A COLD WINTER CRUISE

The new Henry Island Pavilion

Christmas had come and gone, new years was just around the corner and the weather wasn’t terrible.  Not great, but the forecast called for 5 to 15 knot southerlies for a few days turning to northerlies at the tail end of the new years weekend.

A nice set up for a run from Seattle up to the island for a few days.  Rain, perhaps some snow, and cold.  But southerlies up and northerlies down.  Let’s do it.

Wednesday late afternoon we motored the short distance up to Kingston.  Friends Andy and Jill had already arrived and after appetizers with them, we mosied up to the Mossback Cafe.  The Cafe is about 3 blocks from the Marina and is housed in a 100 year old farm house.  They focus on locally sourced foods and their menu changes quite frequently.   I had the rabbit and sausage strada.  Excellent.  Leigh had the noodle bowl: Hand rolled ramen noodles, Silver Creek Angus top round steak, bone and miso broth, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, chili oil, sweet onion, black sesame and cilantro.  It was only lukewarm when served but that was resolved quickly and the flavors were great.

Kingston’s light display is terrific and must be a source of local pride.  The water front park is full of wonderful lit displays.

Andy and Jill came over for a night cap and we chatted about heading north.  The forecast called for possible Northerlies on Friday and they had planned to meet some friends in Mystery Bay.  This would lock the route up the outside and as we wanted a couple of days in the islands, my preference was for the more protected route up the east side of Whidbey.  We each executed our plans.

Thursday morning we left Kingston and in short order had the jib up and engine off.  With  strong southerly pushing us we surfed waves and at one point hit a current assisted 10 knots.  Up Saratoga passage the wind faltered slightly so we powered up to maintain speed.

After a good day on the water and in failing light we arrived at cornet bay and tied to one of the docks in the bay.  Secure for the night we enjoyed the chicken I had smoked the previous day.

Deception pass was ebbing Friday morning with the slack at 9:40.  We cheated a little and were off the dock about 8:30. After hoisting the mainsail, we the pass about 15 minutes later.  With Leigh at the helm we had a fun time of it hitting 11 knots at one point.

The wind was blowing in Rosario Strait.  More than I had anticpated.  We rounded up and I threw a couple of reefs in the main.  Perfect.

Cambria is a sailboat but with the protected cockpit we can run her like a motorsailor.  With the engine on, we can generate heat, much appreciated on this late December day.  With two reefs in the main, she stays on her feet but doesn’t roll.  The motion is pretty comfortable in a seaway.  Most of the time. The big wave didn’t hit until the way back, but on this westbound crossing of Rosario, all was well.

She was heading south in Rosario Strait.  Nice Romsdal Trawler

We ducked into Lopez sound and dodged crab pots up to Spencer Spit where we squeezed through the passage between Frost Island and the spit.   Approaching Harney pass we had a close encounter with a washington state ferry, but thanks to AIS, we were well set up for it.   A ferry we couldn’t see was coming around Upright head, but I could see him on AIS (on my phone) and anticipated the crossing.  Yet another reason to install AIS on Cambria.

We pulled into Deer Harbor with the full intent of staying there.  When I had talked to the Marina, they had confirmed the Deer Harbor in was open.  My father used to go to the Inn in the late 40’s when he was a camp counselor on Orcas.  As a family we would go over there in the 60’s.  I wanted to show Leigh the Inn.   But when we walked up there, it was ‘closed for the winter’.  Dang.  On the walk back to the boat we made the snap decision to go to Roche.  We had about 2 hours of day light left and we could just barely make it.

Leigh prepared the boat for departure and I obtained a refund for the moorage.  All good.

When we were well into San Juan channel I gave my mother a call.  The family house has a nice view of San Juan channel.  She had no idea we were in the islands as our plans sort of evolved and weather gets a strong vote in the itinerary.  We had aimed to get up to the islands, but I didn’t want to raise expectations that we’d actually make it.  This is winter after all and some gale force winds were forecasted.

When I called, I enquired about the view.  She said it was nice.  She hadn’t looked.  I then asked ‘any boats out front’. She said there was one speed boat.  She hadn’t noticed us.  After more prompting the gig was up.  She saw us and arrangements were made for breakfast the following morning.  She did let us know she was having a small gathering for Buzz and Pam that evening. It was their wedding anniversary and they were going to have appetizers then Buzz and Pam were going over to Roche Harbor for a nice dinner.

Sunset in Speiden Channel

Passing through Speiden Channel, we noticed the sunset lit up Speiden Island.  With about 30 minutes of sunlight left, we veered over to the Speiden side and saw various exotic deer left over from the ill conceived ‘Safari Island’ escapade in the 70’s.  We’ve removed 3 of the deer from our beach in the past 40 something years, the most recent one was a fallow deer earlier this year providing a great feast for the bald eagles.

