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Hi Everyone,
Here is the Royal
Sounder on day one at
rest in Poet's Cove (Bedwell Harbour, British
Columbia), with the Green Devil snugged
up along side for the night. David is sure proud
of this skiff (which he built). He enjoys it
immensely and always gets lots of comments and
compliments.
The Green Devil is very comfy and fast.
So far towing it has not been a problem and marinas
are not crowded this early so having
it along side when we are docking has been
easy. When it gets busier, one of us will have
to drive the dinghy to a parking spot while
the other one docks the big boat. We set up our
lines and fenders ahead of time and the dinghy
driver parks, then goes to the slip to pick
the lines off the railing as the other one brings
the big boat in. We practiced that routine last
year at Roche Harbor and it works pretty well.
For me, the real challenge of towing this skiff will
be when we are caught in big seas, especially
following seas. I'm not looking forward to that.
After we left Bedwell
Harbour, we were heading for Dodd Narrows when
this Canadian Customs boat came screaming up
along side us. This is the
first time we have ever been checked on
the water this far south in BC (the north
end of the Gulf Islands).
And what were they
looking for? This little piece of paper hanging
in the window that verified we had cleared
Customs. They are getting more
and more serious every year about
all of this.
This is Dodd Narrows,
approaching it from the south. Boaters are advised to take
this narrows at slack. We decided to "challenge" the
Narrows and go through an hour before slack
turning to flood to see what it was like going
that early. And so I could take pictures for
show and tell at my boat talks.
That decision meant
we expected a 3-4 K
current against us. And that is what we got;
that's about the max for us. I was curious about
what the water would look like. Here is a picture
of it. We are up against the east edge where
it is quite turbulent.
Not impressed? How about the next picture? Can
you see the whirlpool in the middle of this pic
below? (Hey Art, what do you think?) This is
a very short narrows so you're through it in
a flash.
Goes to show you
what I will do for some good pictures to show
people why they should
not do this until they have local knowledge and
some experience. David had fun driving. I had
one hand for the camera and one hand holding
onto the boat! We would not experiment much beyond
this time window in our 7-8 K boat.
Nanaimo has become incredibly busy. There was
boat traffic everywhere. From work boats...
to log tows - we are seeing LOTS of log tows
this year...
... to ferry boats ... and CRUISE SHIPS anchored
outside Nanaimo.
And not just one
cruise ship, but two. We've never seen that
before in Nanaimo.
David spotted this
boat in the Nanaimo anchorage. He
recognized it from a Passagemaker magazine
article so he dinghied over to take a closer
look. The owner stepped outside the cabin
to chat with Dave and what did he want to talk
about? David's home-made skiff! He recognized
the design (Phil Bolger).
Wind Horse is aluminum
and is 83' long and about 15' wide
- Steve Dashew (a big name in the boat world) is
the designer, builder, and owner. It is
quite a unique looking boat. Looong and
skinnnnnny.
If you are curious and want to see more pictures,
go to:
http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/yachting/slideshow/0,25561,1149707-0,00.html
OK, enough pictures.
We are in Port McNeill
awaiting a part for our starboard engine; it
is a start/stop relay and solenoid. Not a biggie,
but it needs to be fixed. Stuff happens. We
are glad it happened at Port McNeill where
it is easy to arrange for transport of parts.
(This one is coming from Vancouver.)
We upgraded some
of our electronics capabilities this year. This
hotmail message with lots of pictures is possible
because of my wonderful new external antenna
for wireless connecting to the internet from
my laptop. I love it. What a convenience when
we are in port.
And best of all: our auto pilot works like a
dream and is so nice to have. Another Dave accomplishment.
I can't believe what an energy saver it is. And
of course, I like having it linked to the electronic
charting. David claimed he would NEVER let the
computer run the boat on his watch. Guess how
long that lasted? One day.
As soon as parts and weather permit we will
head across Queen Charlotte Sound.
Our best to all of you.
Linda & Dave
M/V Royal Sounder
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