The Good Life continues…my Mom has left and Heather and her two kids have arrived. It is soooo good to see them all again. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed them. The kids are fascinated with life aboard, Cassidy, who will be seven in the fall, is figuring out what tides are all about, why the poles with the dock identifications are shorter sometimes than others and how much of the shoreline is showing every time we go out of the marina. Yesterday morning I took both Cassidy and Elijah ( four) out at low tide and we collected shells and put them in their minnow nets, Elijah was absolutely enthralled with all the tiny crabs that he could find hiding under rocks and crawling around.

After lunch Heather and I and the kids went to a fresh water beach and swam and played in the sun and sand all afternoon. It was about 27 degrees with not a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze off the water to keep us from baking. Grandpa had to stay on the boat because a plumber was supposed to come to fix our fresh water pump (he never showed, the part hasn’t arrived yet) that keeps setting off a breaker because a sensor doesn’t work. He is also going to install a new hot water tank, so glory be, I should have really hot water to do dishes and possibly have a shower on board. I just found the shower attachment yesterday!!!! Treasures abound in every nook and cranny and I thought I had found them all!

I have made a one slide Power Point presentation of some pictures that we have and I will try and import it to the blog, if it doesn’t work, I will send it as an attachment to an e-mail and those of you that have Power Point will be able to see some pictures. We don’t have internet hook up on the boat yet, still, (although the electrical guy is coming today) so I have to go into Sidney and sit in a coffee shop and illegally use someone’s unsecured wireless hookup to go online with our laptop. Otherwise I have to send an e-mail to my mother-in-laws computer, that doesn’t have a lot of fancy programs, and then drive for an hour to try and figure out how to get pictures from my e-mail onto the blog site. I know you guys don’t care about all that stuff but it is a frustration for me!!

Heather and the grandkids are here for 10 days and supposedly the new engine should be here sometime this week so we may or may not have to find alternate accommodation (a motor home, if one is available, or a cottage on the beach, or a hotel room). All the trades people are so busy they don’t have time to communicate very well so we have no real idea when the engine is supposed to arrive so we can’t book something yet and OH WELL life goes on J. We are planning on going to Vancouver so the kids can experience the Vancouver Aquarium, and hopefully we can co-ordinate the visit so we can see our life raft that is over there to be serviced being repacked. Apparently it is a 2 to 3 hour process, and I am quite interested in seeing what they do.
The summer is quickly slipping away and we haven’t even had a chance to sail the boat, so the possibility of us leaving in the fall is looking a little dim. We did talk to someone in a chandlery and he said people leave in Jan. or Feb. and sail down, it has been done and the weather forecasting is so much better now that you probably could find a good weather window to make the trip to San Francisco. Barry, of course, the eternal pessimist, the cautious safety conscience person that he is, is sure that we won’t leave and we will not be able to leave until next summer. The prospect of living aboard in rainy, dreary, coastal B.C. for a winter does not please me one bit. I think we would both look for some kind of work in the fall if we are unable to get the boat into shape on time to leave in the fall.

Cleaning and fixing is the name of the game for the last week. The boat is ours, but since the incident with the motor on the way to Roche Harbour, Barry had decreed that we will not take the boat off the dock until the motor is fixed. Oh well, there is plenty to do without sailing so we have been cleaning the boat from top to bottom and sorting out all the spare parts, old crap, useful stuff and .... well you get the picture.

My Mom arrived last week and she spent the week sewing up a storm. For those of you that have met my Mom and seen samples of her handy work you will remember that she is an absolute whiz with a sewing machine.. We all went to Victoria and picked out some pretty wild yellow and blue material and my Mom made curtains for the aft cabin and the V-berth, plus a fitted tablecloth for our teak fold down table, a cover for the part of the mast that is below decks and a bunch of sachets filled with lavender to make our lockers and cupboards smell good. Bless her heart, she also managed to repair the bimini ( for you land lubbers, that is some material that covers the cockpit so you don't fry in the tropics, it also keeps the rain off). We managed to get in a visit to the Butchart Gardens before she left and there was much laughing and giggling going on aboard as she designed the mast cover. It reminds me of a very large, very bright blue and yellow condom. ANYWAY!!!

While my Mom was sewing I was tackling the weathered teak on the deck and Barry was dragging huge hoses out of the bilge, cleaning them up and seeing if the hand pump worked. The former owner was a fireman so hoses are rated for 85 psi!! We should never sink because there is too much water on the boat. We have had a plumber on board to check out the water maker and all the pumps, etc. and I have been learning about systems that I never dreamt existed, at a great rate. Trish's significant other is an electrician so we called him and quizzed him on how our batteries, etc. should operate, my brother is a computer guy so he is working on getting our new laptop hooked up to a wirelss system and on and on.

