Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A tale of an Ocean Safari - Snooze 'n Cruise Spring 2013


Hassan’s account: I am sure Tom would be interested in telling the tale in his own very capable words, and I would be happy to contribute to it. I would just say, since you asked, that not all parts of the story are glorious, and maybe even a bit embarrassing at times. In short, we first capsized when I reached inside the cockpit to adjust the jib car position while Tom was on the wire and I at the helm, which resulted in our losing the heel and tea-bagging Tom. I tried to right the boat after dry-capsize, but the centerboard - which had been constantly giving us grief in the past - broke off right at its base by the hull, resulting in turtling the boat and putting me in the water. The scary part came next, when Tom almost drowned because he was still clipped to the trapeze wire (his harness remains permanently clipped, unless he releases it manually). Luckily he was able to bring his face to the surface, take a breath and release himself.

Then, on the way back to the WAC while being towed by Frenesi, the boat capsized again between the Ballard and Fremont bridges, this time with its sails unrigged. This was partly because the 470 bow was filled with water and so very low to the surface. During the capsize the main sail was lost, which was Tom's second least favorite part of the boat (after the centerboard). The moral of the story is that Tom managed to get rid of the two parts that bugged him the most, on the dinghy that he loves the most (recently named Ocean Safari).

Tom’s comments:  Hassan's account is accurate and reasonably complete.  I would add a few points, though. When Frenesi (with Hassan and me aboard) was towing the 470 out in the Sound, the boat tracked reasonably well and did not have any obvious problems with hull trim.  We towed her across some large freighter wakes without incident.  Consequently, I figured we ought to have no trouble at all while towing her through the ship canal, and I was not nervous about leaving the sails inside the cockpit.  While in the locks, I rerigged the lines centering the tiller.  When we left the locks, although the tiller appeared reasonably well centered, the boat was tracking off to the starboard side.  This undoubtedly caused, or at least contributed to, the subsequent capsize.  We were traveling fast enough that the tow line parted close to the center.  We saw the mainsail and jib fall from the cockpit, and I urged Evan to circle back as quickly as possible.  Of course, Frenesi does not turn on a dime, and the mainsail sank too rapidly to retrieve.  I managed at the last possible second to snag the jib with a boat hook.

Although it is true that the centerboard and mainsail were my two least favorite parts of that boat, that should not be construed to mean that I actually wanted to lose either of them.  My fear is that now the boat might be on its way to 470 Heaven or some alternative afterlife.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Update from club member Mark, who is headed to Alaska with crew

Sunday 12 May

Our alarm failed to work or wake us up but Jenny fortunately had a look at her watch only 15 minutes later and she quickly got all hands on deck. It was 6:15 am and we had to get back through Malibu Rapids at 7:15. With 5 nautical miles to go from the dock at the end of Princess Louisa Inlet, we still made it just in time and were the last boat to get through the placid rapids. 

I almost wouldn't have left due to the incessant hard rain but Jenny and Laszlo said they wouldn't mind steering. Fortunately, Once past the rapids in Jervis Inlet, the showers were much milder. We motored all the way back to the Strait of Georgia, which took about 7 hours.

On the way we saw the most colorfull rainbow either one of us ever saw in our lifes. Jenny took a panoramic photo of it with her iPhone 5 and I hope to send it soon. 

We crossed a large pod of about 20 dolphins but they were too bussy hunting to come and play. 

In the Strait of Georgia, the wind blew really hard. We motorsailed close hauled for a little while to clear the headland to the north.   We smashed into waves that were quite big for our little boat but finally rounded this lee shore and had an exiting and sometimes exhilarating downwind run from there on. At one time I saw an opaque wall of rain catching up with us. "Waw, that's cool!" said Laszlo as I pointed it out and not a second later we were drenched. I could litterally feel the force of the water on my back pushing me forward. I've never been in rain this nasty in my life before. 

We kept goig for 6 hours, milking that wind till sunset. We past on several anchorages along the way, just to keep going, and ended up in landlocked and tranquil Squirrel Cove, a bulletproof anchorage. 

