Victoria Day

Monday, May 21, I trailed the Walkabout over some washboard roads to a provincial park. The roads in the park were worse, with giant potholes that caused the boat to bounce alarmingly on the trailer! Once I got past the half-hour of bad roads, I arrived at Mohun Lake, to find the motor homes and big trailers were amassing for convoys out. Glad I avoided having to pass all the land-whales on those narrow roads!
The winds were fairly strong on the lake and the land caused them to shift and flow directly at the launching ramp. Once I got the boat into the water, I found it impossible to get it headed into the wind, climb aboard and start rowing before the wind pushed me off sideways onto the rocks. Thankfully a park attendant was there to give me some assistance!
Once I was out on the lake, I found the wind was making a lot of waves, but I could not see any whitecaps. So, I'd guess it was blowing about as strong as Friday evening at Comox Lake. I raised the sails, leaving the reef I'd put in last trip. I also got the GPS working! The sailing was brisk, but with the reefed sail, I was never heeling very much. Neither was I pointing as well into the wind. The GPS said I was movng along between 4 and 5 knots, with a recorded high speed of 5.9 knots. It felt very fast, but the boat stayed close to upright.
I sailed past a small island where a number of birds raised their heads above the tall grass. I suspected it would be a great place for nesting, so didn't go ashore. I disturbed a loon enough to take to the water where it swam, warbling its beautiful song.
Stopped for a bite of lunch in a small cove (attached picture) then continued to sail back and forth for another hour and a half. At one point, I considered sailing far down wind then tacking back to the ramp, but the limited ability of the boat to point today had me worried it may take a long time to get back.
Once, the wind blew my hat into the water. Good thing it wasn't a crew member as it took me quite awhile to get organized for a return trip. Part of the problem was the cam cleats I put on to control the rudder lines. At extreme steering angles, the lines are encouraged to pop out of the cleats. That problem is now corrected.
I sailed back to the ramp and loaded the boat in time to join one of the convoys down the dusty logging roads back to the highway.