worried about the overheating engine. I tried to start it again but still overheating.  I tried to motor with one engine and rudder but no real luck. We gather up some things that had flown around the cockpit so we could give the engine a moment to cool. This entire time we are in radio contact with our other boats, many of whom were having similar issues. After 10 minutes I tried the port engine again and it came on with no light.  Yea. As we gathered our selves we got word from the leader that we would change course and duck into Telegraph Bay on Thetis Island for the night. With the trottles kicked up to 2800 rpms, we headed north into the waves and wind. We made slow progress but we were safe and moving …… we have a meeting this morning in 15 minutes, so I need to stop for now.  More later, but we got to Telegraph Harbor just fine and all is good here. Nice day today,sun it out! Yea!

No time to spell check and edit.  Will do that later today.

 

(more…)

Sorry for no blog yesterday.  We had some internet issues.  Our day ended in Canadian waters.

I just made a pot of coffee in our french press on board.  Tea kettle heated on the stove to a whistle, and then hot water in the press.  Yesterday was a little strong but better this morning.  Right now the wind is howling outside as we had a storm pass over last night.  But more on today, when I finish about tomorrow.

Friday night’s sleep proved to be a problem.  We finally got our boat at 8pm, then the walk through at 9pm.  We had a lot of questions and some open issues that did not have answers.  Then in the night, some boat alarms kept going off so we were constantly up and trying to correct the problems.  All good learning stuff about our home for the next 3 weeks, but very annoying when we want to depart on time and still be safe.

We finally left Bellingham yesterday at 11 am (90 min late), after numerous boat issues.  We knew we had to be at Poet’s Cove on South Pender Island by 4:45pm to clear customs before they close at 5 pm.  If we did not get there, we would have to divert to plan “b”, and sail south to Stuart Island for the night, then catch up with the group after clearing customs.  We got out of the harbor and through Hale Passage into the Strait of Georgia in about 90 minutes, then raised the sails for the first time.  Naturally on the first time up, we had some issues, but learned a lot about our boat and how it all works.  Finally turned off the diesel engine and “we were a sailboat”!  The wind was 12 to 15 knots, so perfect for starting to get the feel of the boat.  As we rounded Matia Island the winds came as forecasted, 20 knots.  That was a thrill and the boat reached 8.5 knots of speed.  Within 30 minutes the winds gusted to 25 knots and we were on a great ride with the boat hitting 9.8 knots.  We were flying through the water and making great time.  It wasn’t long that we did “the math” on our scheduled 32 mile trip, and knew we would easily make it for the customs deadline.  We sailed through the major international shipping channel for 2 plus hours, but we were lucky to only see one ship (see picture).

We arrive and cleared customs but that was interesting……..Only the captain gets off the dock with all the paperwork etc.  Dianna has to stay on the boat until we are cleared.  They have phones where you call in and speak with a person that does the clearance.  The alcohol policy is fairly limited and strict, so what I thought was going to be an easy proceedure, turned into more.  After buying three 1.5 liters of various liquors (vodka, gin, whiskey) along with beer and 12 bottles of wine at Costco, we discovered that they are kind of serious about this when clearing customs.  In our Friday night meeting they said to tell the Canadian customs people the truth, but to say the liquor bottles were open and not full.  So we did our best on Friday night to work through a bit of the stock 🙂    Anyway, I told the person on the phone about our amount and he said you are well over the limit and put me on hold for 3 minutes.  I tried to explain that this was a 3 week trip, but he was not having any of that.  I was getting tense…….. Then he came on and said, “I have decided to send you on your way”.  I tried to keep it brief and said thank you.  Then he said one more thing that floored me.  He said “Merry Christmas”………….

At the dock in Poet’s Cove there is a beautiful hotel, restaurant, pub, pool, etc.  I am attaching pictures from last night and this morning.  We had a wonderful shower on board, then a cocktail with a couple that is on the trip, followed by dinner and wine at the pub.  We had a bottle of local Pender Island red wine, “Sea Star” that was really good! What a great evening after a really great day of sailing!!

As I write this, we are in a protected cove at Poet’s Corner, but I am looking out at the open bay in the distance, where there are white caps and wind around 30 knots.  Today we are scheduled to sail 42 miles to Nanaimo in very strong winds, so this will be quite a day!!

More later, but looking forward to day 2 on our adventure!!

Pictures sent from my phone on separate post!

Wow, what a long day.  We shopped for some amazing food.  Finally got on our boat at 8 pm.  The orientation of the boat was done after dark, so not ideal.  It is now midnight and we finally got things put away.  Up early tomorrow at 6:30 to review charts etc and then a meeting at 8:30 am for the plan for tomorrow.  We have eggs being hard boiled at this moment so we can get a quick breakfast.  This boat is very nice but everything is new to us, so tomorrow is likely to be interesting.  No worries, we have each other and some amazing food and wine.  More tomorrow…….we are ready for some rest!  So excited……

We arrived this evening and all our luggage made it too. We had a great dinner at Anthony’s Hearthfire Restaurant. We think we saw our boat “Messing About” across the harbor. Then found an amazing grocery store, Haggen.  We are so excited for tomorrow, but today was fantastic, and we are off to a great start!  Found a great bottle of Columbia Valley red wine. Enjoying now. Cheers to all. Feeling like two lucky people in this world!!

Less that 24 hours from now we will be on our way to Bellingham Washington where we will spend Friday provisioning for the three week trip, and attending safety/planning meetings. Saturday morning,rain or shine (by the way it looks like rain), we will set sail for our first stop (Bedwell Harbor/Poet’s Cove in Canada.  We will clear customs and officially be in Canada.

We would like to thank our friends, who are members of the National Rifle Association, for taking care of our house, and our collection of Pit Bulls while we are away! Security should not be an issue…….