Introduction

Here's a report on my recent trip to the San Juans. [ It came into being when I discovered my aunt and uncle were going to visit Seattle the same time I was able to take some time off. They were looking for something unusual to do and I volunteered to take them sailing. That suggestion turned into a week of cruising for me. ] Although I'm getting better at logging things as they happen, it's still clear I've got a long ways to go. My rough log consisted of 3" X 5" Post-It notes, one page per day, that held the times and locations shown below at the left margin. The rest of this report is a reconstruction entered the week after my return.

One thing I resolve to do with more rigor is to plot my position on a regular basis. I did so on the last day because I wanted to better predict my ETA, compute gasoline consumption, and know where to go if the weather closed in. In addition to failing to note position and course, my rough log failed to note menus, persons on board, etc. Someday I'll get my act together.

[ Our cruising was in an Ericson 25+. We're members of the Seattle Sailing Club, which offers unlimited daysailing for the monthly fee and reduced rates for longer charters. Of the boats in stock, this seemed best prepared for cruising. ]

This week of sailing was proceeded by a month or more of preparations. Although Cindy and I don't yet have a sailboat, we've got an ever-growing list of accessories. Recent acquisitions include a Life Sling, a portable VHF radio, a seriously oversized Bruce anchor, and a tender.

[ I wrote this for some friends of mine who are unfamiliar with sailing, thus I've interjected these descriptions for their sake. ] The Life Sling is a man-over-board rescue device developed especially to bring the MOB on board. Instead of throwing a free floating ring and bouyed pole, the Life Sling is a floating harness on a _long_ floating line that is attached to the boat. The boat circles the MOB and once the line is in contact with the MOB, the boat is stopped and the line hauled in (with a pause to allow the MOB to get in the harness/sling). Once the MOB is brought alongside the boat, hoisting tackle is used to bring the MOB on board.

I've been tracking comments in rec.boats about handheld radios and the Icom IC-M11 got very favorable ratings. I spotted a factory reconditioned unit at a local chandlery for a little over half price. Since then I've added a spare battery back and will get an adapter for the boat's battery.

Someone advertised an anchor in rec.boats. Although it was larger than I would have ever considered in a store, the price was right. I've since discovered I could sell it used for almost double what I paid. I made up for this savings by buying shackles, chain, and rode (anchor line). Sigh. (Although I didn't use it on the trip (it's _quite_ heavy, so you've got to need it to use it), it was comforting to have ready to put overboard if the first anchor failed.)

I was persuaded that the advantages of having a larger than normal (8') dinghy outweighed the disadvantages. On the down side: one can't carry it on the deck or on stern davits, it takes up space in the mooring, it looks dumb, and it doesn't easily fit on top of our Subaru Justy. On the plus side: there's plenty of room for people and goods, it rides well in heavy weather, and it can carry a good sized engine. Thus we ended up with a 14' aluminum open cockpit fishing boat. (We borrowed a 25 hp engine for the trip, 5 to 10 hp would have been sufficient, but one takes what is available.)

Although the dinghy proved invaluable during the trip, it consumed a great deal of my time getting it ready. First, I had to scramble a bit to find storage for the dinghy. Since it has no trailer, it's got to be near the water. The club said I could bring it to their moorage Thursday, but that was not early enough. Fortunately I found a place just this side of the locks that had dry storage near the docks. The previous owner delivered the dinghy to the storage marina on Wednesday. Second, I had to pick up the engine and get it ready. Since it hadn't been used for several years, the gas tank leaked, it held really grody gas, and the gas line had no more flex.

3Jun1993, Thursday

I spent the morning discarding the gas, getting a new tank, getting gas, and getting oars. Finally, I got everthing together: put boat in the water at the guest dock, got the oars mounted, and put the engine on the boat. I spent the rest of the morning carrying stuff to the boat and running other errands. My uncle and aunt (Roger & Diana Bentson) arrived just after noon. I picked them up at the airport and after we unloaded their luggage, we ran to the market to pick up provisions. We dumped the canned goods in the boat and brought the perishables back to the apartment to be refrigerated. I gave my last lecture of the school term that evening--this was one of the factors that set my schedule. I was now free for the week.

