DAY FIVE—Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

Not all days arrive bright & sunny in the San Juans. Turning out at 0630 this morning I discovered that the world had disappeared to be replaced by a fog shrouded horizon. What to do? How about giving thanks that it didn’t happen yesterday when I had to exit Deception Pass and cross Rosario Straits? I learned from others that the fog had indeed settled in yesterday, such that they took refuge at anchor before entering the small island network that guards the eastern flank of Lopez Island.

 

What springs to mind for this morning is “boat chores”. The fog gives me the opportunity to swap out my new sink drain for the scarred plastic that I have lived with for eight years.

Five crab pot sets over twelve hours yesterday have provided crab that can be cleaned & cooked and if I get really ambitious, even cracked.  Three of them are over 7” and the other two are 6-1/2”—that’s a lot of crab.  Crabbing days this year are Thursdays through Mondays until Labor Day, September 3^rd.  My Summer Catch Record from the WDFW (Wa State Dept of Fish & Wildlife) has 20 lines.  My is full with 20 days of crabbing producing 91 crab.  While I don’t know what is legal until I can get to King’s sporting goods department in Friday Harbor (I don’t feel motivated enough to bother going to the WDFW website and poking around for the info.), I have created a replica spreadsheet that now records yesterday’s 5. 

Late morning John & Vickie leave for Skyline Marina in Anacortes to overnight, provision and pick-up crew before going to Sucia.  Dave and crew leave for Rosario about 1400 as I am half way through my galley sink repair.  I decide that I can finish my work and reinstall the cabinetry at my next anchorage. 

The tough question is, where am I going?  I lay out my Washburne’s Tables and mark the corresponding charts in the Current Atlas for the afternoon.  While I want to follow Gail & Mike along with Kari, Connie & Mona to Fisherman’s Bay, I will not buck the afternoon flood in Upright Channel.  That trip should have been made in the foggy morning.  I guess I’ll follow Severance to Rosario.  Instead, the westerly current of Harney Channel beckons me to Deer Harbor.

At 1420 I start the engine and slip the mooring line. I unfurl the genoa to sail north around Lopez Head. I will perform a battery charge for one hour with the engine turning over at 1500 RPM, but the gearshift in neutral. Just as I am leaving Gail from Defiant hails me on the VHF. Defiantand Quack! Quack! have altered float plans. They are heading to Friday Harborto rent mopeds to go look for whales on the SW side of San Juan Islandnear Lime Kiln. I may see them at Deer Harbor, but I suspect they will end up in ParksBay on Shaw Island.

As I am making my spinnaker ready, I see Defiant in the cut by FrostIsland. When they pull along side we exchange our intentions. They motor on toward Upright Channel as I prepare to hoist my spinnaker.

In a perfect world one should be able to sail from mooring ball to new anchorage.Wait a moment, that is exactly what I did!Making 3.8 to 4.3 kts west in Harney Channel I sail into Deer Harbor, through the anchorage to the west side and drop anchor in 35’ of water.You could make a movie of my anchoring.The only problem would be that you would have to resurrect Groucho Marx to play the lead—and it would be a farce.It was not pretty.Blasting through the harbor at 3.1 kts on a beam reach, I come up to wind to stall Whisper and run to the foredeck to drop Whisper’s Delta anchor and 30’ of 3/8”chain.I snub it up at 90’ as Whisper wants to tack over to starboard.I take a deep breath and begin to clean up the mess on deck.

It is 1658 and it took 2.6 hours to cover 5 miles. Around Crane Island we were only making 1.0 knot and while Washburne’s shows westerly current in Pole Passthat turned out to be a 1 knot westerly slowing Whisper to .4 of a knot.As the zephyr of wind quickly rotated to a southwesterly briefly at 6.7 kts, I did fire the engine for a nanosecond to stop my backwards drift, settled on the new port tack and ghosted into Deer Harbor.

Off to port I see Sweet Surrender, Bill Rowlands’ Catalina 30 riding at double anchors. It turns out that Bill & Marilyn are on Whidbey while a friend tends the boat.

I dinghy ashore for blackberries and an ice cream cone. I pick enough berries for tomorrow’s French toast, but no cone. At 1755 the guy behind the counter who won’t make eye contact says that they are short staff so I have to wait until tomorrow. I respond: “I won’t be here tomorrow!”

I dinghy back to Whisper while muttering about the lack of ice cream to phone Roger at Reid Harbor. I tell him to dust off a rail as I will see him just after 2000. With the aid of Washburne’s I plot my course north of JonesIsland, along the south side of Speiden Islandbefore crossing with the current to the mouth of Reid Harbor. Roger says there is room on the inside of the dock, starboard tie and that Lee is anchored out in the eastern portion.     

Sure enough, there is Christina Lee, Lee Stenson’s Mainship 34. Returning the favor, I maintain Whisper’s 2500 RPMs as I circle Christina Lee. Unfortunately my donut only makes ripples not real waves, but I think the message was received since it got Lee out of the galley into the cockpit. We exchange greetings and I continue west to the dock.

