Flying Scot capsizes

check out these links from club member John C...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g0MuQrXGR0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtE-VprtWuo

Came across this about advantages of different battery types

From club member John C...

http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1081.pdf

How not to use the tidal grid

Getting out of the boat this morning I came across this:

From club member Mark (somewhere in Alaska)

Post from club member Marc in Alaska

The totems at the Wrangell library (part of the previous episode):Friday 31 May

We got to Petersburg and did some laundry, showered, toured the small town, bought a few groceries and an extra 6 gallon gas tank to make it to Juneau with sightseeing detours. We refueled and took water on departure and made it to Ruth Island Cove in Thomas Bay for the night. 


Saturday 1 June

We motored all the way north in Thomas Bay to the Baird Glacier. It has receded enough so that it no longer touches the water and can't calve into it. There are no icebergs in the bay therefore. It's a bit ugly with the mud flats in front of it but it was still very impressive to watch the colossal amounts of ice with the binoculars.  The shear bulk of it is mind boggling. 

The water is milky white with sediments and you can't even see the propeller of the outboard anymore. 

We left the bay and hugged the north shore of Frederick Sound and turned to the right into Stephens Passage at the very beginning of which we spent the night in Fanshaw Bay. 


Sunday 2 June

We crossed to Admiralty Island under sail in very sunny weather.  In the distance we could observe a couple of whales with our binoculars for quite a while. One of them was splashing a flipper continuously and at times was lying on its back to splash both.  The other whale wasn't impressed and left after some time. The splashing whale disappeared maybe ten minutes later. 

We sailed in between The Brothers, a couple of islands, for fun. The wind dyed shortly thereafter and we motored and motorsailed all the way Across Pybus Bay to our anchorage in Cannery Cove. 

Sunny sailing over water, with impressive cloud-cover anywhere over land:

 Cannery Cove in Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island:

 We were miffed to find a fishing resort and other buildings in the cove. It is branded as an excellent fishing spot for crabs and bottom feeders and we were concerned that the human presence would have spoiled that. 

Laszlo started to bottom-fish as soon as the boat was anchored. At the first cast and first wiggle he hooked a rockfish!  As he took it in I ordered "a halibut" next. He casted again and nearly instantly pulled up a small halibut!  It wiggled itself loose from the hook but fell right into our bucket and Laszlo could cast again without interruption. 

That would prove to be the end of the miraculous catch however. Laszlo kept going at it, after dinner too, but no more fish were caught and our crab basket would also come up empty the next morning. 

The halibut:

 Monday 3 June

We crossed Pybus Bay again and then sailed at an incredibly slow pace around the northeast corner of Admiralty Island. Ultimately we had to turn on the engine. Soon thereafter a pod of about twenty Dahl's Porpoises came to play around the boat for at least a quarter of an hour! They look like mimi orcas with their black backs and white bellies.  We watched them with great enthousiasm, taking turns to sit on the bow. As usual it's possible to properly photograph them but I can't wait to see Jenny's movie. 

Dahl's Porpoises:

 We slept in Tracy Arm Cove, strategically located for our trip to the glaciers the next day.

Post from club member Marc in Alaska

Panoramic shot of Cannery Cove mentioned in the previous episode:

Also it should have read: "As usual [the Dahl Porpoises] are nearly *impossible* to photograph..."

And Laszlo did catch some more fish in Cannery Cove the next morning if I'm not mistaken. 
-------------------------------------

Tuesday 4 June

We woke up in Tracy Arm Cove and the small icebergs in the anchorage hadn't really moved during the night, which was somewhat a relief. 

We had spotted our first iceberg in the distance while approaching the entrance to Tracy Arm the evening before. At first I thought it was a boat, but a closer look with the binoculars revealed the icy nature of the object. When we turned the bend to enter Tracy Arm we saw several more. 

This big iceberg was right next to the red channel marker with a bald eagle perched on top.
Laszlo clambered to the bow and kept a good eye out until we dropped the hook. 

After breakfast the tender was deployed on a tow line as a life raft and up we went into Tracy Arm, hoping that the ice wouldn't be too dense and we would be able to find a path all the way to the south arm glacier. 

The spectacular granite cliffs in Tracy Arm:

We saw the odd large iceberg but as we moved deeper and deeper into the arm with the upcoming tide, more and more smaller bits of ice started cluttering around us. Some of them are white, others a magical intense blue, and the nasty ones are perfectly transparent and low on the water. They're hard to spot and should the propeller hit any bergy bit, as they are called, then that would be "game over" for us. Of course hitting any but the very smallest at high speed could also hole the hull. 