4Jun1993, Friday

0700 depart storage marina in dinghy, passed through Ballard locks, and motored to the boat.

By the time Roger and I got to the boat, Cindy and Diana arrived with provisions from the apartment. We stuffed everything aboard and got gas for the boat. (There was only one tank, and it was empty. Another problem was that the radio hadn't been installed. I later discovered Lars had been out of the office the previous day and hadn't prepared the boat as he had intended.)

1010 depart Shilshole Marina

Cindy waved goodby from the fishing dock at the north end of the marina. This is it! We're on our way!

1030 under sail N of Meadow Point

1200 abeam Point Wells, start engine

The weather was clearly against us this trip. Two days before there were 10-15 kt winds from the South. By Friday morning they were shifting through the West to the North. Oh well. We did get a bit of sailing in.

1300 between Point No Point-Edwards, stop engine & hoist sail

1433 bouy G "1"

I got a few real long tacks, during which I played with some self-steering schemes. I found that centering the tiller with two elastic lines was sufficient to hold a steady course. A book I read described using sheet tension to pull the tiller to windward. My attempts to do so weren't as successful, so I had to re-adjust the lines when the wind got stronger or weaker. Continuing investigation is warranted.

1630 N of Point No Point on line with Seattle; E of Foulweather Bluff

1740 abeam Foulweather Bluff R "2", dropped sails & start engine

We stopped and started the engine several times. The wind was seriously "variable".

1909 Oak Bay RN "2" drop sails & start engine

Once we started motoring, the boat was level enough to start cooking dinner. I lit off the alcohol stove and got the stew started. That's when thing started to go amiss. As best as I can figure, the burner cup fed too much fuel to the outer bowl, and continued to do so even while the burner was running. Eventually the bowl lit off. Normally flame in the bowl is no problem, the flame gets a bit high for a while, then it settles down to just the burner. This time the bowl kept filling and I didn't realize anything was amiss until I spotted flames in the cupboard below the stove. The bowl was dripping fuel into the cupboard, which then ignited. Although alcohol is difficult to work with, it does have one advantage--alcohol fires can be extinguished with water. While Roger was taking us through the Port Townsend canal, Diana and I were spashing water all over the cupboard. I finally thought I had taken care of it, but I then discovered there was a flame at the underside of the bowl. Finally I got all the fires put out. I switched to the other burner and continued cooking. [ Roger later admitted to losing sight of one of the markers because he was distracted by the activities below. Fortunately he held his course and the marker showed up right next to the boat. Diana was outstanding by her calm. ]

2100 arrive Port Townsend, tie up at the public marina

As we approached, we saw a small "tall ship" a half mile off to the East. We headed that way a bit before realizing it was heading away fast enough that we wouldn't easily approach it. Nonetheless, Diana got to see a "tall ship" under sail. (I have to confess, the Lady Washington is only a two masted brig, but she's pretty enough.) I had planned on anchoring, and we actually put the hook in the water, but when I discovered the boat's anchor light didn't work, saw an adjacent boat had a light, and remembered there was a Coast Guard station just inside the marina. I thought it best to go inside the breakwater and moor at the marina

5Jun1993, Saturday

0900 depart marina, power to East marina

Roger wanted to take a few photographs in town. [ I don't ever remember him without a camera. ] Diana and I took the boat out while Roger walked East through town. We arranged a rendezvous at the other marina at the other end of town. We motored on, and as a consequence got a chance to see the Lady Washington where she was tied up. There was a wooden boat regatta out of the other marina, so there was no space at the docks. Fortunately we were able to raft next to another boat for the few minutes it took Roger to rejoin us.

