What a beautiful way to start the year off! Thursday's Child was loaded with great wine and food and headed over to the VRC outstation on Bowen Island. There was no wind to speak of for the trip over but I wasn't complaining as it was sunny and to be honest running the motor isn't so bad - at least it keeps the cabin nice and warm! Upon arriving there was a sea of smiling faces from other boats with the same idea. I thought they were all being overly generous-- greeting me with the proverbial wagging-tail salute and rushing out to help me on to the dock. They didn't quite get to me in time and I quickly realized that their enthusiasm had little to do with their excitement to see me and more to do with protecting me from having to jump on the icy docks... Of course this epiphany hit me as I was already mid stride jumping towards the incredibly shiny dock. As you can imagine I landed with all the grace and composure of a drunk big-bird on roller-skates, and immediately found myself flat on my backside. Fortunately I didn't let go of the boat and the docks were too covered in ice to allow for any embarrassing slivers. All in all I would consider it a successful delivery.

All boats should be so well appointed!
The rest of the weekend consisted of great wine and amazing food aboard a host of boats, and an incredible gluten-free dinner at Tuscany, the local Italian restaurant. For New Years Eve we were all invited over to the VRC pirate ship Perihelion for an amazing dinner prepared by her ever infamous captain Evan Seyes - our gracious host. Throughout the evening we managed to successfully solve the world's problems, pontificate loudly, argue passionately (I was right and anyone who disagreed with me was clearly wrong); we also successfully tested and conclusively proved the aged old theory that both wine and scotch taste better aboard a galleon. At midnight the ships bell rang 8 times, we all cheered, toasted, and butchered “Auld Lang Syne.” As the evening went on all of the visitors from other boats politely excused themselves and in the end it was only Evan, myself and a sea of empty bottles. As the clock struck seven bells indicating it was three thirty I opted to excuse myself and start the journey back to my boat.