Blog, July 7, 2018

     Hello dear readers. We have set out on another summer of “cruising” this past Monday, July 2. We left the dock in Port Townsend for a short motor across the bay to Morrowstone Island and it’s lovely little Mystery Bay. To arrive at the bay is rather round about. One has to motor around a large sand spit then carefully navigate between a series of red and green buoys so as to avoid too shallow water outside the channel. It is only six and a half miles from Port Townsend but because we have to motor slowly through a rather shallow channel with “s” curves through Kilsut Harbor before arriving in Mystery Bay; it takes at least an hour. 

     We had a delightful two days in the little bay. It was a much needed time to relax after the push of the last ten days to have the boat ready to go into the water on the date we had given ourselves.Then there were three more days on the dock doing all the last minute things that can only be done while the boat is in the water but still on the dock. There is the last minute grocery shopping to do using the car. All the tools not needed on the water have to be taken to storage in exchange for life jackets, cushions for our settee and quarter berth (another place to sleep on the boat when we have the kids or a friend), etc. Before a boat our size can go back in the water a large vehicle, a bit like a crane, has to cradle the boat and carry it to the water. It’s called a travel lift. The travel lift in this boat yard is not the largest and for this reason boats our size have to loosen the “stays” (stays are metal lines that support the mast on sailboats), fore and aft on the boat so as to fit on the travel lift. Once the boat is back in the water those “stays” have to be tightened again before going sailing. It can be awkward physically adjusting these essential lines and may take a day or so to tweak. Sometimes sails have to be put back on the mast, which was the case for us this year. So the last two weeks before one can truly sail the boat, are intense and full of work filled days.

      On Wednesday morning we’d pulled up the anchor by 7:10 and were on our way, sailing with an outgoing tide across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was an easy sail. The winds were gentle, the waves were tiny, and we averaged about 4 1/2 knots or 5.4 mph. By early afternoon the tide was with us as we neared a tranquil harbor by the name of Mckaye on Lopez Island. We “dropped a hook” (sailor speak for dropping the anchor) for the night. Time was slowing down now that we were on our way. It took us 7 hours and fifteen minutes to sail 30.2 miles!

      The next three days were spent in Friday Harbor. We have friends there so even though this harbor is not ideal in terms of noise and water traffic, i.e. there are many seaplanes, power boats, ferries, and tourist boats, we usually stop in to visit these old friends if they are home. We also had a minor electrical problem with the electric windlass (a windlass raises the anchor) on the first day. We didn’t know it was minor. Mike patiently did as much trouble shooting as he knew how to do, but by 3:30 in the afternoon he couldn’t figure it out. So we called a local boat electrician who agreed to come look at it if we brought the boat to the dock by 7:00 am. the next morning. We were up at 5 or so to eat a quick breakfast and pull up our anchor manually and then we motored into a vacant spot on the public dock. The electrician was there promptly at seven. He went on to tell us how during boating season he works 16 hour days but in the winter he barely has any work. “Feast or famine”, were his words.

     On Sunday we were off to one of my favorite islands, just on the border with Canada; Stewart Island sits on the edge of Boundary Pass. I’m sure I’ve written about this island before... it has a lighthouse on it since the late 1800’s and some of the island’s families today have ancestors going back to the some of the original settlers on the island. They have gone out of there way to keep the old one room school house and “teacherage” maintained as a museum and a library. They also renovated and furnished the old lighthouse keepers home as a museum and gift shop. So people still live on this island but they are responsible for their own electricity and phone. We the public are able to hike on the island because part of it is a marine/state park. There are two harbors, one on the north side and one on the south. We usually go to the harbor to the south but this year we met up with friends we’d made in the boatyard in Prevost Harbor. It was fun to meet up with friends on another boat. We shared dinner with each other the two nights we spent there. On Monday we hiked the island together, talking about this and that. I walked with Suzie the wife and Mike with David. Suzie and I are more of the hiking type so we walked longer and further. She and I have similar taste in books and talked about favorite books we’d read. She was a teacher of 35 years so we have the teacher experience in common as well. Another element that bonds us is the fact that we are both doing this sailing experience and can talk to each other about it and understand each other completely. 

     On Tuesday we both left for Canada at the same time and arrived at South Pender Island to clear customs. For the first time ever our boat was boarded by the Canadian customs patrol. Usually all we do is call a number at the dock and give them our passport numbers and boat documentation information over the phone. They must have been looking for alcohol but we didn’t have much left after sharing dinner with our friends the two nights before. 

