Peterson Cup Cruising Rally

On July 24th we were off again, this time heading to Nanaimo for the start of the Bluewater Cruising Association's Peterson Cup. It's a week of cruising with occasional races, unbothered by rules. Again our Friday start was delayed, but this time we were away at 1300. With wind and current on the nose we decided to stop at Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club around 1800, for a feed of their excellent prime rib.

The tide tables forced an early departure on Saturday, and a run through Active Pass about an hour before slack. We were about a mile from the Straits when a large BC ferry came through following us at twenty knots. The ferries usually pass each other in the middle of the Pass, so I was happy to have gotten through ahead of them.

The first night in Nanaimo was fun, with a tremendous thunder and Lightening storm passing through just before sunset. The winds roared through the anchorage and a Beneteau 265 dragged past us.

They stopped for a while after riding beam-on up another boat's anchor chain. As the winds died a full double rainbow framed the anchorage and after dark they had the fireworks for the bathtub race festival.

We were underway at 0900 for our first crossing of the Strait of Georgia. Windy at first, we all ended up motoring the last hour. At Smugglers Cove we did our first stern-tie. The water was 74F and Dee couldn't wait to hop in.

It's amazing how many boats you can fit into a small cove with stern-ties. We had a pot luck on the beach and slept well after a long day crossing to the mainland.

The rally was a cannibal theme and we had a big cannibal pot luck in Bargain Bay, just south of Pender Harbour.

We crossed over to an anchorage in Little Bull Passage, between Lasqueti and Jededaih Islands. The water was like glass when we woke up the next morning.
After another wind on/wind off race back across the Strait we anchored in Tribune Bay on Hornby Island. I met a couple on Verdia, another Hughes 38, who were departing for Mexico the following day.

With a gale from the SE forecast for the following day we chose to depart early for Nanaimo. At 0510 we motored out of the anchorage. The winds slowly built but started to roar just as we neared Departure Bay. Since showers and laundry were needed we spent the night at Nanaimo Yacht Club.

It's a bit unnerving to have seaplanes land in the narrow channel beside you.

We had relatives due in on Friday night so we motored at 6.5 knots all day Friday, arriving back at SNSYC around 7:30 pm. Kiskadee returned to CFSA on Saturday afternoon with family getting a five-hour cruise down the coast.

Albert Head

On July 4th we sailed across Royal Roads to Albert Head. We'd been there a couple weeks earlier for CFSA's big Summer Sailstice Party, but this time wanted to spend the night. Being a DND facility CFSA members can use the small dock, but we wanted the peace and quiet of anchoring.

It was warm, sunny and quiet, except for the odd salmon breaking surface while chasing a meal. Dee had a nap on the foredeck and I snoozed in the cockpit.

The next morning, with very light winds, Dee motored us back towards Esquimalt. She had to work on Sunday afternoon so this was a mini-cruise.

Weekend at Portland Island

Less than two weeks after Poet's Cove we were off again, this time to Portland Island. Dee was stuck at work so our 0900 departure was pushed to 1500. By this time the wind was up to +20 knots and the current had turned against us... And against the wind. Damn we got hammered. At one point, while Dee was sitting in the cockpit and I was on the helm, she looked above my shoulder and saw our dinghy 40' back and surfing down a wave. She just closed her eyes and hung on. With wind vs current the waves get steep and close together. Kiskadee was hobby-horsing for about three hours until we'd turned the corner and started north towards Sidney Channel. With a salt encrusted boat, we called it quits about an hour before dark and grabbed a mooring ball at the Sidney Spit Marine Park.
We motored north and arrived at Royal Cove about 0900 on Saturday morning and rafted up with Dick and Francine's Bayliner 32.
The entire Portland Island is the Princess Margaret Marine Park. We hiked across the island and back, then went exploring in the dinghy.

May Cruising

Less than a week after launching we were off to Poet's Cove, on South Pender Island, for a weekend rendezvous with the Bluewater Cruising Association. This was a pirate theme weekend and eye patches were everywhere.

Here's Kiskadee at anchor off of Poet's Cove. At $50 per night we decided to anchor, along with about 40 other boats.



Dee and I went for a hike ashore and found a trail that led out around the point. It gave us a nice view across Boundary Pass to the American side.

Haul out in April 09

I'm still tardy with my posts, but this one takes us through spring. We hauled Kiskadee on April 28th for a bottom job and new engine cooling intake. While out I decided to repaint her boot stripes. I'd liked to have painted her topsides, but I still don't have the guts nor experience.