0945 depart East marina

0950 stop engine, under sail

1115 pass bouy G "3" at Partridge Bank, becalmed

Here we are, in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, where it seems "small craft warnings" are replaced only by "gale warnings", and we're sitting still. We could have baked a souffle, if we had eggs and an oven.

1221 pass bouy G "1" at Partridge Bank, start engine

1324 abeam Smith Island

1430 midway to Lopez Island, sailed for 20-30

minutes, then back to engine I failed to note the time as we passed Iceburg Point. It is interesting to note that we were cruising a dog path, not a duck path. (Dogs swimming across a stream will head for the target, and as a consequence their course drifts downstream. They then have to swim into the current. Ducks know to start heading upstream at the start and their course is straight across the water.) We had to crank on a little throttle to get past the point because the flood tide was running a knot or so to the East.

1638 past Deadman Island - Goose Island

We were pushed around by serious tidal rip, real whirlpools and all! We discussed switching gas tanks as we had been under power for some time. Just then the engine stopped. I hopped into the dinghy to get the other tank. As I was about to start the engine, I looked down and saw a huge clump of kelp around the prop. Closer investigation exposed a rope wound around the prop. (It had been bouyed up by the kelp.) It was a trivial task to remove the rope from my perch in the dinghy. If I had had to do this from the sailboat, it would have been _most_ difficult!

1715 hoist sail, stop engine

1815 enter Fisherman Bay

We decided that anchoring here without a light would be safe enough. We sounded the bottom and found a nice spot. The lead gave a sharp "thump" as it hit bottom--hard clay. Roger and I took the dinghy to the marina to gas-up, call home, and pick up some bread and matches. Roger got a small container of ice cream for dessert. [ One of the advantages of having a compulsive photographer in your group is the record of the trip. Roger stood on the foredeck and took a series of pictures that offer a panoramic view of the bay. It's a large bay, so there may even be moorage at the height of the season. At the time we went, there was a sense of isolation because we could anchor far away from other boats. It's not well protected from the wind (from the SW?) but there's no worry about wave action. The two marinas and the chandelry are conveniently located. ]

6Jun1993, Sunday

0838 depart Fisherman Bay under sail

1020 abeam TG "3" ESE of Friday Harbor

1126 abeam SG "1" ESE of Friday Harbor

We got a nice sail across San Juan Channel/Upright Channel. Ten knot winds carried us at a nice steady pace. Shortly before entering the harbor, we had our "crisis of the day." Several times that day I had trailed a 2 litre bottle of Coke in the water to cool it. This time the knot slipped and the bottle drifted free. We treated it as a manoevering exercise: coming about, shifting to the dinghy, retrieving the bottle, and returning on course. The boat that had been following us must have thought us crazy.

1145 start engine

Roger has a good feel for the wind and we might have been able to sail into the harbor, but I wasn't ready to chance running aground. Therefore we took the cowardly path. Joshua Slocum would have been ashamed of us.

1227 arrive Friday Harbor

I finally got to use the transmit button. I called the harbormaster to determine where we could tie-up. After some shopping, we picked up some sandwiches at a deli and returned to the boat. On our way out, we pumped out the holding tank. Since the pump was at the slip closest to shore, we left the dinghy tied up on the back side of the Customs dock.

1555 depart Friday Harbor under sail

On our way out, there was a 40+' ketch trying to tie up at the Customs dock. As the wind was offshore, it was a bit difficult for the skipper who was single handling the boat. On his second pass, I took the amidship dock line and helped him tie up. We discussed travels...he had been sailing the Canadian Gulf Islands and reported lots of stuff in the water to the North of us. We asked him where he was from and he replied "I was living in Seattle when I retired, this (the boat) is now my home." Nice attitude! We got a good beat from Friday Harbor to Wasp Passage on the North side of Shaw Island. Then things slowed down. Compounding the problem was a tidal flow against us. Still we sailed on. Our progress was slowed to somewhere between crawling and backward. Still, we had time to gawk at some of the huge houses along the channel. It recalled the sport fishing boat we saw the day before...about a dozen guys, standing side by side (or was it cheek to cheek?), "flogging the water with their sticks" as Roger described it. We could only now imagine folks in these houses laughing at us struggling along.

