Neah Bay

I took some pictures on the trip out here... most of them are from before Victoria, but I didn't post them before. We left Victoria wednesday morning, heading westbound, and thinking that we would check in with US Customs in Neah Bay (foolishly) and after a little while were stopped and boarded by US Customs and border patrol! They snooped about and didn't find any contraband, so then left us in peace. After a while, when I was about 30 miles west of Port Angeles, we called up customs and discovered that they don't allow anybody to cross the border in Neah Bay, that in fact we would have to go back to Port Angeles! So after grinding my teeth a whole bunch I eventually turned us around to head back. We called again at about 5:30 to get them before they closed, and they said we were cleared, because of the earlier boarding, so we didn't need to come in. So we ended up sailing back 16 miles, and then having to go about 32 miles extra on that trip. And the Strait of Juan de Fuca is some of the worst water we'll pass over for the next while, as it is directly into the wind for us in there. Anyways, now we're here, we have only 5 miles left of upwind pounding before we can head on downwind and go. We'll leave tomorrow morning for the Pacific!

Victoria

We made it to Victoria today, and so far so good. Lafawnda is holding her own as a key member of our crew and despite the wind being against us, we made quite good time.
So we left at 5:01 pm (PDT) from Bellingham, then sailed out past Eliza Island and around Lummi Island to head west to Sucia island. We set anchor at 9:31 on Sucia island, about 27 miles later. So 27 miles in 3.5 hours. A good start. Then we got up this morning and set sail at 6:41, to get into Victoria around 2. I think that was about 35 miles or so, and then picked up Abe and Katrina and sailed around a bit outside of Victoria. We set anchor out next to this island called Discovery island and then I caught 5 fish, and we ate one. Yum.
These are pictures Abe took on his camera, because I forgot mine on the boat. I'll get some and post them later. Probably in Neah Bay. So we're at Abe's house right now and the boat is in Oak Bay. Departing tomorrow. More updates as they come, but right now, the weather looks good for heading out the strait, and decent for heading down the coast.

Moved Out

Today is the day.

Dad and I have our things packed, and after getting blown around a lot last night by the winds, we will be driving down to the boat and getting on, and heading west. Leave time, aprox 4:30.

Updates from Victoria to follow.

Moved in

So I've moved back into the boat now, and life is again slowly rocking from side to side. The first night on the boat was pretty cold, but last night I really made a nest out of blankets and it was really nice. Dad and I are leaving tomorrow to head on to Victoria, and all systems are go, except for food. I'll get some food today and we're off. Yesterday I sailed over to the fuel dock to fill up the diesel tank, and I had been a little worried that I was running dry, since the last I filled it was in September, but when I sailed up to the dock (no motoring, of course) I found that after 2.6 gallons, no more would go in. So how's that for a winter gas cost? 2.6 gallons for sailing the boat around three times a week (or nearly so) for 6 months? I think my gas mileage was close to 150 mpg!

Back On Water

I'm back in the water and floating. Its good to be a boat again. I took my dad over to fairhaven to where I moor the boat, and we made fabulous speed the whole way, so I am very excited about the bottom coating. Very fast. Lafawnda did wonderfully for the upwind run from the boatyard to Fairhaven, so I'm happy about that as well. I think she works better now that the bottom is cleaner, and the boat is faster. One point of trouble, my waterwheel speedometer is not working so hot now, I painted it a little bit and that slows it down, so its wrong by about 1/2 a knot or maybe more. Here are pictures of the sequence...
So now there the only things to do are to get food, fill up with water and diesel, and make sure I have everything packed tight.
Wheee!!!!

Haulout

I hauled out today, and cleaned the bottom and did some painting. Unfortunately, in this kind of work, there isn't enough time to get pictures, so I don't have any of the hauling part, or of before the bottom was cleaned off, but suffice to say, it was quite dirty, with 3 inches of barnacles on the bottom of the keel. Dad helped me clean it off and then we put on a layer of bottom paint (EXPENSIVE paint, it was $300) and I'll put another layer on tomorrow. My hands smell toxic still.
Altair is still up on the hard tonight, and will be getting back into the water on Wednesday, so I'll have enough time to put another coat of paint on, hopefully enough to last for a few years.
I also made a video of the boat after painting it a bit.