Here she is on May 7th, all shiney and ready for launch on the 12th. That blue paint spill under her bow is about $30 worth of Micron CSC.

The engine cooling intake has been upgraded from 1/2" to 7/8", with a scoop strainer aimed forward to catch more water. Yes, it can aim aft on a sailboat but I wanted to ease the load on the Atomic 4's water pump. (Note:) After four months and over 400 miles it's cooling better than ever and hasn't sucked in any crap.)

Winter sailing

November and December were good sailing months, until a week or so before Christmas when the weather changed. Kiskadee enjoyed some winter club racing, even pulling of one win in our Division. Here we're alongside Kiskadee's sister Hughes 38, Canada Goose with a reef in her main. It's great fun to race side by side against the same hull.














Our last sail of the year was as Race Committee with Paul Ulibarri aboard to run the race. We learned a lot from one of the world's best.

By Christmas we were well blanketed with snow and I'd had to shovel Kiskadee off a couple times. These pictures were taken after each of the first two small snow storms.

Two days after taking the last pic it dumped almost another foot of snow onto Kiskadee. WIth rain in the forecast I quickly shoveled it all off, hauled the dinghy aboard and stowed it upside down on the foredeck. It was full of melted snow water, but did not freeze due to the +9C harbour temperature.














We still haven't had our New Years sail, but soon I hope...

Running like new... Finally!

More then a year after Nova Automotive completed rebuilding Kiskadee's Atomic 4 she is running like a new engine. (I'm still kicking myself in the ass for destroying my Robert Hess rebuilt engine after only 50 hours. An intake full of eal grass and no engine alarms was a bad thing.) Nova Automotive is an excellent machine shop, but they farmed my Atomic 4 out to another shop for assembly. Apparently a rookie Apprentice was having a bad week.

< This photo shows the Hess Marine short-block, when I opened the crate in Spring 2006. The subesquent rebuild by Nova Automotive wasn't even close to this quality.

When hot the engine would leak coolant from around the head bolts. I didn't know if this was a lack of sealant on the stud threads or a split/cracked head gasket. I hauled off the head and again was surprised that the head and block were coated in RTV on assembly. The piston tops, valves and combustion chamber were thick with carbon. True, she had run for many hours with the idle screw tightened fully in (thank you Nova Automotive) but this was thick for 100 hours of operation.

A quick check revealed that the valves had not bee set when assembled. They were supposed to be 0.010" intake and 0.012" exhaust. All were set from 0.030 to 0.042"... Duh. No wonder the engine was running so poorly. Well at least the Apprentice had not set them too tight or the seats would have been burnt. I cleaned away all of the carbon then middled the pistons and poured in a 1/2" of diesel fuel to soak in overnight. In the morning most of it has soaked past the rings, to loosen up any carbon that may have been starting to gum them up. I set the valves and reinstalled the head with the studs properly sealed.

After installing the clean carb she started right up. After warmup I put her in gear at half throttle and tweaked the timing. Then at idle I tweaked the carb until she was ticking over at a slow and smooth idle. After idling for 20 minutes it was time for a beer.

She has since been working like new for a couple weeks. After about 18 months I think I have finally solved most of what Nova did wrong. I finally have confidence in my Atomic 4 and again believe that it is the best little engine around.

Now she's all ready for winter racing and cruising. In fact last Sunday she raced for the first time since moving west. Kiskadee won Div 3 by 5 seconds. Yahoo!

Thanksgiving Cruise

October 2008

Three CFSA boats headed to Thetis Island to join up with the Bluewater Cruising Association for their Fall Rendezvous. Just south of Sidney Kiskadee's carb float stuck and she started overflowing raw gas into the bilge. Here's S/V Alphie towing us the last couple of miles into Sidney.

On Saturday morning we ripped her apart and found the carb full of dirt and rust. Within an hour it was cleaned and we were ready to head to Thetis Island. Unfortunately the wind was on the nose all day so we had to motor. In most areas out here the bottom falls away quickly from the shore. In this picture we're only about eighty feet from shore but in over 250' of water.

The weekend with the Bluewater Cruising Association was the most fun we've had since moving from Halifax. We are definitely joining as we have to hook up with these great people again. Dee cooked a turkey in Kiskadee's oven and we had a huge Thanksgiving potluck feast.

They had a driftwood sailboat race and our entry, Witches' Crew, looked like a real contender. Unfortunately she pitch-poled about two inches from the start and stayed inverted. We still had tons of laughs and learned enough to guarantee us a winning boat next year... Ha!

Kiskadee was well tucked-in, deep inside the marina at Thetis Island.