1815 start engine, drop sail

1910 arrive Blind Bay

Again we decided to anchor out. We were told by folks on a nearby boat that there was a good bottom at 15 to 20 feet. After setting the anchor, I laid out rode and the Bruce anchor in case our first anchor failed. [ I had expected rocky bottoms, but here again the bottom was firm mud. Perphaps this is different where the bottom gets more current. ]

7Jun1993, Monday

1030 depart Blind Bay under engine

1240 arrive Westsound marina

We still had to arrange our rendezvous with Cindy and [ our daughter ] Karin. Luckily I got Cindy on the phone just as she was about to leave her office. She was going to pick up Karin at the mall and drive to Anacortes. From there they would take the ferry to the Orcas Island ferry landing and van to Rosario. We were to head there as well and whoever arrived first would register.

1415 depart Westsound Marina under sail

[ I checked on spark plugs for the dinghy's engine -- no luck. ]

1530 arrive Blind Island for picnic

There are mooring bouys established by the state parks system. We decided to tie up there and take the dinghy ashore. Our approach to the bouys was to be our "crisis of the day." If we had motored slowly into the slight current, it would have been much easier to pick up the buoy. As it was, we tried to sail up to the bouy. I don't know if it was a wind shift, or inattention to helm, but we suddenly shifted away from the bouy and towards another boat that was moored nearby. Since we missed by over two boat lengths, I suppose this wasn't an utter failure. Our second attempt succeeded. We (mostly Roger) rowed us ashore. There was a slight breeze astern of us, so the effort wasn't that great. Getting back to the boat will involve a bit more effort. The Island is a great place for a picnic. There are several tables on small flat areas, and a great view of the ferrys passing by. Our return again demonstrated that although the dinghy's engine has been starting quite easily, the plugs are clearly fouled--the engine never gets to full speed, even under full throttle, but will spurt for a second or two every few minutes.

1635 depart Blind Island under sail

1845 arrive Rosario

The winds here are a bit squirrely--the 1000 to 2000+ foot high hills sticking up out of the water likely has something to do with it. Still, the wind was mostly favorable on this leg of our journey. We cheated a bit during our approach...we idled our engine with the sails up. Upon arrival we found the fuel dock/marina office was unoccupied so we used the phone to call up to the front desk. We were told to take any available slip. On our way in, a fellow hailed us and said we were to take slip 11--which we did. We walked up to the main building and registered for a room and the slip. Cindy and Karin had not yet arrived, so we went to the room to wait. They arrived shortly thereafter. We took full advantage of the facilities: dining room, pool, hot tub, and hot showers! [ Cindy and I elected to stay on board, Roger and Diana had to put up with Karin. :-) ]

8Jun1993, Tuesday

The check-out time for the room was 11, and for the slip was 12. Needless to say, we took our time leaving in the morning.

1210 depart Rosario under sail

1444 pass bouy RG "BS"

1550 Shoal Bay, hove to for lunch

Our cruising goals were rather modest, so we made our way in comfort. There was a relatively steady light (1 kt) breeze, so were able to keep the sail up and gently move along while having a nice lunch. [ It wasn't clear what was going on here -- there appeared to be some construction at the water line, but we couldn't figure out what it was. ]

