Our “Two-Boat” Christmas Feast

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Walt and I slept a little longer than we usually do, and spent a quiet, cloudy morning on Braesail at the Burrard Yacht Club dock. Martin and Karen arrived at about 11 am bearing yet more food and sailing gear for their (and our) trip to Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island in the Gulf Islands. We stowed the supplies and were soon pulling away from the dock and into busy Vancouver Harbour.

The two-hour trip to the Union Steamship Company Marina in Snug Cove on Bowen Island under brightening skies was quite comfortable despite some rolly swells that we encountered after leaving Vancouver. I spotted a lovely, forked waterfall lacing down into the water at Bowen Island’s side as we were heading into the marina, and spied another small cascade tucked behind some evergreen branches as we entered the marina.

Once Braesail was tied securely to the head of the guest dock, we ate a tomato soup lunch and settled down to read and deal with email. Martin, Karen, and Walt then crawled off to take naps, and at about 3:30, our friend Hans arrived and came aboard, having walked to the marina from the ferry terminal. After a short visit, Hans decided to catch up on his email, and so I left the boat, walked down the docks and up to the shore, and explored the waterfront in shimmering late-afternoon sunlight.

I passed some iridescent decorative deer sculptures that were arranged around a lighted pole and connected to its top by strings of lights, as if to a Maypole, stopped into the gift shop, and walked along the shore at the head of the cove.

Here I saw an elegant white swan drifting along near the beach and took a few pictures of the beautiful bird

before I headed back to Braesail,

stopping on the way to greet Sagres, the 27-ft. sailboat that Walt and I used to own, that we gave to Martin for his 40^th birthday, and that is permanently moored in the Union Steamship Company Marina; he and Hans have been co-owners for nearly six years.

Back on the boat, I caught up on some reading, writing, and French, and Walt and I visited with Karen, Martin, and Hans before it was time for them to begin dinner preparations. This involved Martin’s and Hans’ making some trips back and forth to Sagres to do some cooking in the galley there and to bring some items to Braesail for Karen and Walt to prepare. This is how we have our “two-boat” meals, the first of which we enjoyed some 15 years ago when Walt lived aboard Sagres in the marina in Richmond, CA, Martin and I came to stay with him briefly over a Christmas break during his Ph.D. studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and one of Walt’s students and his wife, who owned Braesail at the time, shared their much-larger galley and dining area with us; the fun of the food preparation and consumption and the wonderful fellowship around Braesail’s table became a cherished Christmas memory for us all!.

The five-course Christmas/Boxing Day feast (vegetable soup, salmon, beef brisket with Jerusalem artichokes, a platter of fancy cheeses, and a dessert of Christmas cookies and orange cake) was superb and left us all joyfully satisfied and ready for bed! I took care of all the dishes and galley clean-up, and was ready to retire by about 11 pm. Hans and Martin slept on Sagres so that they could begin their voyage to Princess Cove on Wallace Island in the Gulf Islands shortly after 7 am on Friday and Karen chose to spend the night in Braesail’s larger and more comfortable forward cabin. We made plans to take Braesail out of Snug Cove not long after 8 am, to pass Sagres before our boats transited Porlier Pass at slack tide (Sagres can motor at a speed of 4-5 kts., while Braesail motors at 6-7 kts.), to find an anchoring spot for Braesail in Princess Cove, and then to help Sagres to tie up to alongside Braesail’s hull upon her arrival (rafting). We anticipated “settled weather” (little to no wind and no rain) for our Friday journeys, and hoped for good sleep.