Blog 4, July 12, 2015

     Well it has been over a month since my last post! Time really does fly. The last ten days of May were spent trying to finish various projects on the boat before Mike and I took off to do something different for a short while. Mike went off to Cincinnatti to visit old friends for a long weekend and I went to the southwest to join my sister Petra, a cousin-in-law, Maria Raab, my good friend Mary Kurt Mason, and three other women on a 6 day river rafting trip down the Goose Necks of the San Juan River in southern Utah. I was gone for twice that long with traveling to and from, preparing for the trip/ and clean up after the trip.

     Mike had a good visit with our friends the Holstegges and the river trip turned out to be quite the adventure. We were seven women, each with our own “cat boat” to paddle and load with our food, water, and camping gear every day. This was my third time in my own boat on the San Juan. The river was three times as high and fast as it normally is. This meant that put outs had to be anticipated way ahead of the actual put out because of the speed and strength of the river. Three of the women were doing this adventure for the first time ever and one of the experienced women was rowing a much larger boat and this was her first time in a river so fast and full of water. So, put this mix of circumstances all together and it made for quite the adrenalin enhanced river trip. We were so relieved in the evenings to have all made it in one peice to our campsite. This meant that our cocktail hour and meal time became quite jovial and slap happy. The sound of the river was so loud the first night and I was so keyed up after that first fast day on the river, I didn’t sleep very much at all. The second night though I slept like a baby. The next to our last day on the river it flooded even more than before. Some of the  campsites were a mixture of mud and ankle deep water. We were treated to some waterfalls running in side canyons with water a clay red and smelling like a potters workshop. We also experienced “sand waves” because of the huge volume of fresh silt flowing into the river. The sand forms waves on the bottom of the river which in turn create waves on the water. They were wonderful “free” waves, because there were no rocks involved whatsoever.

Since returning we have been pushing ourselves a little more than usual. This past week we began carting tools, paint, varnish, brushes, paint removers, extra clothing, and so on to storage. The car has been returning loaded with boat gear we’d stored for the last two winters. Things like seat cushions, life jackets, foul weather gear, wet suits, survival suits, life raft, first aid kits, water purifier, signal mirrors, space blankets, flares, and so on. Then Mike has been choosing and organizing the tools he will keep on board as well. Extra canned goods have been bought and stowed. 

Mike is off buying diesel for the motor. There isn’t a fuel dock on this side of town so we will be filling the fuel tank ourselves. The water tanks are filled and the decks are washed off of seagull and other birds droppings. The new dodger we had made to replace the old threadbare one  is attached and looks beautiful. The windlass is all repaired and newly painted after it died a few weeks ago as Mike was hauling up the anchor and chain. 

So what is left to do? The dinghy has to be hoisted back on the boat. Some last minute tools and paint, along with the little electric refrigerator we used this last year have to be hauled to storage. The mooring lines have to be brought from storage. The fenders will have to be placed on the side of the boat we will be moored to on the dock. Most through holes will need to be closed. Once the boat is lowered into the water we will sit there for a few days while making sure the engine runs properly, and the rigging will need adjusting since it will be in the water and not on solid ground anymore. The staysail and the jib or foresail have to be attached to the boat as well. So we will be busy even though we won’t be out sailing immediately.

Next Friday we are off to Redmond, Oregon to pick up our grandson, Johannes. He is flying out with a friend of Fiona’s. We will have Johannes on the boat with us for about three weeks. Then Fiona will join us on the fourteenth of August for a week or so.

So if all moves along without any major glitches the travel lift ( a big four wheeled vehicle that raises and lowers boats in and out of the water and also parks them in the boat yard) will set us into the water, Monday morning. Then we will begin the work that can only be done once the boat is in the water. Wish us luck! 

Blog 3, May 17, 2015

     Last week we were visited by Kieran on Friday.  Projects always seem to get finished rapidly  when Kieran’s enthusiasm and past experience on boats is shared with us. Kieran's presence means Mike has someone he knows and trusts with boat knowledge to bounce ideas off of.This often spurs them on to finding a creative solution to some technical problem needing to be solved on the boat. 

     On Saturday Mike and Kieran took a long look at the standing rigging for the mast. After some research and experimentation Kieran was able to find a rather simple solution to the problem. It seems the stern stay (the metal rope at the back of the boat that helps hold the mast up) must be attached to the boat before the bow stay. If not done in this way, on this particular boat, the tension is all wrong. Anyhow this “problem” had been one of those things one spends too much time worrying about, only to find that the solution is much simpler than one expected it to be. Sometimes I think we believe we have to worry about a problem before it can be solved. One of those illusions we go through life living out without ever examining it closely. Somehow I find myself believing the worry is essential to the process but it's just self generated anxiety. It's not necessary but I often believe it is.

     

     On Mother’s Day I didn’t cook or prepare any meals. We went out for breakfast at the Blue Moose Cafe. Serves you lots of good food without robbing you. Mike brought lunch from the grocery store deli, complete with a dozen red roses. For dinner we went to the local brewery for excellent beer and burgers. Kieran concocted a dessert for us consisting of warm brownies, fresh strawberries, and ice cream. I had calls from all my children interspersed with jokes and comments from Kieran and Mike while the conversations buzzed over the phone lines.

     Betsy joined us on Monday and we happily got all the new running rigging attached to the boat. This involved melting the ends of all the new lines and taping them. Then attaching the new lines onto the old lines by sewing the ends together. This way as you pull the old lines out, the new ones are threaded  into their proper place. Sometimes the lines pass through the mast, sometimes through the boom, out and around and througn different blocks and so on. It’s not rocket science, it just requires time, attention and patience.