1630 depart Shoal Bay under sail

1745 arrive Blind Island bouys

[ We kept coming back to this spot. Given the time of year, it was uncrowded and central to lots of other places. Summertime may be different. ] We discovered that, unlike state park system docks, mooring bouys are free. This time we approached our bouy under power. This was my second use of my "Swiftie" sold by "Happy Hooker." This is a double hinged device that lets one pass a line through a ring with a simple "push, then pull" action. This time I discovered it works better if (1) the ring is rigid, not free hanging, and (2) the line is kept under slight tension. My first pass missed, but the second attempt worked. (This whole trip has been a learning experience full of practice for me.) Roger, Karin, and I took the dinghy across the channel (3/4 mile) to the Orcas Island ferry landing. We picked up some more bottled water, and Roger got tickets for the next day's travel. He was surprised to be told that "there was no room if he didn't have a reservation." It was then resolved that the clerk assumed he had a car. There was plenty of room for walk-on passengers. I had been a little worried about the boat sleeping five persons, but it was sufficient for the one evening. I did discover that with a boat this size, everyone gets to turn-in at the same time.

9Jun1993, Wednesday

Sometime after 0730 we headed across to the ferry landing to drop off Roger and Diana who were headed onward to Sidney and Victoria, and Cindy who was returning to Anacortes. We also topped off our fuel tank.

0900 depart Orcas ferry landing under engine

0920 hoist sail

The wind was stiffening, so I started off under a double reef on the main. We also put up the 125% jib. I wish we had had a 90% that day.

1040 middle Rosario Strait

By this time we knew we were getting into serious sailing. We were heeling enough that our leeway was almost as much as our forward progress. About this time Cindy passed us on the ferry. She saw our boat, recognized the dinghy, but "didn't know the boat was blue." (Hint: it is on the bottom!) Earlier, Roger, Diana, and I had heeled a little more than 40 degrees. This time we pegged the inclinometer at 60 degrees! This was the time of my dumbest act of seamanship. We had been crossing towards Blakely Island with a fishing boat in the distance. As we approached the boat, it wasn't clear if we would pass to windward (astern of her) or to leeward (ahead of her). Given the ambiguity, I should have fallen off and cleared well ahead, or tacked away much sooner. Instead, I waited until the last minute and came much too close. (Another lesson learned!) [ It's also worth noting that with the heeling in this wind, the rudder didn't have as much effect. We had trouble turning either up or down wind until we let off the jib sheet. ]

1140 bouy RG "BS"

1240 Flower Island

1330 bouy TR "8" at Decatur Island, start engine

We worked ourself to a point a bit upwind of our mark, so we were able to reach smoothly to this mark. By this time the wind was moderating, and being on the lee of the island (which rises to over 500 feet), we decided to take it easy and motor a bit. Over the past four hours we had made 7 nautical miles to the good. Although I didn't record all the tacks, my recollection/recreation shows our track covered a bit over 12 nautical miles. That's more than it seemed, my impression at the time was that we were often moving a half knot to leeward while were made hardly any forward progress at all. Cindy read the first draft of this and said it wasn't nearly as dramatic on paper as it appeared to her. It wasn't really that grueling. The reach was too short for any waves to build, and the channels weren't wide enough to let in any swell. So although the boat was heeled quite a bit, there were few sharp motions... even the tacks were gentle. (I found that our forward speed was sometimes insufficient to drive us through the eye of the wind on a tack. If we came about just as the wind moderated worked, tacking worked quite well. I think we were converting some of the righting motion into a yawing motion that helped in the turn.) [ I've since crewed in a bunch of sailboat races. I've found that with flatter sails, on can make better progress in strong winds. Our sails for this trip were cut much fuller and were thus unable to be sheeted flat enough. ]

1400 clear Decatur Island

By this time the wind had moderated, so we kept on the engine. Crossing Rosario Strait to Fidalgo Head, we saw the largest swells of the trip. These were compounded by the wake of a barge so that there were breaking waves rolling by us. The dinghy line was jerking a bit, so I rigged the painter on the cleat so I could let it play out under strain and pulled it back when slack.

