The warm fresh spring rain soothes the senses and eases the daylight onto the soft velvet of bright yellow tulips bursting from the ground, now resting until dawn. I breathe a deep sigh of relief as another work week comes to a close in a job I love in a city so busy. I rest in the quiet belly of OMOO.
She rocks gently in the trickling waves gliding past the hull, gathering momentum with the tide change. Then silence, beautiful silence as the water slowly haults it’s endless journey, but only for moments.
I’m fast asleep before the ebb flows again, and the darkness takes me away to a deep deep slumber. I’m feeling refreshed as the morning sunbeams reach into the galley and the aroma of coffee wafts up to the cockpit when I open the hatch to greet the day.
“Hello World” I call out as I rub the sleep from my eyes and the skipper calls back, “Hello Ruthie. ” It’s one of my favorite dorky routines we have. We’re both more than excited, for this day we will make the first sail of the year with our new crew Lexi and Kristin. Well, they don’t know they’re crew yet, but we’ll put them to work as soon as we can.
Lexi is back from Australia, where I dragged her quite willingly in January. She helped me then with a couple of geezers we had to keep track of, and she’s a good sport at it. She’s a treat to have around, with whatever we get up to. When I saw her last she was bent over in the hot sun, paint brush in hand, earning her keep in the Gramma suite at my daughter Malena’s house in Perth, and chasing some young cousins and the odd kangaroo around. Her Mama’s glad she’s back, but I’m not sure that’s gonna be a thing.
She’s invited an unsuspecting friend from home to join us on the West Coast for a little adventuring with Aunty Ruth. Well, we did see the dark side of Vancouver the night before, so not to scare Kristin away we promise to take it easy on them. They only had to make 3 or 4 trips up and down the ramp with the full wheelbarrow to help us move some gear around. But hey, I’ve seen Lexi running uphill pushing a wheelchair, ya, a loaded wheelchair, so I know she’s up for the task.
The Skipper is once again the happiest man on earth as he guides OMOO out of her slip and out into the bay. It’s a long winter and we’ve dug him out from under his projects yet again. His lovely boat is as ready as he is to shake off the dust and get into the wind. Mother Nature performed on command with a gentle breeze under brilliant sunshine and blue blue skies.
Harold gives the girls a lesson in navigation as we power out to Stuart Channel, then the sails go up and we’re away. It’s perfect conditions for a couple of new sailors from the prairies. It doesn’t take long for everyone to relax and soak up some rays as we shake the winter off of OMOO.
We’re off to Thetis Island for fuel and a few supplies. We have another lovely young lady joining us for dinner, Anna, Harold’s niece who’s been working in Berlin and several other countries developing her “App.” Such an interesting evening to look forward to, catching up on all her news.
Of course there’ll be happy hour on our return, with all our lovely G-Dock family.
All in all, it’s a perfect day in May. Come along, into summer sailing 2019 we go. YIPPEE!!