     Another project was in progress when they arrived. It was abandoned so I could help with the rigging project. When we finished the rigging I returned to the other project. It involved hooking up a new hose to a footpump for getting fresh water to the sinks without having to use electricity. Kieran and Betsy helped me complete this project also. It’s so satisfying to cross these things off of our “to do list”.

     We had fun with with those two. We went out for tap room beer and pizza. They baked goodies in our newly overhauled propane stove/oven on the boat. They brought their dog, Lissie, and she is lots of fun too. She is black with a curly tail, small, and hot wired with energy. She is also super affectionate. When we weren’t on a group walk we would take turns taking her down to the beach at low tide and watch her run like a deer over fist size rocks, chasing seagulls joyfully into the salty water. I realized how much I miss “dog” walks. Lissie’s delight in everything was infectious.

May 20, 2015

     The weather is in a holding pattern this week. Clouds and fog in the morning, burning off by noon into a clear, cool day. It’s nice to experience both climates in one day. In the evenings in the last of the sunlight while we are out walking, there are huge New Mexico thunderclouds over the mainland. Last night they were a pale peachy color at dusk and we could see the Olympic Mountains. On super clear days without haze, cloud, or fog we can see Mount Baker and Mount Rainier in the Cascades on the mainland. Western Washington certainly has it’s share of majestic mountains.

     Work continues as usual. Not at the fast pace that happens with Kieran around but we keep chipping away at things. The project taking most of our time is definitely the electronics. It involves taking out and putting in small screws in tight, almost inaccessible places. All the wires then have to be labeled and attached using a heat gun. Then the wires have to be attached to the bulkhead or some solid part of the boat where they won’t chafe when the diesel engine is running. Whatever happened to simplicity? Our technology is so complex. It makes me nervous. Are we deluding ourselves maybe a little by being so dependent on it for so many things?

     Well it is time to post this. Until the next time, Tina

May 2, 2015

     I have not been attentive to my blog for some time now. I am back to keep you all up to date on the ins and outs of our life and work in the boatyard. We are now back to our old routines. A walk every day, either in the morning or evening depending on how we feel. For example today is Saturday. We got a fairly early start on the day. By 7:45 we had finished breakfast and listening to the morning news on the radio. It is sunny, not windy, still quite cool and so off we went for our walk down the beach to a pretty park full of blossoming trees and bushes. I now know some of those trees (in New Mexico we would call them trees) or very large bushes are rhododendrons. They have these huge voluptious blossoms just everywhere. Some are yellow, some are pink, some are pale purple. They are beginning to fade. There are azelyas still blooming everywhere too and lilacs and that is the extent of my plant vocabulary so far. Two weeks ago there were primroses blooming and giant, absolutely giant California poppies. There are some purple and white bells still happy, I think they’re called Lily of the Valley. Anyhow the air is very fragrant and the birds are still in their spring mode, i.e. at 5:30 am or so they start singing their hearts out. So through this little garden of Eden right by the sea, we walked through, taking more pictures of new blossoms we don’t know the names of. Then we came upon a garage sale with lots of nice stuff but we didn’t need anything so we just admired it and walked on. We came out onto one of the main drags, about four blocks away from a local grocery and bakery and remembered we needed bread. So up the hill we went to buy bread and mostly browse the local Farmers Market that is always there on Saturday mornings. There was a young kid about 12 years old selling cards with photos of wild birds that had been rescued by a local organization. He was helping to raise money for the bird sanctuary by selling his photos. I bought a couple of cards to send to my birder sister and her husband. They are neat close ups of two different kinds of owls.  One is of a Barn owl and the other is a Northern Saw-Whet owl. I was amazed by the unique look of the Barn owl with it’s recessed eyes. It’s almost so ugly it is beautiful. It just doesn’t look like the owl I was raised to expect. I imagine it is a common sight seen by people living in the countryside who have barns. I will never forget what it looks like.

     On our return to the boat we decide what the tasks are that we hope to complete that day and get started. Usually we stop for lunch around 12:30 or 1:00. One of us often jumps on their bike to ride over to the hardware store or a local marine supply store during the day for some tool or apparatus needed for the job we’re working on. I’ll also go to the post office to check our box for mail. Nothing is very far away. Until about a week ago I was going to the library two or three times a week to take an online boating course for the state of Washington. I finally finished it last Sunday. It’s a requirement by the state of Washington that every boater born after 1955 take this course. It’s good I had to do this because even though it’s information Mike and I learned when we took our boat course three years ago, I’ve forgotten so much. A lot of the course covered boating safety, rules of the “road” , laws, etc. It was tedious at times, but I’m glad I did it. At about 4:30 or 5:00 we begin to put tools away and make room so I can fix some dinner and we have a place to sit down at our table and eat. That takes at least a half hour. If we got a late start that day, we stretch the routine out and quit later. It’s easy to be flexible. Some days we go to this coffee shop first thing in the morning to check e-mails. We have a favorite restaurant that makes their own soups and pizzas and we usually go there at least once a week. We go there so regularily the owners know us.  Every three  weeks or so we will make a trip to Seattle to do some shopping for boat parts and to visit Trader Joe’s. We try to coordinate it with a visit with Kieran and Betsy (our son and his girlfriend) and our friend’s daughter and son-in-law, Lili and Vince. Kieran and Betsy are back working as mountain guides on Mount Rainier this summer. It looks like Kieran will be doing some guiding on Denali in Alaska too. Lili and Vince are friends with some of our children, and from Santa Fe originally. They have been living in Seattle for the last eleven years or so.We met Kieran and Lil for dinner on Friday after doing errands in Seattle all day. 

