New Digs!

The Ripple has been moored at Mosquito Creek Marina in North Vancouver since before I bought her. The marina itself is great. Good facilities, nice enough docks, and easy location to access from Vancouver. However, the location also creates a bit of an issue for sailboats...

As you can see in my nifty little map, the marina is located in Vancouver Harbor. Sailing is prohibited within the harbor because of boat traffic, so you have to make your way past Stanley Park and into Burrard Inlet before you can put your sails up. This trip takes about 40 minutes for my little ole' sailboat, and unfortunately, involves going through First Narrows under the Lions Gate Bridge.

Now for those that don't live near an ocean, a "narrow" just refers to an area of the ocean that goes through a choke-point. When the tides go in an out, these choke points can result is rather fast and strong currents going in the direction of the tide.

An extreme example of this is the Skookumchuck Narrows on the nearby Sunshine Coast. At slack tide (when the tide is switching from in to out or vice versa), it looks like this.

However, at full ebb tide (tide going out), it looks like this!

Now while the First Narrows aren't nearly as extreme in terms of currents, you can image how the tides can be restricting when you're a little 27 foot sailboat with a 10 horsepower outboard for an engine!

Anyway, long story short, Mosquito was a nice spot to keep a boat, but it made it tough to get out sailing as much as I wanted to. So, I decided to change marinas for the upcoming season.

So Saturday morning, some friends came by and helped me move The Ripple over to her new slip in West Van.

Misty morning, departing at 8am in order to hit slack tide through the narrows

One last time under the Lions Gate

Turning up Howe Sound towards the marina

Motoring into Fisherman's Cove, the Ripple's new home!

All tied up in her new digs

Manuvering into the new slip was a bit tricky as the entrance is QUITE tight. I think it's going to take a bit of practice to perfect getting in and out of the new slip. Friends with fenders and boat hooks to keep my from bouncing off nearby boats won't hurt either!

The new marina is pretty basic, with old rickety docks and no fancy facilities, but the location is great. Anytime the wind is good, it's a 5 minute motor out from the cove and I pop my sails. That's really exciting for me!

Now, to have her hauled out so I can clean and paint the bottom...