Happy Anniversary

On Aug 24 Barb and I will be celebrating 33 years of marriage. (Yes to each other). I decided to take her to San Francisco. All be it, on a small, slow boat!

We have spent the last two weeks in Sidney getting some repairs and work done, a quick trip up to Kelowna and Vancouver buying stuff and saying good bye to friends and family again. Here’s the quick update.

In the ongoing, and hopefully now solved, saga of the saildrive seals. I had Vector Marine, the Volvo Dealer in Sidney replace the lower drive shafts, bearings, bearing races, and the seals on both sides. That’s a total of 5 or six sets of seals between the 2 sail drives in the past 3 years and 1400 hours. Total bill for this work $6566. After some complaining and emails to Volvo customer relations Volvo came up with $1000 in customer good will to help offset the cost and 2 years parts and labour warranty on the repair. I really hope its not needed. I felt I should have got more but I’m tired of arguing and headed south so I’ll take what I can get.

Another purchase in Sidney was new dinghy. We worked out a deal with Sherwood Marine and they took our old unit in on trade. It was a great boat but just too heavy for Barb and I to haul up the beach. I basically got the same boat (10.5-foot AB Brand, RIB) but without the centre console steering and with a 15 hp Suzuki outboard. We also installed fold down dinghy wheels to help us when we must lug it up the beach.

While in Vancouver we worked with Pacific Yacht Systems and upgraded our plotter and radar. We are now running a 12” Garmin plotter and new high-tech radar.

I need to get headed south. If not for the weather timing and the adventure, just to get out of town so I stop spending money.

I’m writing from downtown Victoria as we sit in front of the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings and wait for the weather. It looks like a very early morning start on Friday will give us the best chance for the most favorable weather. Barb’s brother in law, Marc, will be joining us and with the 3 of us on board we will try and make it a non-stop trip from Victoria to San Francisco. Here’s the thing though. The trip from Victoria will take five to seven days. The weather forecasts are really, only good for 3 days. That means we’ll have to keep checking and updating and if things look like they are turning bad we’ll head for a harbour and wait it out.

That’s cruising. All plans are written in sand below the high tide mark. Subject to change at any time.

Wish us luck and if you believe say a prayer for us. We’ll take all the help we can get.