    There is always some event or circumstance that changes our routine in some way. A couple of Sundays ago an acquaintance of our’s here, invited us to go sailing with him in the afternoon. What a perfect day for it. The wind was just right, the sun was shining, and we laughed alot. It felt so good to be on the water again. It makes me want to finish up this boat work soon! 

     Another situation that changed our routine was a molar that’s been bothering me for the last couple of years. That tooth finally got the better of me. It started aching and aching. Then early last week a big hunk of it broke off. Time to see a dentist. I decided I would  go to the first who could see me as soon as possible. I found one who would see me the very next day. He took a good look at it, did some x-rays, and said if I wanted to save the tooth I would have to see two different specialists. I asked how much it would involve money wise. At least three grand! I asked him if he could pull it out for less. No problem, 1/6 of the price, including a bone transplant in case I ever wanted to get a false tooth in there, the next dentist  would have some bone to attach the implant to. I was in and out of there the next day in an hour and ten minutes! My recovery hasn’t been too bad. I was getting a cold the day I went in. The following day I seemed to have taken too much hydrocodon or I took the antibiotic right after eating when it should be taken on an empty stomach. Whatever it was I threw up and was nauseous the rest of the day. I just slept that day. The next day was much better. I took it easy and just read a book all day. On Wednesday I go for a check up and to get the stitches out. 

     Last week we finally signed up at a gym for the next two months. We decided we need to do more to get in shape than just our half hour walk every day. There is a great bonus to doing this. First of all, there are all kinds of classes one can take by joining and they have  free showers, a sauna, and a hot tub! It is much nicer than the showers that cost a quarter for every minute that we’ve been using in the marina. Why didn’t we do this sooner?

     Well that covers the main doings of the last couple of weeks or so. Not very adventurous but the simplicity of our days is very gratifying. 

     

April 14, 2015

    Well here I am blogging again. Last summer was quite the whirlwind summer of wedding attendance, wedding preparation, and boat work on “the hard” inbetween hosting a wedding and attending three other weddings. Our oldest daughter, Marisol and her fiance, Josh Beckner, were married at our home last summer on July 19th. Needless to say we had some projects to finish up in preparation for the grand day! By June 23 we were back in Santa Fe after a month in Port Townsend, to get the house and property ready for the wedding. 

     After a joyous wedding and wonderful visits with family and friends, by early August we were back in Washington continuing work on the boat. At the end of October we were ready for a break and returned to New Mexico for the winter. We had completed about half of the things that have to be done before the boat goes back in the water. Some of those things included pulling the mast to inspect it for corrosion and replace electrical wiring for the electronics on the boat. We also pulled all the running and standing rigging off the boat to be replaced. All the “bright work”, i.e. any wood on the boat that needed to be varnished, had up to 7 or 8 coats of new varnish applied after preparing the wood. Prep involved sanding everything first. This was all done by yours truly. I learned quite a bit about the skill, knowledge, and patience required to do this job properly. I also learned about caulking when I caulked all around the whole outer cap rail on the boat where the wood is attached to the fiber glass. In all my life I never thought I’d learn to wax a boat but I did that too.

     Later in the early fall Kieran came to help out on the boat overhaul. He showed me how to service a winch. I ended up cleaning and re-greasing five of the seven on the boat. Mike persevered with the work on the mast, getting advice from the rigger in the boatyard, he managed to put all new standing rigging on the mast, new wiring inside the mast, and steps for climbing up to the top. In late October the mast was put back on the boat! We have also replaced most of the old hoses on the boat, and Mike installed a propane alarm and new propane hoses.The old anchor chain was taken out of the boat to be galvanized in Seattle. 

      Things left to do on the boat are not so major as the mast overhaul but are many. The wiring for the radios is ready and waiting for the new radios to be mounted. The shifting mechanism on the steering is backwards and needs to be changed. Mike is not satisfied with the fore and aft standing rigging. So he will have to get some expert advice on that. The “head”, which is a marine composting toilet, (state of the art, way ahead of the ones we all know about on land) has to be installed with it’s fan. It’s about half finished. The new running rigging will have to be put on. The sails will have to be reattached. There are many more details that I’m not going into right now. Various and sundry, necessary odds and ends. All these things take lots of time! Lots of time, partly because we’ve never done this kind of thing before and partly it just takes time. Oh yes, Mike is a mechanic but the setting is brand new, and his helper (me) is learning about stuff I've never had anything to do with before in my life. We are hoping working towards being in the water no later than the fourth of July!

      Today is a lovely mostly sunny spring day. It is about 55 degrees out. Flowers and flowering trees are blossoming everywhere. So many kinds and varieties I don’t know the names of. A trip to the library is in order. 

Saturday, September 14, 2013

     The wedding was a great time with lots of carefree dancing late into the night. The reception was outside in the back yard of the bride’s family home beside the North Platte River. It was a warm evening with cooling breezes. The mood of this wedding was completely laid back. There was time to visit and have fun without any pressures.

      We were back in Friday Harbor on Tuesday evening. The weather was hot on Wednesday. It felt like July instead of September. Thursday was equally beautiful. We spent the day sailing up and down San Juan Channel with Boyd and Lovel who live on the island. They have been graciously letting us park our car at their place. We may have converted our friends into the sailing world. It couldn’t have been a more pleasant day for sailing.

