The view astern as we head into the marina after an afternoon’s sailing in Howe Sound.

December is offering up some glorious weather which means that I’ve been able to get some great photos and video footage for a couple of my clients AND some lovely days on the water.

Since I’m keeping Madsu in the water this winter, I’m looking forward to some double-deluxe days when I snowboard Cypress Mountain (overlooking Howe Sound) in the morning then spend the afternoon sailing in Howe Sound.

The view astern as I head back to my slip at Thunderbird Marina after a lovely afternoon sailing in Howe Sound.

It’s been a weird summer in the Lower Mainland.

But forget all that.  September is smokin’.

Record high temperatures, and sun sun sun.

EB and I finally managed to get away for a few hours on the boat this afternoon. Most of the homeward bound sailboats were motoring up the Sound back to Vancouver, but we had a leisurely sail in the light southerly coming in from the Straight.

Howe Sound in all its glory.

Watch this video on YouTube.

The weather took a big turn for the better today.  Madsu’s doing 5.5 knots to weather as we beat into a freshening Southerly on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Howe Sound.

I really can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing that this.

Shot with a GoPro HD video camera – this is a still from the footage.

Sunshine and an inflow wind from the Straight of Georgia makes Howe Sound a magical place.

This lovely lug rigged Caledonia Yawl is doing about 5 knots to weather off our starboard beam.  The mountains you see in the background are Vancouver Island.

I had a reef in Madsu’s main and the 100% jib up, and the Yawl was outpacing us.

Saturday afternoon in the sun. Finally it’s WARM OUT !

Madsu Meets the GoPro from robert ouimet on Vimeo.

The bow light is actually behind the forestay and stem head fitting – not the best for visiblity.  And if I happen to have dropped the foresail on the deck, the light would usually get covered up. (See if you can even find the bow light in this picture of Madsu at the dock)

The stern light was a bit better, though mounted on the deck port-side, and not always visible.  While legal, these old lights have always made me nervous, particularly because I love night sailing.

So, before putting Madsu in the water this year I wanted to install new fore and aft nav lights, up on the pulpit/pushpit where they’d be seen.

Finding lights at Steveston Marine was easy – I got some nice Perko lights on sale – but mounting them on Madsu’s 1 inch pulpit and pushpit rails would be the challenge.

Catalina Direct sells a pulpit mount for over 30.00 dollars, and given the shipping and brokerage, it seemed like a crazy amount of money to spend.  So I decided to make my own (and spend a crazy amount of time to save a few bucks).

A few years ago I had purchased some stainless rail mount brackets (for a the traveler setup), and still had a few extra.

What I needed was some sort of plate to mount the lights on.  So, out came the jig saw and a piece of aluminum plate I had bought when I made the backing plates for the new winches.

I cut the plates, thinking I’d use 2 rail mounts on the bow light – but later opted to simplify with one (a good choice).  A little work with a grinder, then a file, then my Dremel tool, and the plates came out looking pretty great.

Next, I tapped holes for mounting the lights, and for securing the plate to the rail mounts.  I (and others) like to sit on the pulpit on a nice summer day, and with the mounting screws tapped, there’ll be no bolts protruding.

I wasn’t really up for drilling holes in the rail tubing and trying to chase the wiring through – I ran the wiring externally and secured it with self-amalgamating (rigging) tape.  If it turns out to be a nuisance, I’ll chase the wires inside the tubing next year.

Now I’ve got an additional level of comfort sailing at night, knowing that Madsu’s bow and stern light are visible.

It was a fabulous day on Sunday down at Horseshoe Bay.

As soon as I got to the dock, I kicked myself for leaving my camera at home, and had to settle for the lame camera in my Samsung phone.

This Adirondack chair has seen better days.

One question – do you think this particular item is  flotsam or jetsam ?