Author: admin

I’ve been spending more time at anchor this year, a week ago I had spent some time rafting with other boats all sitting on MY anchor.  That’s been a first for me and I noticed that my ground tackle appears to be capable of holding my boat, but drags with others attached to me.  One of the contributing factors for this is finding that I only have 1/4 inch chain.  Hi test is strong stuff, but 1/4 is really marginal for a 22 ton boat.  So while I was home last week I went down to Washington Chain and purchased a couple hundred feet of 5/16 to try out.  The added weight of the larger chain should significantly help to keep the anchor burried properly.  So would have a kellett, but upgrading to chain that can actually hold my boat in a good blow is appropriate. 

We need a new Gypsy!
Ghost has an electric windlass for pulling up the chain.  The part of a winlass that the chain runs through is called a gypsy, and a gypsy is a something that gets matched to a specific type of chain.  When you change your chain, you change your gypsy.  My prior gypsy always appeared oversized for the 1/4 inch chain, but it was not marked for its type.  I drew an imprint of the chain size on the gypsy and it appeared to match perfectly with my new chain.  Pulling only the weight of the chain, it ran though the gypsy just fine.  But as soon as I tested pulling up the chain with a little weight on it, it wanted to skip every other link.  We could pull the chain up, but not easily, or efficiently.  We need a new Gypsy!

We need a new impeller!
Our generator exhaust cooling water is not flowing like it should.  This is something we have seen before. An impeller is a flexible rubber wheel surrounded by rubber vanes.  It turns in a housing to pump water which cools the motor.  When they get old, the vanes crack and the water does not pump properly.  A few years ago in Desolation sound while sitting in Melanie cove, a kayaker came by and alerted us to the very same symptoms.    Which is why I knew immediately where the spare generator impeller was located when I failed to find it up in the parts store up in our bow.  We had failed to replace the spare impeller, so our spare was the one currently failing in the generator.  Pulling the water pump off the generator confirmed the diagnosis when we found cracked vanes.  This little part can easily fit in the palm of your hand, but without it we can’t run the generator, can’t recharge our batteries and that means that in a couple days we can’t keep our refrigerator or freezer food cold.  To get a couple days on the battery means we will need to cut back and conserve energy, so no watching movies at night. 

My favorite place to shop for marine parts is Friday Harbor
It’s early on Friday on only our second day and were stuck in Parks bay until we can get some parts.  The good news is that I have experience in sourcing parts out of Friday Harbor and my friends I actually DO recommend it.  A couple years ago, I lost an alternator in of all places, Parks Bay.  After trying to source one from the auto/marine stores in Friday Harbor, we got them from Fisheries Supply in Seattle and had them flown up via Kenmore air.  Fisheries is one of the largest marine parts suppliers around and they happen to be located about two miles down the road from Kenmore air, who has regular scheduled flights to Friday Harbor, which is only about a 30-45 minute flight.  Fisheries also has a very good ordering website where finding the products you need is as close as your nearest web browser. 

Sitting in Parks bay, I did not want to fire up the computer as its a pretty big power hog, so instead I reached for my iphone and finding a good internet connection, was able to get a definative part # for my broken impeller within a few minutes and place an order at Fisheries.   Later as Cliff and I spoke we realized that as we spoke, our wives were in fact in Seattle, in their car and in fact on their way to the Pike waterfront.  A quick phone call, a LOT of gravelling and we convinced them to stop by Fisheries, pick up the part and give it a quick ride down to Kenmore air.  Unfortunately fisheries dropped the ball when they became too busy to want to actually go pick the part for my wife when she arrived.  Actually refused to help my wife.  The saving grace was that I actually remembered where they kept impellers on their retail floor and in less than a minute my wife had found the part sitting on the shelf and she was on her way.  In an hour, we ran the dingy from Parks bay over to Friday harbor and picked up the part from the float plane.  I tell you again, other than dealing with poor customer service from Fisheries supply, the time it took to get the part was less than to have driven down to Fisheries and back if I were home. 

Now the windlass was almost a better story.  RC Plath is located in Portland, well actually Gresham.  I found this out talking to them that they are just down the road from Mt. Hood where my parents live.  He had the right gypsy on the shelf, but it needed just a little machining.  When I hung up the phone Plath, I was expecting to get a gypsy quickly, say maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday the next week.  Instead my cell phone rang on Saturday with the Friday Harbor post office calling, they had a package for me.  Plath had finished the machining the same day, then DROVE the package to the Portland airport so that it would go out quicker than in Gresham.  Folks, that’s probably a 45 minute drive one way.  Then he had the nerve to call me on Monday to make sure I got it.  I tell you, there is no such thing as customer service like that anymore and RC Plath deserves a major award for it. 

So in the end, we had our boat put back together by Saturday afternoon, while still sitting in beautiful Parks bay.  I did not even have to move the boat once and we enjoyed our time there.  If your boat ever needs parts, I highly recommend Friday Harbor, or even nearby Parks Bay if you have a good dingy.