      Yesterday dawned foggy so we waited until noon to leave for Port Townsend. The weather forecast was for sun and a little wind in the afternoon. Well this was one of those times when the forecasters were totally off about the weather. The skies never cleared, the sun shone for a minute or two through overcast, the wind never materialized, and we had poor visibility on and off, crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We had to cross several shipping lanes so we had the twenty year old GPS and radar systems on. Boaters are always supposed to have their radio tuned into channel 16/Coast Guard for any important updates. Yesterday they came on twice, announcing poor visibility all over Puget Sound and the Straits. That was pretty obvious to us. Just after one of those announcements someone on a small “craft” asked the coast guard for an update on any freight traffic. We found out they are happy to oblige. So Mike was on the radio checking in for any “traffic” every time we had to pass into a shipping lane. That reduced our anxiety during the moments of poor visibility. We could see Point Wilson for a long time, off in the distance, the top of it was shrouded in fog. As we came closer it got foggier and Mike announced that if it got bad he would give me steering directions while he watched the GPS and radar (down in the cabin). I truly am a luddite, because I have to say, I don’t feel comfortable being dependent only on machines for my survival. Granted, machines and humans both fail. I suppose all we can do is use both to the utmost and the rest is out of our hands. In our  situation with the visibility level fluctuating every ten minutes or so, we put our running lights/navigation lights on, Mike called the ferries to find out when a ferry would be landing in Port Townsend, and I used our high powered binoculars every time I thought I saw something in the fog.We ended up in fairly thick stuff for about thirty or forty minutes. One could still see another vessel as a dark shadow through this “damp blanket” for about a quarter mile perhaps, maybe a little more maybe a little less but the land was totally invisible. Through the fog I caught a glimpse of the towers off Point Wilson. I was on my toes, peering this way and that when the buoy just north of Point Hudson appeared. What a relief but it also meant we would be passing the ferry lane soon! After another five minutes everything changed like magic, the world became clear again, we could see Port Townsend in great detail, we could see the giant Washington ferry leaving and we could see the other one coming in. What a gift! Like Annie Lamot says, there are three kinds of prayers she uses  all of the time, “Help me, Help me!”, “Thank you, Thank you!” and “Wow!*”. 

      This morning we awoke to Mike’s cell phone ringing and a fog shrouded harbor. When he checked to see who had called at 7:30 a.m. he found a message from our friends in Friday Harbor. Apparently a sail boat was run over by a ferry yesterday and he wanted to make sure we were okay. Well, with the help of my non luddite son, Brendan, and our cell phone, we found out who, what, when, how, and where, the accident happened. There were no lives lost, negligence on both sides, sailboat and ferry.

Monday, September 16, 2013 -- Port Townsend

      These foggy days continue. Only on Saturday afternoon did it clear up and the sun came out. Yesterday Kieran arrived with Lily, Vince, Marianna, Jon Karl, and Hannah. Kieran flew into SeaTac the night before and Vince picked him up. Marianna, our neighbor in Santa Fe came out to visit her daughter and son-inlaw with her brother and his friend who are visiting from Holland. We had a wonderful afternoon of some easy sailing with moments when we lost our wind completely. After the sail we spent the remainder of the afternoon eating pasta and shellfish and drinking wine outside in the cockpit. Lots of jokes and catching up on news from New Mexico and Holland. Jon Karl is a sailor of twenty some years so we shared a lot on that level too. Then it began to rain and thunder and lightning so we went down into the cabin. Mike and Jon Karl are like two naughty little boys when they get together so everyone can imagine how raucous things got at times. Vince writes songs and plays guitar for a hobby. At one point he and Kieran disappeared for a bit. When they returned it was with musical instruments. Vince, Lily, and Kieran on the violin, played and sang their hearts out to us. That was truly the frosting on and the raisins and nuts in the cake for the whole afternoon.

      Today we are in the Port of Port Townsend Marina. It is foggy and damp. Kieran has gone into town on Mike’s bike to do some work on line for a CPR course he is taking in Seattle later at the end of the month. Mike is working on upgrading the Head (toilet).Yea! I’m off to do errands in a bit.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013       

Back in Port Townsend- Let’s see, what happened last week? We left Port Townsend on Tuesday, headed in the direction of Port Angeles on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We were moored at a dock and Kieran talked me through the maneuvering of the boat out of the marina. I was very nervous but there was no wind then, so it went smoothly enough. At the mouth of Port Townsend sound we had wind but had a difficult time getting past the current at the mouth of the sound. We just didn’t have enough strong wind to counteract the effect of the flooding current. We wanted to do it under sail but just as we’d make some head way a freighter would come along and we’d have to get out of it’s way and we’d lose ground doing so. Finally we motor sailed past the current and managed to sail a bit before our wind died down to nothing. We decided to head for Sequim Bay since it has a reputation for nice anchorage in a gorgeous setting. Getting into the bay was stressful the first time because of several shallow places one has to avoid but they were well marked once we came up on these spots. Our day had been a mixture of sun and cloud but in the evening we had lovely light, then stars and a full moon reflected on the water by the time we went to bed. 

