Salish Sea Again

[David Patterson]

Back aboard after a month away from cruising, I'm beginning a new topic about my cruising in the Salish Sea. Beyond simply getting around as much as I can under sail, my plans are vague. Attending a gathering of wooden boats in Deer Harbor of Orcas Island, more time in Canada's Gulf Islands, a cruise up to enticing Jedediah Island near Texada Island (perhaps in company with other Cape Dories)...many options. The photo is appropriate to my return aboard: today's sunrise over San Juan Channel, visiting cruisers anchored out due to a full marina or to personal preferences.

[barfwinkle]

Welcome Home David

Fair Winds

[David Patterson]

Thanks, Bill. Very good to be back aboard and anticipating the cruising to come.

[David Patterson]

A classic-looking schooner, but built in 1977 in California by Bob Sloan, according to the internet. A contemporary of the early Cape Dories, then. I passed 79' SPIKE AFRICA port to port, about a cable length off, in San Juan Channel yesterday. Named after the self-styled President of the Pacific, she has had a recent restoration, and is now employed for tourist cruises, short and long. (I've no connection to her, other than walking by the office when I'm re-provisioning in Friday Harbor. $39 gets an evening sail aboard.) Bob Sloan is said to have introduced Lin and Larry Pardey. The story may be slightly more complicated than that. See the book As Long As It's Fun. Perhaps Larry did some shipwright work on SPIKE. I don't know, but he was first mate aboard a boat with Sloan, to Hawaii, I think. This one? She is a pleasure to see under sail. (The water isn't actually slanted. My camera cell phone wasn't level.)

[David Patterson]

Fog in one of my favorite San Juan anchorages (Parks Bay of Shaw Island). Out in San Juan and Upright Channels the state ferries sound their fog horns. July and August, I read, are the most likely months for low-visibility fog events in the central Salish Sea. I emerged from a fog bank last year to find myself face to face with a ferry from Victoria, waiting. I've gotten far more cautious since. To the right in this photo is a superb wood Kettenburg 40, ATARI. ('atari' derives from a Japanese verb, according to Wikipedia, meaning "to hit the target." An excellent boat name, from prior to the electronic gaming period. This boat, in the eyes of someone who takes pleasure in boatbuilding ingenuity, craft, and art, definitely hits the target.)

[David Patterson]

No photo, just a quote from E. B. White (The Sea And The Wind That Blows, Ford Times, 1963)
"Men who ache allover for tidiness and compactness in their lives often find relief for their pain in the cabin of a thirty-foot sailboat at anchor in a sheltered cove. Here the sprawling panoply of The Home is compressed in orderly miniature and liquid delirium, suspended between the bottom of the sea and the top of the sky, ready to move on in the morning by the miracle of canvas and the witchcraft of rope. It is small wonder that men hold boats in the secret place of their mind, almost from the cradle to the grave." (The sentiment obviously applies to some women as well as to some men.)

[David Patterson]

Being a successful tourist can mean the sacrifice, at times, of a little dignity. Important parts of cruising happen ashore, after all. This is one way some folks enjoy as a means to explore parts of San Juan Island, from Friday Harbor. The little aerial flag helps this vehicle be more visible. As does the bright red color.

[David Patterson]

Some scenes from Friday Harbor, where I'm provisioning and "taking care of business:" First, S. S. LEGACY (192', 88 passengers, 35 crew) a Victorian replica built in 1983, eases into the harbor. Second is the sun over fog in San Juan Channel. Third is on shore, as fog closes in -- you might spot a great blue heron near the base of the tall dead pine. It is hunkered down into its cloak of feathers. Fog is frequent enough here (especially in July and August) with high enough humidity, to allow the growth of Spanish moss in some waterside trees, even though the San Juans only get 17 or 18 inches of precipitation a year. Water conservation is often required in the summers, while fire is a serious hazard.

[David Patterson]

A fine collection of small fishing boats gathered in Friday Harbor recently, along with a forest of yacht masts. Perhaps a season was ending, or beginning. I think these are gill-netters, but I don't actually know. The salmon are apparently running better in Canada than farther south this year. Also, yet another sunrise. Mt Baker (Kulshan, to the Coast Salish peoples) shows clearly on the horizon. The daylight lasts about 13 1/2 hours at this latitude, right now.

[David Patterson]

A young couple out of Salt Lake City designed and built this pilot-boat inspired craft, had it hauled to the Salish Sea, and are cruising thru the season here. She built the dinghy alone. Both worked on the cutter. No engine on the cutter, with the consequent saving of weight, space, and cost. If they can sail engineless in the Salish Sea, probably they can anywhere! A long shaft small electric motor does get them around in harbors but is not powerful enough for other use. Next stop for RABANNAH is the fairly informal Deer Harbor wooden boat gathering on Orcas Island in the San Juans, followed by a transit thru Cattle Pass and across Juan de Fuca strait's eastern end, to Port Townsend. There they are entered in the wooden boat show 9/5-9/7. The Sea of Cortez may be in the future. People, like these two, still adventure into the world with determination to really experience something beyond the conventional. A big part of my own cruising is becoming acquainted with them from time to time.

[David Patterson]

Lower San Juan Channel, of the San Juan Islands, leads to Upright Channel at the north end--the first photo--and to "Cattle Pass" (as the locals name it) at the south entrance--the second photo. To the south is Juan de Fuca Strait. In the first photo the water state is completely due to large motor yacht traffic on Labor Day, as the big boats take advantage of slack tide to transit the pass south. All are past in the photo. (CLOUD GIRL has those valuable stern seats port and starboard, installed by a former owner, and due varnish from me.)

[David Patterson]

One follower has told me that posting about every 3 days would be best for his viewing, yet I often find scenes I consider very share-worthy. Feedback is welcome. Here are two wooden boats, the small sloop an example of high boat builders art. The schooner has a square yard, which I caught in use at a (grainy) distance. She soon raised triangular sails, port and starboard, above the horizontal yard, running well before an only Force 2 (4-6kt) wind. Lovely.

[David Patterson]

On passage the boundary between heaven and earth can tend to blur, as in this first photo of Juan de Fuca Strait. As a Small Craft Advisory is issued (winds 25 to 33 knots) Point Partridge at the entrance of Admiralty Inlet seems far away, the darkness and leaden water of an oncoming squall line overtaking the running boat. (Second photo.) Finally, from anchor (and there are no really good anchorages at Port Townsend), the town looks utterly enticing, after managing a crossing under sail of the entrance of Admiralty Inlet in 25 knots --above my self-chosen 20 knot limit-- trying to avoid the justifiably infamous waters near Point Wilson. My little CD25D took good care of me, though I felt close to broaching several times. Port Townsend is the venue of many festivals: music, film, or wooden-boat oriented. The well-know and well-attended Annual Wooden Boat Festival is about to begin. I'm here for it, the boats, and some sailing friends.

[David Patterson]

LADY WASHINGTON is a replica of a late 18th century trading ship that plied the waters of the Salish Sea. Washington state's tall ship, I believe, she has many educational and ceremonial functions. Gazing at her by the fuel dock, I tried to imagine "learning the ropes" or "laying aloft" aboard her. Her sides were clearly designed to handle some pretty extreme sea states. That any boat this size traveled under sail alone is amazing.

[Sea Hunt Video]

One follower has told me that posting about every 3 days would be best for his viewing.

Given the quality and interest of the photos, my personal "quota" is 3-5 photos per day. This is especially so when I sit in 92-94 degree temps day in day out (with heat indexes approaching 99-100) and I dream of the temps you have in the NW.

Recently, you have fallen below the 3-5 per day quota David. Please pick up the pace.