One of those intense blue bergs with a mother and baby seal resting on a smaller bergy bit in front (the dark speck):

 Unfortunately the little iPod I use can't capture the beauty of that blue. The berg in the picture above was entirely blue to the naked eye, no white whatsoever. 

Many icebergs have seagulls or bald eagles perched on top of them. At some point a bald eagle was harassing a small aquatic bird that I call "little divers" as a generic name for several species of tiny birds that paddle on the surface and frequently dive and swim under water to catch some fish. I thought the eagle was trying to steal some fish from the little diver. It repeatedly ended up in the water and then had to take off from there again. A couple of big seagulls briefly harrassed the eagle and pecked at him in flight. Suddenly it struck me that the eagle wasn't after fish but after the little diver itself and the latter was diving for its life in the milky, turbid water. But the eagle, crashing relentlessly into the water, hit the little diver badly on a couply of occasion before laboriously taking off again to gain a vantage point in the air and observe where its prey would surface next. With the third strike, there was a really short, final struggle with some splashing and then the bald eagle sat still in the water. Unable to take off with its victim clutched in its claws under the surface, it amazingly proceeded to swim to the nearest iceberg, using its wings as a swimmer would when doing the butterfly. It took quite some effort to cover the 7 meters but then it got out off the water and on the ice surprisingly easily, given the now ruffled and limp little bird occupying its claws. 

We had observed this whole remarkable scene of bird on bird violence from less than 15 meters distance with the engine in neutral. Now we thought we had an excellent photo opportunity believing the drenched eagle would't be able to take off with its prey so we moved in closer. But without giving us a second glance the bald eagle took off and delivered the dead diver to its nest. Then he chased away another bird of prey that came too close, and then he took position in a tree for further hunting. All in a day's work for a bald eagle...

Soon after witnessing these events the ice became denser and denser and we had to reduce speed and send somebody on bow watch. I took the first watch with the boat hook ready to push any bergy bits away. As soon as I reached the bow it felt like my feet were freezing through my double layer of thick woolen socks to my shoe soles and the deck. My gloved hands gave me pretty much the same feeling. Within minutes my feet and hands started hurting badly from the cold and I didn't dare move much anymore. Yet I had to push away some ice at some point and obviously proceeded to do that. It was a chunk not bigger than a small person's chest yet it was incredibly heavy and took quite some effort to get moving. Now I totally understand how icebergs, even small ones, can sink ships. 

A while later my extremities didn't hurt that badly from the cold anymore simply because I started loosing feeling. I remained as immobile as possible, till the bitter end of my mission, until we had twisted and turned to find a path through the denser ice and made it in sight of the glacier. It was quite thrilling for Laszlo to steer knowing that there was absolutely no tolerance for mistakes. 

We stayed about 1.5 km away from the glacier for safety. It can calve huge chunks that create really big waves and slosh all the ice around. We heard it groan and explode all the time, impressive noises like canon shots. And on a couple of occasions we saw it calve large pieces that fell down in a cloud of icy debris followed by spray when hitting the water.

The million dollar shot: WYC burgee in front of South Tracy Arm Glacier:

 Jenny and Laszlo at the glacier:

 We bobbed around a little while enjoying the scenery. There were plenty of mother-baby seal couples lounging on the ice at regular intervals. 

When we left, Jenny observed the biggest chunk ever calve from the glacier! She had trained the binoculars on it and waited for it to happen and enjoyed a first row performance. 

As expected, with the now ebbing tide, the bergy bits were drawn out over a much larger distance and it was way easier to sail through them. 

Laszlo on bergy watch, his turn to freeze his extremities off:

To our surprise we passed 2 large cruise ships on our way out. We didn't think they went in there. As one sailed by we laughingly yelled: "Suckers!  With your champagne and caviar, your central heating and hot tubs!". We had been eating tinned food forever now and we were exposed to the outdoors all day long. Heating was a luxury at night only. 

Tender in foreground and cruise ship Oosterdam in the background:

After a whole day of rain and drizzle the sun peeked through the clouds for the last hour of the trip and never was sunshine so welcome!  I exposed my frozen feet the best I could and slowly I started to feel them again. We made it back to our anchorage without incidents and before dark. 


