Spent three days on Keats, as our heat wave continues. Spent some time trying out a new camera, and Olympus TG4, it’s waterproof and shoots RAW, which is why I picked it for the boat. One way to make Madsu look like a big boat – shoot low!
Woke up Sunday morning to a red sky and the boat covered in ash – all from a forest fire north of the anchorage. Dousing with sea water helped a bit, but it took me hours once I was back in Vancouver to get the boat clean. Nasty stuff.
MV Noordam making her way into the Straight of Georgia.
I spent a great day on the water, doing a mini tour around Bowen and Keats Islands.
Heading out from Fisherman’s Cove in West Vancouver, out into the Strait of Georgia, up Shoal Channel to Gibsons, then into Howe Sound and back to Fisherman’s Cove. In the process I did a big circle around Bowen and Keats Islands.
I left at 10:30 and was home by 7:o0 pm. During the course of the day I must have done 7 sail changes and sailed on every point of sail at least once. Fun.
Top photo: looking southwest up Collingwood Channel – in the foreground from left to right – Bowen Island, Hutt Island, and Keats Island. In the background you can see Vancouver Island across the Strait of Georgia.
For a couple more photos, see this set at Flickr.
Back in January I bought this new boom tent for Madsu. It looks like a custom job, but in fact it’s stock from Blue Performance. Their ‘small’ size fit Madsu perfectly. Except, they don’t call it a boom tent – it’s a Sunshade De Luxe.
Call it what you will, it really makes a big difference on a small boat like Madsu. I’ve always use a cheap plastic tarp for a book tent, but this awning covers a larger area because it’s got 4 battens. It had a good test this week, as it was windy in the anchorage. With tie downs at each batten, it was rock solid even in the gusts. Set up and take down takes about 15 minutes. A major improvement, and well worth the cost.
It’s a holiday weekend here in Canada. The weather has been a bit mixed, but the sun came out shortly after 1 this afternoon, and we had a lovely sail in Howe Sound and out into the lower southern Strait of Georgia.
Spring just suddenly turned into summer – but with wind.
With nothing but sunshine in the forecast, and highs in the low to mid 20’s forecast, it’s time to take advantage of some of that lovely spring breeze. Today there was a Westerly in the lower Straight of Georgia at 15 knots with gusts to around 20. With a deep reef in the main I ended up moving down to my 60% jib – with Madsu doing 5.5 knots to weather.
Shorts and T-Shirt sailing on a sunny Easter Sunday. The wind went light be early afternoon, but it was so nice to be out on the water and not bundled up.
A great start to the Easter long-weekend. Sunshine expected for all four days, and temperatures are perfect for barefoot sailing.
Cockpit cam via GoPro
Sunshine and wind – it doesn’t get much better than this in early March in the lower mainland.
The temperature was hovering around 10 degrees C, but I did manage to go barefoot with that lovely sunshine. Madsu scooting along and punching through the chop.
Sure there was some ice on the boat cover and the docks were super slippery, but the sun was shining and there was a bit of breeze. Pretty great day on the water for the first sail of 2013.
This is a still from video shot with a Drift HD camera. I was sitting on the pulpit while Madsu sailed herself into the sound.