Laszlo attempted to fish from the anchored boat after dark but again for naught. And this morning our crab pot came up empty as well after spending the night on the bottom of the cove. 

We have spent all morning at the local general store to refuel, refill the propane tank, and the boat water tank--with jugs because there is no hose. We did some boat cleaning and showered and will aim for the evening slack around 8 pm to go through the Yaculta and Dent Rapids area. 

No photos were taken except for the rainbow due to the nasty weather. Today, Monday 13 May, is still as bad.


Saturday 11 May

Those were the days, such as BBQing in sunny Green Bay yesterday:
 But that same evening, knowing our good luck was running out and we would go back to "normal" Pacific Northwest weather, I rigged up the tarp over the cockpit and as I write this evening it is sheltering the companionway from an endless downpour. Fortunately we are docked and don't have to sail or motor through this. We're just playing cards without any motivation to even deploy the crab pot. That's telling!

But let me go back to this morning.  We left Green Bay at 6:30 am without catching any crab overnight, a mayor disappointment obviously. So we had to fall back on mere cereal for breakfast. 

After motoring up the rest of Agamemnon Chanel we debated for a little while on whether to refuel there at Secret Bay which would be our last opportunity to do so on our way to Princess Louisa Park and back. This would have taken an additional hour and we decided against it.  We'd simply risk to go the whole way with what was left over in our tanks. We had to make it through Malibu Rapids on time after all, at slack water.  So we continued into Jervis Inlet without worrying much about the issue anymore. Except 20 minutes later stronger than expected current against us slowed us down 30% and would therefore increase our fuel needs! We started to skirt the shores to avoid as much current as possible and made the best of it. 

Light rain fell on and off for the remainder of the trip and Laszlo's fishing line somehow ended up all twisted and mangled and he had to cut off some to solve the issue. Needless to say we still didn't catch any fish!

Here are a couple of pictures taken in Jervis Inlet:

 We got to Malibu Rapids without emptying what was left in our first fuel tank and since the second was still filled to the maximum we knew fuel wasn't going to be an issue. Not this time.

The entrance to Malibu Rapids:
 We arrived there about half an hour later than we should. Slack only lasts a few minutes and then the current increases frightenigly rapidly again. Fortunately we heard the boats that were coming through chatter over the radio and we knew we would arrive only about 15 minutes after true slack water. 

So we battened up the hatches, checked our life jackets, switched to the second fuel tank to make sure we wouldn't run out if gas in the middle of the rapids, and held on to our cameras, and then I gunned the engine and committed Mariposa into the narrow mound of the rapids. 

I saw a sign saying "Slow." There's a rather curvy S-turn so I reduced speed. But the very first eddy threw Mariposa quite a bit off course. Muttering an appropriate four letter word I immediately gunned the engine again and could then overcome all further turbulences without problem. We zoomed through pushed by about 2.5 knots of current with a highly excited crew. 

We were now in Princess Louisa Inlet where waterfalls come crashing down from all sides:
 With beautiful 120 ft high Chatterbox Falls at its end:
 This is a place described by a certain Earl Stanley Gardiner as follows: "There is a calm tranquillity which stretches from the smooth surface of the reflecting waters straight up into infinity. The deep calm of eternal silence is only disturbed by the muffled roar of throbbing waterfalls as they plunge down from sheer cliffs. There is no scenery in the world that can beat it. Not that I've seen the rest of the world. I don't need to. I've seen Princess Louisa Inlet."

Obviously the good earl could have travelled more, but this is still a pretty darn good place to visit (only 6 daysails on Nightshade from the WAC, hint, hint).

We hiked to the foot of the waterfall and also about an hour up the trail to the trapper's cabin. That's when the downpour began and we haven't left the shelter of the boat since we reached it. We rotated our soaked clothing and shoes in front of the propane heater and now that we're about to go to bed most of it is already dry. I hope this rain will abate by the morning...

Some hiking pictures:





Friday 10 May

We have found a wonderful anchorage here in warm and sunny Green Bay. There's even a little waterfall. A short fishing attempt is being abandoned in favor of the deployment of the crab pot as I write.  We have kept the remains of the previous crab as bait. 

