Thursday, July 23: Day 50: Homeward Bound!

⛵ Day 50: Clam Bay to Home & Reflections

Last night’s sunset in Clam Bay.

Wow, the bay did not look like that this morning. When we awakened at around 7:00ish, I could feel the boat swinging at anchor due to the bit of wind that was starting to build.

The start of the building waves in the anchorage. By the way, that is our motor on the back for the dinghy but it wouldn't start so we used the electric one the whole time. Hopefully Greg can get it fixed before Port Browning because we usually anchor out there and the anchorage is a ways from the dock.

Photos never accurately show the height of the waves but they sure seemed like one foot to me! It was beginning to feel like Tribune Bay all over again with the wind blowing from the south.

As soon as we got past the point where Penelekut Island's strip of land juts out at the end of Clam Bay, Greg unwrapped the working jib. We never did put up the genoa during this trip. We had amazingly managed so far with just the working jib. The wind always seems so strong coming through that first stretch past Penelakut so to help balance out the boat a bit, Greg upped the mainsail (with the two reefs still in place). It was great to be sailing again with both sails!

The main sail with its two reefs up!

There were many times when Lil' Ollie heeled over in this wind which ranged anywhere from 10 - 22 knots. This made for a fun sail and nothing smashed around below. The dustpan, the toilet brush and a couple of minor things fell off the table and that was really all. This was a great last day to our sailing adventure.

You can see here how we were heeled over with the water close to the rails.

Another view showing the heeling of Lil' Ollie - notice how unlevel she is?

We sailed a lot of the way on one tack but then the wind started getting variable and shifted a bit which caused us to have to start tacking. We tacked back and forth until we got to Maple Bay and then we were back on one tack again. When we hit the 5-knot marker in the bay going towards Bird's Eye Cove, Greg took down the sails. By this time we had lost the wind, which was perfect timing—I don't want the wind when I'm coming into port!

The upper part of the map is where we came from. You can see when we had to tack. The wind was so variable - in both speed and direction. Sometimes southeast, sometimes southwest, sometimes east. We had the autopilot on and set to follow the apparent wind which was very helpful! It was nice when we could go on one long tack!

Near the end of our trip home, we managed 7.3 knots of speed at 13.1 knots of wind! Greg managed to catch a quick snapshot of the screen.

Greg's snapshot showing all of his, mine and Lil' Ollie's accomplishment!

I toodled my way to our dock and had a very successful docking experience. No hitting the piling on the way in as I sometimes manage to do! Adrian's boat beside us remained still; we have nice big fenders between our boats courtesy of Adrian (Thanks, Adrian!). His boat is smaller than ours and I guess he was a bit concerned, but I thought that was really nice of him to put those on. We liked the look of them so much that we ended up buying four more for the other side of our boat—now we have six matching fenders plus a few mismatched ones to help fend off anything unusual. I must admit my docking has improved. Slow speed is my friend! And Greg's direction helps a lot (when he gives it). As we were getting into place on the dock, he said, "Blah, blah, blah... then turn." Turn—which way? He was distracted by his friend David, his dog Timber, and Mike, our resident wharfinger, so I had to figure it out myself. I think I'm getting better at that‽

After we arrived at the dock, we locked Artemus on board. He seemed a bit disappointed that he wasn't going with us even though I had told him we were going home that day. We headed straight in the RAV4 for the Maple Bay Marina coffee shop—we needed our ice cream fix! Turns out their prices were cheaper than Lund: one scoop is only $6.00 and two scoops only $6.75 in a waffle cone! So that's what we got: two scoops. I got one of Maple Walnut and one of Strawberries & Cream. None of the other ice cream places had my usual standard, Maple Walnut, so when I saw it, I just had to get it. Greg got one scoop of Maple Walnut and one of Root Beer Float. All of it was good and such a treat on another hot day. The sun hadn't shone much most of the way home, but it started coming out more as we got closer to Maple Bay.

After our ice cream, we went back to Lil' Ollie, where I found Artemus sleeping in the furthest forward part of the V-berth. He didn't want to pay any attention to me whatsoever! So I started gathering a lot of the laundry—the bedding for sure—as I couldn't wait to get it off, including the duvet this time. I thought he'd move when I took it out from under him, but no, he was happy to stay put. I guess he was being stubborn, thinking we were ignoring him and now it was his turn! Anyways, everything is going to smell nice and fresh for our rendezvous the first week in August.

After I gathered the necessary items for the morning, we offloaded them to the RAV4. When it was time to leave, I called Artemus, but he wouldn't come. So I went and picked him up, Greg put him in his carrier, and off to the RAV4 we went. Just in time, too, because the sky opened up and poured rain on the way home.

When we arrived home, it was still raining, but not as hard, so we were able to unload everything that needed to stay dry into the house.

After settling in, we changed our clothes and drove (yes, still raining!) to the Oceanfront Suites at Cowichan Bay. We walked up the stairs to the Cook & Butcher seaside restaurant overlooking the bay. We didn't have reservations, but we managed to get a table right across from the window with a great sea view. We each had a glass of wine; I ordered the Chicken Oscar and Greg had the ribs. Mine was delicious, and Greg said his was very good, too! All in all, a lovely dinner out.

The Chicken Oscar - was very good!

After dinner, we drove home—about a block away! We watched a movie called The Best of Enemies, about segregation back in 1971. I graduated in 1971 and didn't realize the extent of segregation in the States at that time—I guess I was oblivious with too many other things going on in my life then. Maybe someday I'll write about it. We didn't quite finish watching it because I started getting sleepy, so we have something good to finish tonight!

Our usual The Resident series finished at a very appropriate time: the last night of our 50 nights and 50 days. (Well, 50 days if you count the night we slept on the boat before leaving—Greg and I had a little playful debate about whether it was 49 or 50!). We quite enjoyed that six-season series and now have to find another one we like.

Greg was happy to end the night with a home shower, and I just curled up in bed and went to sleep with Artemus. A nice ending to our wonderful 50 days of adventure!

All good things must come to an end, but here I am starting another blog for our trip to Italy (which will also include our two upcoming August rendezvous!). If you're interested in following along, head over to: offtheboatandintotheboot.blogspot.com

📊 The Stats Over 50 Days

• Propane: We just finished off the last of the propane from the second tank, so all in all, we used two tanks for the 50 days.

• Water: We used about four tanks of water in all. We could have used less but I stopped conserving so much when I realized we wouldn't be going all the way around the island after all. 

• Diesel Fuel: About 80 litres over the 50 days. (including heater usage which wasn't used a whole heck of a lot)

• Laundry: About nine loads of laundry were done, (3 in Powell River, 2 in Comox and probably 4 at home).

• Food: Two big shopping sprees (Powell River and Comox), plus little bits at Lund, Lasqueti, and Refuge Cove for bread and supplies.

• Docks: We only stayed at two docks—Lund (on the breakwater) and Powell River. The rest of our stays were anchored with a stern tie, on a mooring buoy, or anchored out.

Until next time—whether on the water, on land or online!

Bethanny ⛵🇮🇹