On Sunday evening they had a TV Theme Song contest. We scored 26.5 out of 50 and won. Our prize was a remote control talking Macaw, which has since learned a few bad words. We left for home at 0630 on Monday morning. The cold wind was on the nose and the threatened rain held off until we were alongside in Sidney. I returned on Tuesday evening and single-handed her home early on Tuesday morning. I'm not fond of 0630 departures, but it was necessary to ride the current.

September Maintenance

September 2008

After returning from the August cruise we completely overhauled the fuel system. I removed and cleaned the tank and installed all new lines, fittings, hoses, valves and filters. Everything from the deck fill to the carb is new and spotless. Here I'm using a shop-vac to blow dry the well scrubbed fuel tank.

During the cruise the fresh water cooling pump's impeller blew apart, shedding three of its six vanes. I ended up hauling the engine's water jacket apart to search for them. In the end I only found two and pray that the third is in the bilge. Here's the engine compartment all back together. The new fuel pump had just arrived from Moyer Marine in Maryland.

After sorting out the engine I finally tackeled a long overdue cockpit table project. In the end I'd spent $30 to build a folding table. It's perfect for a meal for two or snacks for six. It also holds the chart booklet and Current Atlas when I'm sailing. Hopefully it will survive the winter.

Here's Kiskadee, ready once more for her next cruise. I recently bought a 1970 Evinrude 4hp outboard to get around the anchorages. At last we can make waves and noise.

Summer Cruise 2008

August 2008
After a couple months of shaking things down and day sailing, we finally got away for a couple of weeks. We quickly learned about the huge currents on this coast. If you plan correctly you get a couple knot boost. If you plan wrong it's a long day. In this pic you can see the water being churned up during a current change. It sometimes instantly swings the bow up to 30 degrees.

Here's Dee enjoying healthy sailing food: Bottled water, cookies and twizzlers!

We spent almost two weeks cruising up to Nanaimo and back. The fuel system crapped out from dirt stirred up while being hauled across the continent, so we ran on jerry cans in the cockpit for most of the trip. We covered a lot of ground to get a feel for the area that you just can't get from the charts. Our stops at anchor and alongside included: Sidney Spit, Nanaimo, Maple Bay, Ganges, Port Browning and Sidney Spit.

Here we're entering Dodd Narrows, following a long line of south bound boats rushing through during slack water at the turn of the tide.














One has to always keep an eye out for tugs towing barges and for the ever-present BC Ferries.














On the return trip we stopped again at Sidney Spit. This time we hiked out and around the light house. It's a great spot and only $10 per night for a mooring ball.














It was a beautiful evening with the promising red sky. We went to bed early and left at 0700 to catch the ebbing currents and knock a couple hours off the trip back to Esquimalt.

Tall Ships

June 2008

We spent a couple days sailing off Victoria with the Tall Ships. Below shows the Bounty heading out and starting to hoist sail. We watched a multi-ship mock cannon battle, sailing about a quarter mile astern of the fleet.













When the Tall Ships left they raced to Washington state. Here the USCGS Eagle has her 21 sails hoisted and cranked on speed to cross the Strait. We sailed hard, but she quickly outran Kiskadee.

Taste of the Pacific

April 2008













Kiskadee arrived in Esquimalt on March 25th. Yes that's a different truck, as the original truck's engine died in Quebec. Other than road dirt and a sheared gooseneck, she was in excellent condition. A quick rabbit resulted in a replacement gooseneck that is far superior to the original. Thank you Canadian taxpayers.

New Gooseneck

Sheared Gooseneck

Over a couple days I replaced a cracked thru-hull, painted her bottom dark blue and rigged her mast. She was launched on 31 March. Every ocean is a new adventure and this was Kiskadee's first taste of Pacific salt water.

Kiskadee's big trip

March 2008

We lucked in and found a fantastic boat-hauler on uship.com named House of Boats. They are from Texas but haul across the continent. They locked our move in for a little over $11K. This was far better then the lowest Canadian hauler's quote of $19K.

Kiskadee was loaded at SYC on a bitter cold and windy day by a bunch of great friends. Pat took charge and everyone jumped in and had her craned on and strapped down before frostbite set in. Being in charge, Pat spent the day walking around with the check-list... But it was so cold that his eyes froze and Gary had to help him read it.

Sagadore Cranes, as always, did an excellent job handling an difficult load in high winds.

A lot of friends showed up and made things go quicker in the bitter cold.


Eleven people made it a light lift to hang the mast on the trailer.

Loaded and heading for the highway.