I just love boating like this!

 

Stardate 15:30 hours.  The boat is packed and Cliff my father in law are ready to go.  Were heading north and the only structure to the plan is twofold. 

 1.)  Were not going any futher than Princess Louisa Inlet.  We want to stay closer to home and not end up running day in and day out.  This is to be a relacing and enjoyable trip.  Princess Louisa will be adventure enough.

2.)  We are not coming back until the calendar says August. 

Other than the above two guidelines, the sky is the limit.  We have not affixed plan and we aim to keep it that way.  But first we need fuel.  Ghost will hold 600 gallons but we won’t need that much.  More to the point, I don’t want that much.  Leftover fuel has to sit in the tanks and old fuel is the chief cause of fuel related problems.  Dipping the tanks shows we have about 160 gallons on board distributed in 4 tanks.  to be safe I’m going to bring on an additional 250 gallons, leaving us with about 400 gallons of fuel.  We will likely burn a little over half of that. 

It should only be a short 30 minute trip over to Cap Sante, leaving plenty of time for an afternoon cruise to somewhere.  When we get to Cap Sante though, they are out of fuel.  The attendant says he thinks he can get me 150 gallons out of the bottom of the tank. Uh…no way.  The last thing we need to do is find ourselves changing fuel filters every day for the next week from dredging the bottom of the barrell.  I call Skyline marina and they have fuel.  They are open until 5 and its 4 now.  I throttle up to a fast cruise speed and flying down Guemes channel at 7 knots!  Wait, that’s not fast.  We have a head current and while I could push all 48 feet up on plane, we would literally be burning 4 times the rate of fuel and the whole point to this trip is to relax.  There are two outcomes now, we make it to Skyline or we don’t.  So we chuckle about our race for the next hour and make the Skyline fuel dock at 4:55.  I admit to the attendant that I want to bring on 250 gallons and he is graceful enough to welcome us with open arms.  The fuel is 24 cents a gallon more expensive for the privelege of taking on fuel today.  It’s Thursday and waiting another day to depart on our trip would bring us to Friday.  I’m not that superstitious but they say to never leave on a trip on a Friday.  Given were going to be out for the month, I see no reason to take any risks.  Besides, I’m ready to go and nothing is going to hold me back, cept maybe a broken barbeque or some other absolutely critical piece of sensitive equipment commonly afflicting boats.  …but I digress

I pump my 250 gallons of precious diesel while Cliff mines the poor college student for information about his life experiences.  It’s a pretty entertaining tale.  This local gas pump hero was born and raised in Anaocrtes and is currently enrolled in a well known California school.   I think Cliff and our new found fuel pump hero had a great time. 

We got back underway and headed across Rosario straight and on through Thatcher pass.  There were a few discussions on exactly where we were going, lightly colored by the need to go somewhere.  Finally around 8pm we pulled into Parks Bay. 

We spent the night in a familiar anchorage and slept soundly under a clear sky.  Where to next?  As Jimmy Buffett would say “I don’t know.  I don’t care.”

I pulled out of Tod inlet just after 10:30.  The weather is nice and the seas are calm.  I cleared customer at Roche harbor.  I need to return to Anacortes, but not just yet.  Parks bay just outside of Friday Harbor was an easy run from Roche, so off I went.  I put the anchor down in 35 feet of water and put out 150 odd foot of chain.  I’m going to sleep well!

After a bite to eat I put the dingy down and ran over to Friday Harbor to see what was going on.  We had not agreed on a destination upon leaving Tod with Teaghlach and Jollymon, but we must have been on a similar wavelength as I found them on the guest dock along with Dem Bones and Papakea.  After visiting for awhile I ran back across to Parks bay and enjoyed a nice quiet evening at anchor.  I’m telling you, when the wind is not blowing there is no better sleep than in a quiet cove floating on the hook.

Tod inlet is finally growing on me.  I admit I avoided the place for years after two rather interesting achoring attempts, one over ten years ago.  For my sake, I won’t talk about it here!

I accompanyed Teaghlach and Jollymon from Ganges to Tod inlet.  The weather was great and I had a nice easy ride down.  We spent two nights.  Tried to raft, but the anchor is wanting to drag with a 48, a 40 and a 28 all rafted together with a little wind.  I’m going to look into upgrading the chain on Ghost.  Otherwise, again an amazing time.  We dingy’d over to Brentwood bay for dinner and beers one night.  The jelly fish in the bay must number in the millions.

