The Freedom Project: Thank you, Prince Rupert, it's been a wonderful visit!

Brigadoon at the Breakwater dock at Cow Bay Marina in Price Rupert

Written by: Kerry

So we've been here for almost three weeks and it's been a lovely visit. We've enjoyed a few restaurants, a couple of movies, some library time, four visits to the local aquatic center, a few museum trips, some good ice cream, and a good deal of much needed relaxation. Cow Bay Marina has been nothing but lovely - great staff, great location, and superb facilities.

Donn got a few projects completed while here, including: installation of our tiller (auto) pilot, replacement of running backstay shackles half way up the mast with lower profile pins, replacement and redesign of the staysail sheets for a 2-1 purchase, installation and testing of the lifeboat canopy for our dinghy, and various boat maintenance/chores. We also both worked on editing Donn's novel and are getting very close to publication - hoping to do this when we get back to Port Townsend in August.

Speaking of Port Townsend... tomorrow, Saturday, July 22nd, we begin our return trip southward towards our home waters of Puget Sound. This past Wednesday, our friend David, an experienced sailor in his own right, flew in from Seattle to join us as a third crew member for our foray into offshore sailing. He's settled in nicely, we managed to make room for him, and we think it's going to be a great trip back.

Our plan:

Tomorrow we leave the dock, head out into the Prince Rupert Bay and commission our tiller pilot, work the sails and hydrovane a bit and acclimate David to our boat. We'll anchor in a nearby bay on Saturday evening. Sunday we'll retrace our steps back towards Borrowman Bay on Aristazabal Island - including anchorages in Newcombe Harbour, Patterson Inlet, and Weinberg Inlet. From Borrowman, the current plan is to head directly south into Queen Charlotte Sound making a beeline for the outside of Vancouver Island and arcing out into the western offshore waters and down to the Strait of Juan De Fuca. We hope to do this last part non-stop, 24/7, keeping a watch schedule and experiencing night sailing for the first time. We have all agreed that we'll head into one of the harbours on the west coast of Vancouver Island if we need/want to or are having any weather issues, etc. If we do manage to do it non-stop, it'll be a 3-4 day trip from Aristazabal to Port Angeles. If you want to follow along, you're welcome to check our progress here: Brigadoon Tracker.

We'll be away from wi-fi starting tomorrow, so we'll be going internet silent until we get home. We'll catch you up on all the adventures then!

During our last visit to the Aquatic Center, I had the fun opportunity to test one of our older life vests, which we needed to re-arm and update for David. Here is the video of how that went: