Another picture perfect weather day in Howe Sound, and great sailing too.
In the distance you can see the race fleet from the annual Round Bowen Island race.
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This J22 is looking good, working to weather on her way out of Howe Sound and heading toward Vancouver.
A brand new North Sails jib – one of two new foresails that arrived today.
Sweet.
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Working It
Madsu, cutting through the chop, working to weather.
Lots of spray on the foredeck and the occasional face full. Nice when the sun’s shining.
It’s alwaysa bit risky holding the D70 over the side, but love that autofocus.
You can see BC Ferries “Queen of Capilano” heading into Snug Cove on Bowen Island ahead to starboard.
BTW: there’s something very wrong with the running rigging. Can you spot the problem? My Bad !
(I had just done a sail change and after snapping this tacked over and fixed my error)
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Sublime / Ridiculous
Archimedes off my starboard bow. One of the 100 largest motor yachts in the world, she’s at anchor in Mannion Bay, Bowen Island BC.
Madsu and I sailed by and took a couple of quick shots, but didn’t want to be rubber-necking-tourists.
We’re far too classy for that.
A few quick comparisons:
- LOA: Madsu, 22 feet. Archimedes, 222.3 feet
- Power: Madsu, one, 9.9 horsepower gas engine Archimedes, two, 2,000 horse power diesel engines
- Fuel tank: Madsu, 22 litres. Archimedes, 171,000 litres.
- Crew: Madsu, 1. Archimedes, 16
Also see this shot
Archimedes is apparently one of the 100 largest motor yachts in the world, # 75 according to this website.
She was anchored in Mannion Bay, on Bowen Island, late this afternoon. I saw her pull in so I sailed over to get a couple of shots. Note the swimming pool on the upper aft deck. Nice touch.
The yacht has beautiful lines; she looks like a proper ship.
And she’s big alright. Over 222 feet, and sports two, 2-thousand horsepower Caterpillar engines.
I wonder if they were heading over to the Eco-Shed ?
Have a look at this quick comparison with Madsu.
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Ideal Conditions, Again
Another brilliant day in Howe Sound.
I got down to the boat a bit late in the morning, and the southerly inflow was already well established.
A reef in the main and the #3 jib were in order – as the puffs were fairly strong and Madsu, like most sailboats, prefers not to be on her ear. Skipper too.
It was another hot day and working our way to weather at 4.5 knots felt pretty good. This may be the last time I use the old #3. Marcia at North Sails called today to say my 2 new jibs have arrived. Perfect, since we’ve been getting lots of katabatics in Howe Sound with all this heat.
I’m sure the 100% will get used tons, and the storm jib will be a welcome over the next few weeks.
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Sail Changes and Reefs
It really was a day packed with sail changes and reefs.
When I headed out at 9:30 (when I took this picture) there was a light wind from the North, just enough to keep Madsu moving at 2 knots. The forecast was for 20-30 knots from the south by noon. I put some BB King on the MP3 player and sat back and enjoyed the air.
Right on track with the Environment Canada forecast, the wind shifted to a southerly inflow around 11:30.
After beating for 2 hours, I now found myself having to beat again to head back the way I came.
No complaints though.
The wind built steadily, so I reefed the main. Next I had to douse the 150 in favour of my bagged out #2 jib.
I made a quick half tack and dropped the jib on the bouncing foredeck, bagged it, and hoisted the #2. It’s beat up and tired – it came with the boat, and aside from looking a lot like a pillow case when I hoist it, it was never cut correctly for the boat. Still, we managed a lumpy 4 knots or so to weather in a wet wind-over-tide chop. I can’t wait for the 2 new head sails I have coming from North Sails.
By the time I got back to where I’d come from, it really was time to dump the #2 for the #3, but I decided to call it a day, taking a few minutes (and tacks) to play in the gusts rolling off the headlands.
Besides, I was hungry. It was 2:00 and I’d been so busy sailing I hadn’t had any lunch.
Now there’s a west coast complaint for you – “I was too busy sailing to eat my lunch”. Awww.
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World’s Best Air Conditioning
It’s a bit warm here in the lower mainland of BC. Radio talk shows today had tips on how to cool off for those without air conditioning.
We took our over-heated, over-worked bodies out into Howe Sound, with dinner aboard Madsu courtesy a couple of take-out joints in Horseshoe Bay.
A great way to cool off and the best view on the planet.
I just had the Pentax Optio aboard and regretted leaving the Nikon at home – but managed to capture the mood. Fantastic evening.
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Hitch Hiker
One of our neighbours on the dock was heading out on his brand new stand-up paddle surf board, so we gave him a lift out of Horseshoe Bay.