Author: Gwyn Wagschal

We headed out on Friday, May 24th for a 3 day shake down cruise.  Got a bit of a late start to headed to Norman Island, where we’d been before.  It was a short sail of about 2 hours.  What a blessing to be out of port where we got bounced around quite a lot as the marina has no burm to break the water, so waves are constant. The sail was uneventful, however when attempting to get the mooring ball, Paul discovered a problem with the gear in the starboard engine would not consistently engage.  The clutch would need replacing before we head out.  Another cost and delay. We enjoyed a nice sunset and a relaxing evening.  The bay was fairly quiet compared to our last trip here.  Of course we knew not to put ourselves too close to Willy T’s (famous floating bar).

Saturday, May 25th we headed from Norman Island to Virgin Gorda.  This was a distance of 26.9 NM (naughtical miles).  Took a good part of the day in 15-25 knot winds.  Blue Sky likes the wind and the waves and keeps us comfortable along the way even in up to 6 foot swells. We anchored in basically the same location as our previous visit in February.  We opted to wait another day for going ashore and spent a quiet evening on board and we’re happily retired for the night by 9pm.

On Sunday, May 26^th we opted to stay anchored for the day and do maintenance and chores.  Around 9:30am we noticed a number of motor boats of all shapes and sizes beginning to arrive to the dock and area near our anchorage.  We’d heard there was a boat race on Sunday, so the start must be here.  Many of our fellow cruisers started to depart.  We opted to stay and embrace the experience.  Around 11am two helicopters, a ferry full of spectators and a plane arrived.  Then the lead boat started out for what we thought would be a start line.  However, only a few boats followed.  Most seemed more laid back and waited.  Then the gun went off and chaos happened.  Boats began heading in two directions out the only departure points in the bay.  There must have been at least 100 motor boats all at once, the noise was quite something.  Then peace returned to the bay.

We decided to get on with our chores.  The scrubbing of the hull was needed, so Gwyn got in the water and got it started. Paul joined the fun.  An hour and a half later, it was done.  Apparently in these waters, this is a weekly chore to keep the algae and barnacles from taking up residence.  Swim done, we fed ourselves lunch and took a nap (we deserved it after all that work).

We woke to the sound of the arrival of the first racing boat back into the bay.  Let the party begin.  Music, racing, and spectators were everywhere; on shore and on the water.  It was a fun people watching day.

 

Although majority of the boats left by dusk, some stayed and partied well into the night. One advantage of a boat is the noise doesn’t travel down into the bedrooms, so we weren’t kept up because of it.

Monday, May 27^th. Awoke early to watch more of the racing boats depart before 7.  We also prepared ourselves for an early departure.  We arrived back at BVI Yacht Charters 4 hours later.  Almost immediately work got underway on the starboard motor.  This would take a full day to complete the repair to the clutch along with oil changes to both motors.  We also hired a canvas guy to replace the windshield on the boat so we’d have better visibility.  This will take until Thursday to complete.

At 6pm we opted to go for a walk to buy some more groceries.  When we got out to the store a major rain storm had hit.  We stood around for 15 minutes (this is a typical length of a rain storm here), but it didn’t appear to be easing up, so we decided to walk back in the rain.  There is a gate that saves us about 15 minutes that we cut through, but as luck would have it, the gate was locked and we had the extra distance to go in the rain.  We looked like two drowned rats when we got back to the boat.  We laughed at each other and then sat down to dinner and enjoyed a glass of vino.

Tuesday, May 28^th Paul worked on maintenance while Gwyn headed to town to pick up items from the Chandlery. More investigation was done on where we can stop along the way to the mainland USA.  Turks and Caicos is one option, with the Bahamas another.

Today is Wednesday.  We hope to leave this port tomorrow and head to the USVI.  Paul is busy installing our new radio.  Later today we will go and buy the last of the heavy provisions for the trip.  The fresh stuff we will get just before departure from the USVI.

We arrived Monday around 5pm.  Boarded Blue Sky with our 5 bags and 2 backpacks.  Discovered we underloaded our bags by approx. 20 lbs each.  Lesson learned, don’t pack the scale until you’ve weighed your luggage.  That said, we have more to bring next trip when we pick up Charlie in July.