For recreation we ride our bikes around North Sannich and take our zodiac out for a spin and explore the area by water. It's great, last time we set out we forgot to take a chart so putted around slowly and gazed around and managed not to get lost. The marina we are at is located fairly close to the ferry terminal in Sidney, it is a lovely spot with a new subdivision being developed right on the water. The houses are HUGE, with the norm being 3 car garages, once we get our laptop configured I promise I will add pictures.

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer, it rains one day and it's sunny the next down here ( not great for varnishing) but it is warm all the time and being on the water it cools off beautifully at night. Until next time!!

Hurray for our side, hurray at last!!!!

It's officially all ours. Woopee! and what an adventure we had getting it. We set out on Wednesday morning, July 6 to sail to Roche Harbour in the San Juan Islands in Washington State so we could officially take possession of the boat. The morning had started out being quite windy, so I figured the boat would be able to get out there and show us what it could do, the wind gradually dropped as we scurried around stowing everything that would move and tying the dynghy to the deck. By the time we left with the hired captain aboard the wind had dropped considerably. We sailed about half way across to the San Juan's and the wind died and we started motoring and the adventure began.

We had the motor revving at about 2000, 2200 RPM's and we were going great guns. We were chatting and talking and enjoying the sunshine as Cat's-Paw IV made her way merrily across the strait, then

HOLY SMACK, smoke started pouring out of the engine exhaust and the engine up and quits!!

It was like a frigging sauna down below, the hired dude heads down the stairs and we start opening every hatch and porthole that is on the boat. UGGH it was so hot and steamy down there it was unbelievable. We had to madly unfurl the genoa and try and maintain steerage in a fast flowing tide and very little wind.

We waited about 15 minutes for the engine to cool down and then Barry and I poured about 5 liters of water into the radiator, then we tried the engine again. Barry was sent below to watch to see if there were leaks and sure enough a hose was leaking like a sieve. SOOOOO, we turned the boat around, still not having landed in the U.S. and sailed very slowly back towards Canadian waters as Barry and the hired dude tried to fix the engine. Well, the sailing gods were with us, and as luck would have it the hired dude (whose name is Gerry, by the way) was a steam engineer in the navy, in another life, and we had put all the spare parts from the previous owner aboard and low and behold the owner had a quite rare, but entirely necessary ELBOW hose, that would do as a replacement.

We very tentatively started the engine again and chugged slowly towards Roche Harbour, very careful monitoring of the engine was taking place the whole time. We managed to dock at the Customs Hut and Barry went ashore and did all the paper work. Then we moved the boat to another dock and we all went ashore and and had lunch. Mission accomplished, now we just had to get back to Canada.

Well the ride home was very uneventful, except for the popping of a cork once we hit Canadian waters. We toasted everyone and everything, and the bow got sprinkled with champagne and there were smiles all around. We safely landed back in Canada and Gerry informed us that, that was the longest delivery he had ever made. We thanked him profusely, gave him a large tip and proceede to have our first real meal aboard. Man, will we ever be able to do anything the easy way.

Well we did it!

We actually got a big, beautiful boat!!!

A 1984 Fast Passage 39.

VOILA ---- Yippeee!

Cat's-Paw IV



We finalized the deal yesterday. The boat is ours, we've paid for it, but we can not sail or motor on it until Wednesday. Shit, I can't believe I paid for it but can't sail it, talk about tremendous amounts of frustrations.

Although we can't sail it we do have the use of it at the dock, so today Barry and I scrubed and puttzed to our hearts content. Barry managed to change the navigation lights on the bow and helped me figure out how our bimini was attached. He saw where the attachments were, I'd still be looking. I scrubbed lines, cleaned the decks, stowed away a bunch of stuff and made ourselves at home.

We took time out to take the zodiac dinghy for a ride. There is no motor, the paddles that they had were ready to disinigrate to we took some huge oars. Have you ever tried to make a zodiac move with oars that don't fit? WELL, we evenutally use the oars as paddles and if we paddled at exactly the same time we actually went in a straight line. Two guys went whizzing by us in kayacks and one guy said, "Wow that's teamwork!" It ended up that he was moored in the next slip to ours so we had a nice chat.

