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.

BACK TO HIKING

Fun with the lens.  No flash, kept the lens open for 25 seconds and briefly 'painted' myself with the headlamp

Leigh was leading a decent pace up the Chiraco trail to Poo Poo point and I was struggling.  I could not control my breathing and my legs felt like lead.  How could I have let myself go like this?  I had hiked fairly regularly for 8 years and the last 3 years had a near weekly regimen of hiking cable line.  Cable line has nearly 2,000 feet of elevation gain in a mile in a half.  Nearly every step is sharply up with no switchbacks.  By comparison, Poo Poo point is pretty easy.  And yet I was struggling mightily on this 16th day of October.   Why?

Because I hadn’t hiked steadily in several months.  Ok, close to a year.  And I had developed a fondness for Tillamook Mountain Huckleberry ice-cream.  And a steady diet of Ellenos yogurt.  How bad can yogurt be?  It only had 125 calories.  But in the fine print it showed ‘2 servings per container’. So I was eating a candy bar a day.  In addition to the other candy bars I occasionally scrounged.

That’s why I was struggling.  During the hike I fell silent. I had let myself down.  And I needed a plan to keep up with Leigh.

I phoned a friend.  Jae.  “Cableline on Wednesday?”.  “YES” came the reply.

October 19th.  Jae was running late on that first night hike.  Fantastic.  I texted him - I’m going up.  You can catch me.  I started out slow and it felt OK.  Jae caught me towards the top and for a moment I thought I was on the way to recovery.

Fast forward one week.  Jae was on time.  He’s faster than I am.  He’s also just over half my age. And taller.  He led and had a good pace.  I started to lag.  Finally I said - you go to the top, catch me on the way down.

And so it went for the next 2  or 3 weeks.  We’d start out together, but my energy would flag and I’d turn around.

That continued for a couple of weeks then I finally made it to the top, and on November 30th, the 6th time up Cableline, I not only made it to the top, I felt great when I did so.

Yesterday Jae and I tromped up Poo Poo point again.  I led what I thought was a blistering pace.  Jae thought it was Ok.  I’ll take it.  It was probably nearly as fast as Leigh had done about 2 months ago.  And I felt pretty good.

There’s still lots of work to do.  I’m not ‘in’ shape.  But I’m getting there.

The top of Poo Poo point

 

The Blakation

Election week was tough.  The unexpected results combined with strong emotions accompanying this election begged a quiet, reflective weekend.  Refocusing on what you can control.  What you eat and how you exercise.

Late afternoon Friday we stowed the cords, fired up the engine and just like that Cambria was again a free agent on Puget Sound.  Flat calm water and a winter light sky — even though it was a fairly warm evening by November standards.

Pelican Yoga

Rounding the breakwater we were surprised to see a pelican preening itself on the rocks.  We’d never seen a pelican up here before.  I texted an acquaintance that leads a local Audubon chapter and she said the Pelican population had recovered after the ban on DDT in the 70’s and began appearing rarely in the 80’s up here during breeding season.    Sightings now are fairly common.  For birders.  As this was our first sighting up here, it was pretty cool.

Radar and navigation in the background, Leigh at the helm

Leigh and I chatted as we crossed the shipping lanes.  2 ferries crossing ahead and an inbound Matson Line container ship from Honolulu bearing down behind us at 15 knots.  Drawing abeam of Seattle, we skirted over to the western edge of the southbound lanes.  Technically clear of the shipping lanes my hunch was the Matson ship would turn east into Elliot bay and true to form she did exactly that.

Defunct carrier 'Hanjin' with stranded containers

Closing in on Blake Island just after sunset we picked up the channel markers, squeezed into the small marina and were met by a fellow off a Trawler to help us land.  He was a live aboard from Everett and he had taken his trawler down to Mexico and south to the Galapagos Islands.  Back in the northwest for a few seasons he was planning a trip to New Zealand and points beyond.

We walked Indy along the beach with the Seattle skyline twinkling in the distance.  Blake Island is a Puget Sound treasure, especially in the winter.

Back on the dock just in time to help a nicely laid out DeFever trawler dock next to us.  The boat glistened and looked brand new.  She was actually a mid 1970’s boat that had just undergone a complete refit including a wonderful paint job.  Aboard were the parents and 3 young girls and two dogs.  They donned headlamps and disappeared for over an hour on a round the island evening adventure in the dark.

Leigh and I had happy hour with a plate full of vegetables for appetizers.  To widen the gap between appetizers and dinner we took our wine glasses for a walk on the dock where we met two teachers on a Catalina 32.  We had a nice conversation about cruising up north and before long they were aboard Cambria where we lent them some books on sailing in British Columbia for some evening reading.

Leigh prepared the garlic mashed potatoes and I fired up the barbecue and laid out a nice salmon fillet.  Covered with thin pats of butter and topped with brown sugar, the salmon went on the BBQ.

The dinner atmosphere was perfect.  A cozy salon lit with lamps and soft light.  Leigh brought out the formal China and the sliver to honor the salmon.  We ate with soft music playing and the week’s events were momentarily put in our wake.  We heard the family next door playing games and it appeared they were doing skits with parents and kids fully engaged with the activity.

Blake Island is the perfect getaway.

Morning brought coffee and an eggs and salmon scramble.  Followed by preparation of a winter stew for dinner in the slow cooker.

Then a 3 mile run around the island.  By this time the predicted wind had picked up to near 40 knots.  Outside the breakwater the white caps were angry and Cambria had a bit of motion just at the dock.  Leigh, wanting to exercise as always, led me on the 3 mile jaunt which is a little challenging with several small hills.  She gracefully waltzed over the trail, me huffing and puffing bringing up the rear.

Coming back to the boat was heaven.  The smells emanating from the slow cooker were mouth watering.

Another great thing about Blake are the hot showers near the marina.  While the balance between scalding and freezing water is a fine one, the amenities aren't bad.

At high tide, the Seattle skyline was perfectly in view and made a fine backdrop for happy hour in the cockpit.  Slow cooked beef stew made for great comfort food.

After dinner we watched 'Casablanca'.  Humphrey Bogart never goes out of style.

Followed by a short walk to the beach with a night cap listening to the small waves lapping at the shore.  Great way to end the evening.

Blake Island makes the perfect getaway.

The classic Chris Craft 'Cinnamon Girl' was at the dock

Soon to be New Zealand bound

Longhouse -- all buttoned up for the season

More high rises glistening in the distance

Sunday morning was clear -- for about an hour.  Then the rain swept in.  As I write, breakfast is being debated.  Perhaps another egg salmon scramble.

First another cup of coffee.

A nice 'Blakation'.

STYC's FALL REGATTA 2016

Sunday's racing in light winds.  Bill Stange (on the winning boat 'Tuesday') described an "epic battle with a well sailed Thunderbird".  

53 boats in the race, on top of another 50 boats in Saturday's 'Race Your House' race.  Well done, STYC!!