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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