Welcome to the blog of Wayne & Elly Smith’s adventures aboard SV Zeppelin. Our sailing vessel is a flush deck, centre cockpit sloop, 47 feet long with a 15 foot beam. The flush deck design allows for a dozen guests for happy hour or to lash down a 12 foot inflatable and still be able to walk around. It is a Stan Huntingford design and is a one of a kind built on Vancouver Island back in the 70’s. She has been offshore once before to San Francisco with the builders/owners back in the late 70’s. For more details on our boat go to About Zeppelin.
We have owned Zeppelin since the fall of 2000 and she has been moored at Spruce Harbour Marina, Vancouver BC until the fall of 2009. We were members of the co-op there for 15 years and enjoyed living in a boating community with 55 other members and 60ish recreational boaters in the heart of Vancouver. Zeppelin is our 7th sailboat and our 2nd liveaboard.
Our philosophy to having a boat is to use it and to explore with it. During winter months we were out exploring the Gulf Islands or Sunshine Coast 2 or 3 weekends a month. The past few summers we would be away from the city from late May until September taking the boat to areas up the coast, Desolation Sound and beyond, exploring the islands and inlets enroute.
During the fall of 2005 I took up scuba diving, Wayne has been diving since 1973, and ever since then we have added in the local diving spots to our weekend/holiday adventures. In 4 years of diving, I have logged over 130 dives which is quite a few considering the water temps around the BC coast range from a chilly 4 degrees Celsius to a balmy 18 surface degrees. The temp while diving is around 10 degrees. I will write more about the diving adventures – please see Categories.
With spending the summers up the coast and enjoying the diving, prawning, swimming, scooping up oysters off the beaches, exploring in our inflatable, hiking, etc., we absolutely love the sailing lifestyle. Who wouldn’t? Add to that trips to Mexico and the Caribbean during the cold winter months in B.C. and the thought process gradually turns to – …”wouldn’t it be great to have this lifestyle where it’s warm everyday?” So how can we work and play in a place that has summer-like conditions every day?
It was during the summer of 2008 coming back from our winter stay at Port Sidney that we decided to focus our time and resources on getting Zeppelin and ourselves ready to leave BC for a year of cruising. This meant tightening the spending on fun winter things like skiing in the Okanogan and going to our place in Mexico. Initially our plan was for Wayne to take a year off from working and we would “try it out” and come back to keep working. With the crash of the markets and world wide issues at the end of 2008 and into 2009 that idea was no longer on the table.
With the cruising for a year on the back burner, we still kept the focus on getting “us” ready. During 2009 we both obtained our PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors certifications and I obtained a teaching certification in Yoga. This way we could both work in the Caribbean if we needed/wanted to. We also began exploring executive roles as Wayne’s background as a Canadian trained CA meant other possibilities for him to find a “real” job. Which then opened up the idea of why just one year away?…
During the May long weekend sitting at anchor at Newcastle Island we decided to go south anyway and find work along the way – and scrap the one year “try it out”. What is that saying… “go big or go home?” Well for us I guess it’s more like – go big and go sailing! Let’s move there and start a new chapter in our lives. Think about it – what is there to lose? We have our home with us at all times, we have our health, we have each other, we have an incredible sailing vessel, we have skills to get work if we need/want to, and we have a passion for adventure. Picture us…. 25 degrees, sun, open water scuba class, being underwater with the coral and fishes, showing land lubbers a whole new world underwater, wearing only a bathing suit and a wet suit and the water temp is 25 degrees too!
Ommm…..Picture open cabana overlooking the beach area of the resort, tourists on their yoga mats taking in the tranquility, the warm breeze, taking time to flow through a sun salutation, time to walk the dog, deep breath in of fresh clean air, ahhhhh, time to find the warrior within and time to be grateful for being at practice that day. Namaste.
Ok, back to reality now! We did a big revision (which means cut out all the nice to do to go offshore if we had 2 years), and set out with the new plan (what can we get done in 3 months) to head off from BC the fall of 2009. Keep in mind that most people allow a good 2 years to get themselves and their boat ready for an offshore trip, but we had a head start in that we a) liveaboard (no house to deal with); b) sail often in all sorts of weather; c) get along with each other 24 x 7(beyond therapy); and d) have an ocean capable vessel with most of the gear ready to go.
June, July, August and up to September 4th we worked on, in and on top of Zeppelin, seven days a week from 8:00 am until it became too dark to see. I was able to sneak in a yoga teacher’s training “retreat” at Whistler early June. Retreat is defined as on the mat for 6:00am meditation and wrapping up the day at 9:00pm, followed by reading and homework. This gave me another certification and I also found incredible strength to get me through the next three months. For more about Yoga see Categories.
A few new items were installed so we could be totally self sufficient (water maker, diesel generator and solar panels), we sanded and repainted the deck with non-skid to keep us and the crew on the boat during passages and we added gear and put a few more coats of bottom paint on. I spent a number of hours revamping the pantry to have heavy duty sealing containers and labeling the containers, getting provisions (things one can only get at home), organizing their place and ensuring the galley and storage areas were ready for offshore passages and to get the “bug proofing” done before we encountered any critters (mostly in Mexico and south).
End of June we handed in our shares at Spruce Harbour, we gave up our slip and went to the boatyard for July, then sub-let for August from our neighbours while they were off cruising and we focused on finishing getting ready.
Saturday September 5th on a cloudy, dreary morning we cast off from docks at Spruce and bid adieu to our home for the past 15 years. Laurie our neighbour was helping with casting off, Marg waving goodbye from her cockpit and us motoring off into False Creek.
Like so many times we have come and gone from the docks at Spruce, this process was so familiar to us… with the exception that this time we were not coming back. That moment I paused realizing that thought, then smiled and took over at the helm.
That afternoon we were greeted by about 25 boating friends on 10 boats at anchorage in Winter Cove. We had arranged a ‘Farewell to Zeppelin’ rendezvous and were thrilled with the number of friends who came to meet us. The winds were high that day combined with rain showers – but when it came time to pouring a glass of wine at the picnic tables in the park – let there be sun… and there was!
Winter Cove is a very special anchorage for us. We have memories of being tucked in there during a snow storm end of December years ago with snow covering the boat; enjoying the best prawning grounds; scooting down to Cabbage Island in Sherman (our tender) and digging for clams at low tide in the muck; diving on the local reefs; sharing memories (aka lots of wine), devouring awesome steamed clams done in white wine and just caught BBQ prawns with John & Cheryl aboard Sovereign; celebrating John’s 60th birthday; and organizing and hosting the Royal Victoria Yacht Club’s annual Labour Day weekend cruise. What a place!
September 7th we met the crew at RVYC docks in Cadboro Bay. Joining us were Ian Watson, friend and hubby of best friend Francie; Scott Watson, friend and neighbour from Spruce Harbour and offshore sailing Instructor; and Linda Ellen, offshore sailor and friend of Scott’s. We all worked on getting the last few things installed on Zeppelin to prepare her for the voyage.
September 8th left RVYC (and Canada) and headed for Port Angeles to clear customs, obtaining our USA cruising permit and provision at the local store and Costco the following day. September 9th – underway and the adventure begins. As our pal Dennis Giraud put on our t-shirts – ‘Zeppelin’s Great Escape!’
Before the adventure does begin, I would like to express my thanks and deep gratitude to friends and neighbours and our son, Trevor. As I mentioned we had 3 months to do the prep that many are able to take 1 – 2 years to do. While we have cruised local waters, getting the boat ocean ready and us psychologically ready were different and I got an overwhelming sense of that in the Blue Water Cruising Association’s Fleet meetings and with talking with others who have been offshore. Please see Kudos.