      Wednesday morning dawned clear. I went up on the deck to find Kieran sitting reflectively in the sun. He had mentioned going for a walk on the beach the night before so I asked him if he wanted to lower the dinghy off the boat. He game so we lowered the dinghy into the water and got it set up. Then I went to wake up Mike, to see if he wanted to come along. He semi reluctantly hauled himself out of bed and off we rowed to the shore. The tide was out and there was mud before coming to a shell and rock shore. We spent an hour or so walking along the shore observing all the life left by the outgoing tide. Our field biologist son was able to fill us in about most of the creastures, most of them living in some kind of shell or partly hard like a shell. Kieran turned over an old washed up stump and there were small eel like creatures wiggling around madly, trying to hide. There were large rocks, as big as a loaf of bread and larger that had broken in half revealing a perfect circle of rock on the inside. We came upon a good fishing net that must of washed over board and a net bag full of oysters. It was all very interesting to observe with someone who knew what was what, chitons, Barnicles, mussels, clams, oysters, limpets, and something that Kieran didn’t know of, buried in the mud and shell debris that kept spitting streams of water straight into the air as we walked along. Needless to say we had a late breakfast and an even later start. We sailed out with very mild winds to the tip of Dungeness Spit and the New Dungeness light house. Then the wind disappeared. We thought about staying the night in Dungeness Bay but it isn’t very protected from winds to the south. So we motored back to Sequim Bay for the night. 

     In the evening we decided that the next day we would cross the Strait and depending on our mood, gradually make our way back to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Our car had to be brought back to Port Townsend because this is where our boat would be hauled out onto land for the winter. Kieran and I would sail the boat back to Port Townsend and meet Mike there.  

     In the morning we had to stop at a fuel dock. This was my second time driving the boat in a marina. It wasn’t much fun. I will need lots of practice before I feel comfortable “parking” a boat in a marina. However, even though I was terribly nervous, it wasn’t a big catastrophe or anything because Kieran (who is used to teaching teenagers these maneuvers) was step by baby step talking me through the docking process. Plus Mike was there to untie the lines while Kieran guided me at the helm.   

      Once passed the shallow waters that are Sequim Bay"s trademark we were welcomed with wind on our faces. Up went our sails and happily we were averaging between five and six knots an hour with the wind out of the northwest. We needed that kind of speed if we hoped to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca by early afternoon in time to take advantage of the incoming current. The day was partly cloudy but cleared up around noon. Around half way across the wind began to wane so we decided to eat lunch. As we were getting lunch makings out on the deck Mike sighted something big in the water, then there were two and they were blowing water into the air! Kieran identified them as Humpback whales. They were far enough away so we didn’t have to worry about being too close. They hung around for about a half hour and then were gone as the wind began to pick up again. It was Mike’s birthday, all morning he’d been getting phone calls from folks, then the whales! 
     The wind kept up and we crossed the strait by 2:00 or 2:30. Kieran was at the helm as we sailed through Cattle Pass on a flood tide. It was pretty cool. At one point Kieran said it felt more like river rafting as he worked on avoiding these big eddies but also kept the boat sailing. It wasn’t easy but he seemed to be comfortable doing it. Of course if we’d needed more power we could have turned on the diesel motor. There was another sail boat ahead of us motoring along without their sails. When they saw we were sailing they turned around and followed us for a while. We couldn’t figure out why they did this. Maybe they wanted to see if we had our engine on. They didn’t try to hail us on the radio either. 

     After Cattle Pass we kept sailing up San Juan Channel and decided to anchor a little northeast of Friday Harbor in the cosy and well protected Parks Bay on Shaw Island. There were only two other boats anchored there. Kieran fixed dinner and I made a cake in honor of the birthday guy! The full moon rose through some ragged clouds and I felt like autumn was just around the corner.

     The following morning with the engine idling and a gentle breeze in the bay we raised the anchor under sail. This is something Mike and I would never have attempted on our own. It went well with Kieran there filling the role of a well experienced instructor. Once we were out in the channel the wind was light but we decided to practice “man overboard” rescues under sail first and then when the wind fizzled out we did the drill with the motor. The procedures are quite different under sail from what one does using the engine. However both “man overboard” scenarios are the same for the final pick up part of the rescue; that is: the boat has to stop and drift towards the person in the water. It is essential that one doesn’t run over the person while coming close enough to lift them out of the water. I’m glad we did the drill. It is something I need to practice on a regular basis.

     By late afternoon we were in Friday Harbor for the night. We called both sets of friends. Boyd and Lovel brought our car down but couldn’t stay for dinner. Beth and her brother Joe were able to come for dinner. Kieran and I threw together a stew. We had a fun evening with them. 