      After clearing customs it was time to anchor, flake the sail, and do all the other little chores that go with anchoring a sailboat for the night. We had a late lunch when Suzie came on the radio asking if we’d like to go to the grocery store with them in their dinghy. They have a larger dinghy than ours, plus we haven’t tried putting an outboard on our dinghy yet. It was a pleasure going with them. They can handle Mike’s sense of humor and have their own unique humor as well. The next day we went over to this little cove with a resort. Suzie and David had scoped out the place last year. Because it has an outdoor pool, there were public showers. So we all went and had showers! Mike and I have been going there for the last four years but never figured out the shower situation. Our friends left the next day around noon. In the morning Suzie and I had rowed over to the footpath that one can take to the top of Mount Normanon South Pender Island. From there we made the hike, talking all the time about different experiences and friends in our lives. It was a very companionable time. It reminded me of when I must have been ten years old. It was summer time in upper New York state. Our family was on it’s annual car camping trip in the Adaroundeks. We were at a favorite spot, Cranberry Lake, only this time it was different because two other families met us on that trip. Both families had daughters close to my age and the three of us went off on a hike together up some “mountain”. The woods in BC are rather shady with mottled sunlight because the trees are large and tall. It was the same kind of woods back East that the three of us went hiking in.The same sense of being able to talk about all kinds of things with friends was present both times. It is one of the best things in my life. My life is rich with such moments and I’m so grateful for that.

     When we made it back to our dinghy, it was still high up on a rock strewn shore.  Together we clumsily lifted the boat up over the rocks and carried it to the water. Suzie is a petite person but she assured me she would be fine and we were. We managed all by ourselves which was rather gratifying to say the least. They left at 12:30 to go visit friends over near Victoria. I was a little sad to see them go. I have to admit I do get homesick for all my family and friends in New Mexico while we are cruising. It’s not  a constant feeling. It tends to sneak up on me when we are around strangers in a new place. Such are the hazards of traveling far from home. Perfect times with friends are a temporary state, that’s for sure. I suppose thats what makes such times so precious.

      We spent the rest of the day doing odds and ends with the boat. There is always something to be done that isn’t too pressing but will be needed in the near future. Mike discovered he needed to download an app for the new wind and sun generator system that he engineered on the boat in June. So we rowed into the resort and went to the restaurant/bar to see if wifi was available. There was wifi, so we each had a beer while Mike had a frustrating time creating the “ideal” passwords. He finally got that set up, only to find they wanted his credit card info, even though the app was free. We only had cash with us of course! The next day we sailed over to North Pender Island where there are grocery and marine stores in Port Browning. We had to return some engine oil Mike had bought only to discover it was the wrong kind. There was a nice bakery/cafe with wifi and in less than a minute Mike, armed with all his credit card numbers, had downloaded the app. Modern day life is so full of these technological miracles!

     We had a very nice sail half way over to Port Browning. The wind had us going 5 or 6 knots without having to tack and never made us uncomfortable or  had us thinking we should reef (make the sail smaller when winds are too strong for the whole sail to be used).

      The following day, we left early, around 8:00, so to have the tide pushing us as well as any wind out there on the water. It was a good wind, mostly coming over the beam ( the middle) of the boat so we made good time plus we had the outgoing current  pushing us along to our next destination. Around 11:30 or so the wind began to slow way down and we were just moving through the water finally by the outgoing current. We ate lunch in the warm sunshine and watched our slow progress until about 1:30 when the current started to change direction and we started going backwards. It was time to turn on the engine and finish the trip by motoring to the next anchorage south of Sydney (town) to Saanichton Bay and Cordova Spit. This is a place we’ve anchored in at least twice before.The spit has always been deserted in the past but not this particular Saturday afternoon. At least two thirds of the spit was full of people with cabanas and their picnics and their was some kind of racing going on because we could hear the guy announcing things. As we were setting the anchor and putting stuff away we started listening. There were traditional indigenous paddle boats racing one another. We decided we would row ourselves over to watch some of the races up close. I think people were curious to see us there but no one stared or was rude. We were the only Anglos there. A few people smiled or said hello. People were relaxed and obviously enjoying either being in one of the many races or watching and socializing. We saw races with different age groups, ten years old and under, thirteen year olds and under, sixteen year olds and under, men and women doubles, teams of six adult men, teams of  

five women with one man, teams of eleven women in big paddling boats, and teams of men and women. The boats were not like a traditional canoe. They were much narrower and very light, some of fiber glass, others made of wood. We actually saw one team of two, capsize. We watched for an hour or so on the beach but headed back to our dinghy just in time as the tide was coming in and the dinghy was beginning to float. As we were eating dinner the eleven person teams were racing and the course for this race became a large oval that passed way out into the bay by our sailboat and went all the way out to the end of the spit. It was so amazing to see these six or seven boats racing each other, each team paddling hard and in unison with each other. The racing ended just about at dusk. 

     Sunday morning we woke up to another sunrise. It’s pretty special for a part of the world that is often overcast, foggy, or rainy. This past week has been high summer in the Northwest. I could actually get down to a t-shirt on the boat if the wind wasn’t blowing. It is now Tuesday, July 17th and the nice weather continues.

      Well it is Wednesday, July 18th. We are in Sooke Harbor waiting out high winds/gales before we head further out the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We would like to make Barkley Sound again and perhaps go further north up the western coast of Vancouver Island. That's weather always weather permitting. I’m going to post this blog for now. Lots of free wifi cafes around. Until the next post, be well everyone.

1.