All at sea for Christmas....

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The Bedraggled storm petrel...

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Overnight the winds increased into the thirties and as dawn broke and I handed over watch to Justin. I went forward to investigate a clanking sound Justin had been hearing in the night and found the deck strewn with tiny flying fish. Paul emerged about an hour later and we decided to bring down the main to give us more flexibility in terms of course as we are running almost down wind (and means we don't have to constantly be aware of he possibility of a slam gybe). So we reefed the Genoa and tightened it so we could sail close hauled while we brought the main down. At some point after me going forward and the main coming down a small storm petrel landed on the forward deck in a very sorry state, wet, bedraggled and exhausted. I went forward again to rescue it and wrapped it in a tea towel. It has dried off a little now and has done some preening and now looks more like a bird! We offered it one of the small flying fish but rather think it may be the biggest one it has ever s...
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Departure day slips again...

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Another eventful week of  extended deadlines and delays.... we thought that it might've been possible to set off with a grand party to wave us goodbye on Saturday.... sadly that will not be possible... But, looking on the POSITIVE side of it all, it has meant that we are now more prepared than we would otherwise have been.  We have;   refurbished the rear lazaret seals and latches so that they should be watertight and are now lockable.  supplemented the existing anchoring equipment by adding a new length of chain, 60m, together with 40m of anchor rope to create a new main anchor rode. This should allow us to anchor in depths of up to 30m. We removed the old 35m of chain from the forward chain locker, attached a new 45m anchor rope to make our secondary anchor rode, and relocated it to the starboard lazaret.  We have always commented on the slight list to Port due to the position of the generator and hope that putting the chain on the opposite s...
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18th Aug Grouse Mt

18th Aug Grouse Mt We ventured across the water to North Van and Grouse Mt to undertake the infamous Grouse Mt Grind....a 1000ft direct ascent of the Vancouver playground (skiing during winter, hiking, biking and zip lining during summer). As we went up to the base of the climb on a bus, we were overtaken by and ambulance and fire truck which we then found at the base of the trail after a visitor had had a heart attack about half way up the path. This turned out to be a blessing,for us at least, as we had to find an alternative route, the BCMC, which was not the straight line up the mountain but a much nicer route through the forest away from the teasing view of the gondola zooming up and down overhead. We arrived at the top in good shape and headed straight for the cafeteria! Large cold drinks and chips went down vey well :-) We then joined the large number of slightly less fit people in a wander around the 'attractions' at the top of the mountain. There is an enclosure wh...
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