Jeff's Log ~ Thursday, January 15, 2009 Fort Lauderdale, Florida……Home!

Thursday, January 15, 2009 Fort Lauderdale, Florida……Home!

I am very sorry that I have not completed the chronicles of my travels. The last month and a half of travels kind of burnt me out, and the will to write sort of went away for a while.

Pipe Dream is now tucked away for the winter at Bowen Island, British Columbia. The last couple of days of the journey down the Inland Passage went very smoothly and quickly, as we had the current pushing us for most of the day. Not far from Otter Cove was the Seymour Narrows, with the possibility of fourteen knot currents and whirlpools that have taken boats and lives. According to the charts, even ocean liners wait until slack tide to go through.

Before 1958, there was a rock in the middle of the pass called “ripple rock”. Many attempts had been made to remove the rock, and several workmen were killed in the process. The decision was made to dig a tunnel under the rock, and place a charge under it to blow it up. The explosion was the largest non-nuclear blast ever recorded, and ripple rock was blown three hundred and fifty feet into the air in the process, and the narrows are a much safer place now.

We did not have current tide charts, but there was a tug and log barge circling, waiting for the conditions necessary to go through. I was just going to hail the tug on the radio to ask for information, when he hit the throttles and took off for the pass. We followed and sped through the pass at over ten knots ground speed, with just a couple of very slight whirlpools providing a slingshot effect.

We arrived at the Union Steamship Marina late in the afternoon and tied up the boat for the last time this year. The owner of the marina met us on the dock, and I gave him a brief run through on bilges, pumps, and engine controls, so in case of emergency, he at least has seen things and will have the ability to act quickly if necessary. He and his wife then took us to dinner at their restaurant. It was the Canadian Harvest Day weekend, so I had a Thanksgiving type of meal which was the special.

Pipe Dream’s berth is quite close to the ferry dock, and every time the ferry comes, the noise that reverberates through the hull will wake the soundest of sleepers. After a night of rest, I began removing the sails and hired a helper to work with me. We folded the main and dropped the jib and folded it. The forepeak got emptied. Tyler and I worked very hard getting everything off of the boat and put in a storage facility. Scott was leaving the following afternoon, so I put the van which was lent to us by the marina into the ferry line at noon. The ferry ride over to Vancouver was very smooth, and took about twenty minutes.

I dropped Scott off at the airport in plenty of time for him to make his flight. On the way back to the boat, there were two accidents on the Lion’s Gate Bridge, so I ended up in a five hour traffic jam.

I spent the last days winterizing the boat and packing up the things which had to be shipped home. I met with the people I will be working with in spring at the boat yard, and discussed the repairs that will be done. I also tried to make the spreaders inaccessible to the large birds by tying lines in such a way that there is no room for them to land. I hope it works!

I had dinner one night with Rick and Mary aboard their boat, and we quickly became friends. They visited Bowen Island over New Years and sent me some photos of PipeDream covered in a blanket of snow. It felt kind of funny seeing her like that, and I sat down and thought about how lucky I have been.

The past year and a half, I have traveled the world and met an awful lot of very wonderful people. I can only say a heartfelt THANK YOU!!! to each and every one of you for giving me a wonderful experience. My travels will resume in February, when I return to Pipe Dream. I am looking forward to making the repairs and then resuming our cruise beginning in April.