Sailing with Grandkids

I picked up Anna and Adrian from their aunt Lindsay on sunday [ Aug 22] in the evening. We filled water and returned the rental car and got away from E dock just before noon. There was no wind and we were motoring to wards Sidney spit to anchor or go on mooring ball and have some ‘beach’ time. There was some some thermals in front of Sidney so we spent about 2 hours sailing back and forth on various points of sail. It was obvious that the CanSail classes they had taken on Glenmore Lake had given them some good basics. They had a good time on the beach making ‘villages’ etc in the sand. Anna wanted to row and was good natured with my description of her rowing path looking like a drunken duck!

The next was forecast to have no wind so we planned on motoring early to Russel Island to do some exploring. We manages about 45 minutes of sailing on the jib before the wind died and we were ready to enter the anchorage. After we anchored 2 boats anchored very close to use and one had a ‘loud ‘ talker and the boat became known as the ‘annoying boat’; fortunately before I had to suggest they re-anchor for the night, they left. Before sunset we did a walk of the island, the home stead and saw some interesting arbutus trees. Back on Watermark we looked up the trees and found that they are actually evergreens and are in the strawberry family. They both recalled that in Portugal they saw a tree called a strawberry tree which is direct relative of the arbutus.

The next day we rowed to the Island [ Anna said she had practiced in her mind and true to form, rowed a straight line to the beach!] We did some tide pool exploring, then some sketching/painting and Adrian rowed back; his rowing also improving…. new skill learned!

We motored back to E dock, with a short sail before the wind died. Kids were great crew as we docked, tied up and got ready for a dinner in Sidney!

I was so grateful for this special time with them, it will be a fond memory to cherish.

PS: at coffee shop and all my photos are on a hard drive I left on Watermark; will add some later

here is link to a video of tacking Watermark with full crew! https://youtu.be/M9oXkEs0qhw