Thursday, August 20, 2009

The islands

With very little planning I decided to take an extra long weekend and take PIKAKE out over the highway to Embree. A small community where the in laws live. My Corolla had no trouble towing the 800lbs of boat and trailer and I never broke the 3000 rpm mark the whole trip. I just let the speed fall off on the large hills. Back to about 80 kph or so. I launched her on Friday morning from a beach not far from the house. Not a true slipway, but close enough to do the job of one. The winds were gusting to 50 kph and I was running with the wind. To be honest I had too much sail area up and it made me and my wife uncomfortable with an unproven boat. (I'm still getting a feel for how PIKAKE performs) after a while of the crazy sailing downwind I dropped sail and motored to her uncles cabin. There's a narrow "tickle" or run between 2 islands and the wind speed is even higher there, and so is the sea. It took about an hour of motoring but quite enjoyable. with no danger of capsizing with sails down she broke through the chop with ease. As John Welsford said, "she's a dry boat" I agree.
The afternoon winds were no different, but I was determined to sail in it. I reefed the main to it's second set of points (smallest area) and headed out with my father in law and uncle. Both are used to these conditions and it was sunny at any rate. We sailed around the nearby islands and I kept an eye on how the boat performed in these winds. I could have gotten away with more sail area out and have more speed, but this was good enough. Even with the wind the reefed sails kept us upright all the time. We had the sails down and tried some fishing but this time of year the cod are full of caplin and are not biting. With sails down and us fishing from the sides we were all impressed with how little PIKAKE tipped when we were up and about. We returned to the cabin for supper but after the wind was just right and myself and the father in law went out for an evening run. Idea conditions. A light breeze and no sea. It had calmed down a lot from earlier. This is why I built the Pathfinder...The next morning there was not a breath of wind. I was up early, anxious to start the day Everyone else was asleep so I wandered around snapping some photos. Me and Nadine motored back to Embree and picked up a load of relatives and shipped them down to the cabin.

As we were heading to Embree Nadine snapped this shot of us cracking the water of the bay. Not a soul around, not a sound to be heard. By late afternoon a small breeze had developed and I managed to get my nephews out for a sail. They thought it was pretty cool to sail into the wind and not just away from it. Totally enjoyable.We sailed about the shoals and small islands for an hour or so before the wind died again, but it was still so satisfying to do this with my nephews. Later that evening we gathered at the cabin for a large BBQ. Steak, pork chops, sausages, salads, oh my, the food. Once all the food was eaten everything was packed and we shipped out. With very little wind in the evening it made for a quiet trip back to Embree.

I'll add some more shots when I download them.

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