A quick update… From Jedediah Island, we sailed north to the town of Comox (well, motored mostly, as there wasn’t much wind). The main purpose for the trip was so Glenda could get her second vaccination, which we had booked before leaving Vancouver. We also took advantage of the two nights in Comox to provision and pick up boat supplies. The highlight was drinks at the dock with neighboring cruisers.
On Tuesday, July 20, we left Comox bound for Pender Harbour and the dock of close friend and colleague Dave. With 10-15 knots blowing out of the southeast (where we were headed) we sailed across the Georgia Strait to the north end of Texada Island before turning south and motor-sailing into the wind. It was a 40 nm day and normally I would much rather sail and be slow than motor, but we were keen to get to Dave and Ilona’s.
Less than 5 nm from Pender Harbour is when things got interesting as the motor suddenly sputtered and died. This is basically a brand new engine and it had just been serviced, so this was a surprise. The engine restarted a couple of times before dying, and a quick troubleshooting suggested it was probably a fuel supply issue that wasn’t going to be a quick fix. Luckily, we’re a sailboat and the wind was still up, so we tacked our way up towards Dave’s. He met us outside the bay with his awesome Silver Streak aluminum power boat and towed us in to his dock. We were pretty lucky to be close to him when this happened, and had Dave there to help (thank you Dave, again…).
The next day we set about finding and fixing the issue. Pulling open the fuel supply line at the fuel tank revealed a bit of metal the size of a grain of rice stuck in and blocking the fitting. The bouncy motor into the wind on Tuesday must have stirred up the tank and this bit got sucked up and stuck, choking off fuel to the engine. After checking to make sure the rest of the tank was clean, and putting it all back together we fired up the engine and it ran happily. Problem solved.
Thursday and Friday during the days were filled with other boat work, including the unpleasant job of servicing the macerator pump, and a trip up the mast. But the absolute best part of the week was the company, the wonderful afternoons and dinners on the deck. Meals that stretched on to midnight as we sat chatting with Dave and Ilona and their friends Ken and Barb in the warm air. It is a magical and peaceful place and it was easy to imagine saying “just one more day” and having weeks pass by.
