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On our trip down to Anacortes, we were looking for Bill's boat "Perpetua". Went to Blind Bay and we were paging on VHF but no success. Tried to sail Arrived at Cap Sante marina about 4:00, got fuel, watered the dogs, went to dinner in town. We laughed & had way too much fun. Jud docked at the fuel dock; PW docked in the slip. We take turns. We are close to the 200 hr. maintenance time so we will be doing work on the boat until we depart to come down the coast to Astoria. Overcast here in Anacortes, supposed to clear up this afternoon. Finally got to a Starbucks for coffee.
We were moving along well so decided to make a run for Dodds Narrows. The computer calculated that our ETA there would be at about 3:00, & slack was to be at 3:24, so we hauled down past Schooner Cove & Nanaimo and made it thru against about 2 kts flood against us. Then down to Telegraph for a 65 mile day. We averaged over 6.4 kts over 10 hrs, went like skumk at almost 8 kts with sails up for a few hrs. We have definitely found our summer here in the Gulf Islands, it is 80 degrees and sunny. All our systems are working well, except for the hot water hose that has a leak. Will fix that when we get back to Portland. After docking "Grace" we went up to the pub for a snack & drinks. It seems so civilized here, compared to Alaska. Also noted that on VHF 16 the boaters are not as knowledgeable/experienced as they are in Alaska. Interesting contrast. Judy is at the helm putting in the waypoints for Blind Bay on Shaw Island, where Oddy says Bill & fam will be spending Monday nite. Maybe we will see them there, have a few drinks, tell a few lies.
We celebrated Doug's 38th B-day in Campbell River. The restaurant there had a WONDERFUL caramel/berry/apple on puff pastry (hot) with a scoop of ice cream. As you all know, Jud & I share our restaurant meals. However, in celebration of Doug's B-day we ordered a 2nd dessert & took the waitress's picture with Jud & the dessert. We thot about Doug's coming to us at Fort Mclellan, Alabama. Grandma Patty visited us and took off some of the pressure. Needless to say, we have been greatly blessed with our kids.
The much anticipated voyage thru Johnstone Strait & Seymore Narrows was completed today. That is a relief, we have been nervous about it. The only slight hitch was a VERY large tug & barge with a load of logs that was behind us. In the future, we will jump into line BEHIND these guys, as they are faster than we, & I was constantly looking over my shoulder to see his location. Judy was nervous, thot we were too close to shore, but all was OK. We went thru about an hour ahead of slack, so we had a push from behind and were moving speed over ground over 8 kts. The tug was probably going about 10 kts. Campbell River is beautiful: warm, lots of shops, restaurants. Cocktail hour with Ted & Joan on "Panchita". Very nice people from Huntington/Seal Beach in Ca. They have been to the Baja Ha-Ha orientations on Catalina Island, they say we can go with them in 2007 if we want to fly down & cruise over to Catalina Island. They took a picture of us alongside the big tug & barge, shows how small "Grace" looks. Loaned us a copy of "Latitudes & Attitudes" magazine to peruse.
A 10 hr. day at the helm, but we easily made it around Cape Caution with no problems. The weather has been just great, and we had enuff wind to get out the sails and have some fun. We smoked the catamaran "Tango" (they botched putting up the spinaker) and Mike Downing's "Samaria" ("Joshua" replica), but we really weren't paying that much attention to who was the fastest. That would be sooooo juvinile. Pulled into Port McNeill at 4:00, but docks full, so anchoring out tonite. We think we will stay Sunday nite also, and the harbormaster says we can probably get dock space tomorrow. Judy was disappointed that we weren't on the dock to see the town, because it looks really interesting. She is down for the count at 6:00 p.m. because she took dramamine in anticipation of going around Cape Caution & I did the dishes. A great day!
Left Shearwater at dawn (6:00 a.m.) & arrived in Duncanby around 2:30. Fueled up but they had no room for us. We went across to Goose Bay to find a place to anchor, but it was very shoal with many crabpots, and we didn't feel comfortable dropping the hook there. So we decided to cross Smith Sound to Fury Cove, a great little anchorage that is actually closer to Cape Caution than Duncanby. There were about 8 other boats there, half sail & half power. Arrived around 5:00 so it worked out fine. Mike Downing on Montiessier's replica "Samaria" pulled in right after us.
Arrived around noon, and good thing we were so early as the dock filled up within an hr. Quickly got into action changing oil & filter while Jud did the laundry. Dinner out..fish & chips with bumbleberry pie. We hear there is a gale coming so we are in a hurry to get around Cape Caution before it hits.
We made it to Klemtu, and summer has arrived! Drinks & home baked oatmeal cookies with Vern & Chris - Lance camper people from Sonoma, Ca. We shot down Princess Royal Channel from Hartley at times as fast as 9.2 kts. Docked with 3 kts current-but Judy did great.