Fishing and crab pot deployment:
We left Nanaimo at 10 past 10 after showering and breakfast. Nanaimo:
After listening to the radio to make sure the military area was open to boaters and after motoring out of the bay, enough wind was found for an ideal sail. Unfortunately, it very gradually died away. We decided to have lunch and do dishes before hoisting the spinnaker. By the time we had done all this there was hardly any wind left to keep the spinnaker full and we took it back down after only 10 minutes. Once more we moved along with the dull noise of the engine for about 5 hours, But tiny Green Bay is totally worth it. There are still a few houses but they seem to be unoccupied vacation homes.  This is the first anchorage of the trip that we have all to ourselves! Our only neighbor is a curious seal who came to check us out. 

And now for another BBQ with this unbelievable stroke of good weather!

Friday, May 10, 2013

WYC-Not Your Father’s Yacht Club (1965-1969 history by Ken Howe)

Invitation to join SYC parade
Seattle Yacht Club
In 1968, the Seattle Yacht Club invited the University club to enter a float in their 
Opening Day parade of boats.  The theme of the event was Aqua Carnival.

Ralph Jackson told the story about what the club planned for their float:

“Our entry, Aqua Carnivore was great fun.   A whale: Husky hull, hoop structure for frame-covered with black plastic sheets for body,  styrofoam teeth, pressurized beer keg for whale's spout,etc.   Connected to the Husky was a Penguin with 3 girls in mermaid tails.  Norm was a big part of this.”

Norm Ahlquist added that the water shooting up from the keg was powerful enough to go over the Canoe House.  The spray landed on the Seattle Yacht Club committee boat as the whale passed in the parade.  The SYC women who got wet were not impressed with the engineering abilities of the UWYC.
Don Barker crewed in the winning boat

1968 Tyee

UW Daily April 4, 1969

The first attempt to sail 500 laps around the pond was scheduled for January 9, 1969.  It had a flaw in the planning besides that it would take at least 20 hours to complete the race.
It was advertised in the daily.

The correction was published the next day.



Pond cleaning-UW Daily

In this race in Portage Bay the UW Club team lent Penguins to the visiting college teams. 

1965 Tyee

In 1965, the racing team was still sailing Penguins but looked to upgrade to newer boats.

When competing at the site of other schools, the team had the opportunity to experience sailing different boats.  The University of British Columbia introduced them to the FJ. 

John Courtier explained how a race would be held: “I was never on the racing team, so I don't know details.  In the late 70's from what I remember I think the team had to have 8 boats to host a regatta, so that would handle 8 schools attending.  I don't know if the limit was  8 schools or if there was some sort of round robin if there were more schools. The schools have A and B teams.  I believe the A teams race against each other, then they switch off and the B teams race against each other.  Somehow those scores are melded together. “  

There was another sailing club at the UW. It was called Helm and Halyard and you had to join Navy R.O.T.C. first.  It was even older than the UWYC. 

Navy R.O.T.C Boat, 1956 Tyee

1946 Tyee


The club tried other activities to attract new members besides the sailing in the Fountain stunt.

Large ads were placed in the Daily about free movies showing sailing.


The High Speed Sailing film featured Catamarans in the surf of California and Hawaii.  Also there was footage of Olympic Class Finn one-design boats racing under the Golden Gate Bridge.

A WYC member competed in the 1960 Olympic Trials in the Finn class.

Another film by Warren Miller shows testing of a Hobie 33.  The catamaran designer built this monohull.  Some club members race on a Hobie 33 called Payara.

Still from the film “Crash Test” .The boat was lifted 12 feet above the water and then dropped in the film.


The club combined C Larks with the Lightnings for the Snooze N. Cruise to Blake Island in the late 1960s.  The Tiliicum Village restaurant opened on the Island in 1962. The island was briefly considered as a location for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair before the Seattle Center site was chosen. 

Tillicum Village on Blake Island

1970 Tyee

The history of Blake Island is explained in this article for Historylink.


1966 Tyee
Free Sailing days for students who wanted to know how they would like the club were important to increasing membership.  A chance to sail in the new C. Larks and other DH boats like a Lightning with an experienced sailor was a safe way to get out on the water for the first time.

