A day of sailing and spit roast chicken

The July long weekend was spectacular this year almost too hot and sunny the entire weekend, so we jumped at an opportunity to go sailing with some friend on the Sunshine Coast. On Saturday when we were in a race the winds died to almost nothing and though a pleasant day, not a great sailing day.  On Sunday however we found some strong winds, that provided some amazing sailing.

Before we went out sailing however I made a marinade for a whole chicken in anticipation of a spit roast chicken for dinner. I used the same technique that I have been using for chicken lately of combining some tomatoes, onions, herbs and spices in a small food processor to make something that is somewhere between a rub and a marinade. This time I wanted to bring some of those Caribbean jerk flavours in to the mix

handful of cilantro
dozen grape tomatoes
1 red hot pepper
2 garlic cloves
1/2 red onion
1 teaspoon of allspice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of salt
good grind of black pepper
1 tablespoon of honey

combine all the ingredients in a mini food processer.

Chop to a pulp

Spread this evenly over the whole chicken (or chicken pieces)

Place in the fridge and go sailing and swimming.

Paradise found opportunity lost

After Vis we sailed to a small bay between two very small islands just off the coast of Vis.  On the map it appears to be called Budkovac

We anchored in the harbour and enjoyed a glass of white wine and some of the delicious cheese and pears that we had brought with us.

It was a perfect peaceful little bay, there was one house on the larger Island and it looked like they were living off the grid, growing all there own vegetables in a large vegetable garden.

There were also sheep (grazing on rosemary as it turned out) chickens, goats and donkeys.  Nancy and I swam ashore to check out the beach and then the men followed in a the tender.

The Island of Vis

After our first rather rocky night anchored off the Island of Solta we made a 5 hour sail up to the Island of Vis.  The day started off rather grim with rain and dark sky's, and we were grateful for our floating camper van, but about an hour in to the trip the sun came out and before we knew it was a glorious summers day.

We decided to anchor in the protected harbour of the town of Vis shown at the top of this map.

This was like all the towns we encountered on the islands, built from the cream coloured local stone and centered around the harbours.  We arrived in time to go ashore for a poke around and then back to the boat to make dinner.  We had bought some pasta that looked like a wider fettuccine and some cevapici which are like a long Croatian meatball.  So we made a simple sauce using these meatballs and carton of Italian tomato puree. Simple but good.

After all this was the view we had as we ate.

Picking up the catamaran in Solta

It turns out that actually the boat that we had rented was not in Split but on an Island a 45 minute ferry ride away. The owner of the apartment that we were staying in, very helpfully, gave us a lift to the ferry terminal and started on the next leg of our adventure.

Sail boats from the ferry

We arrived on the small island of Solta and our boat was waiting for us a 5 minute walk away from the ferry dock.

The first glimpse of our boat

Home made hummus to go

On Saturday night Vancouver was having the last of 3 nights of "the festival of light"which is a half hour spectacular firework display in English Bay.  hundreds of thousands of people from all over the lower mainland come into town to see this, so when a friend invited us down to their boat to watch them we jumped at the chance.

We arrived at around 7:30 after having eaten dinner, but we were going to have a little nibble to eat and a glass of wine while we waited for the fireworks to begin. Hummus is a healthy alternative to most dips, so I decided to make some to go along with the vegetables that my friend was bringing.

forgive the plastic container but look at the view

I could have bought some, but really it is so easy to make and I always have the ingredients in my fridge and pantry, so I decided to make it instead. But if I do buy hummus, I always add the juice of a lemon or two to brighten up the flavour.

1 can of chickpeas
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of tahini (you could add more to taste)
Juice of two or three lemons
1/4 cup of olive oil (or water to make even healthier)
salt to taste

Light quick greek meal

Saturday last week was even better than Friday, clear blue skies with a fresh breeze.  So when a friend asked if we wanted to go sailing I jumped at the invitation.  It was the first day out with the boat for the season so there was a little deck swabbing and the sails had to be brought out of storage. But we were under sail about lunch time.

It was beautiful, it was one of those quintessential Vancouver days, we could have driven up to Whistler and gone skiing, or stay in the city, enjoy the spring day and go sailing.  We embraced the Spring whilst my friends daughter squeezed one more day of winter out on the ski slopes. Nancy said "you should post a picture of the sailing people will think you live a great life." to which I replied "I do live a great life."

Getting the sails up for the first time this season

We sailed around the bay for a couple of hours had some snacks, a glass of white wine (or beer) and soaked up the sun. We looked forward to the coming spring and upcoming travels, all in all a great day.