Forgot to mention that in Prince Rupert we met Mike Downing, a real estate broker from Portland on his 42 ft. steel sloop "Samaria". Black & beautiful, it is an exact replica of Bernard Montiessier's (sp?) "Joshua". He had met Montiessier and knew some information about him that we had not heard. Montiessier is the French sailor who was ahead in one of the early nonstop circumnavigation races, with a prize of $25,000, who decided to protest by continuing to sail and not come in and finish the race. According to Mike, he used a slingshot to send a film cannister box to a passing ship. An enclosed note described his protest against the French government. That race was then won by Robin Mark Johnson. Montiessier's wife divorced him for this stunt according to Mike. This French sailor was legendary and quite unorthodox. He has passed away, prostate cancer, but stories about him make interesting reading.
We battled our way down Grenville Channel on Monday 8/7. Low pressure coming in caused strong SE winds with gusts to 24 kts. for hours. 30-40 kts. in Hecate Straits. Then to top it off we got fog with about 3/4 mi. visibility. Boy, were we glad to get into anchor. Took us 11 hrs. with speed over ground below 4 kts. "Grace" did exceptionally well in the miserable chop. We dropped the crab pot but no luck. East Inlet is a beautiful little place, like the ends of the earth.
Got the third degree by Canadian Customs. They thoroughly checked our boat, it made Judy mad to have someone go thru our stuff. Great dinner at the Crest Hotel. Back to the marina for the first shower in several days. On Sunday 8/6 we had our own little church service at the coffee shop. Tried to fix the leaky hot water hose to no avail. Met Joan & Ted on "Panchita" yacht. They are from Huntington Beach, and gave us info on going down the coast to San Diego & also up the Columbia to Lewiston, Idaho. Tried to find a good port for the third nite of the Outside Passage & gave up. Just as well, as gale warnings developed.
Port Tongass at anchor. Tried to set the big 44 lb Bruce 2 times, it wouldn't hold. Also, the chain jumped the gypsy & went careening down, all 300 feet. Scary. So decided to try the 35 lb Delta. It grabbed the first time. Anchor alarm went off in the middle of the night, we did not sleep well, up checking status MANY times. In review, we don't think there was any anchor drag, the alarm was not properly set and the alarm distance was to tight a setting. What was scary was that there was a current in the channel that spooked us. A couple days later at East Inlet we made a significant discovery in regards to the anchor alarm. Stay tuned.
Hard day, docking at Bar Harbor in Ketchican was tough. I was at the helm & made numerous tries before getting "Grace" into the slip. Currents/winds not cooperative. Judy started tearing apart the kitchen looking for a hot water leak. Have not yet repaired the leak, will wait until returning to Portland & have it covered by warranty. Very difficult to get to the problem.
Now that the Skymate system is up again, I'll continue with these blogs. We have met the most interesting people on this voyage. In Meyers Chuck we met Chuck Handy of "Deviant", a solo sailor who does wooden boat repairs & construction. Last winter in Maine we was in charge of the building of the pirate ship for "Pirates of the Caribbean II & III. He worked on "Surprise" for "Master & Commander", and has his name in the credits at the end of the movie. He has circumnavigated, sailed around South America, thru the Panama Canal & Meditteranean Sea. He has a degree in Political Science, so go figure. Divorced, ex wife still watches his dog for him. We gave him some cheap Glenn Ellen wine and talked for hours. We were able to tie up at the dock this time.
Rain, rain, rain. We are glad to be heading south. Wrangell is a busy port, and boats must raft 4 deep. Upon our arrival we were number 4 of 4, and it was no problem. Currents & wind were cooperative. Come to find out that the number two boat was leaving around 3:00pm so we did the shuffle and ended up on the outside again. The boat to which we were rafted was a fishing vessel, a father with his teenage son and the son's friend. The father demanded that his son demonstrate the ability to swim the length of a swimming pool and be thirteen before he could work on the boat. We met another couple from Gig Harbor. They had lived in Alaska years earlier and at that time he had a fishing charter boat. She had a stroke three years ago and this was a last trip for them. They bought an old gas driven yacht and headed North, despite the fact that his twin brother and her sister had both passed away in December. We also met a lone sailor who had just sailed in from Hawaii to Sitka about a month ago. We had him over for dinner and spent a happy three hours hearing his stories about Mexico and Hawaii. He was a former middle school math teacher and counselor. He had a 1988 Tayana 42' sailboat and had been sailing for about 30 years. He was a humble, gentle soul and a little sad. He had stopped drinking ten years ago because of a serious problem with alcohol. He was divorced and had no children. He was communicating with a woman in Seattle and found her emails very interesting and he had no idea what she looked like. He plans to meet her in October. Life in the 21st century is interesting. Orcas are jumping all around us as we write this blog! |
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edward p witzke
Tuesday August 22, 2006 @ 06:32 PM GMT+00:00
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