Salish Sea Cruising 2014

[David Patterson]

A pretty eccentric craft is in the first photo. Your guess as to her length would be better than mine. LOA 50' or more? The bow looks like a pilot boat, the stern is caravel/like, there seem to be three forward stays, and apparently the old salt aboard has no need for a main. DAWN BAY shows no hailing port. I didn't see her under sail, but wish I had. I presume she is owner built. The other photo is of basic references for planning a cruise with my oldest grandson and his buddy. That both are muscular guys over 6' tall has led me to dub our week-long Gulf Island cruise as "The Cruise of The Giants": A Canadian chart book, US chart 18421 of north Puget Sound, Migael Scherer's excellent guide book (US only), the Current Atlas, and my present journal, make up the still life. [A special appreciation to those few who have encouraged me by telling me you open these postings each morning to see what is new. Thank you, very much. I'm sorry I can't post daily. Not enough material, or cell service.]

[David Patterson]

A ship's cat finds the perfect spot, and a summer evening in Friday Harbor.

[David Patterson]

More harbor scenes. A light morning fog is slow to burn off over San Juan Channel, as seen from the north cove anchorage where I have anchored to resupply. Also, a nice little deflatable, heated to the near-bursting point on a fiercely sunny afternoon, has escaped to drift in the Port. GLACIER SPIRIT, behind those young men, is a whale watching boat that also serves as the ferry between Port Townsend and Friday Harbor during the summer. It provides a fine tourist experience, rarely failing to find the whales out in the straits, minke and orca. In the height of the cruising season, large boats have gathered in the port to enjoy the town's amenities. No mega-yachts in at the moment.

[David Patterson]

On photography with my cell phone camera, which hopefully is of some general interest: I use ProCamera7 as an app on my iPhone4S. (I've no connection with the app or with Apple.) I haven't taken time to learn most of its features. I would rather learn the boat's DC mysteries first. But I have learned to use the app's nonary (9 part) grid. It is useful both for taking photos, and in the phone's standard editing mode in the Camera Roll, for re-framing them. Here is a screen shot of the ProCamera7 screen, the phone held vertically, the lens blocked. Below that is a recent photo I posted with the automatic editing grid over it. I placed the boat at one of the intersections, with the mast on a line, as well as the shore. Supposedly the eye "likes" that. A professional would have edited out that pesky buoy, probably, and had better content and light to begin with, while I am just showing snapshots. Anyway, lots to learn with these photo apps. At least for me. (To take a screen shot, I press the lower and upper controls of the phone at the same time. The shot shows up in the camera roll, after a satisfying shutter sound.)

[David Patterson]

Steady state weather, here in the sunny Salish Sea. Many consider this period to be uncomfortably warm, a typical tourist outfit being knee shorts, a tee shirt, sandals, and a tablet device in hand. I was asked about my propane usage. My last 10 pound propane tank of 2.2 gallons lasted me 8 days. Light cooking, but with the heater on the very lowest setting during the night, with a couple of hours on medium during the first morning time. Heater off the bulk of the day, the cabin cooled by airflow and the 45* water. Low daily temps in the lower 50*s, 9000 BTU heater. I'll get some new more interesting photos taken in a few days and post them, if I have phone access.

[David Patterson]

At a gathering of mostly home-built wooden craft, Fossil Bay of Sucia Island, a fascinating variety of boats are at anchor. Below are a boxy water-ballasted boat with surprisingly good sailing characteristics. I met her sister ship once in San Juan Channel, doing well in Force 3 winds. Took me a while to figure out what I was seeing. A Bolger boat, I think. Also below is TRAVELER of Yellville AK, home-built 12 years ago. Little CLOUDIE sports a sun shade, in the background. I'll be moving, for a three foot minus tide later. The moon is pulling hard right now. Last is a traditional sunset photo from this anchorage, tiny 16' red-hulled LADYBUG providing a silhouette.