A fantastic time and I plan to be back

In 15 years I’ve never once been delayed by the Canadian Customs.  Today was my day.  I guess if you are traveling alone in a 48 foot boat, you might set off some red flags.   Bob on Teaghlach, Steve on Jollymon and myself left Reid harbor for an easy crossing over Boundary Pass with a checkin at Bedwell harbor.  I came in last just as they were coming away from the dock.  They were nice enough to wait, before travelling on to Ganges harbor for the night.  Well, they waited awhile…

Bob looks great on Teaghlach below, but somewhere just in the background is Ghost, getting a 60 minute search from two of the most polite customs agent you ever want to meet.  Sheesh.  All ended well and I arrived in Ganges harbor just in time to miss any chance of getting onto the public dock.  Ganges marina was charging just under 80 bucks in monopoly money a night.  Makes you want to go back to bedwell.

We had a fantastic time at the annual Tolly Fiesta at Roche Harbor. Acting as Vice Commodore this year, its a lot of fun but also a lot of work. A true vacation needing a vacation! What could be better than a short idle across Speiden channel over to Reid for a little rest? The answer of course is spending that time with good friends Bob with his wife and sister (the sane one!) on Teaghlach and Steve on Jollymon. Reid has been jam packed this year and there was no chance of having a mini Tolly get together on the floating docks, so we put the hook down in a little cove like indentation on the North side of the harbor. The dingy’s went into the water and just before sunset the three of us took a little ride out into Boundary Pass. I’ve seen some amazing sunsets this summer, but this one was probably the most enjoyable one.

Originally posted as part of the Tollyclub May newsletter.

THE JOURNEY

Finally! There in the darkened room I detect the first stirrings of the light of the new day. I’m up! I’ve only been in bed for a couple hours. I tried sleeping, but the sleep would not come. The weath-er has been checked and re-checked. Tides, currents too. The boat has been packed for days. Food stores went on the day before. All’s that’s needed is a new day and a ready skipper.

Engines are warmed, lines tidied up and finally we get to put her nose into the current. We are off!

At first things are familiar, comfortable. A backyard I have known for many years. I pass by Hat Island and say hello to this familiar friend. Next up is Camano head, then Langley as I head north into Saratoga. It’s a common ritual that I’ve played countess times, but a welcome one. There is something fulfilling about familiar stomping grounds. Time flies and soon I’m upon Elger bay. Years ago in one of my first boats I lost an engine there to failing risers and ever since crossing past Elger bay has seemed like some kind of threshold. I feel victorious and crack a smile to myself. A minor but important victory. For me, that’s the place where I settle in and start feeling like I’m away from home. That’s where my new journey really begins. Soon comes Onamac Point (Ever notice that’s Camano spelled backwards?) and a sense of progress. One more point and we get to leave Camano behind. Another threshold crossed.

Rocky point may be the jumping off point to leave Camano behind, but it’s also the point where things change. As its name suggests, the sloughing tall clay hills of Puget Sound are giving way to a rougher, rockier topology. The look and feel of everything changes in a flash. It’s barely two miles from Rocky Point until the dog leg left around the Northern tip of Whidbey, but the changing feeling of the land and water could not be more striking. Thresholds indeed! Gravel beaches, rocky vol-canic cliffs and the first hints of a waterway that is coming to life as we jostle in the tide rips off Strawberry Point. These currents reveal a building tidal force that grows bigger with every mile beneath the keel as we move closer to some un-seen but powerful force ahead. Slowly at first as the Swinomish Slough comes into view, then rapidly as we pass by Hope Island. The water starts to shift, churn.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been through Deception Pass. Fifty? A hundred? I do know that the first glimpse of the bridge in the distance always takes my breath away. A moment of excitement, a little shot of adrenaline and raging twisting whirlpools give way again to another major threshold. The relatively protected waters of Saratoga Passage give way to Rosario and the East entrance to Juan De Fuca. Everything is Volcanic now. Harsh, but beautiful.

There is a feeling of excitement entering more open untamed waters that is indescribable. Even on a calm day it is pal-pable. The boat somehow becomes something akin to being more than just machine. Somehow she seems to be of eager anticipation to put her nose into the light afternoon chop. Diving into a wave and then rising rejoicefully, tossing a little crisp fresh spray over the rail. We anticipate the next wave and secretly hope that the afternoon breeze does not die too early.

Before you know it, Lopez Island and Iceberg Point are behind us. As Cattle Point looms, I look for Porpoises and hope that I may be blessed with a little fun play in my bow wake. There is a feeling of having come so far, but as we labor up the West side of San Juan Island, the points and bays seem to go on forever. Eagle Point, False Bay, Pile Point and on. Finally Lime Kiln. Maybe the orcas are out playing, but it’s getting late so we don’t linger long. Henry Island looms into view, bigger and bigger. Before you know it, were tucked into safety as we wind around in Mosquito pass. Idling along, it always happens. That familiar feeling again. Somehow strangely out of place but unmistakable. It’s the feeling of home just as Roche Harbor comes into view.

It’s rendezvous time!!!!

No boating or boatwork.  Flying off to Arizona from April 7-14.