Roche Harbor at night

Decorations in the bar at Roche

Pulling into Roche we felt dwarfed by the 80 something foot power yachts on both sides, but snug and secure we went up to the Restaurant bar for what we thought were just going to be appetizers.  We conspired with the waitress to buy wine for Pam and Buzz who had yet to arrive and our appetizers morphed into dinner followed by 2 desserts.  One for ourselves and the other with Buzz and Pam.

The aftermath of the last dessert

Saturday morning we walked over to the house for breakfast and visited with Mom and Kuper the Havenese dog.  Kuper has congestive heart failure and has had some tough episodes recently.  Breakfast was great and we got a lift from Mom back to the marina.

Early in the afternoon we cast off the lines, spun the boat and headed ‘all the way’ to Henry island.  A 12 minute voyage.  The wind was blowing and owing to work on the docks we took second choice on the dock.    Jill and Andy arrived with Porter and Magnus in tow and the first order of business was to start a fire in the new Pavilion built earlier this summer.   The Pavilion is a great addition to the outstation.  We shared appetizers while Leigh took charge of the boys for about 45 minutes. Jill’s relaxation was evident at being temporarily relieved of ‘mom duty’ and Leigh recalled how wonderful it was when others used to do that for her.

The fire in the new pavilion

ghosts?

Henry was a great setting for the transition to a new year.  A little off the beaten path, it was just us.  Randy and Becky, the caretakers, had their own celebration in the house, leaving the new pavilion to us.  A nice fire, and great company.

We cranked up a nice steak dinner and dined aboard the cozy confines of Cambria.  Opening a bottle of bubbly we celebrated and then retired well prior to the actual new year.

The night was a bit bouncy and Sunday morning’s gale warnings came true.  With the wind blowing Cambria away from the dock, departure was a little dicey.  Rather than until the lines then leap aboard from a heaving dock onto a fast retreating boat, we retied with lines led back to the boat.  With both of us safely on the boat, we were able to release the lines as the wind immediately took us away from the dock.  In the lee of Pearl we hoisted a double reefed main and headed out into what was to be a very windy day.

Winding through the islands wasn’t bad.  I had decided to exit the islands through Obstruction Pass and then head down wind across Rosario as opposed to exiting via Thatcher pass and taking it on the beam.

All went well at first, but then we hit some tidal action in combination with 30 to 35 knot winds.  I saw a large set of waves but then hesitated.  Head into them or away from them?  I usually don’t hesitate at such stuff.  But there wasn’t much time and my momentary hesitation had us beam on to a nice, large set of waves.  Despite the steadying sail we rolled fairly violently and two cupboards down below spewed their contents onto the salon floor.  A set of glassware vaulted out and exploded.  The books cascaded down off the bookshelf.  An orderly boat was reduced to chaos in a couple of minutes.

Indy, in the cockpit was having no fun.  His worried, penetrating eyes seemed to say “are you sure you know what you’re doing”?

We took other big waves a little more elegantly but spray washed over the boat completely obliterating forward visibility.

After we had crossed into the relative calm of Guemes island, Leigh undertook the effort of glass clean up and vacuumed.  Then I set the bookshelf right and in about 30 minutes order had been restored.

We lined up on Swinomish channel and headed down the slough past La Conner.

Once out of the slough we again headed south and debated Coupeville or Langley.  We would have arrived at Langely in the dark but Coupeville docks were less protected.  Coupeville was closer.  And Leigh had some old friends who could meet us there.

From the pier at Coupeville

Downtown Coupeville

Coupeville.  We took the inside of the dock with the wind trying its best to keep us off the dock.  I missed my first approach, but modified it for the second pass.  With a fair amount of speed I angled up to the dock running parallel then hit hard reverse and Leigh jumped to the dock with appreciated agility.  By pre-arrangement she had the spring line and made it fast to a cleat allowing me to power against it holding the boat into the dock with only the spring line attached.  It worked.  We wrestled the boat closer and then tied double lines fore and aft in addition to the spring lines.

Another boat, a Spindrift 43 was trying to come in single handed.  He had just rescued his boat from being aground, blown ashore by the gale force winds.  We helped him secure his boat then headed up the restaurant for a well deserved beer with Leigh’s friends.

After a bumpy night we headed south on our final day.  The morning was gorgeous and despite reports of high winds in the islands, we experienced calm weather.  Cold, but calm.

We motor sailed most of the way but finally the wind filled in and much to Leigh's relief, we sailed the final 10 miles.  

Coming back into the slip, Leigh used Kristen's method of snagging the first cleat on the dock from the stern of the boat.  It's a slick way of getting the spring line under control and with that, I can power against it if needed to hold the boat to the dock.  In relative short order, the boat was tied up, power cord attached, and the TV/internet cable attached.  Navigation shut down, inverter switched to 'charger only' and like that, home was home.  

Shortly after we docked, there was a knock on the hull.  A neighbor who I had not met on an adjacent dock introduced himself and handed me a picture he had taken of Cambria.   He said he enjoyed the view of my lights from his stern.  It was an appreciated gesture and between the trip and the gift of the picture, the decision to live aboard received more exclamation points.  

A very nice way to start the new year.