[David Patterson]

Two young men board CLOUD GIRL, in early morning light, for a week of cruising with me. 500 extra pounds of persons, gear, and additional stores will mean some attention to the trim. On Sucia, two hand-crafted dinghies, one probably light one with steam-bent frames, another a nesting sailing dinghy, catch the eye.

[David Patterson]

A mid-low tide reveals some of the charted rocks and reefs surrounding one of the Gulf Islands. Joshua Slocum wrote that "I am a careful man at sea." One must be. Second is a screen shot from iNavX. The boat was running well before a light following wind and a mild but helpful current. Last is the tracery of clouds at sunrise over Prevost Island (I think it was.) Leaving an anchorage in the pre-dawn twilight can mean seeing the entire sunrise occur. Ghosting out under sail disturbs no one and can be a unique pleasure.

[David Patterson]

On 7/18, a complete double rainbow occurred over Friday Harbor and San Juan Channel. The anchorage and marina erupted in spontaneous applause and called-out appreciations. I finally had the wits to take a few photos, while yearning for a long lens on my phone. First, one end at the harbor edge. Next, the restored schooner SPIKE AFRICA (info online, no connection to me) as the pot of gold. Last, the ensuing sunset, a gull seeming to seek a better vantage point to view it all.

[David Patterson]

Returning from a quick week of cruising in the Gulf Islands, with crew members much larger than myself, I now must admit that my dinghy is inadequate. It's design is too shallow for enough of a load. My cruising style puts me on the hard dinghy side of the various trade-offs involved in hard vs soft vs RIB, so I continue to scout for a better classic dinghy, preferably one rigged for sailing. Here are two interesting dinghies I spotted while re-provisioning. Both, coincidentally, are tenders to Nor'sea 27s. One nests in halves for easy deck stowage, the other (Gig Harbor? Orca? Fatty Knees?) has been modified craftily for significantly higher freeboard. The increased windage surely must be challenging to work with, however.

[Sea Hunt Video]

David:

You may want to consider looking at Walker Bay dinghies.

http://www.walkerbay.com/dinghies-sailk ... le-dinghy/

I DO NOT own one - yet. I have heard good things about them. You can install a floatation collar around the dinghy to make it more stable and allow more "weight". Some of the models can also be rigged for sailing with a center board, etc. Because it is a hard bottom it rows well - or so I am told. Some models can carry up to about 550 lbs., 4 adults.

They are expensive, at least by my meager funds. However, the anecdotal information suggests they are durable. I have been looking to find a "gently used" one in the South Florida area. So far, not much success.

[David Patterson]

Thanks, Robert, Walker Bays are on my consideration list, partly because they are so beamy and light. I'll be buying used, almost certainly, for I am on a fixed (broken? limited?) cruising allotment. I have wondered about the durability issue. Both boat and dinghy get used hard as I blunder about the Salish Sea.

[John Schafer]

There is a Sail Ranger Minto complete in Anacortes Craigs list at a fair price, 4552136392. We love ours and it rows and sails very well, tows nicely and a real NW classic. We can fit 3 adults and lots of gear. John.

[David Patterson]

Thanks John, I'll check into it.

[David Patterson]

I thought I had posted about this first craft, an example of personal excess from the late '20s/early '30s, when it was launched as a private yacht. I wasn't able to find it quickly in my postings, however. I'll search for the name and post it when found. She looks incongruous with touristy colorful roto-molded kayaks on the front deck. The second photo is of the nicely kept TARAH' MARA, a CD32 that shared last night's anchorage, fully reflected in the morning's calm waters. Last is a (poorly detailed) track from a week of cruising to the a Gulf Islands. (USA chart 18400.) 42 miles over the ground is all. Distance is hardly a cruising metric. Rather, time and pleasure are the measures. The fact that Slocum survived the Milky Way by Cape Horn at night, and a tornado at sea off Fire Island on his return, may have meant more than his 46,000 mile circumnavigation. For him his pleasures outweighed even the dangers, like the goat that ate his chart of the West Indies. We think we have challenges!