How Long Is Summer ?

The answer is simple.

Cruising with Madsu on a typical BC summer day.

It’s possible it gets better than this, but I doubt it

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A little reminder of what to expect (again) in just a few months.  And really just an excuse for me to futz with Final Cut Studio 2 which arrived this week.

Sailing to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

I’ve been pretty smug  about my low carbon recreational footprint. My little sailboat Madsu does have an auxiliary outboard motor, but it’s only on for a short period of time while I motor in and out of the docks at Horseshoe Bay.

The rest of the time, Madsu is under sail.

I do have the need for electricity aboard - power for my running lights, GPS, cabin lights, marine radio and of course my stereo. For that I have small solar charger that keeps my two 12 volt batteries perfectly topped up - in the last 2 years I’ve not once had to plug in to the grid to recharge.

So, when I saw a story in Treehugger about a BC community using sailboats to lower their food carbon footprint, I was hooked on the idea.

It’s reallly the story about a community getting together to do something that’s healthy, rewarding, and dare I say, fun.

Almost 200 people agreed to pay 100.00 dollar each for grain grown by farmers using horses instead of tractors. And to reduce the carbon footprint even more - someone came up with the idea of delivering the crop by sailboat…

After the heritage varieties of wheat were grown, harvested and packaged, the grain shipment was loaded at Kuskanook Harbour on the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake. The sailors took one and half days to sail the length of the lake and into its western arm to a private dock in Nelson. CSA members were out in force to help unload the sailboats and collect their zero carbon grain, including red fife wheat, khorasan wheat, hard spring wheat, spelt and oats. (full story here)

Since I’m out sailing in Howe Sound and the Straight of Georgia a few times a week, I’d gladly carry some cargo aboard.

Who knows, maybe my pal James Glave would like some stuff brought over from the mainland to his Eco-Shed on Bowen Island.

So, if if you’ve got a few bags of grain, baked goods or any other stuff you’d like delivered somewhere on the south Coast - let me know.

Madsu’s out of the water now until spring, but I’d by happy to oblige and help lower your food chain impact.

< cross posted to VanGoGreen >

The Otters Revenge

A couple of weeks ago I made what I thought was an innocuous remark about river otters at the marina and the various ways boat owners have chosen to keep them off their vessels.

River Otters use their scat and urine to mark their territory, and once they find a spot they ‘like’, they return over and over. If your the lucky owner of a boat that’s become their favourite spot - good luck.

Here’s the thing.

They’re cute as hell, but their leave-behind, while I’m sure aromatic to another Otter, is down right smelly. Our friend Mandy on Saltspring says if they get in your boat, about the only way to get rid of the smell is to sell it.

With a sailboat, the issue is less problematic than an open powerboat.

Unless you leave a hatch open.

Which I never do.

Except for earlier this week.

When I did.

Leave the hatch open.

Stupidly.

Ironically, the day I left the hatch open was the day I went down to the boat to wash the otter goo from the foredeck.

Oops.

Normally, leaving the hatch open would mean a nice fresh air smell down below.

Except.

Our local otters discovered my mistake and used otter SMS to let their peeps know it was time to party.

Compared to the cold fiberglass non-slip fore deck, things are downright luxurious below decks. At least from an otter’s perspective (or a cold sailor’s).

Those crazy kids left quite a mess, the smell was quite unbelievable. I spent a couple of hours pulling everything out of the boat, washing it down, and scrubbing down the boat. EB finds it amusing that I can spend hours scrubbing the boat but rarely do the same with our kitchen or bathroom floor but that’s for another post.

Even then it smelled mighty ripe.

A nice day out on the water to air things out seemed appropriate.

What little breeze there was didn’t do a lot to dissipate the smell, so I’ve hauled everything ‘marked’ by my otter pals home for a heavy duty scrubbing, using organic orange peel concentrate and whatever else I can get my hands on.

So far the results are 50-50.

My foul-weather gear is smelling pretty good actually - the 4 settee cushions a lot less so.

Thankfully the boat’s only in the water for another week then will be parked beside the house where I can apply any number of smell-reducing-organic-concoctions in hopes of bringing Madsu back to her odiferous self.

