Archive for category sailing
Blake Island Trip
One of the better weekends I’ve had in a long time.
I was going to sail out to Blake Island solo with a few other boats from PSSG but, just as we left, I totally lucked out and got Gina as crew.
So – we spent all day sailing in light to moderate wind out to Blake Island both learning more about how to sail this boat. She raced dinghies at Stanford so, she definitely knows how to sail, but, neither of us have any cutter experience.
Anchoring at Blake was sketchy at best. We had to tie up between two pilings right next to a huge rock wall break water. Thankfully a Boston Whaler came to our rescue.
We skipped the salmon dinner shenanigans at Tillicum Village but instead had dinner on the boat and then invited a bunch of people over for a small party. Sunset was spectacular.
We hiked around the island the next morning and were very stubborn and sailed back in very light winds (we might have been doing 1 knot) until the winds picked up closer to Shilshole when the temperature dropped from high 80’s to 50’s in a matter of minutes… Gina gave up on layers and just crawled into her bag…
More pics here.
30 mile/7 hour sail
Posted by admin in Puget Sound, sailing on June 16th, 2008
Perfect day on the sound yesterday. Going no where in particular I just sailed around the sound until 11pm. 10-15 from the N made for the best sailing I’ve seen out here yet. Both beautiful, warm and windy – can’t beat that. Almost got the rail in the water, experimented with the still mysterious-to-me stay-sail and learned a few more things about sail trim with the traveler.
Not sure what the blue/red lines are – artifacts from GPS-Dump
Shilshole with Mt. Rainier in the background
Shipping traffic was light… just one container ship and three cruise ships.
Flying T’s pirate flag
Evening sail
Posted by admin in Puget Sound, Shilshole, sailing on June 12th, 2008
Despite light winds I went out last night. It’s a good excuse to keep the boat ship-shape and, drifting around the sound is better then sitting at dock. I still suck at docking but it went pretty smoothly. I just tacked out to the green can off Discovery Park and came back down wind… out for around 4 hours with about an hour of that under motor (takes a while to get in/out of the marina).
I think this is a portable fish processing plant. They started to tow it up the sound later in the evening.
Tacking up wind in a very light 8-10. I’m still very impressed with how well the Westsail does in very light air. Yes – I’m really lazy and just leave the bumpers on deck when it’s light out.
When the autohelm can no longer maintain a course it’s usually a good sign that there isn’t enough wind. It was so light out that I took down the sails while on a broad-reach.
Sailing with Kat
It went up to 80 here (Seattle) yesterday so we went sailing. It was really calm (it’s almost never windy and nice out here) but the Westsail (aka Wetsnail) seemed to do pretty well heading for Bainbridge Island, keeping up with the rest of the boats (except the race crowd). The wind then completely died so we headed back to the marina. Docking lessons helped, it went very smoothly. More shots in the Westsail 28 set on Flickr.
We saw the schooner again… it even docked at our marina.
Friday Harbor to Seattle: Day 3
Posted by admin in Elliot Bay Marina, Port Ludlow, Puget Sound, around Seattle, map, sailing on November 26th, 2007
Another very cold (and moderately windy) night, but no complaints. Didn’t drag the rest of the night after resetting. Woke up to some cool evaporation fog (very low to the ground wispy fog) and more ice on deck. Made some coffee, entered some way points, hauled up the anchor (must get windless) and was off, covered in stinky mud, pre-dawn, and headed for Seattle.
Morning in Port Ludlow
Leaving Port Ludlow was a breeze since I hooked up my laptop below decks with my hand held and had real time plotting on the charts… should have done this before.
Laptop setup below decks, held in with a bungee
Colvos Rocks at the entrance to Port Ludlow… icy decks
Very uneventful trip down to Edmonds.
Edmonds Ferry and the ever present glare of sailing south in the winter
After Edmonds I tried cutting in front of a container ship, who, apparently didn’t think I was going to make it and gave me four blasts (collision warning), which had me doing a 180 by the second horn. Ooops…
A few hours later I was coming into Seattle. I was pretty exhausted and really nervous about docking (I’ve always been on moorings, anchors or T-slips [or wasn't the one docking]). I spent some time practicing maneuvers out in the harbor (outside Elliot Bay Marina) but it didn’t help. Even with some help from Elliot Bay docking was an ordeal, not helped by the jack ass motor boaters who were hauling around like this was a mall parking lot.
After 3 days, Seattle comes into view.
I’ve since read about tricks for maneuvering single screw trawlers in tight quarters and will have to practice that next time. Got in around 2, tidied up, caught a cab to King County Airport, drove home, ordered pizza and didn’t get out of bed until 2pm the next day… guess I over did it. But, for a first trip on this boat, it couldn’t have gone better.
36.9 miles in 7:20 for an average speed of 5.0mpg
Friday Harbor to Seattle: Day 2
Posted by admin in Port Ludlow, Puget Sound, San Juans, map, sailing on November 22nd, 2007
I brought my -20F sleeping bag, so sleeping wasn’t too bad. I didn’t even light the heater. Temps got down to 20F and Thanksgiving morning had me up at 3am with very icy decks. Even given that, I still slept better than I have for years, sleeping on boats can’t be beat (even though I woke up every couple of hours to check the anchor).
