Sailing was meant to be done barefoot.
Up until this weekend, I’ve had to keep my shoes on – just a bit too chilly for these dogs.
But today, despite the drizzle, marked the first barefoot cruise of the season.
Let there be many more.
An outstanding spring day on the water. With a westerly pushing in from the Straight of Georgia at about 12 knots, it made for a fabulous day sailing. Warm enough to be barefoot and in short shirtsleeves. Finally.
To celebrate Madsu’s new through-hulls, the whole family joined me for a leisurely afternoon sail.
And what a delight too – just a mile or so off Fisherman’s Cove we encountered a sea lion, then a mile later, a pair of Dall’s Porpoise circled the boat a couple of time before disappearing into the flooding tide. I gybed around to see if we could encourage them to play in Madsu’s bow wave, but I think we were probably going to slow for them. By the time I thought to get my camera out, they were gone, but their visit was a delight.
I take it as a good omen for the sailing season.
A deep sea makes its way up the Straight of Georgia inbound to Vancouver.
We’ve had a couple of very blustery days, and the surf was pounding again today. But while the sun was shining, it was a pretty fabulous day.
Madsu’s looking a bit cold – there’s even a bit of ice in the marina this afternoon – but temperatures are on the way back up.
It’s just going on 4:30 in the afternoon and already the sun’s almost down. A beautiful November dusk.
October 9th and a picture perfect day in Howe Sound. This is just shortly after noon, with a light inflow wind.
Passage Island in the foreground, Bowen in the background. To the left way off in the distance is Vancovuer Island.
Had a lovely day out on the water – missed the sun earlier in the day but it didn’t really matter. A light northerly outflow from Howe Sound made for a leisurely pace – just a few other sailboats out in the sound enjoying the day.
Heading dead down for a bit on my way back to Fisherman’s Cove after beating up the sound for a ways.
It was a day for a light touch on the tiller – and a lot of patience. Lovely fall sky and still shorts weather in Howe Sound today. We didn’t go anywhere fast, but then again, what does it matter ?
Record high temperatures for Southern British Columbia this September. We had a gentle southerly inflow in Howe Sound this afternoon. Most of the homeward bound sailboats were motoring back to Vancouver, but we had a lovely leisurely sail.
Howe Sound perfection.