This wind is for Ciara
The group had decided we would try and head to McGregor Bay around 9pm. My crew was hard to rouse so we it was about 9:30 before we all had our anchors stowed and on our way. The air quality was much better then expected and just really hazy. At least it wasn’t yellow outside anymore.
The winds were coming from the northwest and we were headed that direction which meant an upwind sail. I have learned my lesson this season and had the deck prepped for heeling over as well as down below. Our friends on Arabesque and Lucia also hoisted their sails right after we left the anchorage. The winds were just perfect for Ciara today and it was apparent that today was our day to shine. Our friends, who have lighter boats and even beat us in idle were falling behind as Captain tightened the sheets closer and closer to the hull.
We only had about 13nm to go, which by motor standards is about two to two and half hours so I settled into to being uncomfortable for a while, but thankful we weren’t doing this all day. There are a bit of rocky shoals along the way and as we approached McGregor Point we found ourselves having to tack, frequently. Tacking up wind is a lot of work. The sails need trimming and all our wenches are manual, which means arm power. Captain and I worked the boat through many tacks all while he was in total race mode. Remember, if there is more then one sailboat out…it’s a race. I don’t really like this mentality as it makes folks do things maybe they shouldn’t. I just can’t take the racer out of Captain. As an old salty sailor, we once met said “Racing is just sanctioned impudence seamanship!” I couldn’t agree more. The last tack we put off to the last moment. Captain was still hoping for a little lift in the wind to help us make it past the point. Lucia who was keeping on our heels feigned sooner, but he did a great job keeping up with us the entire way. Arabesque wasn’t catching the same wind as us and had lowered their sails to get through all the shoals.
As soon as we made the point we headed east and into a great beam reach. This is a much more comfortable point of sail and very fast. We hit 7.6 knots of speed and left our friends in the distance. Captain was sailing so well that we were able to hit a course that let us sail much further then most people dare, even skipping a marked channel and going right between shoals. You could see the rocks not far from our boat. Honestly today was intense enough that I had my eyes down a lot, just watching the charts and keeping Kona calm. Okay, Kona was keeping me calm. Her ears were dancing in the wind.
Not long after we had to take sails down as the channels became very narrow as we got close. With the sails down I went up deck to enjoy the views. And the views were amazing. Islands everywhere. May with little camps set up that are so idealic that I yearn to spend my retired sailing days up here as well. I also had been so pre-occupied by the sail to notice that the sky was blue! Like really blue and no haze! That northern wind had taken the fire haze away.
I had been hoping to relax in the afternoon but told Captain we may need to take advantage of the beautiful day and take the hike that was nearby.
As we rounded into the anchorage Captain proclaimed “Since we won, and that was a lot of work (it really was) I get to get first pick of anchorages!” There were two other boats here but we had no issue finding a spot for ourselves. Our friends on Arabesque and Lucia motored in just as our anchor was fully set. Two more boats joined in not long after that.
We made lunch since we were starving and folks came over on the dinghy’s to discuss the day. We all had the same thought to take advantage of the air and go hiking. We would leave around 3pm it was decided. Our friends let us join on their boats so we wouldn’t have to put on our big engine to get to the trail head which wasn’t far away, but far enough they didn’t want to wait for our little electric motor to get there.
The hike, named Pointed Rock Trail (as far as I can tell) takes you straight up the La Cloche Range. Very well marked with pointed rock carnes and mostly on big flat rocks. Sometimes they offered natural stair footing, sometimes just smooth rock face rocks that you hoped your shoes would stick to.
We were greeted at the top of a view overlooking Bae Fine to the south and McGregor Bay to the north. There were geocache boxes that the kids filled out and we dropped a boat card in. Captain flew his drone and got a group photo but not much else as the winds were a little high for our little guy. Kona had a great time hiking with such a large group. She spent her time going from the front of the line to the back and then back again. If we did 5km, she id 15km for sure. What a good girl making sure everyone was good.
It was 5:30 before we got back to our boats. All the kids jumped into to the lake to play. Cory went to swim over and I had to hold back Kona. Kona let out the most pathetic howls and sounds we don’t hear from her very often. They resonated off the white quartz walls making sure everyone within a mile heard. After Cory was far enough away I set up her pup plank and let her play. I put on her life jacket only because I wasn’t sure if she may decide to go swim with the kids rather then just play fetch. Thankfully she is so ball happy that she didn’t bother the kids. It was really nice to see all the kids swimming and playing on Arabesques swim platform for a few hours. Captain figured out he could take a semi shower in the cockpit with our seawater washdown hose, therefore bypassing having to jump into the lake. He did that while I cleaned up the deck as I have been dying to wash all the Mayflies and dirt for about a week now. I put on my bikini for eye candy for Captain and also gave myself a little hose down after I cleaned the decks.
We had picked up extra buns in Little Current and had invited everyone to our boat for Pulled Pork BBQ for dinner. Somehow, I got the boat all put together with Cory’s help while Captain made dinner and just a little after 7pm everyone started to arrive. Michelle brought an amazing salad and hot baked bread! John had grilled up fresh corn on the cob! Julian and Gabriel brought risotto and asparagus which we all gobbled up. The only leftovers were just a little pork which we will enjoy for tacos soon. The evening quickly turned to dusk. The kids had gone back to another boat (not sure which one) to watch a movie while Cory crashed down below. The adults hung out and had an amazing evening in the cockpit all while and exhausted Kona got all the pets. Half of us were rewarded with an amazing shooting star as half of the crew mid-sentence just went “WOW!” I was not the lucky half. I think we finally said our good-nights around 11pm. Captain and I took Kona to shore and then were finally in bed around mid-night.
We plan on staying at this anchorage at least two nights and up here in MacGregor Bay where there is no sailing but much to explore through the weekend. I know the winds are expected to shift in all directions in that time so I suspect we will have more smoke to come. For now we are all not taking it for granted. There will be time to loaf and read later.
