The Adventures of SV Lil’ Ollie and Her Crew

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of Lil' Ollie sitting at the dock in Powell River. This was a painting in the Thai Restaurant that caught my eye although it looked better in person. Rain, Laundry Logistics, and the Paparazzi Curse of Powell River Sleeping last night wasn’t too bad, though I did wake up around 4:00 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. It was raining off and on—mostly on. As I lay there in the dark, I could hear all kinds of drips and found myself wondering, where on earth is the boat leaking now? I just hoped it wouldn't turn into a major issue. I finally got back to sleep. We awoke early because by 6:30 AM, the waves were rolling straight into the marina, and our slip was lined up perfectly to take the hit. The boat was rocking back and forth from stern to bow, with a loud, aggressive slap on the stern every time a wave struck. It instantly reminded me of the time we were moored at the Municipal Dock in Maple Bay, where the waves came straight in like ...

Taken yesterday but it was definitely not too bad in here when we left. We left the calm, sheltering waters of Maude Cove—a move I made with quite a bit of reluctance. Greg had warned that the forecast was turning, and I wasn't at all sure I wanted to head out into it. My hesitation was confirmed almost immediately. A powerboater, just arriving back in the safety of the cove, passed us with a grim report: "There’s four-foot chop out there in the strait." But I felt the pressure to move. We needed to hit Powell River for fresh provisions before the weekend rush, and Friday's forecast looked just as miserable. So, we committed. We motored out of the cove and back into Jervis Inlet, pointing ourselves toward Powell River. The calm water vanished instantly, replaced by a punishing, uncomfortable chop. We found ourselves bashing directly against big, tossing waves, fighting a massive 3.5-knot headcurrent. Our speed over ground crawled at a miserable 2 to 3.4 knots. Down be...

Anchor Rocks, an Anniversary, and a Walk to the Rapids This morning, I awoke to the repetitive sound of the “Anchor Drag Alert.” Greg was already up for the exact same reason. We poked our heads outside to check our surroundings and saw that we were still very close to where we had dropped the anchor, so we weren’t overly worried. As it turns out, we had just drifted to the very edge of the anchor alert circle—those GPS boundaries aren't always perfect, especially when you are stern-tied and swinging differently. After breakfast and coffee, we got to work. Greg lifted the anchor while I went to the back to release the stern-tie line (I’ll have to explain the logistics of how we do that in a separate post!). When the anchor finally broke the surface, we realized why it had been acting up: it had scooped up a good-sized rock. [ Photo: The anchor's unexpected prize—it looks like an excavator bucket lifting a ten-pin bowling ball-sized rock !  I bet we couldn't do that again if...

  The Long Way Out: Malibu Rapids to Dark Cove . Today has been a somewhat longish “underway” day. We awoke at 6:30 am to ready ourselves and Lil’ Ollie for our transit through Malibu Rapids, which Greg had calculated to be around 7:59 am. When we were just about ready to leave our mooring, he decided to re-check to make sure and realized he had accidentally looked at June 22’s current predictions in Ports and Passes . Malibu Rapids does not have its own standalone table in there; it has to be worked out relative to Point Atkinson, meaning a time offset needs to be applied. His recalculation revealed that slack tide was actually at 8:44 am, which gave us an extra 45 minutes to have breakfast and relax a bit before releasing the mooring buoy. Because it takes about half an hour to arrive at the rapids from our spot, we timed our departure for 8:14 am. We were the only ones transiting the rapids this time. A powerboat had gone through about 10 minutes ahead of us; we heard her annou...

Today began early again—I awoke at 6:00 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and started the usual coffee routine. Greg partook of his usual morning granola, while I opted for Siggi's plain yogurt with cinnamon, a splash of vanilla, and defrosted blueberries. The granola we brought along is homemade by Greg and it is absolutely delicious! He made a custom batch for the trip using: Old-fashioned rolled oats & pumpkin seeds Almonds & walnuts Dried blueberries & cranberries Finely shredded coconut and coconut flakes Melted coconut oil & maple syrup Ground cinnamon & vanilla extract (He even added a couple of secret ingredients this time that aren't' in the recipe - not so much a secret because they are shown above.) Greg decided to take advantage of me working on the blog again, so he packed Artemus into the dinghy. [Photo: Greg and Artemus heading off on their morning journey through the waters and forest.] Greg toodled around the area taking...