I kept having to pinch myself to believe that I was traipsing up and down the deck to get stuff, and I belonged. I have a key to the marina gate and don't have to wait for someone to come by and then slip in like a trespasser once they are through. We have a BIG BOAT and it's ours.

If any of you are in the Victoria area this summer make sure you drop by for a visit. We would love to see you, you can reach us on cell at 250 812-0222.

I am hoping to get my pots and pans and cutlery and such like tomorrow so we can have a meal aboard. I have lists like crazy of things that need to be done, insurance, registry, have the fire extinguisher's tested, have the EPIRB re-registered to our name and on and on. IT IS SO MUCH FUN.

Happy CANADA DAY. Hope yours was as much fun as ours.

The next step in the voyage around the world took place yesterday. We had Cat's Paw IV, the Fast Passage 39, surveyed, mechanically inspected, and we had the rigging looked at. The survey involved a guy crawling all over the boat and looking at every nook and cranny to see if there was anything wrong with the boat. He checked out the hull, all the boat's systems ( water maker, hot water tank, oven, stove and propane locker, electrical systems, ships instruments). Then we had the boat hauled out of the water and the hull hosed off and he examined the underwater parts of the boat. The mechanic ran the engine and examined it's workings. The rigger walked all over the boat and looked at the lines and the stays ( wires that hold the mast in place) and he even went up the mast and looked at all the fastenings all the way up.

It was very informative to follow them around and ask questions about this and that and find out a lot more about the boat. The boat has some deficiencies which need to be fixed but it generally is in good working order. It needs new sails and the motor needs upgrading or retrofitting. The hull is sound, the rigging is in really good shape and all the instruments are in good working order the only thing we are unsure about is the water maker.

We took the boat out for a sail today and unfortunately there was very little wind. We hoisted all the sails that were onboard and the boat just glided along beautifully. I actually took the helm as we were heading out of the marina and managed to keep it into the wind as Barry hoisted the main. It responded to the helm beautifully and was moving along quite nicely in very little wind.

So, we have decided that we very definitely want the boat, it is just the sort of boat we are looking for. Not too big, fairly easily sailed by two people, big enough to sleep six quite comfortably, big enough to have a dinner party for six, eight in a pinch, if you sat in the cockpit, 16. It also has a reputation as a good sailor, no one will have to wait for us on a long crossing, except for maybe Bruce in his huge catamaran!!! It also is supposed to be able to handle fairly rough weather and the boat is narrow enough that you won't get tossed around down below.

Hopefully all the reports on the boat will be ready tomorrow and we will then finalize our offer to the owner. We are planning on asking for some additional compensation for some stuff that needs to be fixed and we will see where that goes. We could do it today, but if we have the opinion of some experts to back up our claims, we are more likely to get the owner to agree to a lesser price. After that we have to arrange for insurance and then we will have to go to the States to get the boat.

I can hardly stand to wait for the reports, I am itching to get onboard and spruce her up, a little polish here, some cleaning and elbow grease there. I want to get my pots and pans out and put them aboard, fill up the drawers with my clothes, try out my new deck shoes on her, well you get the picture. If all goes well we may have access to her on the long weekend and have the total use of her next week. It's a little much to expect that we will have her by Friday. Oh my, how am I going to fill my time between now and then.

Filling in time is not a hardship on Vancouver Island. We have to wait until Monday to have the boat surveyed so we are in limbo so to speak. We have put a downpayment on the Fast Passage so although we can look at boats it doesn't make sense to get serious about anything else. We went to Victoria on Monday and I bought some boat shoes and then we wandered around the Inner Harbour watching the float planes land, the sailboat charters come in and the whale watching tours finish off. I wanted to go whale watching, but could not convince Barry that this was a good idea.

On Tuesday we went to our storage area and went through all our boxes, labeling them all so we will be able to find stuff in the future. I got out a couple pairs of sandals so have no excuse to buy any more. That evening we went to North Sanich in Sidney to a get together held by the Blue Water Cruising Association. They had a Mustang representative there that gave a talk about PFD'S and lifejackets. We got a chance to try out our brand new inflatable life jackets. Everyone that had oneput them on and got to inflate them and feel what that was like, I am glad I got the chance because I figured out how to change the cartridge and what it felt like once they were inflated. The rep. gave us all a brand new cartridge, now I don't have to resist the urge to pull the toggle just to find out what it is like. I was thinking I might have a problem resisting that urge.

