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Thursday 14 March 2019

March 14, 2019 - What has Hank been up to?

To all my readers,
I thought I would bring you up to date what Hank's has been doing since he left me sitting here at the dock...
  • Needless to say that Hank got his instructor's certification with ASA to teach mono and catamarans!
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  • Done some teaching since... see you-tube videos...just type in ... "hank schut ... at the you-tube search bar; You can see some of the sailing classes and adventures. :)
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  • He has moved and helped relocate a few charter boats and friends boats to various locations

  • Gone on a three week trip in the Carribean to help relocate a 43' leopard cat

  • And presently involved in E-Mountain Biking in B.C., Canada. and teaching sailing out of Victoria, B.C., Canada.
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  • Involved being a dad :), with his daughter Rebecca, who now is in Vet School.

  • He has self-taught how to make a "professional looking Website using WordPress, finishing his new Web/Blog... E-Mountain Biking For Seniors  This Web/blog is help us senior learn about riding an electrically assisted mountain bike... the How, When, Where stuff.
If any has any questions or comments, please contact me. :)

Sunday 21 October 2018

December 15, 2015 - Larry ask me to prepare a Video showing the launch of the new Spinnaker on s/v "OpsMobil"... a 48 feet Leopard catamaran.

Great experience going out on the Leopard 48... my brother, Will, came for the trip.

Below are some of the pictures and below that is the Youtube Video link.
















With a few problems, we got it right! The video below provides the details....

             Click on the link below

                                OpsMobile Spinnaker Link 

Saturday 20 October 2018

Oct 16, 2015 - Catamaran Course

The following day, we started on our first official Catamaran Course...

Below is the s/v "Snow Leopard"... she is a 44 ft Leopard Cat.  Needless to say, she sure is something else, eh!

We had Larry Meyers as instructor for the day... 


fast and beautiful

lots of room
great visiblity




Sailing a catamaran sure is different that sailing a mono-hull. Main difference is... no heel to speak of... very wide making is a bit more of a challenge. However, with two engines, 25 feet apart, makes it a bit easier to maneuver around the marina.

CLICK BELOW TO VIEW YOU-TUBE VIDEO OF THIS TRIP....

                                            CATAMARAN SAILING COURSE
Oct 14 2015... Monohull & Catamaran Course with Island Cruising located in Sidney, B.C., Canada.

I am relying on my memories from the photos / movies I have taken, I will do my best to recreate my experiences.

Before I could pursue my catamaran course, I needed to complete the basic ASA sailing courses.

Below are pictures of my first course... Sailing on s/v "Rio Dorado", a 40' Beneteau.

This is Rio Dorado's safety schematic I put together...

Our first sail out... going from Sidney, B.C., to Victoria... nice afternoon sail, We did have an incident, but was cleared up at Victoria... a learning experience. :(

Our trip down to Victoria.

Our instructor, Bill, showed us the ropes of sailing the 40ft Beneteau.

As you can see, we had lots of provisions for our trip.


Howard, the other student behind the helm.

Safety moored infront of the parliament buildings
arriving safety we camped out... having a nice dinner ashore with Bill, Larry, Howard and Howard's wife Vicky.
our sail to East Sooke Area... taught how to anchor for the evening.




on our way back to Sidney, we ran into a rain storm... if I recall, Vicky got very sea sick.

Motor / sailing back to Sidney... doing the basic Catamaran Course the following day.


        CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO VIEW MOVIE OF THIS TRIP

           MOVIE LINK



October 20, 2018 ...And now the continuing Story of Hank's Sailing Adventures...

A new blog beginning... it has been some time since we posted in our blog, some three years... I thought you readers, might it interested in hearing/seeing what became of Hank Schut with his pursuit to pilot a cruising catamaran. From here on, Hank will write as the first person... I pass over the controls to Hank.

Since selling "Tarka" as lot has happened in my Sailing Adventures. In short, I achieved one of my goals and got not only my Catamaran / Monohull sailing certification, but achieved my ASA Instructor's Certification on Catamarans and Monohulls.

Before we venture in owning a catamaran, I want to be sure that this would be the right fit for us... lots of questions to answer and experiences to complete... it's big, wide, intimidating, costly, different handling, etc.

In the blog postings to following, I will be posting my sailing adventures...heading towards my certification and beyond.


Wednesday 2 September 2015

September 01, 2015 - Moving on...:(

What can I say eh... I am moving on... without Caroline and Hank. :(

I am starting a new life with 4 new shipmates... they are even changing my name... to "Natural Mystic"

Not sure what I did wrong, but I think Caroline and Hank are moving forward to new adventures.  I know I taught them well... learning about our ocean, currents, tides, what to do and what not to do out there, racing, just plain cruising around the "playground", engine and boat repairs, meeting new friends, enjoying see nature at if finest (whales, dolphins, otters, seals, birds)... etc. etc.