     Mike decided to take one of the earlier ferries across Rosario Strait to Anacortes. At 6:00 a.m. the morning was clear but around 8:00 the fog came in for a couple of hours. Kieran and I didn’t know if we’d get out by noon or have to spend another day there. We decided to act like it would stay all day and headed for a coffee shop to check our e-mail. Finally around 10:00 it started to lift enough that we could just make out the shore on Shaw Island, across San Juan Channel. By 10:30 we were motoring down the channel. There was fog on the west side of the channel but on the east side it just kept clearing as we moved south. We came through Cattle Pass and it was clear and sunny. As if in welcome, three large seals or perhaps they were sea lions, were blowing water and frolicking in the water up ahead of us. We slowed down and watched them swim joyfully past us. Within the first half hour we were sailing. A light wind stayed with us for a couple of hours with our boat averaging 3 knots. At about 2:30 we were three quarters of the way there, the water was glassy. We turned the motor on and met Mike at the fuel dock in Port Townsend at about 4:30. We anchored beyond the breakwater of the marina by a paper factory. It has been our usual spot to anchor when not in the marina. The weather was supposed to get bad Sunday morning so the anchoring was done with that in mind. Sure enough, early the next morning the wind started to pick up. Kieran and Mike let out more rode (anchor chain or line). The wind and waves were doing gusts of 35-40 mph. The boat was rocking madly and every time a big wave hit hard the boat would jerk and creak loudly. Mike went out to the bow to check the anchor one more time. As he was bending over a big wave broke over the bow and drenched him in salt water. After a couple of hours of reading my book below decks, Kieran wanted to go out. He pointed out that it would be a lot more comfortable sailing than being yanked around in that particular anchorage. Mike was a bit worried about the old rigging holding up. Around noon some wind surfers came and were giving us a wonderful free show. They sailed in the shallows because they were always capsizing when it came time for them to turn. An hour later the wind didn’t seem quite so strong as it had been in the morning and Kieran had his way. Out came layers of clothing, rain gear, socks, rubber boots. Bringing the anchor up with Kieran lending a hand wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had envisioned it to be. Because we were squatting or kneeling most of the time while we worked, losing my balance wasn’t an issue. Also the waves weren’t breaking over the bow any more either. I found the weather very invigorating in spite of the blowing rain. Once the anchor was up and stowed the rain quit. We got under way with the mainsail on it’s second reef and the jib reefed to half its size. As we sailed down the sound  the waves and the wind decreased and we were able to let out the whole jib with the boat doing just fine. We had decided before hand to sail to the foot of the sound where there are better protected anchorages. The wind kept lessening as we sailed and the sun peeked through the clouds. By the time we were safely anchored in the late afternoon, the cloud cover was breaking up. By dinner time the sun was out long enough to give us a beautiful sunset. Later yet the stars came out and were reflected on the water. Kieran started talking about bioluminescence. I had a vague idea of its existence from using the head (toilet) in the middle of the night. The head uses salt water to flush and when the water is disturbed in any way it sparkles in the dark! Kieran took one of the paddles and started swooshing water around off the stern of the boat. It started sparkling like fairies from some fantasy story book! For Kieran, Tinkerbell always comes to mind. It was just amazing to see. Apparently if one is sailing at night the wake from the boat becomes a sparkling wonder!

     All of these wonders for someone who lives in a land locked state. For someone growing up out here on the water it must be a common phenomenon. It makes me wonder what I take for granted in New Mexico. I know some things I will never take for granted. For example; dry air, dry humidity- free bed sheets, clothes, walls, windows, floors, no mold growing in a closet, being able to see forever. Here in the northwest, unless one is on the water or close to shore, the view is often obscured by tall evergreens. I understand part of my enthusiasm for this sailing better now; lots of water with many living creatures in it and the wide open expanses on the water are like the wide open southwest. On the water I can see the sky and far into the distance. That seems to be a necessity to keeping me sane.

     Let”s see, where was I time line wise? Sunday night was a peaceful night (though the forecast had been otherwise, making the calmness of the night that more special). Monday morning arrived with sun, clouds, and light winds. We had thought we would just go into the marina and start on “work projects” for the day but we allowed ourselves to be enticed by the fresh morning and the wind.  This has been one of the treasures of this summer of sailing. If the day called us out on the water, we could forget about other plans and sail instead. When we were tired, we could rest if we wanted to. Of course one of the other jewels this summer has been learning to be patient with the weather/wind, rain, fog, and dying winds. Mike is completely familiar with this process since being a pilot of small planes demands this of you for survival; but for me it has been a challenge. There is a little kid still active inside me that gets impatient with the weather doing what it will and not what I want. I’ve had to learn to stop expecting the weather to be consistent and steady. I’ve begun to see that I can count on it changing and when it does I adjust my actions accordingly. Writing in this blog has been great for those days when sailing is not an option. 

     Well speaking of weather not cooperating, today is Saturday(a week later) and it is blowing and raining outside as we sit in our boat, listening to music, I am writing in my blog, Mike is writing up a list of electrical systems on the boat to be checked during the haul out. We are waiting for Kieran to arrive with his friend Betsy after taking a day CPR course in Seattle together. We were going to take Betsy sailing but this is not going to happen today. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as bad. Ah well, what was I saying about adjusting to the weather? We shall go to the wooden boat museum in town and maybe if the rain lets up we’ll go for a hike.

      Kieran leaves early Tuesday morning and Wednesday we take the boat over to the yard where she will be hauled out for the winter. Then begins the last phase of this magical summer now turning to fall. Things that broke this summer and didn’t need immediate attention will be attended to now. Also the twenty three year old rigging will be replaced, the mast will be taken down and inspected, we hope the bottom of the boat will  not need new paint, a new refrigerator motor will replace the old one that died way back in late July , then we hope to add some things to make the boat more efficient with it’s electicity. This involves making stands for a solar panel and also a wind generator. We will see how our funds hold up as we complete the essential projects on the boat.

       Today is Wednesday and this is our first evening “on the hard”. We watched our boat get “hauled out” today. It was pretty cool. This giant vehicle called a travel lift raises  boats out of the water and carries them to a place in a boatyard. The boats are then propped up with with these iron boat stands. We are living on the boat as we work on her. We have to climb down an eight foot ladder to get to the ground.

Thursday, October 3

     It is a new experience to be living on the boat but not on the water, no gentle rocking, no water sounds. We have electricity, we are plugged into the “grid” and we have our propane stove. No water, so we use the bathroom and a giant work sink in one of the workshops in the boatyard. Showers are taken over by the marina. We are within easy walking distance of downtown and uptown businesses, cafes,restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores,bars, boutiques, book stores, galleries, museums, and of course the open water!

