This page contains links to our boat, various sailing sites and sailing software utilities.
- Since Janet and I live on a island she got the great idea to buy a sailboat so we could have fun. We were able to find a great little 22' sailboat with all the attachments. Our boat is the Zephyrus named after the Greek God Of The West Wind. It is an older MacGregor V222 sailboat and it is a great little boat to start to learn on.
Here is our happy little boat on the trailer in the parking lot.
Captain Janet checking out the insides of the boat.
The day we got the boat in the water.
Under sail power.
Here am I playing captain.
A good profile shot as I try and plan out the route.
The real captain of the boat ... Janet.
Janet hanging on to the mast as we hit a few waves.
Janet and Vicky in control of the boat.
Vicky and I looking for wind.
Janet on the bow looking back to her crew.
Zephyrus sailing videos
See the GPS routes of the trips:
- Sept 27, 2009 Sailing With Mike And Vicky
- YouTube video of me getting soaked on the bow while trying to get ropes back on the boat ... I had to do this twice since I didn't do a very good job
- MySpace video of the gentle waves on a starboard tack
- Sept 12, 2009 Towards Horseshoe Bay
- July 30, 2009 Round Passage Island for the first time in all of our attempts
- July 25, 2009 Wonderful day practicing tacking and gybing
- July 24, 2009 Slow sail that allowed Janet to put her feet up and read a book
- July 19, 2009 A little more wind that we were comfortable with and were getting blown all over the place
- July 17, 2009 Finally just the right amount of wind so I could practice all those tools I learned in the course
- July 11, 2009 Cruising around looking for wind, but none was to be found
- July 5, 2009 Searching For Wind with Mike and testing out my new found sailing skills
- May 30, 2009
- May 23, 2009
- May 10, 2009
- Sept 11, 2008
- Aug 25, 2008
- Aug 11, 2008
- July 28, 2008
- July 20, 2008
- July 12, 2008
- July 7, 2008
Bringing Spirit Of Freedom Back From Tahsis. The trip was 311 nautical miles over 6 long days. We saw whales, seals, dolphins, sea lions and all sorts of other wildlife. The weather went from 24 ft swells to no wind, but every minute was just great.
- View the YouTube video compilation Mariniers from the trip
- View the YouTube video compilation Chapter 2 - For Sailors Only from the trip
- View the youTube video compilation Chapter 3
- Aug 28, 2009 Day 6 of the trip: Active Pass to Bowen and finally home
- Aug 27, 2009 Day 5 of the trip: Sook To Active Pass
- Aug 26, 2009 Day 4 of the trip (Part 2): Bamfield To Sooke
- Aug 26, 2009 Day 4 of the trip (Part 1): Bamfield To Sooke
- Aug 25, 2009 Day 3 of the trip (Part 2): Spring Cove To Bamfield
- Aug 25, 2009 Day 3 of the trip (Part 1): Spring Cove To Bamfield
- Aug 24, 2009 Day 2 of the trip (Part2): Hot Spring Cove To Spring Cove
- Aug 24, 2009 Day 2 of the trip (Part1): Hot Spring Cove To Spring Cove
- Aug 23, 2009 Day 1 of the trip: Tahsis To Hot Spring Cove
To actually feel comfortable sailing I took a basic CYA Basic Cruising Course and here are the GPS routes for the different days
- June 27, 2009 Final afternoon of the practical test in which one of the crew tightened the mainsheet too much just as the wind picked up and caused a broach. Ripped sail batterns out of the sail as we flopped around out of control, I found out that the rudder doesn't work if it is out of the water ... doh!
- June 27, 2009 Practical test of how well we could tack and gybe
- June 20, 2009 Learning how to rescue a man overboard which was a little challenging since life jackets can't reach for the boat so you have to be close
- June 20, 2009 In the 2nd part of the practical course we spent a lot of the time looking for wind
- Granville Island Water Taxi ride back to Bowen ... how convienient
- June 13, 2009 Learning how to tack, gybe, dodge tankers and understand channel markers
- Manovering and learning to handle the boat in lots of traffic
- Animated Knots is a site I visit often to figure out how to tie knots since I never learnt when I was younger. A great site which offers so much more than just sailing knots.
- Beaufort Scale contains some good information about wind.
- Big Wave Dave Latest Wind Reports contains the latest wether reports from weather stations around southern BC (nothing in Howe Sound yet, but it does give you and idea where the wind is).
- How to sail is where I learnt some of the basic ideas on how to sail. Although it is good, it doesn't compare to the real thing.
- How to sail video's are 17 simple video's that give you a little bit of an idea of some of the basic sailing manouvers.
- MacGregor Boating Home gives you some general information about MacGregor sail boats.
- MacGregor Owners gives you information about MacGregor sail boats.
- National Geographic Sailing Simulator gives you the opportunity to see how fast you can sail a boat by controlling the rudder and the sail.
- SailFlow - Weather Where You Sail has lots of useful weather information including some forecast ... although like any forecast is sometimes completely wrong.
- Sailing WIKI provides a wealth of information in our quest to learn to sail.
- USA Keelboat information provides information about keelboats.
- Volvo Ocean Race - Life at the extreme in this 9 month round the world race. I don't think I'm ready for this, but it is facinating to watch ... can't wait for the 2011-2012 race to start.
Vista Sidebar Gadgets
As part of learning to use Microsoft Windows Vista, I've been writing varioius Sidebar Gadgets
- Marine Weather
Display the Marine Weather (wind and temperature) for various marine stations around British Columbia. Download it here, use it and email me if you have any comments or suggestions.
Windows Software
Simple Windows Forms avaliable from Wedepohl Engineering
- Wind Calculator
Calculate the apparent or actual wind for your boat. Download it here, use it and email me if you have any comments or suggestions.
PLEASE NOTE: I have no control over any external links. If you go to them you do so at your own risk.