“Man (fender) overboard!”

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

The wind and rain that blustered about Braesail during Monday night continued into a misty gray Tuesday morning, and leaving the Ganges dock, hanging up the mooring lines on the boat’s lifelines, and stowing the fenders in the stern was a cold, wet, unpleasant business! It wasn’t long, however, before we made a turn around to the northwest, the rain diminished, and we were blessed with strong, steady tail winds! We shut off the boat’s engine and SAILED gloriously for over three hours at around 7.5 kts. (about 8.5 mph–our normal speed when motoring is 6-7 kts.); this was the longest, smoothest, and overall most enjoyable sail we’d ever had in over eight years of traveling on Braesail! What a marvelous gift!

After about five hours of travel under pewter skies and an easy passage through Dodd Narrows near Nanaimo, we prepared to moor the boat at the Nanaimo Yacht Club dock where we’d tied up in January before our journey to Princess Louisa Inlet.  As Ken was clipping a fender (a large sausage-shaped inflated “bumper” that hangs down alongside Braesail’s hull to protect it from being scratched while docking) to the rail that runs around the boat’s decks, the clip suddenly opened and off went the fender into the sea! Ken used the boat-hook to retrieve the floating fender as Walt slowed the boat and swung it around in a circle, and our unplanned “Man overboard!” drill was completed successfully!

We spent the rest of the day reading, studying, writing, napping, enjoying dinner, playing another game of “Hearts”, eating lemon meringue pie, cleaning the galley, and packing (accomplished by Lisa and Ken in preparation for their departure from Braesail on Wednesday to stay with a long-time friend in the town of Qualicum Beach for several days prior to returning to their home in Elk Grove, CA). Rain began to pelt the boat as night descended, and winds of some 30 mph howled through the rigging and made the boat shiver. The storm predicted for Wednesday was arriving early, and we were thankful to be tied securely to the dock!