Sitting on a couple of sail bags on the foredeck, sipping a morning coffee.
Here’s the view this morning from Plumper Cove on Keats Island.
After yesterday’s fun and intense inbound trip, our trip home was at the other end of the spectrum.
We left the dock on Keats Island around 8, and ended up motorsailing all the way back to Horseshoe Bay, with barely a ripple on the water the entire trip.
Hard to complain when it’s so darned beautiful.
From the outside float, looking out into the Plumper Cove.
That yellow can marks a big rock, just off the float.
Years ago when I did my cruise and learn course, we did docking practise here.
The rock wasn’t marked then, and we did manage to hit it going dead slow, in a Banner 37.
Hiting a rock with the keel isn’t a sound you ever forget.
There’s a big yellow can marking this rock, just off the outside float at the Plumper Cove Marine Park.
I’d love to know the story behind the engineering decision to build out the docks right next to rock just below the surface at chart datum.
We had a crazy ride up Howe Sound from the northern tip of Bowen to Keats Island.
The wind was a gusty 25+ knots on the nose – I had a deep reef in Madsu’s main and my new 60% North Sails jib up.
Fantastic combination – we ploughed through the waves at a steady 5.5 knots, heeled at about 25 degrees or so.
It was a wet ride, with spray well into the cockpit as we pounded through the steep waves.
I loved the feel of the boat riding through the rough stuff – she was working but under control and seemed ready to scream along for days – comfortable and in the slot. Loads of fun in brilliant sunshine.
I didn’t get the camera out until we were approaching Keats – I’d pulled one of the reefs out of the main by that point and the wind and particularly the waves had let up considerably.