2012 Trip 1 - Pacific Swift

Trip 1 - Looking forward to welcoming trainees aboard between 1100 hours and 1200 hours on Saturday, June 30, 2012 at Ship Point in Victoria´s inner harbour!

Trip 1 - Day 2 - After running through our first night we are now anchored, safe and sound, in Keefer Bay at Savary Island. Our first day saw all trainees warmly welcomed aboard the Pacific Swift downtown Victoria and then we were off. Trainees spent the first day becoming accustomed to being onboard, finding and setting up bunk space, and starting to learn the in´s and out´s of living in about 100ft of space with 38 people. After a cooler afternoon in the Gulf Islands and transiting Active Pass we were surprised with a few extra degrees of temperature and beautiful sun set as we prepared to run through our first night up the Strait of Georgia. After a long night run we made Savary Island early this afternoon and all hands launched dories and headed to the South Beach for an exciting game of “Sticks.” Everyone is now back onboard relaxing after a delicious lasagna dinner made by our cooks, Melanie and Tannis and trainees are settling into the rhythm of life onboard. Noah, Rachel and Abigail are weaving turks heads bracelets, Amanda is helping our bosun´s mate Megan with some sanding and refinishing work, Sam has a guitar out on the afterdeck and the mood onboard is generally mellow and cheerful as all hands enjoy the last of the days sunshine.

Day 4 - Currently anchored in Drew Harbour, Quadra Island. Junior trainees are in the middle of a chart work lesson with our bosun Tristan, and our lone and determined intermediate Isabella is also advancing her chart work skills with first mate Sam. Yesterday we spent our rather rainy day sailing up from Savary under four lowers with a top speed of 9kts exiting Baker Passage. After arriving in Drew Harbour dories were launched and all hands rowed ashore, except forward watch who used our dory sailing rig to sail their dory, to Rebecca Spit where a rousing game of “Bean the Guy (softly)” was played and we enjoyed a couple hours of rain free weather. After dinner there was a “ping-pong soccer” tournament. This game consists of two teams, one of either side of a table, chins on the table attempting to blow a ping-pong ball past their opponents´ shoulders to score a point and win the game. As one can imagine this game is almost as fun to watch as it is to play. This morning we are enjoying an almost sunny reprieve from last night´s downpour and will soon be underway to Teakerne Arm Falls where we hope to meet up with the Pacific Grace and enjoy our first freshwater rinse in the falls and a swim in the lake. 

We've had two very exciting days to report aboard the Pacific Swift. After leaving Drew Harbour yesterday morning we had our first whale sighting of the trip. Just as second sitting was about to head down below for lunch Tristan shouted “whale!” and everyone was in a flurry of excitement rushing to the bow to get a glimpse of some of our local Orcas. To make it more picture perfect we were just entering Whale Passage, so now everyone can return triumphantly home declaring that they saw whales in Whale Pass. It was a great show with about four whales back and forth between the port and starboard sides; one even decided to cross right behind our stern not even a full boat length away. We were hoping for a sail, but ended up with a partially sunny motor over to Teakerne Arm where we rafted up with the Pacific Grace for the night. It's not often one can shower in a waterfall, but this beautiful location is perfect for climbing into the falls so all hands were shuttled in shifts over to the waterfalls and everyone is feeling “clean” once more. Rafting up with our sister ship allows for a thrilling evening mug-up with twice as many trainees for an invigorating game of camouflage followed by a rockin´ mug-up complete with dance party. This morning everyone (even our cook turned off her stove and came along) headed up to Cassel Lake for a morning dip in the sunshine before slipping our lines and heading out once more. We´ve been blessed with sunshine and blue skies today so there were no complaints as we had a lovely afternoon sail with everything flying and making a leisurely 2kts down Lewis Channel. Lessons were taught, secret friend gifts were made, conversation was had, climbing, and furling, and plenty of lounging in the sun completed our afternoon on our way to our current anchorage at the South end of Cortes Island beside the Twin Islands. We are in for a beautiful sunset tonight, a clear starry sky, and a gorgeous sunrise in the morning as we make an early start down the Strait to bring us a little closer to home and a little further from the adventures of Desolation as our trip comes solidly into its second half.

Leaving our anchorage from the Twin Islands we headed down the Strait once more to gain some southerly momentum. The day was filled with sunshine! We have been waiting for a beautiful day like this for a while and it finally came along with some burnt shoulders, feet, and noses, but so many happy hearts. It´s amazing what a change in the weather can do. Trainees spent the morning reviewing their lessons from the past week and followed up with their Junior Sail Training test in the afternoon. There were also a lot of good times just spent hanging out and talking as the day progressed. One of the greatest things to happen onboard is that time in the trip when everyone starts to get into the rhythm of life at sea. A day like this spent onboard is when that is most likely to happen. Watches and meals come and go, you have a great list of things you´d like to get done, and in the end of the day you´re never sure where all the time has gone. We were earnestly hoping the wind would come up and give us even a little bit of a sail down, but no such luck. We made our anchorage at Hornby Island just as everyone was finished up with tests and promptly opened up the “pool” and rope swing for everyone to cool down from the hot day and enjoy the last of the warm water before we make our way down to into the Gulf Islands today. Last night we rowed the dories in and spent the evening on the beach, or what was left of it after most of the tide had come in. We spent a few hours playing games and hanging out in the sunset. A couple highlights from last night: A giant game of “Big Booty” (a rhythm and clapping game) where our first mate Sam reigned “Biggest Booty” after some close dethrone-ings by Amanda, Isabella, Tannis, and Stephanie; there was an exciting game of Ultimate Frisbee where Griffen, Eamon, Leonard, Michael, Ansell, and David rang out as allstars for the evening; and perhaps funniest and saddest moment was when Isabella found half a snake, that by the expression on it´s face was having the time of it´s life before it got cut in half by a local lawnmower... Today is day 7 and “Boat Sunday” and all the boat is sleeping in a little. We´ll have a Sunday Service aboard later today and a one sitting breakfast of Crepes, bacon, and hash browns, cooked up by Sam, Skipper David, and Zach before we cross our fingers for some wind and start our journey south once more.