We met a couple that have been teaching in Dubai for the last 15 years and have called it quits and are heading of cruising. They plan to cruise up the inside passage to Alaska and then spend from November until April in the Carribean on a sibling's boat. We didn't get a chance to talk to many others and I missed that, although one fellow told us that he is living aboard not to far away and invited us down anytime.

We actually headed down to their marina today, but they were not aboard, so we wandered around in the bright sunshine and gawked at boats. We saw several beauts, but none were for sale (just as well, I guess). Then we had to decide whether we wanted to go and play golf or have a beer then go for a swim in the pool at the complex we are staying at. The beer and the pool won out. We may go in to Victoria in the next couple of days and see the tall ships show that is on. We are not sure whether we want to brave the crowds or not. I hear their is a jazz festival at a vinyard that is within bicylcing distance, HMMMM which would you chose.

Well I probably won't have anymore news until the boat had been surveyed so keep your fingers crossed.

It is our 31st anniversary today. 31 years ago we were in Winnipeg, with all our family and friends. It was a gorgeous hot, sunny day. I remember Barry and Bruce coming over to wash the wedding car, my parent's olive green Dodge Dart. It didn't look too bad.

31 years later we are in Duncan, B.C. with Barry's mom and we are awaiting the survey of the sailboat Cats Paw IV. It can't be surveyed until next Monday, June 24. Apparently the Fast Passages are known for getting osmosis blistering, where water gets under the fiberglass and starts delaminating the boat in spots. This is not a good thing for a boat to have and can cost up to $30,000 to fix. That is going to be the longest week that I've had for a while. Both Barry and I are trying to think what we can do for a week plus while we wait. Barry was talking about going down to the casual employment office, I am not sure if I am ready to do that yet. It's one thing being on holidays and having money to spend and it's another thinking about every penny and finding things to do.

We woke up this morning and went for a lovely breakfast at the Pioneer House, a local restaurant. Then we decided to visit Cowichan Bay, a community located on the water not too far from here. We hit it lucky and ran into Cowichan Days on the waterfront. There were displays of sea kayaks, canoe races, food vendors, a blue's band, fishing derby, a painting contest, a tour on a 1922 steam driven trawler, and a boat building contest. The boat builder's had to be in costume, have only two builders, and use only hand tools, not power, and their supplies could only cost so much. At the end of it they had to sail or paddle their vessels.

It was interesting to see the different approaches to boat building. A couple of retired navy types built a submarine out of wood, they had painted it and put a periscope on it as well as a sail. The tree hugger entry made their craft out of vines and willow branches, then added netting and covered the whole thing in plastic. One of the other entries had 5 gallon water bottles for floatation and a flat platform to paddle from, it actually looked like it might be seaworthy. We may go back to see which one actually cut the mustard.

We are planning on going out for dinner tonight. There was a nice looking restaurant in Cowichan Bay that we may try out. The sun is shining here at the moment, so I may go outside and enjoy it, sometimes it doesn't last for long.

Barry and I arrived on the Lower Mainland about June 3, 2005. We spent three days running around Vancouver, me with a map on my knees, trying to figure out right from left and Barry patiently navigating the highways and byways. We looked at boats on Granville Island, in West Vancouver up near Horseshoe Bay, in Ladner, almost on the U.S. border and in Point Roberts in Washington State. We saw one we both liked a lot but it didn't have standing headroom for Barry and I figured that was a must.

We headed over to Vancouver Island on Tuesday, June 7 and immediately looked at more boats. The next day we hopped all over the south coast of Vancouver Island and saw 10 boats. That was a bit mind boggling, we tried to write down a brief description of each boat after we looked at it and then our overall impressions. We saw a couple of beauties on the North Saanich Marina docks, one at Panda 38 was to die for, but out of our price range (the housing market in Yellowknife hadn't been THAT good).

We were very interested in a Fast Passage 39 called Cats Paw IV. It is a good sailor, noted for it's ability to go offshore, this particular boat also had a number of items that we figured would be imperative if we were to go off shore. After looking at it for a second time, we decided to put an offer in. It was listed for $179,900.00 we discussed with our broker what he thought was a reasonable offer. We came up a price just less than $20,000 less than list price and we were prepared to dicker with the owner and up our price by quite a bit. Unbelievable the owner accepted our initial offer, WOW.

Now we have to go through the inspection process on the boat. We are wondering what it wrong with the boat that the owner did not want to dicker about the price???

If you want to see our prospective boat just click on the link below.
http://yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_full_detail.jsp?slim=quick¤cy=USD&units=Feet¤cyid=100&boat_id=1197079&units=Feet&access=Public&listing_id=68091&url=