Category: Sailing

Sailing Kootenay Lake


Not much wind, not much to do.  Had a full cockpit so didn’t raise the jib, likely should have.  Love the views.  Our SV is a 25 foot O’day from 1979.  Loving it.  Sorry it is on an iPhone so a pretty narrow shot.

To Sail Or Not To Sail – BC Edition


Gospel Rock Panorama - Gibsons Landing, Sunshi...
Gospel Rock Panorama – Gibsons Landing, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada (Photo credit: Daniel Peckham)

And we are off.  Road trip from Calgary to Gibsons, BC, via Vancouver through the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  Then we sail.  Four days of lessons on a 36 footer in Howe Sound, then a more road trip up the Sunshine Coast.  From there a ferry to Vancouver Island, then back to Vancouver and home.  Building more memories, the most important thing in life. Hope to post a few quick posts along the way.

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The Unexpected Things You See


I took these pictures while the cruise ship we were on was departing Funchal in the Madeiras. No idea what ship it was, but it was clearly a replica of some significance. An amazing sight on the open Atlantic.

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The Atlantic Meets The Caribbean


Some very raw and rough footage I took of a reef off the coast of Barbuda in the Caribbean sea.  What we are seeing is a reef where the Atlantic Ocean (dark blue) hits the reef, waterfalls over it and becomes the Caribbean Sea (light blue).  Very loud so turn down the sound.  I apologize for the bounciness of the clip, but a sailboat, or any boat for that matter, is not a very stable platform to shoot a video from.  We had anchored in this vicinity overnight, and enjoyed the sights and sounds through the evening and morning.  Pretty impressive.

 

You Never Know What You’ll See


In summer of 2012, we were doing our “To Sail Or Not To Sail” explorations and stopped in Blind Bay, BC for lunch.  Nice resort town on a bay on Shuswap Lake.  A beautiful, hot summer day, enjoying a cold one and a burger and then a plane blows by.  Love BC.

Love BC
Love BC
Had To Be Quick
Had To Be Quick

We did see a sailboat there, pretty much the only one we saw all day.  We stopped at a marina and were told, sailboats don’t work on this lake as there is never any wind.  Scratch a beautiful lake.

A Boat In The Bay
A Boat In The Bay

Daily Prompt: There’s No Place Like Home


Sunset In Barbuda
Sunset In Barbuda

I don’t do a lot of Daily Prompts, but this one was an interesting one, so here goes.  The questions presented are:

If you had the opportunity to live a nomadic life, travelling from place to place, would you do it? Do you need a home base? What makes a place “home” to you?

We have been considering various retirement options as we approach that juncture of our life. When we ponder, we usually come up with some variation of the nomadic lifestyle.  Whether it be renting apartments in various cities around the world and explore, or buy a sailboat and do things in that way, it always ends with that conversation.  We are slowly lurching along a committed path to do some variation, with the sailing usually ending at the top and the apartment concept as a fall back.  We have always been a bit nomadic in our life, living in 7 cities over the years, and we travel well together, usually just the two of us. So the answer to would you do it is a resounding yes.

Inside Passage, Alaska
Inside Passage, Alaska

The idea of living on a boat can be a traumatic thought to some.  The space is small, yes, but, you technically always have a place to call home.  Technically speaking, it is a mobile home base.  A home base to us, is a complete necessity.  When we go places now, we tend to book a B&B or apartment for a week and fan out from there.  This works well in Europe as the transportation systems are usually impeccable and heading out and getting back is usually quite simple.  It also beats lugging a lot of suitcases everywhere you go.  Grabbing a backpack and heading out is the only way to go.  To attach this theory to a sailboat is a simple stretch.  Dock in a marina and head out.  The difference is that you could go further with no need to return every night.  Once again, the answer to needing a home base, an emphatic yes.

A Possible Home
A Possible Home

What makes a place home to us is fairly simple.  It comes down to personal space and stuff.  The touches and familiarity can cushion the fact that home would generally be quite far away.  Stuff is important as well as they tell you that you are in your own space and you always have what you need close at hand.  Think of clothes, bicycles, golf clubs, dishes, nick-knacks.  You see reminders that you are in your own space, that you have everything you need and have a connection to it.

To sum up, there is no place like home, however, with the right touch, you can definitely take home with you.

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Hello from Vancouver


Made it into beautiful Vancouver. That’s the good. The bad, gale force winds and our sail was cancelled. Here is a couple of shots. First the mountains as we landed. The second is a view of downtown from Granville Island.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape


This week the challenge presented us is “Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape”.  In the description, one sentence hit me as so true in my thinking in the past while, “the desire to disappear and run away, the need to unplug and shut off”.  To some this may mean solitude, or winding down.  To me it means leaving nothing on the table as life rumbles on.  See it all, experience as much as one can and do it in such a way that maximizes the experience and allows opportunity for that solitude, and the lowering of one’s stress.  I think we have found our avenue to escape with a simple sailboat.  I sincerely hope we can work this one out.

The Volcano on Montserrat, seen at sea off the coast of Antigua
The Volcano on Montserrat, seen at sea off the coast of Antigua
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Antigua – To Sail Wins, So Far


Our Nightly Light Show
Our Nightly Light Show

We have asked ourselves several times the question, to sail or not to sail.  At this point, we have advanced to the point that it is not a definite no, yet still not a definitive yes.  We are satisfied that we can do it on a level of ability, now comes the thinking part.  As in, what will it take to make this a bigger part of our future.  Lots to discuss, lots to post, but at least we know we love doing it.  Four hours of 10 foot seas and 22 knot winds showed us that we can handle it, and, indeed revel in it.  A quick tease for you.  Raw video off Antigua.

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