After a sleepless night listening to the wind in the rigging and unfamiliar noises from the anchor, we awoke with a fresh mission in mind - Lets get out of Nanaimo.
But first, we had to extract the windlass battery, launch the dinghy, get the outboard onto it (in the turbulent waters of the windy Mark Bay), zip across to the harbour, lug a battery across town by hand and lug the new one back to the harbour.
All that work entitles us to a reward, so a cinnamon bun and coffee was in order.
Now, a quick trip to London Drugs to pick up some more regular AAA and D batteries that we suddenly find ourselves short of, the grocery store for some fresh bread, and a stop at the fuel dock to fill up a jerry can of gas for the dinghy (since it is working now, we may actually want to use it).
Now the stupid outboard doesn't want to work! Ok, just flooded - wait patiently and try again - just don't let it quit this time...
Back to the boat, get the outboard off of the dinghy and stow it, haul the dinghy up on the davits, install the new windlass battery and we are finally ready to up anchor. It is getting close to noon by now.
The wind is still blowing in the harbour and the marine forcast on VHF is calling for a storm warning in the Strait of Georgia (which is about the amount of wind we need to get this boat moving), so we quickly hoist the anchor, motor back past our marina (basically back to where we started yesterday) and out into the strait via Departure Bay. Anticipating the strong winds, we raise the sail with 2 reefs already in it and prepare ourselves for a lively day of sailing.
Wind? What Wind?
After several frustrating hours of sailing back and forth without making any progress towards our destination, we motored most of the 30 miles north to False Bay on Lasqueti island. Anchor down by 6:30 PM and we are ready to crash. Seems like a long, long day.
But at least we have made a start...
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment