A gallery of images (for now the complete set of 500 some can be found here) and some final thoughts about our trip

I guess if you made it this far, you will have come to the conclusion that I though the trip was glorious. Well, you’d be right. I learned a lot, gained a lot of confidence, saw things I never really thought I’d see and met some great people. And this trip really did solidify the idea that I am not done with cruising.

I’m not sure if I would do flotillas as a regular thing. They make a lot of sense for the first time you are making a trip to a complicated destination; I will definitely consider one for our inaugural trip to Greece. I am not sure I would bother doing one to Desolation Sound now that I’ve been to the Broughtons.

Dave (R Shack Island) invited us to ‘buddy boat’ with them if/when we go back. This makes a bit more sense. It gives you someone to bounce ideas off of and help with itineraries or emergencies, but also offers a lot more freedom and ‘alone time.’ I guess that becomes a matter of matching schedules and finding compatible people/boats. I will have to think about working on people like Brock and Nikki here in YEG.

As for the Yeadon-Jones’s, I appreciate all they did, but I think with 10 boats, 30 personalities, windlass and electrical problems and shifting schedules it overwhelmed everyone from the start and it took a week to catch up. This was mildly unfortunate because the first week was when I really wanted the ‘support’ and comfort the group-think of a flotilla could offer. This was only their second flotilla and they did a pretty damn good job considering. I might be a bit more negative if I had actually been ‘left behind’ in Port Neville, but I wasn’t and the explanation I got made sense in the context. And it was great meeting them and having a chance to talk about their perspective on self-publishing and the industry as a whole.

If anyone has a chance to join a flotilla led by these two I encourage you to give it a try. It was a great experience.

And I think we solidified our position as sailors instead of powerboaters. Not to say I won’t charter a powerboat again, but after L and I talked it over we both believe that sailboats give better value, more options and sailing is just plain fun.

All that is left now is to decide whether we go back again this season.