... try and find us

After a week of splashing the boat, loading our stuff on the boat, re-acquainting ourselves with the boat, having new things added to the boat, provisioning the boat and then preparing the boat ... we are on the move again! Victoria Marina We arrived from Cherbourg after a seven hour motor through dead calm waters and almost no wind. It was well after dark when we pulled into the harbour and we tied up to the Waiting Pontoon. The marina itself is behind a seawall and is entered by way of sill.  The sill maintains enough water in the marina to keep all the vessels there afloat through a potential 9 metre tide cycle.  It's a very clever arrangement. It requires all the mariners, both arriving and leaving, to know where we are in the tide cycle and therefore how much water is above the sill. Sill at High Tide ... and at Low Tide. Provided you know your vessel's draft and are aware that the sill is 4.2 metres above the low water measurement on the tide cycle, there should b...

After a four-and-a-half month rest on the hard stand, Chinook is going back in the water! Let the adventures continue.

After the success we had sticking to our 2024 plan (ha ha!), we decided to tempt fate and plot out our next year or so.  As always, this is very preliminary, lacks detail and is subject to change: but here goes... November - December 2024 Chinook splashes tomorrow after a four and a half month stint on the hard. We will move back aboard and reacquaint ourselves with her.  We have spent almost as much time aboard Voyager as we have on Chinook so we will be forgiven for thinking someone has moved the pepper shaker ... and everything else! We have a new sail to learn how to use (whoo hoo!) and lots of sorting and list making to keep us busy.  If we have a weather window, we will head to the Channel Islands for a week or so. Wendy and Graeme arrive on 1 December so we will give them a few days to get settled then start looking for a weather window to cross The Channel to England. For the rest of the 2024, we will be bobbing along the coast of England. 2025 Jan - May  ...

Our trips to Kate's homeland usually involve rushing around to catch up with as many of our friends and relatives as we can.  Luckily, we are getting wiser.  We have ensconced ourselves at Wendy and Graeme's farm and are encouraging everyone to visit us here, instead. Wendy and Graeme's house on the farm We did very well at getting people to visit.  In fact, the whole family showed up.   Oh, did I forget to mention that Wendy and Graeme's son and new daughter-in-law conveniently held a wedding on the farm, too? Congrats, you two crazy kids! Arriving a week early, we were heavily involved in the setup.  This involved the construction of a new bridge on the road up to the house and the installation of a new liner in the pool.  To the non-tropically located readers, a pool may sound like a luxury, but I can assure you that it is essential for a good portion of the year. Kate dusts off her bridge-building experience, inspecting the new abutme...

There are terrible reasons for wonderful events. This is one of them. After being picked up Lorne in Tuk and enjoying a high-speed and surprisingly non-bumpy drive down the Dempster Highway, we overnighted in Dawson City and the next day continued down the sealed road to Whitehorse. Lorne had a plane to catch, so he deposited us in front of our hotel, we said our ‘goodbyes’ and he left us to make our own way back to Calgary. Then the email came. My brother, Jeff, let me know that Uncle Mark, one of the reasons we were inspired to transit the NorthWest Passage, had passed away last night. Generally in good health, he had been managing some heart issues and had woken up the previous night with chest pains. An ambulance ride to the local hospital took place with him joking with the Medical Technicians on the way.   A helicopter transfer to the regional hospital was next, then the rest of the day in Intensive Care with a brain bleed. By 3 am the next morning, he quietly...

Tuktoyaktuk Hang on.  Whoops, that's not the right photo:  This is the one... Tuktoyaktuk ... again. Who would have thought that we would be in Tuktoyaktuk with one year and one day between visits. It was this time last year that we were on the epic family trip up the Dempster.  This year, we sailed from St John's.  I wonder just how many people have visited Tuktoyaktuk by both road and sea?

Polar Bound - skippered by the legendary  David Cowper From the protection of Summer Bay, we watched the storm clouds pass over and around us and listened to the wind whistle through the rigging.  All the boats in our convoy had pulled into shelter.  Thor, Hauru and Night Owl in Summer Bay, Lumina in Letty Harbour on the east side of the Parry Peninsula and Sky Dancer and Myhann at Pearce Point to the east. We were also joined by Polar Bound and a tug boat with two huge work barges.  The break gave us the opportunity to rest and do some forward planning. Wind and rain - but the blue sky started to peep through! Due to time constraints and concern for the weather slowing progress, we planned to disembark from  Voyager at Tuktoyaktuk.  Our friend Lorne was driving up from Whitehorse to meet us.  He had flown up from San Francisco just to make this journey.  Lorne, you are a legend!  One small complication was he needed to catch...