Spent the pre-dawn hours figuring out how to use the boat’s GPS. Entered a bunch of way points and obsessively plotted the course for that day.
Hauling up the anchor was brutal. I used to have a bigger anchor with more chain and I don’t recall it being so hard (but I was 10 years younger… is getting old really this bad?). Windless is on the short list. It was ridiculously cold, ice everywhere but the engine started right up and I was under way as the sun crept up.
Leaving Aleck Bay, Lopez Island in early dawn
It was a gorgeous morning and it warmed up after the sun came up. Visibility was basically unlimited, you could see from Baker to Rainier, the entire Olympic range. Dead calm… spectacular motor through the Strait of Juan de Fuca (which can get very rough).
Fishing boat entering the strait with Baker in the background
I headed west of Smith Island and hit it at slack at the recommendations of some Cruiser forum members. Maybe 2 foot seas north off Smith Island but nothing really, it was perfect conditions (for motoring).
I was ahead of schedule and figured I could make Ludlow since I was hitting max flood through Admiralty Inlet (main entrance to the south Sound).
Hit 7.2mph going with the tide and made Port Ludlow in good time. One really annoying thing about sailing south in the winter is that the sun never fully rises, which means you’re sailing into constant glare. This made entering Port Ludlow kind of tricky, since I couldn’t see a f’ing thing, but, made it with no problems. Even got some sailing in… more perfect broad reach action.
Port Ludlow
Anchoring in Port Ludlow is deep. I anchored in 45 feet and dragged the first time. After dark I had to haul the anchor in and reset, which was a pain in the ass but not a big deal. It held the rest of the night.
All in all, not a bad second day. You couldn’t ask for better weather in November around here.
41.7 miles in 7:03 with an average speed of 5.9mpg, motoring most of the way
Friday Harbor to Seattle: Day 1
Posted by admin in Puget Sound, San Juans, map, sailing on November 21st, 2007
I was a nervous wreck about sailing from Friday Harbor to Seattle. I hadn’t been on a boat in years. I’ve only sailed these waters once, with Frank during a sail from Seattle to San Francisco close to 15 years ago. This boat was a completely unknown to me. It was going to be very cold (below freezing at nights) and not much wind which meant the motor had to be 100%. I was unfamiliar with all the electronics, and have never sailed a cutter rig before. Didn’t get much sleep before my 7:30am flight to Friday.
Flying by Griffin Bay, San Juan Island, with Cattle pass separating San Juan and Lopez
For $100 everyone should take this flight. It was gorgeous and it’s always fun flying in small planes. No security, not TSA bullshit, just an air bus, exactly what it should be.
Final approach into San Juan airport
It’s an easy 1 mile walk, down hill to Friday Harbor from the airport. Skip (owner for Friday Harbor Yachts) was no where to be seen and the boat was still locked. Lack of sleep and the 28 degree temperatures had me leaving pretty rude voice mails on Skips phone. He eventually showed up and called David (the previous owner) who wanted to come over and show me some things.
Dave went over some very helpful procedures (like starting a cold diesel engine, lighting the stove, etc.). and then left, upset over selling his boat (the best days of your life are supposed to be buying and then selling your boat). He’s got another boat already though.
After picking up some supplies, taking off the sail covers, going over the rigging and letting the engine warm up I shoved off from Friday Harbor around 12:00pm to head through Cattle Pass and to anchor (on Dave’s recommendation) in Aleck Bay on Lopez Island.
I figured I could eye ball this (stupid) since it was a pretty straight forward trip and I hadn’t had time to read the docs on the GPS, radar, etc. I had a hand held GPS I use for hiking which has some very basic maps… I figure that and charts would be good enough.
Heading out of Friday Harbor, Baker in the background, perfect weather
Navigation is pretty tricky in San Juans. Unlike the meticulously marked East Coast many submerged rocks are simply noted on the charts, no cans for warning. The currents are constantly making making your compass heading relatively irrelevant. And, they’re all just green, tree covered islands. I made it through Cattle Pass on time (currents run beyond hull speed here so it was important I hit it at slack or at least during ebb coming from Friday).
Ferry heading through Cattle Pass
After Cattle Pass I was in the Strait of Juan De Fuca and, since the wind was on a broad reach and blowing about 10-15 I decided to try out the sails. I’m still not sure what to do with the stay-sail when sailing down wind (it just seems like it’s in the way) but, the boat seemed to sail really well in 10-15 (a relief given the wetsnails reputation). Since night was approaching and I didn’t want to try to get into Aleck Bay in the dark I didn’t sail for long though.
Fisheye shot while sailing
Getting into Aleck Bay was (as Dave had warned) confusing. You have to get between a bunch of unmarked, submerged rocks. It wasn’t too bad and I was dropping the hook as the sun set. Not bad for the first day.
On anchor in Aleck Bay, Lopez Island
18.4 miles in 4:06 for an average speed of 5.9mph, mostly motoring