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.