Tuesday-Wednesday, September 1-2, 2026
Sailing—quietly, peacefully, restfully, blissfully—for FOUR HOURS! From the mouth of Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island nearly all the way to Pirates Cove on De Courcy Island 23 miles away, we were blessed with a wind blowing in a constant, beneficial direction (just a bit to one side of directly astern) and at a relatively steady speed (around 20 mph). The weather was mild, partly sunny, and rain-free, clouds played tag with the sun, and we were SO pleased to experience one of the longest periods of uninterrupted sailing that we’ve had in a decade! At one point, during a change in direction, Walt over-steered a little, Braesail tipped to one side, and some unsecured items in the cabins tumbled about, but no harm was done, and our return to gliding happily through the water, aided by soft “following seas,” was almost immediate.
Our morning had included shower-taking, breakfast-eating, departure preparations, leaving the Ganges dock after a pleasant visit with the wharfinger, and motoring out of the harbor directly into 20-mph winds that made my tasks of hauling up and stowing the fenders and coiling and hanging the dock-lines somewhat challenging! Once we’d left the harbor and turned northwest, we enjoyed the excellent winds over our stern mentioned above.
While passing Valdes Island, I was able to photograph one section of the amazing cliffs that line the shore and look to me like one wall of an immense hall lined with works of abstract art (I’m quite sure that I’ve mentioned the cliffs in posts written in previous years). I never tire of looking at the cliff faces to see what I can see in them, and sailing past them slowly (at about 5-6 mph) is an excellent way to observe and appreciate them!
We arrived in scenic, and relatively uncrowded, Pirates Cove at about 4:30 pm, and within a half-hour, the boat’s bow was connected to the cove’s bottom, about 15 ft. below us, by our anchor, and her stern was attached to the shore via a line passed through a ring at the end of a chain fastened into the rocks at the water’s edge, reached by Walt rowing Coracle (this process is called “stern-tying”). After tidying the cockpit and cabins and enjoying naps, we spent our post-dinner hours reading, writing, doing German exercises, and watching videos. We enjoyed Nanaimo bars and hot spiced cider, and Walt made bread dough to sit quietly overnight before baking on Wednesday. Will the predicted rain and wind arrive to encourage participation in indoor activities?
A gentle rain DID finally arrive on Wednesday afternoon, in the company of a bit of wind.
It WAS a good “indoor day,” and I spent most of it in the main cabin reading articles and sermons, writing to friends, playing online games via which one donates to numerous charities, doing my daily German exercises, and visiting on the phone with a frail, elderly, former member of my church choir. Walt baked the bread he’d begun on Tuesday night, attended a webinar on recent changes to Washington State’s condominium laws (he’s president of our Condo Association and so has to track these things), and worked on the construction of a “preventer,”consisting of three lengths of rope that will help to keep the boat’s boom (the heavy horizontal beam to which the mainsail is attached at its bottom) from swinging dangerously under specific sailing conditions. This is a lengthy and strenuous task involving splicing, stretching, pushing, pulling, and pounding yards of rope (woven around a Dyneema core) to the proper dimensions, and Walt hopes to finish the work on Thursday.
In mid-day, Walt and I deduced, from various signs, that Braesail’s anchor might have slipped out of position and dragged along the bottom of the cove, so we untied the stern line, raised the anchor, moved the boat a little, and dropped and set the anchor again, with me in the bow watching the anchor and its chain and Walt at the helm maneuvering the boat and re-tying the stern line. We were glad that we had detected and solved this potential problem during the day and not in the middle of the night!
We again enjoyed delectable Nanaimo bars as our dessert, and anticipated a peaceful Wednesday night similar to Tuesday’s wonderfully restful one!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 