The boat is in good shape. We will go for a 5-6 day shake down sail in the BVI.  Paul has just returned from the Chandlery with a necessary tools to get us started.  We took two trips to the grocery stores to get our pantry stocked.  It’s beginning to feel like home with the exception of the linens.  These are still the ones that have been used by cruisers who’ve chartered the boat in the past.  Our linens will come later also.

I wanted to mention to our son Lindsay that there are baby chicks here.  They are with their mama hens, as they roam freely in the BVI.  I tried to get some photos uploaded but the internet service is weak, so pictures will hopefully come when we get to the USVI sometime a week or so from now.

All I can say, is we are very happy to have the move behind us and to finally be on board.  Let the adventure begin.

The move out of our home of 8 1/2 years started last weekend. Paul and I, along with son Keith did it all.  Luckily I have been off work for a month and had a head start on boxing things up.  The bad news is not enough was boxed up and the storage facility closed at 8pm daily.  Paul had started clearing out the garage also in advance.  We had Russells Waste Removal for round one.  Just prior to moving weekend we had another pile of trash piled in our driveway.  We solicited another junk man for this load.  Then on Thursday morning we called Russell again for yet another load.  We could have done a fourth load, but Paul hadn’t the time to go through any more sorting.  Time was up. We were to be out of the house by 11am on Thursday morning.  This did not happen.  Called the new owners and asked for an extension.  They agreed we could take until Friday and leave things in the garage if necessary. We had to work flat out from 6am to 10pm every day for a week to make it happen and had everything out of the house by Friday evening at 9pm.  The garage however contained 5 more car loads for the storage unit which got taken over on Saturday morning.  Keith came again on Friday evening and helped with the final loads.

You may recall my earlier post where we secured out storage unit.  At the eleventh hour, we opted to go for a larger more accessible unit.  We are thankful that we did. We have managed to fill every nook and cranny.  It’s unbelievable how much stuff we had in our home.  I’ve asked Paul for a commitment not to bring so much aboard Blue Sky.  We’ll see how that goes.

Something to consider if you decide to move things into storage to go sailing. Everything in your fridge must go.  I had my daughter and her upstairs neighbor go shopping in my kitchen.  They took what they wanted.  This still left me with many jars to empty and put into recycling.  I borrowed an extra recycling box from a neighbor and still could have used 3 more.  It’s crazy how many containers fit in a fridge.  I will think differently when I shop for groceries going forward.

We got to the hotel late Friday night a realized that we had paperwork to finalize and we’d need the extra day in town.  We called the airline and they were able to accomodate a change in flight to Sunday.  So we leave tomorrow.  This along allowed us to be much calmer today than we’ve been in weeks.  Can hardly wait to get to the boat and truly start our new life aboard.  Thanks everyone for the well wishes.  We promise to keep you posted every chance we get.

We move out of our home of 8+ years on May 15th.  On my parents last visit they asked what we were doing with our cat, Sierra.  We had thought we’d take her on board, but she is declawed and would not stand a chance to get back on board without those claws.  So for now she will go to Grama and Grampa’s house at Lake Isle, west of Edmonton.  To get her there Gwyn drove with the cat, dog, daughter and 2 granddauthers in tow for a 4 day weekend.  Left on Friday, and returned home on Monday.  The dog, Charlie will also stay temporarily until the boat is in the US.  Then we will return for a car load of items for the boat and pick up Charlie.  It’s all rather complicated, but in the end we decided that it would be less complicated to do our first big sail without the pets on board.

As you can see from the picture below, Sierra the cat, has made herself at home.  Charlie, is less comfortable and looks a little worried.

Yesterday was G’s last day of work.  A pot luck was held by coworkers on Thursday, with goodbyes on Friday.  Thanks everyone for the gift of cash to purchase something for the boat.  I’ll post here when I determine what to buy.  Friday was also the day the contract on the house was accepted.  To say the least, the emotions were running high.

Today was the day to go and arrange a storage locker.  Of course, they did not have the size we hoped for, so we opted for smaller rather than larger.  Our thought process being that we’d rather not come back to too much stuff.  That said, I believe we’ll need to sell off a few more items than originally planned. I’m hoping this can be accomplished given the tight deadline to be out of the house.  P is already packing things to take a first load over tomorrow.

The question we are asking is, will we need this in 5-10 years from now?   For many things the answer is no, but keepsakes are keepsakes and these will need to find a place in the locker.  We’ll be doing our best to pack them as tightly as possible into the space.