Leslie and I got up and the boat was empty. So we packed up and headed into town. We walked past Munros (closed, thank goodness) and stopped in Murchie’s for coffee and strudel. Then we checked out MEC for a new pair of sunglasses, but it was still closed so we headed back to the inner harbour.

We checked out the causeway now stuffed with race boats and wandered along the waterfront and soaked it all in. Then it was back to the boat and time to get ready to cast off.

But when Tim came back, he and I tried to tighten the alternator belt. It didn’t work and so we went back to the old size belt — he had picked up new spares in Tofino. That done we fired up the engine and pondered how to get out of our raft with the wind blowing us on the dock. We decided to spring back off our companion boat and then drive forward. It worked.

Then it was off to the fuel dock where 2 sailboats, 6 kayaks and the pilot boat were all converging. The kayaks considerately stayed out of the way, so we grabbed the inside and the pilot boat beat the other sailboat to the outside dock. We fuelled up, topped up the water and I bought some new aviator-style shades. Then we joined the exodus of racing boats leaving the harbour and headed for the Gulf Islands.

We motored around the rocky bays and shoals between Victoria and Haro Strait. Eventually we raised some sails and headed downwind in a broad reach. At one point Tim turned off the chart plotter and we started navigating solely with charts and nav aids. I actually preferred it as it brings everything into focus rather than dealing with the distraction of the electronics.

On one particularly bad tack with light winds and a continually collapsing head sail I missed a couple of dirty white floats and ran smack into a crab trap. The line wrapped around something and the boat came to a slow halt. We managed to cleat up a bunch of line before it became too taut and after a half hour of fussing managed to grab the other end of the line on the other side of the boat. At that point we were able to determine the line was just wrapped around the rudder (not the more dangerous prop) by sawing it back and forth and so by cutting the line we freed ourselves.

Back up went the headsail and off we went. I navigated us through the islands, rocks and islets outside Sidney and then relinquished the wheel. Then it was a sunny calm sail to Montague Harbour where we grabbed a mooring buoy. Tim has this magic tool that stabs the ring on the mooring buoy and automatically loops your line through. Best tool ever!

We sipped red wine as the sun set and I took a hundred pictures as each phase of the sunset seemed more beautiful than the previous. Then it was time for dinner and bed. It looks like I am going to start getting used to these ten o’clock dinners.

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B Timothy Keith
–a la iphone!