Wednesday 5 June

The crab pot yielded 3 Tanner crabs but they were all too small for (legal) consumption. So far we had only caught Dungeness crab. I guess I'll have to buy some Tanner to know what it tastes like.

Tanner crab:

 We spent the morning observing some brown bears on shore. There was a female with two cubs who stood on their hind legs a couple of times. And elswhere there was a lonely bear, probably a male. 

Then we slowly made our way to nearby Taku Bay where a few unattended docks are available for free. 

Vestiges of old cannery in Taku Bay:

Thursday 6 June

From Taku Bay there's only 30 km to Juneau. We spend a lot of time trawling at 1.5 knots but didn't catch anything. We looked into Taku Inlet (not Bay) with the binoculars to peer at the glacier there and the outlandish snow capped rocky peeks above it. 

In the evening we made it to Juneau, the end destination for Laszlo and Jenny. We celebrated with a sushi dinner. 

The next few days Mariposa was cleaned inside out after which Laszlo and Jenny had the time to go hike. There are great trails all around Juneau and the weather was absolutely fantastic again.   We've been so incredibly lucky over all.   

Then it was time for us to part. They flew home and I'll take a short break from cruising too. 

A clean Mariposa in sunny Juneau:

 Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau calves into a lake and is a popular destination with cruise ship tourists. There's also a great hike on its west side that Jenny and Laszlo did:

         The End

                 ... or is it?

Summer Snooze 'n Cruise!!!

Event Date: Saturday-Sunday, August 17-18
Mandatory Work Party: Thursday, August 15, 6:00-7:30 pm

Sign-ups Open: Thursday, August 8 (until full)
I will send out an email to announce when sign-ups open.

Cost:  $25 members, $30 guests, $10 children under 12
Guests are limited to one per member.

About the trip:
Snooze 'n' Cruise is a weekend sailing adventure hosted by the club during the warm months.  We depart early Saturday morning, sail over to Blake Island for the night, and head back to Seattle on Sunday morning.  We've reserved a group camp site to put up your tent and a picnic shelter for meals.  Saturday's dinner, Sunday's breakfast, and a bagged lunch for Sunday's trip home are included.  Please note that you are required to provide your own mess kit.

Skippers may take out dinghies so...go get your single-handed, double-handed or cat skipper ratings!
Those lacking skipper ratings will be placed on a keelboat (or you can request to crew on a dinghy).

How to pay:
The Thursday before SnC there is a mandatory work party 6:00-7:30 pm) where you will pay (cash or check) and help with some task to prepare the boats (e.g., load gear, clean dishes, food prep, ...). You will receive your boat assignment later that evening or the following day.

from club member Marc who is sailing to Alaska

Saturday 25 May

From Kelp Passage Cove it was only a few hours to Prince Rupert, the last town of British Columbia before Alaska. It is connected by a road and is large enough to find most anything. 

We had run out of propane during the night but the only propane dealer in town was closed on weekends. We'd have to sleep without heating and deal with the condensation until Ketchikan in Alaska. Fortunately the next nights would be relatively benign. 

After showering, refueling, eating out, internet, shopping, calling US customs to notify them of our impeding arrival, doing laundry and rinsing and partially drying the spinnaker that had touched salt water, we set off again and motored west-northwest through a narrow winding channel out into the sound where we caught good wind to sail to an anchorage in Pearl Harbor, an uninhabited bay. 

On the way the sun got low enough to get under the cloud cover and we witnessed a rare (because of the usual mountains and clouds) and beautiful sunset:

Sunday 26 May

We caught our last Canadian crab which brought our tally for Laszlo's $112 Canadian fishing license plus lost lures to 3 crabs and 1 small rock fish!

We motored nearly all day and crossed Dixon Entrance, the other body of water that's open to the Pacific Ocean and can be pretty wild, but we experienced only a hardly perceptible swell and glassy waters.  The border with Alaska follows right after and beyond it we enthousiastically spied our first whale in the distance, finally!  Later there was another one but it was hidden behind an island. From the thunderous blowing sounds and the huge spouts, taller than the trees, we figure it must have been a really, really big one. 

For the last few hours of the leg, when a feeble wind came up from the right direction, the spinnaker was hoisted for further drying. The first half hour it could hardly support its own weight for lack of wind but then we actually sailed at 3 to 4 knots. 