More sail work

I made a spare mainsail, in case I ever destroy my normal one. Its really small, but hopefully will do the trick to get me into port somewhere. I sewed the edges with my mother's Viking machine, and I'm really impressed with the job it did. Also, I'm trying to make a new dodger, but I keep ending up fixing the old one and putting it back on, because it fits right. Its really hard to make the new one fit just right. (Picture is of the new one) The old one works, but its old, and not as nice looking, and has some holes in it. Oh well. The Zodiac is out sailing a lot, which is nice, I like watching that boat sail. Its really sailing season here now. Yesterday (sunday) there were 30 or more sailboats out on the water just playing around. I didn't go sailing, but worked on sewing instead, and I'll go another time. In fact, once I put on my main with the new reef point, I had to try it out, so I took the boat out for a couple hours, and then tried to Heave To. (see video)
I think I'll try to make a Sea Anchor as well, just to have something that will help steer the boat while Hove To. The way that works is that you tie to the anchor at two points on the boat; front and back, and you use the two cranking points to adjust the angle relative to the waves. If the two lines are the same length, then the boat is sideways to the seas, so you adjust it to be about 45 degrees off, and then try and stay in the slick you generate. In the books that you can read about old-time small boat crossings, they would use oil or kerosene to create a slick upwind of them, and it would help keep the waves from breaking over the boat and being damaging.

Spring at last!

I think today proved that spring is really here. It was nice and sunny, and that warm northerly breeze started up, the one that blows only in the summer here. I'm excited. I also took my car out for a drive over the weekend (and got a speeding ticket, my first one ever!) And here it is! My new ride, well, new to me, and new to me about two months ago... Anyways, its a nice little honda civic again, like the Smurf Rocket, but slightly newer. I'll get more glamor shots later. Maybe I'll do some road trips in it some day.
So I drove down to Samish Island, and took the shot of Bellingham bay from the way south (can you tell which one it is?).
I've also been doing some work on the boat, of course. I just sewed myself another reef point in my main sail, and it wasn't that hard to do. It took me about 3 hours to sew it up, and then I went to this sail shop (Skookum sails) and they put grommets in, for a total of 12 bucks! This is the cheapest big fix I've done thus far, I think.
And I've put in my swim step ladder, on the side. It works out well I think, but I'll have to be careful if I run into anything, or it might get torn off as I scrape by things. But it will help a lot in getting into the boat from over the side, and if I take other people out with a skiff, its really useful for getting back on board.
The Zodiac (tall ship based in Bellingham) is out sailing again as well.
I've got a list that is getting smaller by the day, and soon I'll clean off the bottom and then I'll be off!

Surgery

I did some engine work!
I replaced my Freeze Plugs, one of which was leaking, and I cleaned up the engine as best I could, trying to get all the corrosion off. I also changed the oil, the oil filter, the fuel filter, and replaced the stuffing box (which lets the propeller turn, but keeps the water out). I did tons of stuff, and I'm very proud. Now the engine only has an exhaust leak, which is not an easy fix, but I think I'll manage sometime, and it will make it quieter, and there is a super slight water leak in the thermostat.
I changed the engine zinc, which keeps the corrosion out (supposedly), but since its a tiny zinc, I added another one on the top of the engine. To do all this, I had to lift the engine up out of its mounting place, and put it in the middle of the boat. Only then did I have access to the propeller shaft, so I could replace the stuffing box. I did it while it was in the water, which means water is pouring in trying to sink the boat. But I was quick, and now its done.
The engine sounds pretty good, and I have plenty of power and almost no water in the bilge, so I'm pretty happy with it all. I think I spent about 60 bucks on the whole shebang. These pictures are of before, during, and after the freeze plug surgery. I've also taken some movies, I'll post them too.

Patos Light

I took a trip out into the northern San Juan Islands over the last couple days, and saw some flowers that were pretty, and went ashore on Patos Island, to walk over to see the lighthouse. I'd never actually gone over to the lighthouse before, so it was pretty nice. High above me there was a Peregrine Falcon watching, and the lighthouse is closed for the winter (for tourists). Patos was Isla de Patos, or island of the ducks, named by the spanish explorers who came here a long time ago. In fact, George Vancouver sailed in on a mission to map the NW coast and met Quadra and Bodega (I don't know their first names) when they were also mapping the area. Consequently, the area has lots of English and Spanish names (like Whidbey, Vancouver, Bellingham, and Fidalgo, Eliza, Guemes, Gabriola). Bodega also had a bay named after him in California. And Quadra gets an island near Campbell River.
It got really rough out in the strait of Georgia, where the current and wind oppose each other, and I believe it was something like 40 knots of wind, so I'm not to happy to be reminded about how uncomfortable the boat is going to weather. I also have broken my new roller furler, but not badly.
So I'm hoping for calm seas before heading southbound, and I think I'll be selective of my weather windows.

