e discovered bigger problems with our equipment yesterday. We have some hairline cracks in our boom where the boom vang attaches. This is not a good thing. We are now in Port Hardy attempting to give it a temporary fix. Barry and my brother Bob are going to screw some pieces of steel on the boom to reinforce it. We will not be continuing on with our trip around the island with a crippled boom, we have called our rigger and he says that it is going to break sooner or later if a lot of stress is put on it. Since my brother is only here for a short time we plan to sail up to the Broughton Island group and explore around there. We will not be sailing in big winds and putting very little stress on the boom which means sailing with just the head sail or in light winds only with the main up. We are all a bit disappointed with the turn of events but better now than in the middle of the Pacific.
Barry has to go back to Sidney to see the orthopedic guy about his hip on June 21 , so the plan is for him to take the boom back with him and get a new one made while he is in seeing the doctor. We will have to evaluate our time schedule after that and see if we can make it around the island in time to see our daughter Heather and our grandchildren on July 8.
On the positive side we spotted our first whales yesterday and saw more today. We were pretty far away but watching them blow and following their progress is really exciting. They are really magnificent creatures. My brother brought his wet suit with him and went in for a swim last night, he was not prepared for how cold it was but did stay in the water for about 1/2 an hour and did some swimming. I am not sure if he will go back in again or not. The air temperature was too cold for me to go in so I want him to go in again when I am ready to brave the elements. I imagine I can convince him to come in with me, he is not a wimp, being brought up north of 56.
We spent the day in a beautiful anchorage and as well as seeing whales Bob and I went for an up and down hike across the island, then we all went to visit a salmon farm. That was really interesting, the two guys working there came out when we climbed onto the walkway and explained how the operation worked. The little salmon were amazing just shooting out of the water so their whole bodies were in the air, it was fun to watch. Last night we went ashore and I had my first B.C. campfire. The moon was brilliant lighting up the whole bay and as we tended the fire we sang a few campfire songs, a wonderful way to end an informative and eventful day.
Barry has to go back to Sidney to see the orthopedic guy about his hip on June 21 , so the plan is for him to take the boom back with him and get a new one made while he is in seeing the doctor. We will have to evaluate our time schedule after that and see if we can make it around the island in time to see our daughter Heather and our grandchildren on July 8.
On the positive side we spotted our first whales yesterday and saw more today. We were pretty far away but watching them blow and following their progress is really exciting. They are really magnificent creatures. My brother brought his wet suit with him and went in for a swim last night, he was not prepared for how cold it was but did stay in the water for about 1/2 an hour and did some swimming. I am not sure if he will go back in again or not. The air temperature was too cold for me to go in so I want him to go in again when I am ready to brave the elements. I imagine I can convince him to come in with me, he is not a wimp, being brought up north of 56.
We spent the day in a beautiful anchorage and as well as seeing whales Bob and I went for an up and down hike across the island, then we all went to visit a salmon farm. That was really interesting, the two guys working there came out when we climbed onto the walkway and explained how the operation worked. The little salmon were amazing just shooting out of the water so their whole bodies were in the air, it was fun to watch. Last night we went ashore and I had my first B.C. campfire. The moon was brilliant lighting up the whole bay and as we tended the fire we sang a few campfire songs, a wonderful way to end an informative and eventful day.
