Losing a crew member

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Unfortunately, a visit with our friends, Tom and Michelle, didn’t work out, and so, after enjoying the great “breakfast burritos” prepared by Hans, Braesail and her crew departed from Hot Springs Cove at about 10:30 am under gray skies, and were happy that the rain had stopped! During the morning, Hans received confirmation of the work assignment that would necessitate his departure from Braesail’s crew in Tofino; we were not surprised but felt very sad.

We spent about five hours on the water in inlets and sounds and among a wide variety of islands. A light wind provided us with well over an hour of leisurely sailing with the spinnaker deployed and then about a half-hour of very slow sailing under the power of the mainsail and genoa later in the day.

At about 3:30 pm, we motored into West Whitepine Cove, one of two beautiful anchorages separated by an island. As we were attempting to anchor over a rocky bottom (and having some difficulty getting the anchor to embed itself firmly), a cross-wind rose and made it very challenging to tie Braesail’s stern to a tree on a nearby shore. Martin needed to row Coracle to shore, but found that, despite the drain plug being open in the bottom of the dinghy, a good deal of rainwater had accumulated in the bottom and had to be given an exit. After this was accomplished, Martin rowed Coracle to shore and scrambled around the rocks and into the trees to find a good one to which to tie the stern line. At last the line was tied around a tree, and Martin rowed back to Braesail with the second of its two ends; with her bow anchored and her stern secured to the tree on the shore, we were able to relax and dig into a bag of chips and some salsas for a very late lunch!

While Walt grilled steaks on the stern BBQ, Hans and Martin motored around the cove and two sizable islands in Coracle, and I worked on this blog post. Martin and I then took Coracle for a spin around “our” cove and into the adjoining one, in which a tug-style power boat was anchored, and which was separated from ours by an island. Martin and Hans had been able to circumnavigate an island fluffy with trees, but now the water level around it was too low and our outboard motor’s propeller caught on some small rocks in the channel, so Martin raised the motor and rowed into deeper water until the motor could be used safely again. We had a lovely ride, through deep-aquamarine water and along grassy shores, and returned just before an excellent steak-and-baked-potato dinner (Hans’ last on Braesail for this trip!).

With everything ready for departure in the morning, we enjoyed our excellent repast, finished our evening tasks, and found our way to bed, looking forward to a very peaceful night.