A very satisfying purchase

I was afraid that after wanting a Hobie Mirage kayak for so long they would turn out to be a huge disappointment but that simply hasn’t been the case.  This morning I took one of the kayaks for a leisurely pedal around this lovely little bay and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.  That was despite the fact that it wasn’t all that pleasant of a day – the wind is higher than I would like it to be and its not particularly warm.

Despite those drawbacks in the weather I was able to enjoy exploring our new neighbourhood.  We weren’t alone overnight.  About 8:00 yesterday another little imitation tug showed up.  I watched the male half of the couple trying to rig a shore line and ultimately offered to help.  It turned out to be the first time they had rigged a shore tie and I don’t think he would have succeeded without my help.  Not that I’m such an expert either but he just wasn’t particularly well prepared. 

When I went on my tour of the bay this morning I saw the neighbours dinghy up at the head of the bay where a walking trail takes off.  After I got back to Gray Hawk Marilyn noticed that their boat was dragging its anchor but fortunately they returned before that became critical.  I was expecting to see some hapless Bruce or CQR when they pulled the anchor but surprisingly enough it appeared to be an appropriately sized Delta so I don’t know what was going on there.  Our Sarca on the other hand appears to have hooked itself onto some Chinaman’s basement.

Shore tying actually increases the load on an anchor.  When you are swinging at anchor the boat is free to rotate until it is downwind and presenting the least possible wind resistance.  When you are shore tied and the wind is coming abeam you get  maximum windage and you are pulling at an angle to the direction in which the anchor was set.

The little blue awning in the 2nd photo is Marilyn’s gazebo thingy.  Her first purchase was Canadian Tire’s least cost option and turned out to be not that much of a bargain.  We briefly erected it on the dock at Cow Bay for a crab boil the last night we were there.  A poorly effected weld on one of its brackets let go while we were setting it up and we had to resort to duct tape in order to use it that night.  The next morning Marilyn returned it and upgraded to the next most expensive version which has turned out to be a very good decision.  The last time we owned one of these contraptions it was much more complicated to assemble.  So much more complicated in fact that we finally agreed we didn’t love each other enough to ever erect it together again.  This one was very simple to set up and appears to be surviving the wind today.