It won't be the same... now I have to teach 4 new shipmates... I understand that two are experience sailors and two are not.

Hank thanked me all my guidance through-out the 5 years and wished me well. He stated he will be taking a catamaran skipper course at the end of September...

I wish him well in his new adventures and hopefully our paths will cross again out there!

This is "Tarka" saying my final " OVER and OUT!"..........................................

.....................................................

Sunday 7 June 2015

May 29 - June 5 2015 - Vacation Trip to the Gulf Island with Dave Bowman and Hank

All set for a great week away from home, sailing around the Gulf Islands... should be a great time! This time, we are taking Dave Bowman as our Nav tech., helmsman, cook, etc.

Our actual route is shown below...

Blue line represents our route going out, and the red line shows our route coming home, the yellow marks shows the places we stayed overnight.

Our first stop was Gibson Marina, a 10 mile sail. As always, a nice place to start from... if you forgot anything, you can always pick it up here.

Coming up to Gibson - near sunset.
Arrived safe and sound
Our first night... getting things organized in their own areas


Sunrise... at Gibson

The next day, no winds to speak of, and no rain... nice motor across the straits... heading to our Club's outstation, Kendrick Island... distance 25 miles.

Heading out to cross the Straits of Georgia

Sunrise over the seas


Dave now at my helm... doing a great job !!
The winds picked up on the other side of the Straits :))



 Just as we were coming to Kendrick Island, this strange looking sailboat came our way.
We arrived at Kendrick to find the place completely empty, not a sole around.





Sandstone carvings - thousands of years in design and in the making!


Captain Hank


 The smells from the variety of flowers and plant life is beautiful, so relaxing... in addition to all the types of birds that live there.




Dave hard at work making breakfast!
 

We could of stayed there for days, but we had only 5 days for this trip, so if we wanted to see the other places, we had to move on to our next designation... Telegraph Cove...
We waited for slack tide to go through the narrows.. then off we go...

 Now resting at Telegraph Cove..

 As you can see... again, not too many boaters.
 Having dinner across the Bay

Looking down the channel to Telegraph Cove



 After another relaxing day / night, we were off to Nanaimo Harbour.


Needless to say the winds were none... flat water... motoring all the way.

We did have an exciting hour or so, going through Dodds Narrow.

Just we were entering Dodds Narrows, Hank noticed that my engine temperature was rising and I was NOT spitting water out of my exhaust. This could only mean two things... either my raw water intake was plugged or my water empellor was broken. Hank immediately looked at my glass raw water strainer and noticed that no water was going through, then he turned off my engine to avoid any further engine damage. Now here we are being pulled into Dodds Narrows, with no engine. We did have a bit of wind, so Dave turned us away from the Narrows, raised the jib to avoid being pulled in.

Meanwhile, Hank was down in the engine compartment, figuring out what to do next. First thing... close the thru-hull valve and pull off the hose to the valve to see if the obstruction was in the intake... You take the hose off, then open the valve... if no water was coming in... something is blocking the intake. Simple conclusion... next step is to unblock the intake. Due to the fact that we have two  90 degree elbows with a ball valve in between chances of pushing a wire through would be impossible. Next idea was to take out cleaning brush and try to scrub if off from the outside... and impossible to bend the pole to reach the thru-hull.

We now were concerned about the timing and getting through the Narrows... the solution Hank took was to take a 5 gallon bucket, stick the intake tube into the pail and let the motor draw water from the bucket. This would mean that Hank would have to keep filling the bucket with another bucket with sea water. It WORKED, but Hank had to refill the bucket around 100 times, needless to say that was a lot of work and a lot of seawater in the cabin as well.

Once through the Narrows... time to relax and rethink what to do. Dave flagged down another sailor on the hopes that he can take the brush and scrub off the obstruction... Nope, that did not work either.

Then Hank thought if he could blow back the water through the valve, it might clear the obstruction.
Using his fending pole that draws water, then place it over the line, duck-tape the connection, and blow back the water... IT WORKED!!!! After two attempts, we were on our way again.. :)

Temporary raw water cooling system.

 Naniamo Harbour
 on our way back home
City of Vancouver

Glassy seas for the way home
Bowen Island - Snug Cove
 For the last day, Hank and Dave decided to relax at Snug Cove... nice shower, meal and rest before coming home the next day.

Well that was another vacation...not resting and waiting for Hank to revise the intake valve and clean me up for the next adventure...

Tarka OUT!!