Summer 2018 – Part 2 – We Get Engaged!

Sailing is a sport/hobby/lifestyle Saxony and I discovered together. It’s a beautiful thing to discover a passion as a couple. Our first big trip saw us sailing North to Desolation Sound aboard the Black Knight and what a memorable adventure that was.

I always thought it would be lovely to get engaged in that piece of paradise that holds so many memories for us. Our friends Seb and Kristen invited us to their wedding to be held at Rebecca Spit at the end of August, so we thought we’d sail up there and make a trip out of it. The timing turned out perfectly as we were in the final throes of signing paperwork for closing the sale of Leavetown. It was supposed to close before we departed on our trip, but last-minute delays meant the first few days were rather stressful all around.

We departed Vancouver on Friday at 10:00pm sailing overnight to Tribune Bay on Hornby Island. We motored in glassy conditions until 4:00am, when 20 knots of wind showed up right on the nose. We battled that glorious wind the rest of the way to Hornby Island, doing massive tacks up the West side of Texada Island.

We were exhausted when we arrived, mid-afternoon on Saturday at Hornby Island, yet we proceeded to hit the beach immediately. Unfortunately, it was the precise moment when smoke from raging coastal fires engulfed the sky. This smoke was to be with us for the next five days, lending a sepia tone to the world.

As luck would have, Saxony’s friend Virginia was visiting her family on Hornby Island at the same time, so she joined us for an evening aboard Leela where we shared lots of drinks and lots of laughs. 🙂

We spent the following Sunday with Virginia exploring Hornby Island and visiting her parents. Her dad is building a beautiful sailboat in their shed, and it was a delight to hear about their wild South Pacific sailing adventure aboard his homebuilt Polynesian catamaran.

The next day was August 23, 2018. A now very special day in our lives! We departed in the morning for Tenedos Bay in Desolation Sound. There was not a breath of wind, so we motored the whole way on glassy seas. I received a call from our lawyers to inform me that the transaction had closed! We had successfully sold Leavetown to an American company!!! It was a moment of huge relief and happiness. We celebrated with breakfast mimosas as we motored along, unable to see the shore through the smoke. And the shore was less than 2-3 miles away!

I had begun planning when to ask Saxony to marry me. Between the visit with Virginia and our upcoming detour to Refuge Cove, I realized it was tonight or never! Yikes! With the insanity of the last few months, I didn’t have a proper ring. But that was also by design. Saxony isn’t attached to fancy things, preferring to spend her/our money on experiences. This is part of why she is THE ONE.

While Saxony was napping in the sun, I made a simple little ring out of the green string aboard Leela. The sturdy green string roll had been with us for a long time, and we hold a special place in our hearts for it, so it had some meaning. We anchored in Tenedos Bay, the very first bay we explored on our first trip to Desolation Sound four years earlier. We poured ourselves a dirty gin martini and lay in the hammock strung between the forestay and mast and we got talking.

Now, this is where I need to explain something about Saxony. She had previously told me she doesn’t really like the idea of the man asking the woman to marry him. A proud and strong woman, she would much prefer having a discussion where she felt she had an equal say in the decision, as opposed to simply being “expected” to say “Yes.”

So there I was with the green string ring in my shorts, needing to thread a fine line between asking her to marry me and ensuring she felt part of a discussion on the matter. I guess I did a pretty good job of it because, in the end, she thought she had brought it up!! Sneaky devil I am. 😉

SHE SAID YES! Well.. more of an approval of the idea within our conversation, but the conclusion was the same. Yipppeee!! We celebrated with our favourite Summerhill Brut bubbly. It was such a moment of happiness and disbelief on both sides. And the location: aboard Leela, in Tonedos Bay, in our hammock, with our favourite dirty Gin Martini in hand. It was all so perfect for us.

Later in the evening, we were visited by an enterprising young couple, Alyssa & Mat, who were going from boat to boat announcing they would be selling coffee aboard their sailboat the next morning. They are the founders and owners of Float Coffee Co. We shared our big news and they told us the coffee would be on them if we wanted to visit. The next morning we headed to their boat and Saxony was blown away by their excellent coffee. We enjoyed great conversations and Alyssa and Mat were the first real live humans with whom we shared our news.

We headed to Unwin Lake for a freshwater swim. There we were swimming naked and in love. Exuberant that we were going to get married together and enjoying being in such a magical place together. We could not have had a better way to begin our engaged life.

After our refreshing swim, we lifted anchor and headed to Refuge Cove and reunited with Matt, who owns the café/restaurant and GuySee, one of the infamous kiwis from The Goose and The Raft of Radness. Turns out, Guy never went back to New Zealand and had been working in BC for the last few years. We canoed to a lake for a swim and had a wonderful evening with Matt, Guy and their friends.

It was now time to head to Rebecca Spit to attend the wedding of our friends. Lucky for us, the smoke cleared, and we had clear blue skies. We enjoyed a glorious sail over, with 20-25 knots of wind and plenty of picture-perfect sailing.

We anchored at Rebecca Spit, and our friends Charlie and Leah joined us on Leela. They were also guests at the wedding, and the plan was they would be staying aboard with us. After the wedding, Charlie and Leah would be borrowing Leela to take Charlie’s father, Willy, an experienced sailor visiting from Australia, through Desolation Sound and all of its wonders.

The wedding was beautiful and a fantastic time! The next day we took Charlie and Leah out to show them the ropes. Charlie’s father arrived, and they provisioned the boat and took off for their own adventure. It was a leap of faith to lend Leela, but we knew she was in good hands, and they thoroughly enjoyed their trip. We hopped in Charlie’s car and returned to Vancouver. We planned to rejoin them in Baynes Sound in a few weeks for a boat transfer and a long weekend with Saxony’s Dad and brother. That will be covered in the next post.

And that is the story of our two-week holiday where we got engaged, sold the business (the same day!) and attended our friends’ wedding at Rebecca Spit.