At 2000 Whisper is secured to the State Park dock with Roger’s help.  Whisper has run 113.2 NM since fueling up in Tacoma and the fuel gauge still shows slightly over a half tank left.  The currents tomorrow morning look good for Roche Harbor. 

With wine glass in hand I join Roger & Bobbi who are dining alfresco on the dock beside Clewless, a Pacific Trawler 36.  As the day wanes we are joined by Lee.  We three skippers swap sea stories until darkness falls and the wine is gone.  It is 2300 and I still have a sink drain to finish.  Within 30 minutes the galley is back together and I am in the sack.

DAY FOUR—Monday, August 13th, 2012

Last night before bed at 2300, I set my phone alarm for 0500. When I awoke I found my phone battery dead—there had been no alarm! With sleep crusted eyes I thought my clock read 0520. In a sort of PANIC, I hustled to cast off from Severance in the still dark morning. Don’t forget, I still have a crab pot to first locate and then retrieve. With the motor still off I slide Whisper away from Severance. After starting the engine I boot up my Raymarine chart plotter and discover that it is only 0420! Oh well, I am committed now and will have plenty of time to make my deadline of 0700 for Deception Pass. By some small miracle (boaters can get too used to that) I am able to locate the black shadow in the predawn reflections on Skagit Bay that is my crab pot floats. Employing my “pot puller” I get the pot on deck, where I leave it and its occupants until there is light enough to deal with it.

I set my nav instruments for minimal illumination in order to preserve my night vision and turn on Whisper’s running and steaming lights. The bow lights are too bright but there is no rheostat so I just block them out with my arm. I ghost slow around the east end of Hope Islandand am still making 3.5 kts in the strong ebb. Constantly shifting my gaze I am able to avoid anchored boats and floating debris. Gloriously, the eastern sky is beginning to lighten. Cornet Baycomes up too soon so I drift for a half hour to enjoy the red eastern sky around Mt. Baker.

As I enter the pass Whisper’s engine is turning 1500 RPMs and I am making 5.5 kts. I increase the RPMs to 2500 because the current is throwing the boat around too much—speed increases to 8.5 kts. At 0550 I look up at the underside of the Deception Pass bridge that connects Whidbey and Fidalgo islands, giving short notice of the lights of the cars overhead. 

 

Because I made the trip two years ago from Spencer Spit to Deception Pass, I am able to recall the route from the chart plotter and using the soft key, select “Reverse and Follow”. But wait, there is a surprise in store--another lesson to be learned. While 0700 might be slack water in Deception Pass, such is not the case with RosarioStraits. Once clear of the Deception waning ebb I encounter the height of the Rosarioebb. Whisper needs to cross this 2 knot stream in order to enter the San Juans around the south end of Decatur Island. Unlike the autopilot, the chart plotter track function will compensate for current set and drift.

My next waypoint destination lies about 300 degrees. In order to make that target, the software sets me up at 335 to 348 degrees heading into the teeth of the current making from 1.6 to 2 kts. This will take a while. I continue to crab across the strait making barely perceptible progress. Taking time to wave at passing tugs, barges and other pleasure craft whizzing past on the southbound current, we complete our crossing to the Lopez Island eastern shore.

Once inside the speed over ground (SOG) increases as we catch a current running north to Spencer Spit. Nearing Frost IslandI prepare the crab pot for deployment near Fawn Islandand then slide through the cut between spit and island with ten feet under Whisper’s keel. I am surprised to discover only three state buoys on the north side of the spit this year. There is one open, thank you, and it remains so as I drop the crab pot in “Gail’s spot” and shut down the engine and instruments at 0845 after a run on 17.3 nm.

During the morning while updating my log in the cabin I hear voices. I climb to the cockpit to discover John and Vickie Barr and their new boat by the same name: Sloop John B, a 1994 Dehler 41. It is spectacular. After a brief chat I invite them to raft up and they do.

After we both spend time house cleaning for company, they invite me aboard for a tour. As a house-warming gift I bring along two Dungeness crab. When the tour is over and we are enjoying coconut rum with lime juice, I view another boat approaching from port—it’s Lee Hall & Vicky on Atlantean, a Bill Garden Fast Passage 41. While John has been cruising for five weeks, Lee has just arrived in the San Juans. We chat about where others are and then say our goodbyes.

 Over the course of twelve hours I check and relocate my crab pot around Fawn Islandfive times. The result is that I am tired. I have hand hauled the pot and wrestled with no less than 75 crab to finally have my daily limit of 5: 3 over 7” & 2 @ 6-1/2”.

In the late afternoon/early evening Severance takes Whisper’s port rail and we have a three boat raft.  

Dave invites me aboard for dinner with Rita, Amy and Paul, but I have already accepted John’s invitation for pasta with crab alfredo.  After much conversation and an empty dessert bowl that used to contain chocolate ice cream with a drizzle of Kalua, it is 2300 and time for bed.  What a great day.

