Yes.....2019. But the life I live, I need to plan for big things like this or it'll never happen. And it dictates what we do in terms of getting family accustomed to longer boat stays through next summer. And perhaps mods I decide to make in the next 20 months to try to make longer stays more comfortable. Here comes a novel of a post.....
This all started when I began looking into charter options out of Nanaimo BC. I saw the offerings and prices (and prerequisites in terms of certifications) and thought I better dig deeper into this so I'm prepared on the certification front. I was told by the charter company (who also run cert courses) that my CYA/Sail Canada certifications aren't really highly regarded in the charter community and that I should challenge the ASA basic level and switch to ASA certs so I can get the ICC. Of course they can help me with that.
Naturally I emailed a local CYA instructor to see if he offered the challenge and subsequent certifications and this was his response merged and edited as required:
"I am not sure who you spoke to but I don't have the same opinion. As you know, I am both an ASA and Sail Canada (formerly known as the CYA) instructor so I hope that gives some objectivity. The Sail Canada standards were taken from the Royal Yachting Assoc. - with a few changes and the ASA standards were taken from Sail Canada - with a few changes. My opinion is that the ASA courses are not as challenging and do not provide the same level of information as the Sail Canada courses.
I had a student who took the Sail Canada - Basic Cruising Standard last Summer and the Sail Canada Coastal Navigation course over the past Summer and then chartered a sail boat in Croatia in July. I have a friend in Israel, also a sailing instructor and their school scoffs at the ASA standards.
For example - in Canada we require anyone using a marine VHF radio to have a ROC-M license - not so in the USA. A water tight flash light and a boarding device is a basic required piece of safety equipment required in Canada - not so in the USA. Tide and current is discussed in the entry level cruising course - not so in with the ASA.
Sail Canada is currently seeking clearance from the Department of Transport to offer the ICC. It is also available through a few Sail Canada schools on the West Coast under the ITY, but I think that Sail Canada should have something in place by the Spring.
The ASA is pretty much dishing out the ICC, no exam etc. so, in my opinion the reason for the ICC is being undermined and the ASA may be challenged on their practices for doing so.
One other thing - your Sail Canada navigation certification is better suited for Canada anyway as more emphasis is placed on tide and current than the ASA coastal navigation course.
So that's my two cents worth."
That's the back story in its fullest anyway. The result of which got me looking up the Mac Rendezvous that take place out in the gulf islands each year and redirecting my thoughts and dreams to taking our Mac back to the salt water we bought her off of. Forget chartering. We have an able vessel that's been out there before, many times in fact. Thus is the plan at this point. (I think someone on here gave me that bit of advice a while back actually - I just stowed it prematurely.)
A few things / questions /advice:
- it looks like trailering the boat across to the island with four in the truck could be a $300 one-way ferry ride. Should I look for a launch on the mainland and wait for an early morning, calm weather day to cross the strait? What about vehicle/trailer parking? We bought the Mac out of Crescent Beach Marina but it's a good half of the day just to get out to the open water I think. At least to the jumping off point.
- Odds are we'd either be out in July for nine days with little flexibility or in early June for 14 days plus (with infinite flexibility). We could also perhaps head out in May. We don't need the sunny summer weather. It's beautiful out there even in April.
- Current amenities on our Mac:
Origo 2 burner alcohol stove, rail mount propane bbq, coolers are the 'refrigeration' but we have camped out of two of them for over a week and had excess on return - could do a better job of provision planning. Currently we have the portapotty on board but also carry doodie bags which are all that's ever been used to this point (by me - family hasn't had 'to go' yet because land was always near. Not sure who'd come out as the preferred loo. I think I'd be fine either way. Small detail in the broader picture in my opinion.
- What I think I'd need to add/mod:
Need to rig boom tent or enclosure of some sort - for rainy days, not for enclosed transits. I've been working on this a while now. I'll pursue it in a separate thread when life gives me the time to look further into my thoughts. Screened hatch covers. I'd like to add all those little racks like on the Holderness page and a few of Sum's mods. Would like to add a bow roller before this trip - currently have two anchor tubes up front and the plastic bucket for the rode. Maybe even run anchor rode back so I could haul from the cockpit until we hit chain. Is that silly to think?
- I'm assuming mostly mooring / docking with access to fuel/water/provisions at almost each stop so stowage space shouldn't be too hard on us. We'll know next summer how well we can manage the close quarters for multi day excursions. Anything else I should be thinking about as far as cruising a family of four on a small boat?
- First trip out would have to include an overnight dockside under the Empress "Castle" in Victoria for my girls. Would definitely have to plan a back door entrance to Butchart Gardens from the dinghy dock - so one night there too. Then we have family in Ganges (Salt Spring Island) we'd certainly want to spend a few days with. And I still remember my visit to Conover Cove - definitely want to take the family there. (No worries about the shallow/tight entrance on a swing keel Mac!) I'm really keen on Desolation Sound too. Perhaps 2020. Or maybe fall 2019
Any other south gulf island musts? San Juans in the distant future. Loved Port Townsend and wife would love to go back to Friday Harbour (I haven't been).
Can the Mac do it? I mean I know it can.....but would we have a better experience on a chartered vessel with more headroom, better head facilities, and everything else that a Mac isn't? Would the experience be $5,000 better? We could go once every few years on a charter....we could darn near spend entire summers out there on the Mac. Wife is off in the summers and I can take my work wherever I go. Come to think about it, I think I recall a member on here from the same town I'm in doing exactly what I'm talking about here. But I think they were on an X. Would the headroom and bigger power plant make that much of a difference? I should see if I can connect with them.
