Wednesday, December 24
The wind that rose during the night accompanied Braesail and her crew as they exited Garrison Bay at about 8:30 am and began the two-hour journey to Cadboro Bay. The gusty breezes tussled with the sea’s current and caused the water to be turbulent and our boat to rock and roll from one side to the other as we rode through the churning waves under leaden skies. As we reached the Royal Victoria Yacht Club marina shortly before 11 am, the wind speed decreased from around 20 kts., and we hoped to dock the boat with minimal difficulty, but as Walt backed Braesail into our assigned slip after radioing for some assistance (with no response), a sudden gust of wind, against the force of which our boat’s bow thrusters were ineffective, blew the boat away from the dock, onto which I was prepared to slide from the boat’s deck, into the dock to the stern, and up against the boat moored on the other side of the slip! Fortunately, we had four fenders on the docking side (starboard) and two on Braesail’s opposite (port) side, and so our being shoved against the moored boat did no damage, while our inflatable dinghy, hung in Braesail’s stern, cushioned our impact against the dock to our rear. Walt was able to leave Braesail by climbing onto the deck of the boat to which we had accidentally “rafted” and then onto the dock, I tossed him the mooring lines, and he was laboriously hauling on them to try to drag the boat to the dock on her starboard side when three dock-hands arrived and helped to tug Braesail into place and secure her to the dock!
We obtained the marina key from the office and had some time to relax before Martin and Karen (who’d traveled from Vancouver to Victoria on Tuesday by ferry) arrived, at around 3 pm, in a rented car from their hotel, bearing gifts and food. They had enjoyed two hours in their hotel’s “Nordic spa,” and we had a great visit over various flavored eggnogs and cookies, followed by a fine supper. By about 9:15 pm we were climbing into the rental car and driving through beautifully-lit neighborhoods to Christ Church Anglican Cathedral for the “Christmas Eve Midnight Mass” that began at 10 pm. The cathedral’s nave was completely full, so we climbed the stairs to the gallery, which was filling rapidly as well. The Eucharistic liturgy, with excellent organ and choral music, bells, and plenty of incense, was beautiful and jubilant, and concluded with the singing of “Silent Night” in the darkened nave in which the individual congregants stood with small lighted candles. As we left the cathedral at about 11:30 pm, glittering stars held up their candles to decorate the sable satin sky, joining our celebration of Jesus’ birth!
Martin and Karen dropped us off at the marina gate and returned to their hotel; Walt and I were soon in our cozy aft cabin bed, giving thanks for all that we had heard and seen!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 