September Song

September 1 -

Here I am in Comox. Trevor just arrived so we went fishing out in Georgia Strait. Record returns of Sockeye virtually assured the success of our venture. We failed miserably! With tennis the next day, we did better.


About then Cathy, Sonia, Kerry, Carolyn, Steve and Evonne show up, all in anticipation of Kerry and Carolyn's 1st Annual Ship's Multi-sport Day. Saturday at noon, the first event is mud-golf and here are two ringers - Carolyn and Steve.





Carolyn leads off at low tide blasting balls from out of the benthic muck.




It takes training and a great deal of concentration to drive out of an oyster bed. More so if the tide is racing in!




But none can compare with the athleticism and elegance of Cathy's crab-chip and mud-blaster shot.


As the tide submerges our game, we default to swimming, long-boarding, drinking and eating. Great fun!

Next day we are jamming at FBI (Fanny Bay Inn). All the newbies at our table sing and perform, ably undermined by our friend Mike, the master of ceremonies. The usual at FBI!

Then the dispersal. I leave Tuesday sailing Anya to French Creek and early next morning start the run back to Cow Bay.



A couple of weeks later friends - Rundell and Bea - want to take their new boat 'Casa Jose' to Montague Harbor for her inaugural voyage.

I start a day early so I can overnight in Ganges, see some friends, go to a talk by a Russian scientist on Lake Baikal, and hit the Saturday morning market. To my side a nice boat steams by.


To the right are market vegetables.


Ganges Farmer's Market is eclectic, in some ways a time machine. On one side funky (?) tie-dyed guitar shirts.






But now it is off to Gabriola, Montague Harbor and Casa Jose!



Casa Jose lies at a mooring buoy as Anya approaches.



On the way in I see a couple of crabbers returning - Bill and Rundell.

Then there is Bea, ready to take a line and raft Anya up.



That night we play Balderdash, a game that vitally depends upon BS ability. I blew away Rundell, Bill and Bea. Sunday morning we had coffee, snacks and traded stories with Fred, Judy and Judith on Abdi. Bill agreed to pose with Bea and Judy - a picture of a transparently happy man.


A bit later, Anya casts off the raft-up and heads back to Cow Bay.


That might have been it for September if not but for the bizarre events on the evening of September 29th. After hiking with Rundell I returned to Cow Bay to find giddy neighbors, Iron Mike and Steve (Catherine's 'Screaming Liver') whooping it up in preparation for Christmas. Mike was checking the Xmas lights before festooning Steve's pleasure patio with them. I was aghast! Humbug!

And the living is easy!

August - 2010



Summer has gone, September is here. These last days of summer had their bracing and blissful moments!



Early August friends from Calgary, Ann's David - the guy who got me pounding (his) guitar - wife Kerry and the kids dropped by to hunt for jelly fish. To the side is my neighbor, the toxic Lion's Mane.




Vanessa and Geoff dropped by one Sunday afternoon in August for a sail.


Ha! Ha! It was the windiest day in weeks. Geoff went wild clambering forward, outboard, everyplace but overboard. Sadly during a testy gust, overboard went his favorite hat.





By the next week, the legendary John and Catherine needed crew for another Sunday cruise so they press-ganged me.


There was a nice breeze so we put Inuksuk through her paces, to the wind then down, all without event. Thats good! When sailing with Catherine and an 'event' occurs, it ends up in her next book. Screw ups in Cow Bay are fair game. She tagged me twice!

Aha! I get to tag Catherine with this wonderful photo of her bagging blackberries.





Then August 30th, Anya and I are off north. First up to Gabriola for a meal and overnight at Silva Bay where I catch up with Jonah, chef at the resort, a happening musician and son of Geoff - the girls step-brother.



Next morning Anya and I depart the relative calm of Gabriola, poking our noses into the mayhem of Georgia Strait. A full gale blowing out of the south east! We were in for a ride! Yahoo! Downwind blue rodeo!


