This weekend I went on a trip to Orcas for two reasons:

Firstly to go to a ghost prom (this would incidentally be the first prom i’ve ever been to, alive or dead) and second of all to pick up some stuff I’d had sent to Elyses house.

The way over was pretty mundane, I got 20 mins sailing right out of the breakwater, then the wind died and I motored all the way. Pretty standard.

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It also rained A LOT, and I was completely soaked as my waterproof hardshell has lost most of it’s waterproofing. I’m going to try washing it in special soap to restore the waterproof, else I’ll probably just shell out for some proper sailing gear, rather than skating by on my collection of hiking stuff.

The ghost prom was fun, and i managed to borrow some facepaint off elyesee, which is a good thing as my original plan to basically just throw flour on myself was less ‘spooky ghost’ and more ‘shitty baker’. SO, ya know.

Aside from that, I grabbed a ton of goodies!

First, and least exciting I got a new shower unit

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This one has knobs instead of levers, so I’ll be a lot less likely to accidentally turn it on and dump a bunch o water on the floor.

Next I got an EPIRB – a distress beacon that activates when it hits water and puts out a satellite distress call. Pretty much essential to go offshore. I still have to register it.

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And finally (and most excitingly) – I picked up an Icom 802 SSB, with an AT140 tuner and pactor II (upgradeable to III) modem! I got a really great deal on this package second hand, and this will let me receive weather GRIB maps over the radio, and even update this blog/send emails via the HF/MF radio! SO COOL. Not to mention talking to people thousands of miles away, or the international space station…

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Before that happens I have to install it all (LOOK HOW MUCH STUFF THERE IS) which will take a while. The above photo doesn’t even have the antenna or ground plane in. The antenna will be made out of covered lifeline and will be its own post, while the ground plane is this

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The KISS one. I could probably make my own for less, but it’s really not much so I decided to go for it.

Super stoked on this, in case you couldn’t tell – and I’m studying for my Canadian HAM license as well, so I can use the ham channels and get a call sign.

I woke up Sunday morning to find myself with a race committee boat anchored a few boat lengths away and me in the middle of a race course, being inspected by a bunch of curious teens on racing dinghies so I put my portabote away and yanked up my anchor asap and got outta there. Not the most relaxing start to the day…

The wind was 15-20 from the North, so behind me, so that made for a rollicking sail home.

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It wasn’t raining for once, and I think I saw a minke whale so a good time all round!

Oh, I also saw Jeanne Socrates (attempting to be the oldest person to sail non-stop round the world) returning to Victoria after getting caught in a nasty storm with 60+ knot winds, I yelled at her and waved and she ended up mentioning it in her blog. I’M FAMOUS. She was at the fuel dock Sat morning and I wanted to go talk to her but I got all fanboyish and too shy so I contented myself with a wave as I ran past. Oh well!

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