     Yesterday we met with one of the main managers/electrician at the boat yard to go over work we would like them to do and work we would be doing ourselves. Because our boat is 23 years old all the different systems need to be checked. Some things will need overhauling and some things will just have to be replaced, like all of the rigging on the boat. Yesterday we took all the sails off. After drying them in the sun we “flaked” them (the way sails are folded, in an accordion manner) and put them away in their sail bags. The mainsail came off the mast and boom, the staysail and jib came off the furling mechanisms which are attached to some of the stays on the front of the boat. We did other little chores while waiting for sails to dry. We worked on taking off the running rigging from the sails (ropes for pulling in or letting out the sails in the wind), then stowing them. Mike worked on detaching a special pole used for the spinnaker sail from the mast.

      A workman named Matt came to work on the seal on the propeller shaft. It started to leak while we were still in the marina. I was off on some errand while for a few minutes Mike was afraid the boat would sink. Water was coming into the hull and the bilge pump couldn’t keep up with the inflow fast enough. But then it quit coming in so fast and someone from the boatyard came and put a clamp on the seal for safety’s sake. That was a huge relief! The next day we motored over to the haul out with no worries of sinking on our way over.

     Well it is time to post this latest blog. Until the next one I hope everyone is well.

        Tina

Back in Friday Harbor

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

     We are now back in Friday Harbor and off to the wedding of my oldest brother’s youngest son, in Casper, Wyoming. I am so looking forward to it because I am craving seeing family again. A couple of my four sisters will be in attendance, my niece who lives next door to us in New Mexico, Kiera Rose, who I haven’t seen since Christmas, will be there, as well as my two youngest children, Arianna and Kieran. I am going to savor this celebration especially because we’ve been gone for the last two and half months.  It is my nephew, Peter Lang who is marrying Whitney, a very wonderful young woman.

     On our way here we spent a couple nights in Fulford Harbor, off of Salt Spring Island. It is the first place we stayed and anchored at the beginning of our sailing this summer. It was nice to be back there again after all the many places we’ve anchored throughout the summer. There is a mountain at the head of the harbor with unique features which helped us find our way in the beginning of this adventure. Now we know it’s name, Mount Maxwell.  We went into the little town this time, looking for some rye whiskey, Alberta Springs, to take to my brother Chris at the wedding. We asked this kindly old man for directions. He told us we would have to hitch hike or take the local bus over to Ganges Harbor, fifteen minutes away by automobile. The bus was just getting ready to go so we hopped on. We drove through a countryside with little farms, orchards, sheep and cows. It was late afternoon /early evening and the light was soft and mellow with long shadows starting. I felt like weeping at the beauty of it all. This old woman flagged the bus down and climbed up into the front seat. She started chatting with the bus driver about the rain they had had, how wonderful it was to have some rain (it has been a relatively dry summer up here in the northwest this year), and even if you have drip irrigation there is no comparing the two. Rain is definitely the better, the best. I wanted to add my agreement to her statement but I felt shy and too much of an outsider to join the conversation. The bus driver let her off right next to her destination, not an “official” bus stop. It felt very homey and small town. We found the whiskey at a “government” liquor store, (this is Canada) and had time to sit at an outdoor restaurant /bar and drink a beer in the warm sun before catching the bus back to Fulford Harbor.

      The following morning dawned pristine. Mike slept in and I caught up with my journal and read. In the early afternoon we took the dinghy, our “donkey” and went to visit this little island near by, now a public monument. It was once the home of a couple, he was Anglo Canadian and she was half Hawaiian and half First Nation. Her father was one of the Hawaiians that the Hudsons Bay Company brought to Canada to work for them! Amazingly some of the Hawaiians opted to stay and homestead in the northwest! The island was a wonder. All the farm land that this woman’s father homesteaded/cleared is taken over again by Douglas Firs. He’d cleared a hunk of the island at the beginning of the twentieth century.The government keeps the home with it’s gardens and orchard clear for tourists to visit. I was in awe of all the hard physical work that people had to do in those days. Of course there are places in the world still like that today. The daughter/mother/wife had thirteen children and was renowned among the local people as being a very free spirit who was very hospitable to all and on top of that she loved to sail! She would whistle for the wind to blow! Visiting these places makes the area come so much more alive for me.

      Two days ago we were in another state park but within the U.S. We were anchored in Reid Harbor on Stuart Island. We had a wonderful five mile walk to the old light house on the point, now automated. Along the way we visited the old one room school house and the teacher’s quarters, now both a museum and library. It was so interesting! back then people made a living off the land and ocean in a very basic way. They fished, some raised geese and turkeys, others cut down forest and sold the wood to a limestone mine on another island, others cleared land to grow fodder for their cows and horses. So much hard physical work but they didn’t know any other way and I think they were happy for the most part. It must have been grueling and exhausting at times, I’m sure. Now we have so much that we just take for granted! How will it all end, I often wonder.

      Well we are off to Caspar, Wyoming now, the final leg. 

