Getting Her Home

First Edition was purchased in Comox, the last boat viewed at the end of a long day on the Island. The plan for that day was simply to locate "possibles" and arrange for a second look at some later date. But FE just "caught" both Savannagh and me and we struck a deal that very day, August 11th. It took a week and a bit to arrange the various inspections .. a story unto itself .. and on August 20th, I climbed into a Harbour Air Beaver and it was off to Comox. Just about airborne here, and starting to wonder about the whole idea. Here's the people were buying from, Cal and Valeeta. Cal struggles to get things ready for the sea trial. I've kinda done things in reverse, the sea trial typically being first on the list as it's free. (If you don't like how it sails, why pay for a survey?). However, the logistics of a boat on the Island and our home on the mainland made some decisions for us. She sailed fine, very nicely in fact, and so the deal was struck. Part of the deal was that Cal would help deliver it, and I'm sure glad he did. Any new boat takes a lot of learning to uncover the secrets. Add in the fact that I hadn't sailed in over 30 years, and it would not have been wise to try to make my way home alone. The weather that first day changed from cloudy (shown here) to sunny and DEAD calm to seriously stormy.
Here the sun's come out. The first day ended at French Creek, an absolutely beautiful spot. At French creek, there is never ANY dock space and so the custom is to just raft up alongside someone else's boat and then crawl across it as courteously as one can manage. Here we're tied up to Gimli, a GREAT BIG junk rigged! steel beast. Another view rafted up to Gimli, with First Edition not seeming nearly so big as it did a hour earlier. Saturday dawned crystal clear and compelely windless. Off to Nanaimo. This was a pretty spot, though!
100 3035 A nice day for a motor. Sure would like to sail her, but completely still, all day. The Galiano ferry in the distance. The military installation near Nanoose Bay. There were no torpedo tests going on that day so we could travel straight through, but they take this all VERY seriously. 100 3041 A seal wondering what we're up to.
And landed in Nanaimo, tied up at the public wharf. I knew my "boss" Lionel would either be in Nanimo or would be arriving soon. (He's actually former boss and much more accurately described as "good friend") What I didn't know was that he would be moored on the same dock as us! That's actually his boat visible through the dodger RIGHT behind him. Savannagh took the ferry over Saturday afternoon, bringing along a duffel bag of "sailing stuff". We had dinner with Lionel, Liz and Keith, then spent our first night together on the boat. I have to say, I slept like a log, a most wonderful event given that I do not sleep at all at our cabin in Hope. Frankly, the inability to sleep at the cabin is one of the pushes towards a sailboat. Throughout the day, I regaled her with tales of terror about how scary the trip across the Straights would be, how it would be the worst weather she'd ever see, knowing full well the forecast was for perfect sailing weather. She just ignored me, sensing correctly as wives do that I was just messing with her. Little did either of us know .. Sunday dawned as expected, winds out of the NorthWest at 5 to 15; perfect. It was nice enough to let my sweety steer for a while. 100 3052 100 3053
You know what they say about the Straights though; if you don't like the weather, just wait a bit. It WILL get worse. And it did, dark and stormy and blowing harder and harder. About this time the fun and games of picture taking took a back seat to just staying afloat. About mid crossing, the winds were 25 to 30, with gusts of way more, and the sea was white, with the wind ripping the tops off the waves. The wind was dead on the beam and we were rolling gunwhale to gunwhale, taking water over both sides. I tried turning into the wind; no chance. I tried a dead downwind run, but had water crashing over the stern and filling the cockpit. I settled on a rear quartering wind as the least bad option, but still found ourselves surfing down the odd wave, making 10 knots sideways! I found myself muttering "this isn't good, this isn't good". Savannagh, to her great credit, while a wee bit seasick (having been forced below deck a couple of times to clean up things not appropriately stowed), just watched the world go by quietly, thinking my obvious anxiety was just me still messing with her. But at the end of the day, we DID get her home, and here she is, tied up at Horseshoe Bay. 100 3056 100 3057 My babe is a lot braver, now that we're docked!