DAY THREE—Sunday, August 12th, 2012

Long run, but a good one!  Pulled 2 crab out of the Puyallup River estuary in the dawn darkness;

ran the ebb out to Pt Defiance along Owens Beach at 7.4 kts threading thru the fishing fleet, then turned to 290 N to cross the ebb accelerating to 8.4 kts.  I was clear of Southworth & Vashon Head by 0830 with the ebb still running.  Motored all the north of Langley; wind built to 12 kts out of the NNW. 

I hoisted full main and genoa, sailing from 1445 to 1600 (5NM) until the wind rotated to the nose after dying.  

I experienced one crew error!  Oh, that’s right—I am alone.  I guess I screwed up!  I was trying to tighten the genoa halyard while tacking.  I had grabbed the spinnaker halyard instead.  With so much winch tension it broke the shroud cleat to which it had been attached.  I didn’t see it happen, but the slack must have shot to the masthead allowing it to loop over my Windex.  My first indication was being following by a flying halyard shackle.  It was snagged over one of the Windex vanes and would not come down. 

While fighting to retrieve my halyard, Severance came by following Quack! Quack!.  We all headed to Hope Island for the night.   

I have seen this before on the northwest end of Camano, but have never followed it up.  Grande in Norwegian is interpreted as friend or neighbor.

Here is Quack! Quack! with Kari & her crew crossing Skagit Bay with Mt. Baker in the background.

DAY TWO, Saturday, August 11th, 2012

Okay, so this is for Day two even though it is now really Day eleven since I am posting this from Reid Harbor on Stuart Island.  When you are in "the outback of beyond": internet connectivity is spotty at best.  It is reminiscent of the axiom: When you are up to your ass in alligators it is hard to remember that your job was to drain the swamp.

I motored away from the mooring at 0815 to retrieve the crab pot.  With two keepers in the bucket, I turned the bow toward Vashon Head and the trip to Tacoma.

Above is Marie Capogna's rental house on Yukon Harbor in Manchester.  It is the white on to the left of center.  What a great deck railing!  Oh, that's right, Gary & I did that.

While I do some night sailing on the lakes and waterways around Seattle, some may wonder about night sailing on the Sound?  Not me!  This is why:

No, not the Washington State Ferry at the Southworth dock, they have lights.  That tree floating can be an invisible shadow that can ruin your whole day! 

With the flooding current I made the 22 nautical mile (nm) trip in exactly four hours, pulling up to the Foss Waterway Fuel Dock right at 1215.  With a full tank of diesel I continued south to the Dock Street Marina.  Since they no longer monitor VHF 78A, I had to phone them for service.  A slip on H dock was had for $35 with shorepower.  Laundry was only $1 each to wash & dry and the showers are complimentary.

I walked a few blocks north on Dock Street to Johnny’s Seafood Company and bought five pounds of frozen salmon crab bait for only $4.25.  Now I am ready for the crab of Spencer Spit on Monday.

The LeMay American Heritage Car Museum was the site of my Wilson High School 50^th reunion.  I caught the Sound Transit Link light rail and was there by 5:00 (what? No nautical time?  I am on land now.).  Renewed old friendships.  While several were easily recognized, others required a look at their photo nametag which showed their yearbook photo.  I am sorry that some chose not to attend. 

I walked back to the marina and called it a night.

Day ONE--Friday, August 10th

And so it begins—Whisper slipped her dock lines at 8:45 in order to make the first opening of the Fremont Bridge. My phone rang as I exited the fairway into the lake. Gail was at Fisheries Supply and had locked her keys in her Rav. Since I had a key on Whisper…, but I had left. With Fisheries close to the Seattle Harbor Patrol headquarters just west of Gasworks Park, I suggested she walk there and I would meet her. She did and I did. What is more, I joined three other sailboats at the Fremont. At precisely 0900 GPS time I blew my conch shell bridge horn and the bridge tender responded in kind.

When they finally opened the small locks for us, they squeezed seven of us in.

With a flooding tide until after 1300, there was no rush getting to Blake Island.  Winds were light so we (that would be Whisper & me) motored at 2500 RPM making 5.8 knots.  I dropped the crab pot at 1215 in 85’ of water in Yukon Harbor 1.25 nm west of Blake Island.  With several State Park buoys to choose from I flexed my annual pass and grabbed one.

Summer in the San Juan Islands 2012

Most people do not head south out of Shilshole Bay when navigating for the San Juan Islands.  This year that will be my route as my 50th reunion from Wilson High School in Tacoma takes place on Saturday at the new American Heritage Car Museum.  Come Sunday morning I will catch as much of the ebb as I can running north in Colvos Passage.  Once clear of Vashon Island & Southworth, Whisper & I will lay a course for Possession Head on Whidbey Island, hoping to at least make Oak Harbor or even Hope Island State Marine Park.  This will enable us to run the ebb out of Deception Pass.  After all, there are crab waiting to be gathered at Spencer Spit on the east side of Lopez Island.

Whisper at anchor in Roche Harbor in 2011

More information to follow...