1600 arrive Skyline Marina

This was moderatly amusing. We hoped to "borrow" the slip that the club has had up there. Unfortunately it had been sub-let. The marina was quite full, so the staff had trouble finding us a slip. The first time they sent us to a part slip that was nearly filled with another boat. When I went back to the office, I met a couple that suggested we "borrow" a condominium slip next to theirs that had been unoccupied for some time. Although the office was marked "closed", I found someone within. After a bit, we were assigned, guess what, the slip next to the helpful couple. Actually, before we went to our first slip assignment, we went to the gas dock to top off the tanks and empty the holding tank. This was non-trivial because the severe heeling caused the head to leak onto the sole and into the bilge. I was a bit put off by the $5 fee changed for pump-out (Friday Harbor only charged a quarter), but we got our money's worth. After the tank was emptied, we brought the suction hose, the water hose, and a broom into the cabin. While the suction emptied the bilge, we ran fresh water all over below decks. After we squirted and scrubbed and sprayed deoderizer for nearly a half hour, things were much improved.

10Jun1993, Thursday

0700 depart Skyline marina

As I mentioned in the intro, I did a bit more plotting of our course on this leg. Beyond that, this leg was amazingly boring. We just motored along. My plots showed we were making 3-4 knots. Although the tides moved against us for much of the time, they were clearly in our favor at the end. We also cranked on a bit more throttle at the end, since by then we were confident there was enough gas to finish the trip.

0815 cross Biz Point - Allen Island

0915 pass Lawson Reef

1100 4 nm North of Point Partridge

1200 pass Point Partridge

1400 switch gas tanks

1418 1 3/4 nm N of Point Wilson, WNW of Admiralty Head

1500 E of Point Wilson

1551 E of Marrowstone Point

There was a slight wind from the North during the last hours, so we hoisted sail to aid our engine. It may have helped, there certainly was enough air to keep them full. We shut down the engine a few times (but I failed to log when), but usually restarted it within a half hour.

1711 pass channel bouy "SC"

As we approached Double Bluff I saw rain ahead. Even with the wind behind us, the rain line (not really a squall line) moved to the North to meet us. I took bearings on Double Bluff in case our visibility dropped, but we always could see 200+ yards.

1823 pass Double Bluff

1915 pass channel bouy "SE"

The last two hours were a bit worrysome. If we hadn't been low on fuel and anxious to get home, we would have skirted the shore. As it was, the most direct route was down the separation lane, with North-bound traffic on our port, and South-bound traffic on our starboard. Before 2100, there was enough light that I had few worries. After then, even with lights, I was concerned about visibility. I was trying to monitor the Vessel Traffic Services as well as channel 16, but the radio's battery packs were giving out. I'd switch them on when a ship got close, and switch it off as it passed. (I've since bought a device with which I can charge the packs from the boat's batteries.) Fortunately we were able to cross the North-bound lane and head for Shilshole before it got too dark.

2145 pass channel bouy "SF"

2230 arrive Shilshole Marina

When we arrived, I tied off the boat and dinghy while Karin called Cindy. We stuffed the jib in the cabin without folding, and each grabbed a couple of bags of stuff.

11Jun1993, Friday

I gave Cindy a lift to work and returned to get Karin. We returned to the boat to finish unloading. We folded and put away the genoa. We then gathered the rest of our stuff and returned the key to the club. I took a few minutes to chide Lars about the number of things that were wrong with boat. As with preparation, we had to spend time (over two hours) taking care of the dinghy. The engine was still misbehaving, so we checked the gas dock for spark plugs. Since they didn't have any, we tried the chandlery at the marina building. Since they had none, we drove in to Ballard to a power-boat store. New plugs made a great difference! In an instant the dingy goes up on a plane. Unfortunately we had to throttle back to enter the locks. (The last crisis--I was fiddling with the throttle as we passed under the railroad bridge. It died and took a moment to restart. During this, we drifted backward, but never touched anything.) It took a while for the locks to cycle. We rafted up to a diving boat and waited for them to "flush the locks" for about 5 minutes. This was the first I had ever seen this done. When we got to the other marina, Karin and I had to pull the boat up to the storage area. We then had to walk back about a 1/2 mile and across the locks to the bus to the marina.