The day proceeded pretty much as we've come to expect: Lots of wind on the Jericho side of the bay, not so much on the North side and LOTS of tacking required to get around all the freighters and deal with the headwind that always blows directly into the bay.
We arrived at Bowen later than usual and hungry as bears. The famous Bowen Island Pub bacon cheeseburger was going to taste great. I had called ahead to Union Steamship Marina to reserve a slip. The kid who took the call seemed a little unsure of what he was doing and sure enough when I called in on the radio they had nothing for me. We couldn't even anchor as I had elected to leave the dinghy at home so we had no way of getting ashore. After floating around for a while waiting in vain for a spot at the public dock we had no choice but to head home without lunch. The guys weren't impressed and either was I.
The ride across English Bay and then downwind home was fun as usual but we had to change course for 3 different large ships. The last one was a large Holland America cruise ship on it's way out of Vancouver en route to Alaska. We knew from monitoring Vancouver Traffic on VHF that it had left it's birth but it's not always easy to know which side of the shipping lane to be on. It is very alarming how quickly these big ships come on compared to how slowly we can move. We managed to avoid being run over by a few thousand tourists on a large boat and proceeded home for dinner at Carderos.
Oh, and I got a bad sunburn after watching the other two guys apply sunscreen but neglecting to do it myself. I'm going to get ribbed badly at work on Monday and right now my face feels like it's on fire. I won't make that mistake again.
No comments:
Post a Comment