Downwind sailing in 30 to 40 knots is fast and furious. There is spume, spray and spindrift to dampen spirits but it didn't work on me that day. After four or five hours of gale winds, waves started to gain rhythm so Anya and I got a little surfing in.



As Chrome Island came into view the winds retreated to 20 to 25 knots. Passing Ship Point, the soon to be famous home of Kerry and Carolyn's Mud Beach Golf Tournament, the winds abated further so that by the time I made Comox Harbor the storm was over and Larry, my good friend from Mexico, was standing on the dock, waiting for me to lose the flip and pay for dinner!

It was a great dinner, made even more so by Larry's obvious recovery from a nasty operation.

Thus ended August 2010!

Festival, festivities!

July 16th - Courtenay


We - Sonia, Trevor and I - head out from Rockbottom for Roberta Flack at the Courtenay Music Festival.

After prepping with a little beer we elbow our way to the front of the night-time crowd where we learn a critical head-banger lesson. Leave the moshpit to the young, delirious or drugged. The safe place to festival is in the remove of the beer gardens, a lesson we carry forward to the next day.

Saturday morning and Trevor is off to help Kerry with dirt-bike issues while Sonia and I are festival bound.
To the right is a picture of the two caballeros - Trevor and Kerry - before. Boys will be boys, rejoicing in short-cuts and getting dirt bikes dirty.




To the left is a forlorn Trevor, a fast disappearing bike and a returning tide.



The music festival is populated with goblins, ogres, witches and fairies, all wonderfully friendly and fun. I found these two on a shady path on the way to the Woodland Stage.




Stilts became an important part of my festival experience. First I spied this young gent.


Then this young lady!






Finally this guy gives it a try!




For me the neatest of the five stages was the Woodland. People passed by that sylvan stage coming or going, to and fro, a cooling dip in the nearby summer river. But over all this the music rules and the music was great!


The main stage was closest to the beer gardens, a natural gravitational center, pulling us ever in. Then late Sunday it was over!
One last time I flick the bird at Trevor (he started it!) and head out in my little white rented beater!

Lambs to the Slaughter

Here lamby, lamby!

July 1, 2010 - Canada Day


Neighbors down the dock, famous Fred and Judy, have talked about it for years - the Lamb Bake on Saturna Island. The nautical types head for Winter Cove for the big event and this year I was there!



Over one hundred boats drop anchor or raft up in Winter Cove while the ferries and road fill with daytrippers, augmenting a spirited local population for the pleasantly barbarous occasion. Seven hundred meals are served - but I leap ahead!




Shortly before Canada Day twenty-seven happy little lambs are selected from the frolicking flocks. Then led, bleating and mewing to Campbells for induction into the Canada Day celebrations.


Off to the right is the last picture of this joyous bleating lot. By the morning of the festivities they are much changed. Off to the left is the last class photo of 2010!





My next photo is a sizzler!





Hit the beer gardens, listen to musicians, watch the dunk tank and cruise the Saturna Island Art kiosk! To build appetites we hike through specatular flora in the Gulf Islands National Park. Along the way I meet old friends - Joan from Spindrift, Ellen (and vicariously Michel) from Mexico sailing days, a personal hero Bill Austen from the Maritime Ecology Centre all the while scoping out the action. All in all a most memorable Canada Day!

Roots

Sunday, May 16th, 2010, Cowichan Bay - Morning coffee with the Porch People up at Bo's emporium at the head of the dock, after modest urging a decision was taken - revivify my blog. Over two years from my last entry, I am rusty.


After perambulating some years and seas in Anya we are back in Cow Bay.


Saturday was Low Tide Day so Fred, Judy and I decided to have a Bilge Emptying Sale. Judy managed it. I sold $500 worth of stuff for $50 and thought I was a clever guy.





The Foxes, Joan and Margaret of Spindrift did a sail-by while at the head of the dock was the Marimba Band - not bad for a busy and beautiful day.



After the sale Anya bobbed a little higher in the water. Disposing of two anchors, a small library of books, and various oddities left her lighter and happier. I am continuing on with odd jobs in preparation for a summer of sailing, festivals and fun.