Me, Dad, Barnucka and Kevin prepare to depart for a 3 hour cruise from Capital City Yacht Club to Cadboro Bay

I think it entirely appropriate that I spent my birthday taking possession of Trouper II, physically. I mean, mom and dad gave her to me back in August of last summer but having her at Capital City Yacht Club meant that I really wasn't supposed to have access to her due to my not being a member of the club.

My beautiful, supportive, sea captain's wife Tania. She wears the classic forlorn look of one who's love prepares to venture onto the great abyss.

Tania is my first mate. But someone had to stay home and kill themselves preparing for my birthday party!

So after spending the past 9 months getting her ready, it was time to take the plunge and relocate her to my new mooring buoy in Cadboro Bay. With dad, Barnucka and Kevin (who'd come over from Passage Island especially for this trip) onboard, we slipped the lines and stopped by the gas dock at Van Isle Marina before beginning our voyage to Caddy Bay.

I only managed another 7 litres of fuel before the tank was full. I thought we'd be able to ship another 40 litres or so, considering it's a 90 litre tank and I'd already put in 40 litres + 20 litres + 5 litres = 65 litres. But no. Still scratchin' my head over that one.... I bought a can of fuel additive for good measure but was unable to add it because the fucking tank was full.

Dad at the helm as we pass through Cordova Channel

Kevin, Dad and Barnucka in Cordova Channel. Island View beach to the left and James Island on the right

There was absolutely no wind until we got to Cadboro Bay so we didn't even take the sail cover off. It was a beautiful Spring day on Hero Strait. We even managed to have the Ebb tide with us so our average speed over the bottom was in the neighborhood of 6 knots. We managed to make 7 Knots through Baynes Channel. The total trip was 17.8 nautical miles and took us three hours.

Flying the Jolly Roger, en route to Cadboro Bay

We enjoyed seeing James Island, Island View Beach, St. Margaret's Cove and Paul's Terrace along the way. We marveled at the grossly sized waterfront mansions along the way. There were many, many crab pots dotting our route as well.

Our route, captured by my Navionics chart plotter

At the end of our trip, we tied up to the Thomson private buoy and that's where she rests until Friday when, hopefully Tania and I will row out to her and have a picnic and I'll take her out by myself for the first time on Saturday. Very exciting!

Oh, by the way I made sure to fly the largest jolly roger I had as a slap in the face to Gerry Porter who I hoped was half in the bag, at the Yacht Club pub at the time of our transit. No word yet on whether he saw us.

Barnuck and I on our way to the buoy after dropping Dad and Kevin at Yacht Club

Trouper II rests at anchor on our private mooring buoy in Cadboro Bay