Thanks for any input or aids to my dreams becoming real here. Kind of an odd post I know. Nothing like getting all the cards on the table right?
This all started when I began looking into charter options out of Nanaimo BC. I saw the offerings and prices (and prerequisites in terms of certifications) and thought I better dig deeper into this so I'm prepared on the certification front. I was told by the charter company (who also run cert courses) that my CYA/Sail Canada certifications aren't really highly regarded in the charter community and that I should challenge the ASA basic level and switch to ASA certs so I can get the ICC. Of course they can help me with that.
Naturally I emailed a local CYA instructor to see if he offered the challenge and subsequent certifications and this was his response merged and edited as required:
"I am not sure who you spoke to but I don't have the same opinion. As you know, I am both an ASA and Sail Canada (formerly known as the CYA) instructor so I hope that gives some objectivity. The Sail Canada standards were taken from the Royal Yachting Assoc. - with a few changes and the ASA standards were taken from Sail Canada - with a few changes. My opinion is that the ASA courses are not as challenging and do not provide the same level of information as the Sail Canada courses.
I had a student who took the Sail Canada - Basic Cruising Standard last Summer and the Sail Canada Coastal Navigation course over the past Summer and then chartered a sail boat in Croatia in July. I have a friend in Israel, also a sailing instructor and their school scoffs at the ASA standards.
For example - in Canada we require anyone using a marine VHF radio to have a ROC-M license - not so in the USA. A water tight flash light and a boarding device is a basic required piece of safety equipment required in Canada - not so in the USA. Tide and current is discussed in the entry level cruising course - not so in with the ASA.
Sail Canada is currently seeking clearance from the Department of Transport to offer the ICC. It is also available through a few Sail Canada schools on the West Coast under the ITY, but I think that Sail Canada should have something in place by the Spring.
The ASA is pretty much dishing out the ICC, no exam etc. so, in my opinion the reason for the ICC is being undermined and the ASA may be challenged on their practices for doing so.
One other thing - your Sail Canada navigation certification is better suited for Canada anyway as more emphasis is placed on tide and current than the ASA coastal navigation course.
So that's my two cents worth."
That's the back story in its fullest anyway. The result of which got me looking up the Mac Rendezvous that take place out in the gulf islands each year and redirecting my thoughts and dreams to taking our Mac back to the salt water we bought her off of. Forget chartering. We have an able vessel that's been out there before, many times in fact. Thus is the plan at this point. (I think someone on here gave me that bit of advice a while back actually - I just stowed it prematurely.)
A few things / questions /advice:
- it looks like trailering the boat across to the island with four in the truck could be a $300 one-way ferry ride. Should I look for a launch on the mainland and wait for an early morning, calm weather day to cross the strait? What about vehicle/trailer parking? We bought the Mac out of Crescent Beach Marina but it's a good half of the day just to get out to the open water I think. At least to the jumping off point.
- Odds are we'd either be out in July for nine days with little flexibility or in early June for 14 days plus (with infinite flexibility). We could also perhaps head out in May. We don't need the sunny summer weather. It's beautiful out there even in April.
- Current amenities on our Mac:
Origo 2 burner alcohol stove, rail mount propane bbq, coolers are the 'refrigeration' but we have camped out of two of them for over a week and had excess on return - could do a better job of provision planning. Currently we have the portapotty on board but also carry doodie bags which are all that's ever been used to this point (by me - family hasn't had 'to go' yet because land was always near. Not sure who'd come out as the preferred loo. I think I'd be fine either way. Small detail in the broader picture in my opinion.
- What I think I'd need to add/mod:
Need to rig boom tent or enclosure of some sort - for rainy days, not for enclosed transits. I've been working on this a while now. I'll pursue it in a separate thread when life gives me the time to look further into my thoughts. Screened hatch covers. I'd like to add all those little racks like on the Holderness page and a few of Sum's mods. Would like to add a bow roller before this trip - currently have two anchor tubes up front and the plastic bucket for the rode. Maybe even run anchor rode back so I could haul from the cockpit until we hit chain. Is that silly to think?
- I'm assuming mostly mooring / docking with access to fuel/water/provisions at almost each stop so stowage space shouldn't be too hard on us. We'll know next summer how well we can manage the close quarters for multi day excursions. Anything else I should be thinking about as far as cruising a family of four on a small boat?
- First trip out would have to include an overnight dockside under the Empress "Castle" in Victoria for my girls. Would definitely have to plan a back door entrance to Butchart Gardens from the dinghy dock - so one night there too. Then we have family in Ganges (Salt Spring Island) we'd certainly want to spend a few days with. And I still remember my visit to Conover Cove - definitely want to take the family there. (No worries about the shallow/tight entrance on a swing keel Mac!) I'm really keen on Desolation Sound too. Perhaps 2020. Or maybe fall 2019
Any other south gulf island musts? San Juans in the distant future. Loved Port Townsend and wife would love to go back to Friday Harbour (I haven't been).
Can the Mac do it? I mean I know it can.....but would we have a better experience on a chartered vessel with more headroom, better head facilities, and everything else that a Mac isn't? Would the experience be $5,000 better? We could go once every few years on a charter....we could darn near spend entire summers out there on the Mac. Wife is off in the summers and I can take my work wherever I go. Come to think about it, I think I recall a member on here from the same town I'm in doing exactly what I'm talking about here. But I think they were on an X. Would the headroom and bigger power plant make that much of a difference? I should see if I can connect with them.
Thanks for any input or aids to my dreams becoming real here. Kind of an odd post I know. Nothing like getting all the cards on the table right?