Until the next post, hope you are all well,

            Tina

Telegraph Harbor Once Again

Sunday, August 25, 2013

      We are in Telegragh Harbor once again. This time we are in a marina with a laundromat. After two weeks we’re ready  to do laundry. This has been a lovely week with half overcast skies and a couple of showers. The clouds have been threatening and have  made for interesting light on the water. Sometimes the sun would peak through the clouds but it would be silvery and cold feeling.The sun we’ve had has been more appreciated because of the clouds. On Thursday we left Pender Harbor on the mainland and crossed Malaspina Strait to Jedediah Islands Marine Park, between Lasqueti and Texada Islands. The anchorage was one of those where the water is quite deep and so to keep the anchor from being dragged into even deeper water, one ties the stern to a tree or a big rock on the land. It was a pretty place with only four other boats anchored in this little cove. We had a difficult time tying the stern line to the tree. I insisted on rowing the dinghy to shore but the boat was turned sideways to the shore and my rowing as hard as I could would not aim the stern to shore. I was about to give up and go back to our boat for the outboard motor when this nice man with a British accent and a gentle voice offered to help out by pulling on the stern line while I took the rope up to a tree. He also instructed Mike to let out some more chain to the anchor so that the boat could swing around better. He did all of this in a very easy manner without making you feel stupid and he mentioned that he had someone help him tie up his own stern line just an hour earlier. Talk about angels in disguise. This man certainly was. As I was getting the line around the tree I realized how hot I was. Once on the boat again I got into my swim suit and decided to swim to the island with my Chaco sandals on and go exploring a bit. The water isn’t cold at this time in the summer or at least it’s not numbing cold, just refreshingly cold. I’d read in one of the guide books that the island is inhabited by wild goats and there is an old homestead on the island. I never found the homestead but I did see some of the wild goats. The trees were huge by New Mexico standards and there was much moss everywhere. The ground was very uneven with moss and grass growing on big bolders. I found a sweet little cove with crystal clear water and gravel beach but there was a dinghy pulled up onto it and I was feeling shy so I didn’t stay to swim. Back on the boat I had a solar shower out on deck. I will never take showers for granted again in my life. 

      The next day we awoke to a good breeze. We were hoping to cross The Strait of Georgia but the weather had  “strong wind warnings for small craft” and we found a harbor on the other side of Lasqueti Island that would be sheltered from strong winds if we decided the wind would be more of a challenge than we were ready for. We had a good sail up the the northeastern end of Lasqueti and as we came around the northern most point of the island on the western side the wind picked up. We thought at first, it’s okay, we can do it. I went down below decks to do something and when I came back up Mike wanted to reef the mainsail. At first I thought he was over reacting but the boat was heeling way beyond the point of comfort. In the end we opted to go into False Harbor on the same side of the island. We both felt stupid because we realized afterwards what we should have done so we could reef the mainsail in a safe way, i.e. we should of let wind out of the jib or just taken it down. But hey, we are learning and no harm was done other than to our egos. So we had a relaxing afternoon in the harbor and decided to give it a try again the next day. We got an early start in the morning. We couldn’t get the weather station in the harbor so we decided to go have a look and listen to the weather outside the harbor. We motored out to find the wind strong but less than the day before. First we put up a reefed mainsail and our small staysail. The sailing was fine. We listened to the weather which said the wind would be less today in the Strait. That’s all we needed to hear. We put up all the sails and crossed the Strait on one tack. It was just great. When we came up on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island we sailed south to the bay we’d decided to anchor in on only a few tacks. As we started into the bay the wind lightened but we realized we could sail most of the way into the bay to where it would be good to anchor. I loved every minute of that morning of sailing. The truth is, I hate it when we have to motor. That means turning on the diesel engine and then the only interesting part is the navigation.

     We were anchored behind a logging business in the bay we sailed into. Directly in front of us was a nice long beach which we rowed over to and took a walk on. We tried some stone skipping, but there weren’t many flat stones. Then we rowed over to the log boom, (lots of logs all grouped together and floating on the water), to visit the many seals and their young sunning themselves on the logs. During our lunch we heard them making these almost human sounds. The sounds reminded me of a child before it learns to speak a language. It was so strange. As we neared the logs all of the seals slipped into the water. Some of them followed us while we rowed back to our boat. The sun came out here and there throughout the afternoon, always that cold silver light reflected on the water. As we sat eating our dinner outside in the cockpit of the boat the sun broke through the clouds full force. The light became golden, all the dark green somber pines on shore were transformed into warm juicy greens. What a wonder sunlight is especially after not having much all day. As we sat there just soaking in the light watching it change to orange then pink on the surrounding clouds, several Canada Geese flew low over the water honking as they went. My goodness, I hadn’t seen that since visiting the Bosque Apache a few years back. The wonderful part about sunsets on the water is that the light is reflected back to you. One sees a beautiful sunset twice. the reflection on the water varies depending on the surface of the water. If it is still and glassy, the reflection is like a mirror. If the water is the least ruffled the reflection is wonderfully distorted, like an impressionist painting or something.

     That was the highlight of this week. We are in the southern Gulf Islands, off the eastern side of Vancouver Island for the third time this summer. Every time we come back we find new places to explore. We are in Bedwell Harbor, between north and south Pender Islands. They both have national parks on them so we climbed Mount Norman on Wednesday afternoon when we arrived. It was a good, mostly uphill hike of an hour or so. The views made it all worth it. All these islands we’ve been sailing around this summer were down below us. It was great to see so many of them from above. Yesterday was a mostly cloudy overcast day with showers on and off. We took the dinghy to buy some ice at a marina and get rid of our trash. On the way back Mike saw a sailboat with solar panels and he wanted to have an up close look at how they were mounted. As we putt putted slowly over to the boat we realized people were on board. So we started chatting with this couple from our dinghy about their solar panels and the next thing we knew they had invited us up onto there boat for beer and nachos! They turned out to be a very friendly couple from Victoria. They were a bit younger than Mike and I with a teen ager about to start college and one already in college. We had a good time talking about sailing, children, health care in the States and in Canada. Everything is more expensive in Canada but hey, you have to pay for the health care some way or other, right?. They were very into sailing the northern parts of the inside passage and beyond. This is where we hope to go next summer so we were all ears to hear about it. There are more “rapids” to be passed through up north during slack water. For boats this size, 20-40 feet it’s a big a deal. If you try to go through these narrow passages when it’s not slack water your doomed. Yes more adventures ahead for us next year.