Monday February 10, 2014 (Family Day)

The pirate at the helm of Trouper II. (photo courtesy of Eric Sinclair)

Barnucka and I had planned to take Trouper II out for my first sail as owner this morning. However the weather was inclement and the forecast (according to Barnucka) was for wind developing late in the day. After much back and forth on the subject, I decided to postpone our trip.

In the meantime, Eric had answered a text invitation I had sent him the night before and was gung-ho to go. Tania was pushing me to get out there and enjoy. She had even donated a couple of her coveted gluten free, chocolate cupcakes from Patisserie Daniel! Eric reported that from his vantage point, overlooking Haro Strait, the wind was up and the rain was subsiding.

That's all I needed. I tried in vain to get in touch with Barnucka. He had fled his apartment immediately after we agreed to postpone. I did all I could to get a hold of him, including leaving numerous phone messages and even driving by his boat in Oak Bay in the hopes of catching him. No luck.

On our way out to Sidney, the rain started up again in earnest and we faced a 20 minute delay due after the Pat Bay highway was closed at Island View Road due to a fatal traffic accident.

We finally arrived and had soon slipped our lines and were heading out of the channel to the gas dock when my newest baseball cap blew off my head. I deftly maneuvered for recovery and soon had my soggy by no worse-for-wear hat on board. Hey, I got it for free after buying a ton of paint for our recent renovations.

Fuelling up at the gas dock. 40 litres of diesel. (photo courtesy of Eric Sinclair)

We took on 40 litres of fuel at the gas dock and continued on our way. The wind was fresh at about 20 knotts from the South East and there was a 3 to 4 foot chop. It was while I was scrambling crab-like over the fore deck, hanking on the storm jib when I realized I should have rigged for sailing at the dock.

While Eric cowers below deck, the pirate faces the white squall head on! (photo courtesy of Eric Sinclair)

Where the hell is my crew, goddamn it?! (photo courtesy of Eric Sinclair)

We were moving pretty good under jib alone! (photo courtesy of Eric Sinclair)

I soon had the jib flying and we thoroughly enjoyed a two hour sail in the bay. Trouper II performed flawlessly. This was the first time she'd been under sail in a couple of years. My rigging tune-up job stood up and the mast remained straight as a nail under sail. I will definitely be hanking on the main sail for my next outing.

I did notice that the port side winch is rotating backwards. I will have to check this out. Over-all, it was an exhilarating, greatly successful outing and I can't wait to go sailing again.

Trouper II from Hiwind on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eric Sinclair for shooting and editing this amazing video!