Meeting Readers

Since we started cruising we have had contact on the radio with two readers of this blog. It’s really cool to have met people via the blog and then meet them on the radio. So far we haven’t met any in person yet. With our activity on the local boater SSB nets I bet that we will start meeting people in person that we’ve heard on the radio.

First, Steve of SV Silas Crosby saw us leaving the Comox fuel dock and caught us on the VHF radio (politely waiting until we had our sails up and fenders/lines stowed). After chatting with him we started toward the Comox bar in heavy wind at low tide under motor, our standard method of navigating Gulf Island passes. It quickly became apparent that we are a sailboat not a motor boat and having difficulty making way we turned around and anchored to think through our not-so-great plan. We called Silas Crosby on the VHF and picked his brain for information about the bar. Emboldened with this information and the thinking we had done, we put up the sails, beat out of the harbor and then did hull speed across bar in the well marked but narrow channel.

Second, we connected with Carl & Kate of SV MOM after they flagged us down via SSB on the Great Northern Boater Net. We chatted with them on another frequency and have been in touch via email. They are on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and I’m looking forward to picking their brains for their favorite spots.