Sundown Sailing Adventures

Clay scantily clad on the beach?

When we’re not sailing, you probably imagine we’re strolling on white sand beaches at sunset, dipping our toes in the surf. Actually, we’ve only walked on two sand beaches in our journey so far and we had our Bog boots on. One of the beaches was about 100 yards long by 50 feet wide until the flood tide when it shrunk to about 100 feet long and 10 feet wide, but there was sand, nonetheless. The other was during gale force winds (34-47 knots knots) with rain coming down in sheets. It was marvelous! We HAD to get off the boat that day after being cooped up for a couple previously, so we dressed in our foul weather gear and dinghied to the Hakai Institute landing in Pruth Bay to hike to the west side of Calvert Island where we could check out the Pacific Ocean. Then we hiked to the island’s northern shore—just because we could.

The Hakai Institute is a privately funded environmental research facility and its grounds are immaculate. Like a tropical rainforest…thus the rain, I guess. It was beautiful and a much-needed walk in the woods…and on the beach. I’d like to visit this spot again perhaps when the sun is out.

When we’re sailing, you probably imagine I wear white pants and a cute sweater set decorated with anchors while lounging on the bow of the boat with my long blonde hair flowing in the breeze. That sounds lovely, but it’s far from the truth.

Our beautiful day at the beach.

Remember those foulies we wore to shore in the rain? That would be my standard sailing outer wear. But now that it’s summer, all I wear beneath that neon yellow wrap is one layer of fleece, jeans and wool socks—usually the same fleece, jeans and socks I wear every day for about seven days in a row. Don’t worry. They don’t stink because I take a sponge bath every day to freshen up (I’m quite fastidious that way and besides, I’m not exactly sweating). And my long blonde locks? They get washed about every five days whether they need it or not. There is one exception, however. I absolutely change my underwear daily. I still have some standards left, after all, AND I remember what my mother told me about making sure I did that just in case I got in an accident.

While all this might sound disgusting, don’t think we’ve become apathetic about hygiene. When you only have about 100 gallons of fresh water at your disposal, it becomes a very precious resource and you take great strides to conserve it. We can’t waste it doing laundry (which would be in a bucket anyway) or taking daily, long hot showers. Rather, we do a load or two of laundry about once a week if we’re at a marina with laundry facilities, and we usually take a “real” shower at those marinas, too. This lifestyle definitely hones one’s sense of what’s simply essential versus what most Americans consider necessary, like daily showers.

Oh, and I’ll also mention that there’s not much lounging about on our sailboat when we’re traveling. Instead, there’s a lot of strenuous work in hoisting sails or putting them away, tending lines and adjusting sails. Setting and weighing anchor is a manual chore, too, because we don’t have an electric windlass. Usually I’m the lass in the wind letting out or winching up the anchor, often getting splattered with mud as I hose off (with salt water) the ground tackle as it comes aboard.

So, until I have a crew to do the heavy lifting for me, I’ll pass on the white pants.