UW Daily Sept.30, 1966

1967 Tyee

1965-1966 Team members photos from 1966 Tyee: John Hager, Steve Koch, and Dave Waggoner


Barbara Green and Jana Svoboda...

With a membership growing larger every year you would think that some of the reporters from the UW Daily would have joined.  They would have learned that there is no sea water in Union Bay.

In the laid back 60s Union Bay was another student hang out. 

1966 Tyee
1967 Tyee

1968 Tyee
1969 Tyee
A Student sailing one of the new Kites.  

1967 Tyee

The student left years ago.  The boat is still here.

The Kite behind the Canoe House.

Update from club member Mark, who is headed to Alaska with crew: Nanaimo

Thursday 9 May

The miracle of the sardines happened overnight!  We tugged on our anchor rode to give Mariposa some forward motion to steer her to our crab pot and no less than 4 crabs came up. One of which was both male and of legal size and after a short struggle on the grill he was soon torn apart by a victorious and ever ravenous crew:


We had woken up to a blue sky but devoid of any wind so we motored for the first few hours. When we got to about 20 km from Dodd Passage, through which a boat like ours can only pass at slack, we killed the engine and unfurled the genoa to drift at one knot while waiting for slack water at 5 pm. 

The first snow capped mountain in the background of this photo taken near the end of the Gulf Islands:

The day was otherwise employed on testing out fishing equipment again but we only managed to loose a hook and lure, probably due to a bad knot.  A bald eagle also had a go at the lure and Laszlo reeled it back in until it was gone. 

Drifting and napping:


Fishing with the legs and holding a book "Adrift" in the hands: 

Nanaimo, the last large town for the next 10 days, is just beyond Dodd Passage. We refueled and took water upon our arrival at there and then stayed at the public dock while we got groceries. After moving to the anchorage we had yet another BBQ and actually ate outside in the cockpit on our first, and perhaps last, warm evening. I introduced Jenny and Laszlo to my favorite card game which literally translated is called "liar poker" and we had good laughs till late at night.

On the America's Cup capsize from club member John Courter



Update from club member Mark, who is headed to Alaska with crew

Wednesday 8 May 

I got up at 5:45 am after a decent sleep and started to do a number of things that involved walking to a couple of places in town, calling around a lot while still on a US network, writing the previous episode of this travelog, etc. By the time all this was done and we had eaten, showered, pumped out, and finally casted off it was 10 past 10.  We motored for about half an hour after leaving Friday Harbor before the wind picked up and we hoisted the sails. Soon enough the sun pierced through the clouds and we sailed to the Canadian customs dock on Pender Island under a blue sky. There was a huge converted fishing vessel there with a Dutch couple who had left Holland 6 years ago. (It burns 20 liters per hour for about 7 knots.) We helped them dock their monstruous ship and then I proceeded to the unmanned customs office to check our boat and crew into Canada. There's just a few phones there. You pick one up and you're in direct communication with some customs office somewhere else. This time they didn't even ask the usual questions like "Where are you going?" "How long are you staying?" "Do you have any fruits and vegetables or guns, drugs, and liquor?". We were just good to go instantly but we decided to hang around a little longer to help the Dutch couple cast off. They however returned with the news that the Canadian customs had decided to search their vessel and a team would arrive within half an hour. "We better get outa here as fast as we can then" was our reaction and we said our goodbyes. 
It took only a few more hours of glorious downwind sailing under a radiant sun to get to our anchorage for the night, a large tranquil bay named Montague Harbor. But on the way, Laszlo was dead set to put his Canadian fishing license to use and to break in his brand new fishing equipment. We didn't catch a thing of course but we threw a crab pot in the water at our anchorage and maybe we'll have better luck with that when we check it tomorrow morning. I'm still skeptical because of the (pierced) can of sardines as bait...

Here's our undaunted fisherman behind his better half:
Btw for you diehard sailors out there, we graciously sailed into the anchorage, dropped the hook, -and- deployed our crab pot, all without ever starting the engine or using the tender.