Spinnaker drying:

We dropped the hook at Ham Island and enjoyed our very tasty crab:

Monday 27 May

From Ham Island to Ketchikan it's only a couple of hours. Again there was no sailing to be done and only motoring. However, when we got really near to town in Revillagigedo Channel, a nasty wind suddenly blew against us with a vicious chop. 

We radioed the harbor master who basically told us we could pick any spot in any basin so we entered Thomas Basin which was closest to us. 

We spotted a space and I approached it carefully because of the high winds. It was a downwind approach so the maneuver would be to kick in reverse gear when nearly in the spot and bring the stern near to the dock to tie it on first, upwind.

Things didn't work out as planned. The outboard engine kicked up when switched in reverse and with the prop nearly out of the water it did't work properly anymore and we were blown way too fast towards the dock and the boat in front of our spot. I yelled to Laszlo and Jenny to stay on board and not try to get on the dock and bailed out of there with little room to spare between us and the boat in front. I immediately did a 180 degree turn to avoid a perpendicular dock right in front of us and then pushed the outboard engine back in the water and engaged the forward gear to motor into the wind which we were now facing again. 

Outboard engines have a little lever with which you can lock them into position so they no longer can kick up. Evidently something was wrong with that. I never use this lever on my engine which is always in the "propellor down" position so I couldn't immediately remember where it was located. 

I was now upwind again from the dock space and decided to give the approach another try, this time knowing I'd have to make do without reverse. The wind was simply too strong however and I just flipped the gear in reverse anyway knowing it probably wouldn't do me any good and indeed the outboard just kicked its prop out of the water. I narrowly bailed out again. 

That's when I made a mistake. I decided to quickly check out that lever while puttering upwind but since I couldn't immediately locate it I just took too many seconds and the irregular winds in the constricted basin took advantage of my inattention to blow us towards other docked boats. Startled I pulled my head out of the engine well when Jenny and Laszlo started shouting warnings. Fortunately they were alert and fended us off so that no boats came into contact with each other and we extricated ourselves from this pickle a moment later. 

I thought it wiser at that point to pick another spot and allowed the boat to be blown sideways against the perpendicular downwind dock. It would be hard to leave from there if the wind kept blowing hard, which is why I didn't pick that spot in the first place, but at least it was easy to get to and would allow us to check the engine at our leisure. 

It turned out the lever, once located, was simply halfway down and not high enough to keep the engine from moving up...  I pulled it back all the way up and gave the reverse gear a quick try and all seemed fine. 

We called US customs and immigration and waited on the boat for them to show up and clear us in the country. A single female officer dropped by about half an hour later and stamped our passports. All she asked was if we had any pets, no questions about alcohol, tobacco, firearms, fresh fruit and vegetables, etc.  She didn't come on board. 

Thomas Basin is located next to the cruise ship dock and no less than four of them were in town. Needless to say the whole neighborhood around those docks looks like Disneyland with all sorts of kitchy touristy stores. I wonder what it is like to travel by cruise ship where everywhere you land you end up in the same kitsh as if you hadn't even changed location.   We had a quick stroll through there in a mostly vain search of things we needed. 

Doing the touristy thing:

Laszlo hadn't fished all day long anymore for the last few days in Canada but obviously the fire was still burning since he decided to get an Alaskan fishing license too. He got it at Tongass Trading Co.--which name was the source of some amusement that brought new meaning to "tongue in cheek" remarks. 

After all our errands we wanted to move the boat to a fuel dock we had located that would also refill our propane tank. The wind was still blowing even though not as hard as before. But we still had to manually move our boat with the help of the crew on the fishing boat next to us to orient one end into the wind to be able to motor out of there. As it turned out, the stern was the most convenient end to turn into the wind so we backed out. Of course, the outboard did kick up again! Not all the way and fortunately we were still going somewhere. After an expletive that the the crew of the other boat might unfortunately have thought was directed at them, we docked a bit further to have another look at that darned lever. It had sagged a bit again. I had had it with its shenanigans and locked it in the right position with a hose clamp.  

After refueling and filling the propane tank it was too late to make it to an anchorage and with spring tidal ranges of over 7.5 m. we thought it better to sleep at Bar Harbor, the northernmost basin in Ketchikan. It has showers, is out of the tourist zone, and has a huge Safeway with good wifi in easy walking distance as well as hardware and boating stores. 

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Here are a few more panoramic pictures I received from Jenny. They aren't related to this episode and are from random locations in British Columbia: