Finally Retired!

 Well, I finally did it, I officially retired from my full time job as of March 31!  We've been planning this for quite a few years and our plan are coming together nicely.  We worked like crazy over the past few months to get everything done and ready and like all good plans, we were a bit frantic for the last 2 weeks.  First we had to haul out and bottom paint, service the prop, polish the hull etc.  A few days before that all happened, Cathy came down with a mild case of COVID but still powered through the polishing.  We started at 08:00 on a Thursday and were back in the water at 11:30 the next day.  Then came the final work to get our new vang clutch and secondary winches installed; sanding epoxy filled holes, taping and painting, etc.  Got that all sorted and then the shopping for a month away on the boat.  Lots of dry good, re-organizing storage that is a at a real premium on Cygnet and finally writing lists so we have a chance at finding where we stuffed everything.  Lists are great but even then we miss stuff. Last nigh we both started tearing the boat apart looking for our stash of Kirkland canned chicken (a sailing MUST HAVE).  We were both sure of where it was except it wasn't.  We found it and will likely remember now (and no, we didn't add it to a list for some reason).  I also had to spend a couple of days in Vancouver to close out my job and say goodbye to everyone.  The company organized a great retirement get together and lots of nice words were said.  I can honestly say that this was one of roles I've ever had and I am so proud of my teams who keep the communications technology running that keep first responders and everyone in BC safe.  I also had to finish emptying out storage locked on the mainland.  Got it all in the car, and stuffed it all in our smaller storage locker.

We untied the lines on Friday as planned and had a really pleasant downwind sail from the east side of Coal Island to the entrance on Montague.  No rain until after we were anchored and buttoned up.  Got to use our new Rocna 25kg anchor for the first time.  They're absolutely right, it sets FAST!  We were worried about dropping and retrieving it as our furler is so low but it's not really any worse than our Bruce that we replaced.  Got up this morning and decided to check the currents at Dodds narrows one last time and found out were were an hour off in our planning.  We originally planned to catch slack at17:00 but it was actually an hour later so we upped anchor and left to get slack at noon.  We motored for awhile, sailed for awhile, motor-sailed or a while and then sailed dead downwind on the main only after we got through Dodds.  Picked up a mooring at Newcastle island and I'm listening to the wind blow from the SSE.  We hope to be able to see my dad tomorrow, assuming we both test clear of COVID!.

So, 2 days retired, 2 days sailing downwind!  Good omens!