Last night we had dinner with Dave and Laura Dobson, friends of Dennis and Pat who spent four years sailing in the Pacific on a 42 ft sailboat. We had a wonderful evening of food and chats, and Keli and I unleashed a barrage of questions that we had been storing up over the last couple of weeks. It’s amazing to meet people who are so willing to share their knowledge with you and who’ve already invested time and energy solving many of the problems that we’re just becoming aware of.
Our list of questions included:
- Should we buy collapsable or rigid bottomed dinghy?
- What weapons did you carry for personal protection?
- Is SSB radio better than satelite phones?
- Should we become members of a yacht club?
- Did you use 100% cotton bedding?
- What did you carry in your first aid kit?
- How did you prepare for having guests aboard?
Today we made our final decision of which yacht broker to use to help us buy the boat, and are delighted to have settled on Ian Fraser from Fraser Yacht Sales. Ian came highly recommended from friends of Dennis and Pat, and have met with him in his office last week both Keli and I feel confident that he can help us find a boat that meets our needs. We’ll keep you posted on developments there…
It was great to get out on the water with Dennis and Pat at the weekend on Tanatuls, their Express 37 sailboat. We sailed across from West Vancouver Yacht Club to Gibson’s on the Sunshine Coast on Friday evening to have dinner with Kel’s Granny Louise and Auntie Aileen and Lynn. On Saturday we sailed across to an inlet called Long Bay to practice anchoring and settle in for the night. A successful weekend and I think Dennis and Pat felt a little more confident that the training had paid off and Keli and I had half a clue what we were getting ourselves into!
On Saturday we head to the Bowron Lakes, a provincial park in British Columbia, for a week long canoeing and camping trip on the lakes. Ten of us will spend 7 to 9 days completing a circuit of 116km on the lakes, camping in designated camp grounds each night. It’s likely to be the most extreme wilderness I’ve ever seen, so it’s really exciting to be getting it in before we head off to warmer climes.
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