Vancouver Island Chapter

Don Craigmyle

Vancouver Island Fleet thanks Serge Gabilondo of Delta Marine at Westport for leading more than a dozen Fleet members through the finer points of Rigging Inspection. Serge provided many hands-on examples of rigging failure and taught ways to maintain rigging and avoid failure. He also gave tips for making rigging repairs at sea and some […]

Connie and Al, VI Fleet Coordinators

Fifteen members from VI Fleet participated in an evening session at UK Sails in Sidney on December 2nd. Stuart Dahlgren explained what to look for in assessing the condition of sails; showed how to attach mainsail slides and re-attach a leech ring; suggested essential contents for an offshore sail repair kit; and responded to many questions […]

Connie and Al, VI Fleet Coordinators

On November 4th, the Vancouver Island Fleet group, led by Connie Morahan, discussed procedures for clearing in and out of foreign ports. On the 25th, we were fortunate to have Honorary BCA member, Tony Gooch, give a talk on preparations and procedures for heavy weather sailing. Below you can see we caught Tony ‘heaving to’. […]

Connie and Al, VI Fleet Coordinators

Between 25 and 30 members attended each of the fleet meetings held in October.  On October 14th we had presentations by cruising BCA members Neil & Peggy Beswick on harbour hopping to San Francisco and Gord Wedman on the offshore route to San Diego.  On October 28th a panel of experienced BCA cruisers (Daragh Nagle […]

Connie and Al, VI Fleet Coordinators

The first Fleet meeting of the Vancouver Island Chapter was held on September 30th. The meeting was focused on introductions and sharing information with all the BCA members attending.  The next meeting is On October 14, with a couple of presenters talking about harbor-hopping vs the offshore route to San Diego. The next Fleet meeting is scheduled […]

Connie Morahan

Fleet is an education focus group for those planning to head offshore in the next year or two. The Fleet group meets regularly and offers additional training in the form of meetings, workshops, vendors’ visits and boat visits. Fleet is also excellent for Doners, who are preparing for another voyage, get primed, updated and meet […]

Rita Balaam

The theme for this year’s rendezvous is Sailing the Salish Seas with a Focus on First Nations History and Traditions. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, there’s still time: RSVP online at the BCA website (you must be logged in as a member to do so), or send Rita a note. Here is a schedule of […]

Jennifer Handley

The Vancouver Island Chapter has been meeting at Royal Victoria Yacht Club for many years: the VI Fleet group meets at RVYC; RVYC is part of the Cooperative Education Program organized by the VI Chapter; and BCA has even held its annual AGM at Royal Vic. But this was the first year that the BCA […]

Connie Morahan

Here’s a look at the April activities of the Vancouver Island Fleet and Weather Group… VI Fleet At the April 8th meeting, VI Fleet had an an interesting group discussion about anchoring equipment, techniques, and problems. At the following meeting on April 22nd,  Dave Dalby of Victoria Mobile Radio gave an informative talk on satellite […]

Connie Morahan

VI Fleet At their March 11th meeting, VI Fleet had a group discussion about wind vanes and autopilots.  Three offshore cruisers talked about their experience with different kinds of watermakers at the next Fleet meeting on March 25th.  There was an extra session in March at the Yachttech shop on rigging, and a short course […]

Connie Morahan

Here’s the next activity for the Vancouver Island Fleet group: Wednesday,  March 25th at 18:00h at the Discovery Room, RVY:  Watermakers. The session will include a group discussion, with a couple of offshore cruisers invited to share their knowledge and experience. Saturday, March 28th from 10:00h to 13:00h Mainstay Yachtech:  Rig evaluation, maintenance & repair […]

As many of us plan our voyage, the boat and its equipment tend to become the central focus of our thinking. These preparations require a steep learning curve, and sometimes become all-consuming. On the other hand, there are other factors that will impact our cruising adventures, and they include the deeper motivations that drive our […]