Sailing with Alan

I took my friend Alan out for a trip this weekend, out to Lummi Island for a night. We saw some eagles trying to pick up a dead bird off the water, I think it might have been a Western Grebe, and cooked a nice meal on shore in the evening as well. It picked up in the night and was blowing pretty darn good Sunday, so we crossed Bellingham Bay with a reefed main and small jib, and dropped down to just a small jib for a little while of it. After poking around in Chuckanut bay for a little while, I finally went ashore at Chuckanut island, which I've seen all my life and never gone to. It has a nice shell beach, so I got my camera out and took some shots of my NuCanoe.
We put up the Genoa for a downwind run from Chuckanut Bay to Fairhaven, and ended up hitting 8.8 knots going down a wave, my speed record for the last couple months. We were pretty overpowered, so I rolled up the jib after that and we went on with the smaller jib. It was a nice little trip. Also, the wind vane performed wonderfully, and I am really pleased with how its working. Alan named the vane "La'fawnduh" so I guess that's what I'll call (her) now.

Vane-ity

Today was a nice day for testing things out, so I took the boat out and sailed with the wind vane under a bunch of conditions. There's a video of the vane steering the boat with just the Genoa up, and I also tried it out with the smaller jib, and with the main and Genoa and Main and jib.
With the spinnaker, I think its harder for the wind vane to control the boat, but I'm working on getting it to do the trick. So, hopefully I'll have an automated boat soon. It sure is nice when I don't have to hold the tiller, and I can just wander around the boat and let the vane steer.

Bullet Bit

And what a bad taste it is. I gave away the hard earned greenbacks for both my Nucanoe and then, gasp.... for some maps on my GPS. Good old Garmin. Gretta just grabs the bucks from my pocket. So, for the coast of Washington, Oregon and California and most of Mexico, I have dropped something like 250 bucks.
And now its on my little gps unit that I will bring out to the boat and hopefully it will guide me to a wonderful time down the coast. Here we go!
Some pictures of the boat with Nucanoe attached...

Longer days

Daylight Savings time is starting tomorrow, and I'm excited about the fact that the days are getting longer and longer. Here are some shots of sunset a couple days ago.
Pertaining to the boat:
I am right now making a second dodger, which will replace the first at some point, probably when the first one dies. The first one also doesn't quite fit as perfectly as I would like, so thats another reason to make this new one. I'm waiting on my gps card reader to get here, then I'll see if I've solved the problem of connecting to the gps. Basically I'm going to take the card out, connect to it, and load all the maps I need on there, and then put the card back in.
In a couple weeks I'll be taking the boat out for a trip around here, to test out my self steering systems over longer distances. I'm not as happy with the wind vane as I would like to be, but it does a decent job, I just need to be able to set it better.
I'm also going to make a system where I can use my autopilot to connect to the wind vane and then it will be much stronger. And I need to try that out in waves, because I will run into waves for sure later on.

Rack

So here are some shots of the rack, as it is now. I might add more re-enforcements later on, but its pretty sturdy. Oh, and the elbows and T-joints are made by Manfrotto, so they are excellent marine grade/camera stand quality components, and I expect them to turn bright orange with corrosion very soon. The aluminum tube is probably 7075 T6 aluminum, which everyone advertises as aircraft grade. They use it a lot on the fuselage of the 737 and 777, and also on the wings, because it is very strong and stiff and light. It is also just about the worst aluminum for corrosion. So I might have nice white deposits all over this orange rusting thing quite soon. It was free, so that's what counts, right?
I intend to use this not only for the solar panels that I have on it right now, but also I'll put surfboards
tied up to the bottom of it. I put the speakers up on the vertical posts and they sound even better than they did before, and I can add a cockpit cover that will attach to the dodger and to the front edge of the rack and will work out great I am sure.
Another problem I think I might have solved is how to collect water from rain at sea...
I could make a cockpit cover that has a collection funnel in it, then run tubing from there to the tank...?
Who knows. Next is to make a few more fishing rod holders and to add a bracket that will allow my autopilot to control my wind vane.
I also looked at a Nucanoe today, which I might get. Its 10 ft long and about 3 ft or 4 ft wide, and can hold a bunch of stuff, but has a low freeboard. It fits on deck nicely, and is totally sealed, so it will float forever. Kind of heavy, though.