Never before have I longed for that musty smell of a closed up sailboat.

Crisis? What Crisis?

The title of a 1975 album by Supertramp has absolutely nothing to do with the current financial meltdown. But the phrase (also from the movie Day of the Jackal) is my favourite response when things get testy.

With every news report laden with the latest stories on the financial crisis, and an election campaign both here and in the US, its time to deal with this stuff once and for all.

How ?

Simple.

Fugetaboutit.

Down on the docks at Horseshoe Bay there was no inkling of anything other than the typical waterfront activity.

Ferries from Bowen Island, Departure Bay on Vancouver Island, and Langdale came and went like clockwork. And hundreds of cars - long-weekend mainlanders heading to a B&B or Gramma’s house - lined up (as usual) waiting for their boat to arrive.

Over on the east docks, where Madsu is moored, river otters continue to make a mess on boats tied there. Given the choice between munching their seafood on the rocks or on a nice Sumbrella fabric cover, they go for the boat covers ever time.

They also seem to like those lovely upholstered seats in power boats, and they leave quite a mess.

Here’s what they left behind on the boat in the slip next to me.

This is the same guy who’s parents leave CBC Radio One on in their boat, claiming it keeps the otters away ( and it seems to work).

My boat neighbour though claims he’s found the perfect anti-otter-repellant: wolf pee. I’m not entirely sure how he’s going to acquire it, or how he’s going to apply it, and if his boat will smell better or WORSE because of it, but what the heck - sounds like a plan

Over at the government dock, a big vintage power vessel was tied up, getting all gussied up for what looked like a wedding party.

I’ve not seen the Tarapunga before, and her aft deck was decorated with ribbons and flowers - but the wedding is a fake: they were shooting on-the-water scenes for the TV series Harper’s Island.

While I was out sailing, Tarapunga went steaming by - not far behind the picture chopper flew just a hundred feet or so off the deck - swooping in on Tarapunga for what I’m sure will be a very sweet shot since as she steamed out into the Straight with the sun glistening off the water.

Beautiful BC couldn’t be much more adorable than it was today.

I tried to get Madsu in the shot but when it comes to a race between my Catalina 22 and a helicopter, well…

The wind piped up so I put a 2nd reef in the main and pulled out my bagged out old jib.

Six hours later I was back at the dock, giving Madsu a proper scrub down after soaking the foredeck in salt-spray.

One fine Thanksgiving Weekend sail - and the only bail-out I considered the entire day was in relation to the dinghy.

Markets ? What markets?

Screw Heading to the Pub

Even though I’ve lived in Vancouver since 1987, I’m still a prairie boy at heart.

And the prairie boy in me still finds it amazing to be able to head over to the dock after work, go out for a sail, and still be home for dinner.

That’s precisely what I did today. Though I missed most of the afternoon sunshine, it as still a delightful couple of hours and an excellent way to unwind.

The wind was super light so I doused the 150% jib and hoisted the cruising chute. This is my first season with the gennaker and I can’t believe the difference it makes having this sail. Today is a prime example - on a beam reach the wind was barely filling the jib, and though I was moving, it was painfully slow.

As soon as I hoisted the cruising chute, the boat took off. I’ve got a NorthSails G3 which is a bit smaller than their big gennaker - its super easy to handle and having a snuffer means I hoist it more often knowing it’s not a big deal, even if I’m sailing by myself, as I was today.

Short of a dead still day, this sail keeps me moving, and for day sails where destination isn’t all that important, the off-wind performance is really nice to have.

Even though Madsu’s cruising chute is small, it’s still magic playing the sheet on the kite, and the sight of all that material full to the shoulders and pulling, is quite mesmerizing.

Given the option of heading to a bar for a quick one after work, or doing this ?  No contest.

Sailing August Away

Saying goodbye to August with an afternoon on Madsu in Howe Sound.  Plenty of puffs interspersed with dead spots made for a challenging hopscotch across the sound.

Moonlight Sail with Bella and Aron

Garnet and I were lucky enough to be joined by Aron and Bella on our FullMoon Sail last Friday night.

I got a bit of video footage - fun night. Sorry the video’s so dark but it WAS already quite dark (it’s gonna get darker), and I left the good camera on dry land…

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